Greeting,

Thanks to Mike Patterson and Russell Rogers for giving us their thoughts on
the ID of the John Williams Horned Lark. I do disagree with the statement
that " Merrilli in any form, and any other subspecies for that matter, would
not have yellow below the neck band. "
The nesting Horned Larks on the Waterville Plateau can have yellow below the
neck band. As an example, today I decided to locate 10 male Merrilli on the
plateau and make notes on their color and markings. While in the process of
doing this, I came across two females that had yellow below the neck band.
One female was very yellow between the black band and brown band on the
lower
breast. A second female had a yellow wash from the black breast band to the
undertail coverts. These females with extra yellow are not rare but are in
the minority in showing yellow below the black breast band. Also of
interest, I hope!, I watched a female Horned Lark gathering nesting
material. This female had a very white supercilium, white auriculars and a
mostly yellow throat.
All 10 of the males were much alike, varying mostly in the darkness of the
striping in the back. None of these males had yellow below the black breast
band.
Also of interest along Rd F NW were several singing Savannah Sparrows, one
Vesper Sparrow, a few Arctic Horned Larks, and 11 Snow Buntings.
Along US 2 just west of Douglas was a male Mountain Bluebird. Two
Rough-legged Hawks were along US 2 just east of Waterville.

Good Birding,
Dave Beaudette
Wenatchee,WA
drtbrdr at earthlink.net


-----Original Message-----
From: rrogers at olypen.com <rrogers at olypen.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Cc: scott.pearson at wadnr.gov <scott.pearson at wadnr.gov>
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2003 1:47 PM
Subject: Re: Horned Lark Photos


>Greetings tweeters,
>
>I apologize for not being able to respond to the posting from John Williams
>sooner. I have been out of town all week.
>
>First let me give my usual disclaimer whenever people try to identify
Horned
>Lark subspecies. I have looked at hundreds of lark specimens at most of the
>major museum collections on the west coast, plus the collections at Cornell
>University and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. I did this
to
>increase my ability to identify subspecies. Instead of walking a way with
>increased confidence that I could do such a thing, it was just the
opposite. I
>think that the best way to describe such an activity is a ?fools folly.?
That
>said, I will now attempt to not make a fool of myself.
>
>I would like to congratulate John Williams for two very nice photos of a
FEMALE
>STREAKED HORNED LARK.
>
>Actually the photos are of the same individual (note that the shape of the
>greatly worn greater coverts are identical in both photos).
>
>There are several reasons that I believe this is a Streaked Horned Lark.
For
>ease, I will bulletize my thoughts in no particular order of importance.
>
>? It is a female because of the limited amount of yellow in the face
>(particularly in the auricular area) and the lack of horns.
>
>? It is a fairly well marked female strigata (but not outside the range
>of normal), however, most merrilli males would be duller than this bird.
This
>bird shows faint yellow wash below the neck band. Merrilli in any form, and
any
>other subspecies for that matter, would not have yellow below the neck
band.
>
>? Dispite Mike Patterson?s hinting that the dusky pectorals indicate that
>this is a Dusky (merrilli) Horned Lark. I have to disagree. I have never
seen a
>merrilli Horned Lark, in any plumage, with this degree of darkness in the
>flanks. Merrilli almost always shows white on the flanks, breast and belly.
>
>? Do not put any stock in the common names for these subspecies (i.e.
>dusky, streaked, etc.). The names offer NO CLUE WHATSOEVER as to how to
>identify the subspecies!
>
>? Also, do not put any stock into using Sibley as a guide to identify
>subspecies. Don?t get me wrong, it is a wonderful field guide, however, his
>Horned Lark page is very misleading. What his illustration is good for is
to
>show the amount of variability that Horned Larks have across North America.
>
>? I also find that Pyle is misleading for identifying strigata. I have
>never been able to make any sense of what he means by ?streaking on the
rump.?
>Contra to that, I certainly have never seen streaking on a bird as Sibley
>illustrates it either. I have talked about this with Kimball Garrett at the
LA
>County Museum. He said that he goes by the ?streaking,? or perhaps a better
way
>to say it is ?smugging,? on the flanks and the yellow wash below the
neckband.
>
>? Further, I know of no specimens of merrilli on the west side of the
>Cascades. I don?t recall any published accounts or museum specimens from
the
>west side at all, that does not mean that there are not any, I just don?t
know
>of them. If anyone does know of any, please let me know.
>
>If I am correct in saying this is a female Streaked Horned Lark, then this
>would be very exciting in that the bird seems to be carrying nesting
material
>in one of the photos! John states that the photo was taken in early March,
>which in most years would be early for nesting activities for strigata.
>However, this spring has been very mild. Streaked Horned Larks have not
nesting
>in the Portland area for over ten years, as far as anyone knows.
>
>If anyone has any other thoughts about these photographs, I would be happy
to
>hear it.
>
>Russell
>
>
>
>-------- Mike Patterson wrote -------------------
>
>
>Given the lack of streaking on the rump (though admittedly
>not the best views), I think this is _merrilli_ (Dusky Horned Lark).
>
>Pyle places emphasis on two characters: the width of the center
>streaks on the upper tail coverts (this bird appears to have none). and
>the amount of yellow in the face, throat and below the breast
>band (this bird is yellow in the face and throat and washed
>yellow but not bright below the breast band, it also has dusky
>pectorals).
>
>
>-----
>Can those of you familiar with the Streaked Horned Lark
>point out how to separate the subspecies? I took photos
>of a pair of Horned Larks in the fields off N. Lombard
>Avenue on March 9, 2003, and I've posted two examples
>to
>http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jwwdvm/birdstuff/interesting/interesting.htm
>(Except for resizing, the photos are unedited.)
>-----
>
>--
>Mike Patterson
>Astoria, OR
>celata at pacifier.com
>
>A child who becomes acquainted with the birds about him
>hears every sound and puzzles out its meaning with a cleverness
>that amazes those with ears who hear not.
>
> -Neltje Blanchan
>
>http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>Russell Rogers, Mary Moore, Emily Rogers, and Will Rogers
>219 South 2nd Ave.
>Sequim WA 98382
>(360) 582-3781
>mailto:rrogers at olypen.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>Russell Rogers
>Fish and Wildlife Biologist
>Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory
>Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
>1000 Point Whitney Road
>Brinnon WA 98320
>(360) 586-1498 ex 221
>mailto:rogerrer at dfw.wa.gov
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
>
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