MessageI've never seen an Island Scrub-Jay, but depending on Sibley's I decided that it was one because of the amount of blackness on the nasal tufts and forehead.

As for the gull, if that is all bill were seeing, then there is something wrong with it or else the particular angle it was photographed at has created an optical illusion of some kind.

If it is partly a stone in the background, then the stone involved is the only one back there that is in focus and the bird's bill ends bluntly just beyond it's nostrils.

Either way, I think it's a California Gull, but I haven't got the time or energy to defend that presumption.

As for that little (I'm assuming) passerine, I haven't got a clue. It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen (my experience is primarily limited to the Pacific Northwest and is not that extensive even there) and like nothing I can find in the field guides.

Dennis Rockwell Kennewick, WA denrockwell at surfbest.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Jack Stephens
To: Birdchat ; Tweeters
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 10:34 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Birding photo quiz - the shell game


When hucksters play the shell game, they let you win a few early on to build your confidence. Later on, you lose. That's how I felt looking at the pictures in this month's issue of Birding magazine. The quiz consists of a scrub-jay, a gull, and a passerine. Now gulls can put the hurt to you, but there are only three scrub-jays out there, so already have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it right, right? And I know that isn't a Florida Scrub-Jay; no white forehead. It doesn't look like a Western Scrub-Jay either, the cheek patch is too black. A quick run by Sibley's confirms that it is an Island Scrub-Jay; the bluish under tail coverts are another field mark on the quiz bird that supports Island Scrub-Jay.
Thoughts, comments on the above welcome.
Now looking forward to the other birds, I have a question on the bill of the immature gull. Is it long and curved, or is the curved tip actually an overlapping stone from the background? If that is all bill, it is so long that it looks almost deformed, plus it is unusually colored. I think that the bill is actually relatively short, but I welcome comments from others.
Once I get this bill sorted out, I'll lift the shell up and past which gull I think it is. Hopefully, there will be a stone underneath it!

Jack Stephens
Edmonds, WA
jstephens62 at comcast.net




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