Subject: [Tweeters] RE: help with ID of Eastern WA finch-like bird
Date: Jul 27 01:17:45 2011
From: Christy RJ - christyrj at hotmail.com







Hi again, Tweets,Thanks so much to everyone who responded with assistance in the identification of the bird in my images. The response was overwhelming! This is a great community. Normally I try to respond to everyone individually, but I lack face-time with the computer these days and, seriously, the response was overwhelming! :) I'm grateful for and enjoyed each reply, though! So thank you to each of you!The majority opinion was split, but was decidedly BLUEBIRD: Western or Mountain (slight preference toward the latter) and Juvenile or Female (I didn't count but it was roughly evenly split). In the field, I did not see/notice the blue on the wings. It wasn't until I was looking at the images last night that I saw that. In the field particularly, I was thrown by the overall buffy brownish appearance of the bird, which did not match the Sibley images for female or juvenile Western or Mountain Bluebird and thus was why I was at a loss for id'ing. Beyond the various votes for Bluebird of one sort or another, one responder suggested fledgling Say's Phoebe and provided the following link (thank you, Jamie): http://fineartamerica.com/featured/pair-of-says-phoebe-fledglings-on-barbed-wire-fence-max-allen.html. That was one bird I had considered in field, and the image at this link accounts for the brown/orange/buffy color of my bird. Still, there does seem a decided blue cast to the wings on my bird, the tail seems too short for the Phoebe, and the wing markings (I don't know the technical terms, sorry :) aren't quite right. But yeah, I went there too.Another kind responder commented, "It looks like a flycatcher, structurally similar to the Vermilion Flycatcher but not really matching in plumage (though I?ve only seen one Vermillion Flycatcher)." Yes, I can see where you're coming from (hey, the Vermillion is on the same Sibley's page as the Say's Phoebe! :). Gary B., thank you for your specific comments about the bill shape: "The bird does not look at all like a finch to me, because the bill is so thrushlike, that is, not conical. I say Westernrather than Mountain Bluebird, because the bill looks thick, rather than thin." That's a very good observation and I'm inclined to agree with you.In SUMMARY: Based on guiding comments and details from everyone, and closer inspection of the renderings in my Sibley's, I'm declaring the bird a Juvenile Western Bluebird. :) Gary helped direct me to consider the bill more closely. And based on the wingTIP shape, if my Sibley's represents the two birds accurately for the in-flight drawings, Western seems supported rather than Mountain. Close examination of the images reveals spotting on the back (sorry, I've really got to learn the correct bird-part terms), which lends toward Juvenile. It could just as easily be a female, though. If only the darn things wore some sort of identification label so we could be certain, eh? Though I suppose that would take a lot of the fun out of it. :)A little shout-out to my near neighbor Brien in Lake Forest Park. Thanks for saying hello from around the corner. :) Thank you again to everyone! As I said, this is a great community! Your fellow bird-nerd,Christy Kenmore
From: christyrj at hotmail.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: help with ID of Eastern WA finch-like bird
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 01:58:04 -0700








Hi Tweets,
On a recent trip to Eastern WA (Othello area, Potholes Reservoir area (briefly), and the Manastash Road to Audubon Road out in the direction of Wenas Campground, roughly), I encountered the following bird on a wire. I wasn't quite sure what it was. No doubt many of you will be able to readily identify it. I'm hoping so, for the help. :) I feel like I should know what this is, but it just wasn't coming to me with certainty.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18600129 at N05/5977411098/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18600129 at N05/5976847359/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18600129 at N05/5976847343/
Following is a terrible photograph (extremely blurry) but it does show the notched tail:http://www.flickr.com/photos/18600129 at N05/5977429522/
Thanks for the assist. I'll have more photos of the overall trip posted soon.
Christy JobeKenmorechristyrj at hotmail dot com