FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Re: Close Encounter of the Krider's Kind

[Mark Monroe <markmonroe1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mike and others,

Thanks for replying.  I had hoped more folks would
respond (publicly) as this is a very common mistake
and I didn't want to seem like I was nit-picking on
Jeff.

However, I must confess I 'sandbagged' a bit on my
first reply to get more discussion even though I was
certain of the id, as well as to not single out anyone
as this error is made by many experienced birders.

The photographed bird is not a Krider's, nor is it in
the realm of Krider's (and I'll bet my binoculars on
it).  Although juvenile borealis can be quite
problematic, particularly when worn, adults have
a straight-forward solution in the tail.  No matter
which guide/source you use, they all will tell you
that the tail of a Krider's MUST be either brown, 
pink, or at least half of the tail white, but never
deep red as in borealis (the Birds of North America
account, No. 52, has an excellent write-up on plumage
on pages 2 and 17 with a blurb that states this about
the tail). All three photos of adult Krider's in the
photographic guide by Wheeler/Clark (RT06, RT07,and
RT32) show this feature, as well as the illustration
in the Sibley guide and the bird I'm holding at
http://www.biology.eku.edu/KOS/photos.htm
  As a sidenote, the tail feathers of eastern
red-taileds are white at the basal inch or two of the
feather before the barbs/barbules mesh is generally
exposed, a character that can be very obvious in
flight if the uppertail coverts (which also appear
white) are molting, short, or otherwise pushed up or
to a side.  What is relevant is whether or not the
white extends into the barbs of the feather halfway
(or more) out the length of the feather.  If this is
not the case, the bird is not a Krider's.  The tail in
Jeff's bird is plainly and clearly a dark red, typical
borealis tail. Unfortunately, many birders fall into
the trap that the bird looks pale in the head or scaps
or elsewhere and that somehow that makes it a
Krider's, but this simply is not relevant, especially
in late summer.

Now, the other thing that everyone seems to get bogged
down on is whether "kriderii" is a morph or race. The
reason some authors call this a morph instead of a
subspecies is that it apparently does not occupy a 
breeding range that is exclusive of other subspecies;
(it DOES appear to be mostly exclusive of nominal
(eastern) borealis, but not (western) calurus,
according to the BNA). Otherwise, however, it
"behaves" like a classic subspecies in that it is a
"form" that is morphologically distinctive (albeit
somewhat variable) and restricted geographically as a
breeder (the Dakotas, northern Wyoming, Montana,
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba -- see BNA page 3
for range map).  For the latter reason, it should be 
expected outside of that range only as a migrant and
winter resident/visitant.  Thus, a bird hatched
locally in Kentucky and Tennessee would not be a 
Krider's "morph" and no one should believe that it is
something that just 'can happen'. [I suppose that the
occasional eastern borealis could show some characters
of a Krider's -- perhaps due to some form of partial 
albinism -- but these birds would not be kriderii.] 

In reality, any record in our region prior to the
first of October should be highly scrutinized and many
(if not all) reports may be erroneous (I have yet to
see a well-documented early Krider's in the east,
although I suppose an occasional overwintering bird
might not return to the breeding grounds for one
reason or another -- e.g., sickness, injury, etc.).
One only has to look at the occurrence of dark
morphs/races of western red-taileds, which are not as
commonly misidentified, and their occurrences, to
notice that they are not in this region prior to late
fall.

Now, back to the bird in question and why it looks so
odd.  Feather wear can make a bird that looks quite
dark with fresh plumage look white 6 months later, a
factor that anyone that has endured the migraines
caused by trying to id the 25 snow white "Iceland"
gulls in June at Kentucky Dam knows. Bathing, the sun,
and other weather can take a huge toll on feathers and
make them look white just like the bird Jeff
photographed (or in this case, buffy). In this bird,
it is clearly wet which would further compress the
feathers making them appear even paler (and is what
gives those head feathers that streaky appearance). 
Yesterday, I decided to photograph the first adult
red-tail I saw and, although this bird is dry and not
as extreme as the bird in question, it shares many of
the characters that were visible in Jeff's bird in the
head, but it too is not a Krider's (I hope to have a
link to these by early next week, and will post it
when I do).

I hope this has been a helpful discussion and no one
thought I was being too critical of them.  I simply
wanted to point out that it seems almost annually
someone reports an early Krider's, but in reality that
is not what they are seeing.  Jeff's photos simply
gave an excellent opportunity to hopefully help folks
realize that wear can be extreme at this time of year
and to take care on such identifications.  As anyone
that's birded for a while knows, today's morphs/races
are a graduate student's thesis away from being
tomorrow's species in the next AOU checklist,
and care always should be taken when id'ing any
unusual bird.

Good birding!

Mark Monroe



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