I am in the debt of many, in addressing the mis-identifications on my
original post. *Feedback and corrections to the images I post do not
upset me. Far from it, I welcome the input. I don’t posture myself as an
expert birder. My role, I hope, is to present images of subjects in
nature that I love, with the goal that the viewer will love the subjects
as well. We tend to value and respect that which we love. But it starts
with awareness. *
**
Feedback and corrections to the images I post do not upset me. Far from
it, I welcome the input. I don’t posture myself as an expert birder. My
role, I hope, is to present images of subjects in nature I love, with
the goal that the viewer will love the subjects as well. We value and
respect that which we love. But it starts with awareness.
In hope others can benefit frommy mistakes, (some due to the quantity of
images I prepared and haste to get out the post before too much time
passed) I offer the following about the corrections now implemented:
Willow Flycatcher:
First, the image is not high quality and the pose I captured limited the
display of characters I would have like to have seen. I didn’t see much
to indicatethe pale loral-line, and the pale throat seemed doubtful. I
mistakenly named the image as a “Western” type flycatcher and I thought
the range was too far inland to be a Pacific-Slope bird, so I called it
“Cordillerian”. I knew Willow was in range, but my inexperience sorting
out empidsto the wrong call. Several folks pointed out my errors (Dennis
Vroman, Tom Crabtree, Dave McNeely, Hendrik Herlyn, and Shawneen
Finnegan). A couple folks thought my original “Western” ID was good.
There seems to be a consensus that the Western Flycatcher split is
unjustified.
Lazuli Bunting:
My first thought was to post this image as “Mystery Bird”, a thought I
should have followed through on. I thought there was enough characters
(including breast streaks) to fit the BH Cowbird juvenile. Sibley (the
BIG one, my go-to guide) doesn’t show a juvenile Lazuli Bunting. Hence I
went with the cowbird call. Many people were not fooled by my
misdirection and saw their way to the correct call.
Warbling Vireo:
I’m not used to so much yellow on the Warbling Vireo as shown in this
bird. What I failed to notice was the lack of wing bars.
Long-Billed Dowitcher:
Not so much a mis-identity as a not noticing the difference between the
two birds, which did not escape the watchful eyes of Shawneen Finnegan.
She pointed out the “tiger pattern on the tertials” on the second bird
(rear, left) which made the call for the Short-Tailed Dowitcher juvenile
for that bird. I left the ID on the image the same, but modifiedthe
metadata description.
Finally, my goto bird guy is Phil Unitt of the San Diego Natural History
Museum. I work with Phil and the museum’s field research team regularly.
I sent Phil a note about the flycatcher. He caught most of the same
mistakes many of you did, saying “Your juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird is
a juvenile Lazuli Bunting (note the wingbars), and the Cassin's Vireo is
a Warbling (note the lack of wingbars). The flycatcher is a Willow
Flycatcher (Malheur is a known nesting site).”
Thanks again to all who responded. Now I can get to work on my next
(less ambitious) post about Lake Abert. **To see**the changes, go to:
**https://shadetreeimaging.com/2017-08-29-on-the-road-to-malheur-nwr/
Be well,
--
-- Jack --
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<http://shadeTree-imaging.com/>
Wildlife Photography with
Emphasis on Birds
==================================
858-442-1907
Poway, California (San Diego Co.)
N 32° 57' W 117° 04'
At 508' Elevation
==================================
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