Greetings All,
Owen Schmidt sent me a couple of interesting close-up photos of the Newport
oriole that he took on 7 January. The first (#18 in the gallery), a frontal
shot, clearly shows a black spot on the lower throat and some additional black
feathering coming in on the chin and upper throat. Last weekend we thought the
dark spot (which seems to have been smaller then) was an injury or pitted area
in the plumage and not black feathering. The area between the base of the
mandible and the dark spot seems to show more black feathering in Owen's photo
than it did in any of the photos taken 5-6 days earlier. His second image (#19
in the gallery) shows the undertail of the bird. Note the pale wispy edges to
the yellow undertail coverts. These sorts of wispy fringes are normally seen on
freshly grown feathers and then they wear off rather quickly (like the buffy
fringes on the feathers of a young male Red-winged Blackbird). Also, note how
the lengths of the tail feathers seem to very with some being rather pointed at
the tip and other more rounded or blunt at the tip. Pointed tips on tail
feathers is typical of many species of landbirds, with the subsequent
generations of tail feathers being more rounded/square and blunt-tipped. You
can also see 'growth bars' in the tail feathers.
There are now a total of 20 images (taken by 4 different photographers) in the
gallery at the link below. I continue to welcome submissions of photos of this
bird, particularly those taken most recently. If you saw and photographed this
bird this weekend or do so in the coming days/weeks, I would love to add more
photos to illustrate any changes that occur. There are a number of indicators
that suggest this bird is currently molting and any change in appearance could
offer further clues regarding its identity. For now, the bird's appearance,
plumage, and bill pattern, along with the apparent molt occurring, point to
Bullock's Oriole or at least Bullock's parentage in some hybrid combination,
but no one who has seen these images or studied this bird in life believes that
its appearance is within the normal range of variation for Bullock's Oriole.
http://www.birdfellow.com/photos/gallery/954-newport-oregon-oriole-jan-1-7-2016 ;
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
