Greetings All,
Some of you may have read through Tim Janzen's cut and paste summary of
comments (which are not in chronological order) that came to ID-Frontiers in
response to my post to that forum two days ago. For some reason, he did not
include my initial post or a link to the photo gallery that I created, which
includes 17 photos taken by me and Wayne Hoffman. There was also no inclusion
my subsequent questions back to those responding in that forum. It might appear
that I was a non-participant in this discussion, which was hardly the case.
Immediately below is my original post to ID-Frontiers, which lays out the
confusing aspects of this bird.
Newport, Oregon Oriole
David Irons
1/06/16
To:
birdwg01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bcc: lehman.paul1@xxxxxxxxxxx, Shawneen Finnegan
Greetings All,
The gallery of images at the link
below show an immature oriole that is wintering at the Hatfield Marine
Science Center in Newport, Oregon. This bird has now been present for a
few weeks. It had been cautiously identified as a young Bullock's by
those who live locally and had seen the bird in life and several of us
who had seen earlier photos of the bird, which seemed to show black on
the throat (doesn't really have that) and what appeared to be a dark
stripe behind the eye. At least one photo, taken this past weekend by
Craig Tumer, has been circulated on the Facebook Advanced ID page, where
additional folks including Joe Morlan have opined that it is a
Bullock's.
http://www.birdfellow.com/photos/gallery/954-newport-oregon-oriole-jan-1-2-2016
This
past weekend Shawneen Finnegan and I were over in Newport to do the
local CBC. We spent the day on Friday scouting our area and then did the
count on Saturday. We saw the bird on both days and found it to look
quite different to the naked eye than it has typically appeared in
photos. I took all of the photos in the gallery above over those two
days. I have shots of the bird in multiple light conditions and at
different locations. There are some pitfalls and misleading photo
effects that seem to be steering most of the identifications towards
Bullock's, even though the bird shows far more extensive color below
than any immature/female Bullock's that I've seen. In the field, we felt
reasonably confident that this bird was an Orchard Oriole, albeit one
that had some features that made us scratch our heads a bit. Here are
the aspects of the bird that we found to be either convincing in favor
of Orchard, or problematic. Clearly,the apparent orangish tones in the
plumage (most apparent in photos and not necessarily so in life) are
creating the most questions.
1. Coloration -- The bird
consistently appears more orangish-yellow in photos than it seems to the
naked eye. Upon finally getting home and off-loading my photos, I was
staggered to see how orangish the bird looks in most photos when looking
at these images on my computer screen.
2. Dark on the throat --
The bird has an injury that appears as an unfeathered pit part way down
the throat and it seems to have a few small flecks of dark feathering on
the chin (not noticeable in most photos). In the earlier photos that I
saw, shadow from the bill, combined with the dark pitted spot created
the illusion of a dark chin/throat patch, which this bird clearly does
not have if seen well. Photo #8 is an example of the throat appearing to
have a dark patch.
3. Dark post-ocular stripe -- Where the
feather tracts along the supercilium area and auriculars meet behind the
eye, there is a trough-like indentation that from most viewing angles
is in shadow, thus creating the apparent eyeline. At best this trough is
slightly darker, but the rather dark conspicuous eyeline that appears
in some photos is generally very weak to virtually absent in most
images. If you look at photo #6 in this gallery, you can see the
trough-like indentation behind the eye.
4. Head shape -- Is very
plastic from photo to photo. My first good looks at this bird are
represented by the first four images in this gallery. After getting this
view, I immediately said to Shawneen, "This looks like an Orchard
Oriole." Then the bird flew and we both noted the rather small size,
short-tailed look, very squared-off tail, and the fairly uniform lemon
yellow underparts of the bird. At this point, she agreed that it seemed
like an Orchard Oriole. In these first four images, the head shape
(steep forehead and domed crown) struck me as Orchard-like, as did the
bill, which seems fairly short, thin and straight. In many of the photos
of the bird at the feeder, the crown profile seems much flatter with
very little slope to the forehead.
5. Extent of yellow below --
Aside from a bit of washed-out gray on the lower flanks, this bird is
almost entirely yellow below, with the yellow on the throat and breast
being most intense and the yellow on the vent and undertail coverts also
being quite intense.
6. Size -- The bird was seen on the seed
feeder and on the ground in close proximity to both House Finches and
House Sparrows and it landed on a fence where White-crowned Sparrows
were often landing. It seemed to be much closer in size to those species
than say a Red-winged Blackbird, which was also visiting the feeder on
occasion. It seemed too small for a Bullock's Oriole. Photos 9,10, and
11 show it on the ground next to House Sparrows.
7. Potential for
misleading photo effects -- Most of the best photos of this bird have
been taken while it feeds on a seed feeder in a small courtyard in the
complex of buildings at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. As you can
see in image #5, there is a large hummingbird feeder filled with
red-colored nectar hanging about two feet from the seed feeder, with
both feeders hanging from an overhang of the building probably less than
three feet out from a bank of windows that runs all along the side of
the building. These photos were mostly taken during the afternoon hours,
when the sun angle is from the west–to the left in this image. Note how
the entire right side of the seed feeder is reflecting red from light
refracting off of the hummer feeder and to a lesser extent off the
windows. While some have suggested that this should not have had much
impact on the colors of the bird shown in these images, I think it is a
factor in how orangish the bird looks in many photos. At this time of
year, the sun angle is from the south and then southwest later in the
day, which tends to make birds look more reddish/orangish in color,
particularly during the afternoon hours.
When we left the coast
on Saturday night, we were convinced that the bird was an Orchard
Oriole. Upon reviewing our photos last night and some email exchanges
with others since then, our certainty about the ID of this bird has
withered. I can't recall seeing an oriole that was so confusing, so I
await enlightenment.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
After the first round of comments came in, I posted the response below. My
feeling was that there was a lot of "gut reaction" response to the gallery of
photos, but no one seemed to be able to explain how a immature Bullock's Oriole
could be almost entirely yellow below. There had also been some
misinterpretation of online resources that needed to be corrected.
Additionally, Peter Pyle was calling the bird an adult female, even though a
number of photos that I'd looked, including a great one by Wayne Hoffman,
showed worn, brown, pointed tail feathers that were retained from juvenile
plumage (indicative that the bird hatched in 2015).
Greetings All,
I would like to address the specifics of some of the responses that have been
offered about this oriole.
First,
it has been suggested that we can infer differences in "bulk"
(translated in weight measurements) by comparing the apparent size of
the oriole, with the apparent size of the House Sparrow. You can't. If
you put a Great Gray Owl side-by-side with a Great Horned Owl you might
infer that the Great Gray would outweigh the Great Horned on the basis
of their sizes (length). Great Grays average about five inches longer
than Great Horneds, but weigh about 3/4 of a pound less. When the photos
of this oriole were taken, ambient air temps were hovering just under
40F with cold easterly winds blowing at 15-20mph. Both the House Sparrow
and the oriole seem a bit fluffed up when sitting on the ground.
Multiple
respondents have indicated that their "gut reaction" or how the bird
"strikes" them in appearance is Bullock's and not Orchard, but don't
necessarily explain why. We went to Newport last weekend expecting to
see a Bullock's Oriole. Our immediate reaction upon seeing this bird in
life was that it struck us as an Orchard and not a Bullock's for reasons
explained in my original post. It has been suggested that the bird
lacks the "cute" appearance of an Orchard and looks "fierce" in some
photos. These are highly subjective terms that are unlikely to be
interpreted similarly by any two people looking at these images. I might
argue that the bird looks cute in the initial four images when it is
sitting in the myrtle tree, but looks a bit more fierce in the close-ups
when it is on the feeder, which begs the question, which of these
impressions is more meaningful? (probably neither).
I assume
that Tim Janzen took measurements from the photos in coming up with his
1.35:1 ratio of size difference between the oriole and the House
Sparrow, which as he indicates would put the oriole more in the range of
a Bullock's in size. That said, I am always a bit wary of trying to
take comparative measurements from photos, as there are all sorts of
variables that can't be accounted for. In terms of size comparisons. We
saw both female and immature male Red-winged Blackbirds using this same
feeder. Using average measurements taken from various sources, an
Orchard Oriole should be about the same size or a bit smaller than a
female Red-winged and clearly smaller than a male Red-winged. The size
of this bird was consistent with this expected size difference. Most
measurements for Bullock's Oriole put it close to if not equal to the
size (length) of a male Red-winged Blackbird. As we looked at the oriole
side-by-side with House Sparrows, House Finches, and fairly close to
White-crowned Sparrows it seemed to be closer in size to those species
than it did to the male Red-winged Blackbirds that occasionally visited
the feeders.
Terry Bronson's comments reference the variability
of the yellow noted in Birds of North America Online species account for
Bullock's Oriole. I think he is misinterpreting the statement in the
account. Rising et al. point out that the yellow is variable, not the
extent of the yellow. I think this statement refers to the yellow where
it normally occurs on a immature or female Bullock's and is not meant to
imply that the extent of the yellow on the underparts is highly
variable in immature and female birds. In several places in this account
the belly and flanks of female and immature Bullock's are described as
being "grayish white and sometimes slightly yellow." Nowhere in this
account does it indicate that the underparts of a immature or female
Bullock's can be predominantly yellow, which is clearly the case with
the Newport oriole.
I am the first to admit that when looking at
the photos of this bird there are some aspects of its appearance that
do not readily fit Orchard Oriole. Oregon is within the primary breeding
range of Bullock's Orioles, so this is a bird that I see many many
times each year. Hooded Oriole is a near-annual vagrant to Oregon. I've
seen this species in Oregon a number of times and I've also seen many
Hoodeds in my travels to places where they occur regularly. I have seen
one Orchard Oriole in Oregon, which ironically was Oregon's first, which
I and some fellow birders found back in September 1980 about 200 meters
from where this bird is being seen. I lived for a time in the Midwest,
where Orchards are fairly common breeders, so I feel like I have a good
basic feel for their relative size and structure. When I look at the
photos of the bird in the wax myrtle (the first four images in the
gallery), the bird strikes me as a pretty straightforward Orchard in
terms of overall color, size, head shape and bill length and shape. This
view formed my earliest impression of the bird. When I look at the
images of the bird on the feeder and back in the courtyard, its overall
appearance seems more ambiguous. The most consistent and unambiguous
thing about this bird is how extensively yellow or yellow-orange (if you
trust the color accuracy of the images) the bird on its underparts. I
have not found any reference or received any authoritative feedback
suggesting that a female or immature Bullock's of either sex can show
this much yellow below. In the absence of such evidence, I don't think
that one can casually suggest that this is Bullock's Oriole without some
explanation for why it is so yellow below
Lastly, there have
been some posts about this bird that mention "immature male" when
discussing the possibility of Orchard. One post to the Oregon Birders
Online listserv suggested that this bird was being called a young male
Orchard. This isn't the case. At no point in my discussions of this bird
with other birders present did any of us presume it to be a young male.
I value the responses that I've received so far and the fact
that a number of folks are looking at this bird and seeing a Bullock's.
As I've been writing this, some other commentary has come in and Wayne
Hoffman, who has also seen this bird repeatedly, privately sent me some
photos that I think better capture the color of the bird as I recall it
from seeing it in the field. He has a rump angle shot that shows the
tail feathers pretty well and a rump pattern that I think best fits
Bullock's. The tail feathers are worn, brown-looking and at least some
are quite pointed at the tip, which would seem to indicate that they are
retained juvenile rectrices, which does not mesh with Peter Pyle's
thinking that this is an adult female. Even if it were, the almost
entirely yellow underparts are problematic.
Dave Irons
In the end, I felt that Alvaro Jaramillo, who as Tim notes authored a ID guide
to the North American Icterids, offered the most specific and illuminating
commentary about this bird. He noted specifics about the bill pattern, body
shape and tail length, coloration of the wing coverts, and pattern in the face.
In his view all pointed to Bullock's Oriole and I had to agree with all the
points that he made, hence his was sort of the last word in this discussion.
Pasted below is his final comment. Note that for reasons I don't understand Tim
edited out the very last line of Alvaro's post (bold-faced below), which
appears just before his name. In my opinion, this is the most telling piece of
commentary in this entire thread. Even Alvaro, who has done more study of
orioles than any one I know, cannot offer an explanation for the overall
appearance of the bird and why it doesn't present coloration and pattern more
typical of an immature Bullock's Oriole.
David,
The last photo (17) shows some interesting features. The inner greater
coverts are distinctly grayish. That is a definite Bullock's feature. The
short tail and fat body, again Bullock's. Bill - mandible is essentially all
pale, with it bleeding into the maxilla, definite Bullock's-Baltimore. Dark
lores, dark eyeline, and distinct supercilium. All Bullock's.
http://www.birdfellow.com/photos/thumbnails/954-newport-oregon-oriole-jan-1-
2-2016?id=13454
Still, why does it look like this? Crazy stuff.
Alvaro
In the end, this bird remains a bit of a puzzler. Hopefully it will persist
through the winter and into the early spring.
A week or so ago, Wayne Hoffman shared images that suggested it was molting
flight feathers and his more recent image
showing the tail make appear that it may be replacing rectrices currently.
Hatch-year Bullock's Orioles go through preformative
molt after leaving the breeding grounds and that molt can persist until they
reach their wintering grounds. Since this bird
appears to be wintering here, we might expect to see some additional
transformation. It if remains until spring, there should be
at least some prealternate molt that occurs, again perhaps altering its look.
First impressions of a bird can lead you down the wrong path, as was clearly
the case with this bird when Shawneen and I first
saw it well. It was me who suggested it could be an Orchard and that certainly
influenced how I processed the rest of my
observations and perhaps influenced Shawneen's thinking about the bird as well.
We stood with others who also became
convinced that the bird could be an Orchard. Upon looking at photos and
conferring with others who had seen the bird, we
backed away from our convictions and started all over again with the ID
process. It was at that point I decided to post the images
to ID-Frontiers in hopes of finding someone who might be able to offer some
explanation for why the underparts were so
colorful. We are still waiting for that explanation, despite our satisfaction
that this bird is either an oddly colorful Bullock's or
potentially a hybrid involving Bullock's parentage. Hopefully, it will stick
around long enough for us to learn more.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR