Hi -
I just found an interesting statement about underparts color in Bullock's
Orioles: In their Streak-backed Oriole account, in the Similar Species section,
Howell et. al. 2014. Rare Birds of North America wrote:
"1st year male Bullock's can have distinct narrow dark back streaks but belly
usually pale gray (rarely solidly orange-yellow below)..."
They also noted that Bullock's has "longer primary projection" then
Streak-backed. I am not sure whether they mean projection of folded primaries
beyond secondaries (as Hammonds vs Least flycatchers), or primary reach
relative to the tail (as Western Wood Pewee vs Empidonaxes) but Dave's and my
photos seem to show both, when compared to Howell et al.'s illustrations of
Streak-backed.
Several things about this bird are wrong for Streak-backed Oriole, but after
Bullock's it actually comes closest in overall appearance. Bill color and shape
are wrong, face pattern has too little black unless bird is very young or has
delayed preformative molt, above-mentioned primary projection is longer. On the
other hand the overall plumage color, the wing pattern the back pattern the
rest of the face look remarkably like Howell et al.'s illustrations.
Wayne
From: "David Irons" <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
To: "Alvaro Jaramillo" <chucao@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "lehman paul1"
<lehman.paul1@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Shawneen Finnegan" <shawneenfinnegan@xxxxxxxxx>,
"Peter Pyle" <ppyle@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "Wayne Hoffman" <whoffman@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2016 8:59:59 PM
Subject: Newport Oriole -- a couple new photos taken on 7 January
Greetings All,
I have added three new images, two taken by Owen Schmidt on 7 January, to the
gallery of photos of the Newport oriole. Owen's shots reveal that the black
spot, now a bit bigger than it was when we saw it 1-2 January, is indeed black
feathering and not an injury or shadowed pit as it appeared to be when we saw
it. There seems to be a bit more black on the chin and upper throat as well. He
also sent me a really nice undertail shot that shows the irregular lengths of
the tail feathers, growth bars on those feathers and pale wispy edges on the
undertail coverts, which is typical of newly grown feathers is it not? These
images suggest to me that the bird is currently molting. Given the date and age
of the bird, I suppose we can assume that this is part of the protracted
preformative molt that Peter described in an earlier post. It seems likely that
in the next couple weeks we may see more black feathering emerge on the throat.
http://www.birdfellow.com/photos/thumbnails/954-newport-oregon-oriole-jan-1-2-2016
I still can't wrap my head around this being a "pure" Bullock's and the tone of
the color below leads me to wonder if a Bullock's X Baltimore hybrid could look
this lemony yellow below. If this bird is still present in a couple weeks, I
plan to go over for another look and hopefully more photos. If the Siberian
Accentor sticks, next weekend will involve a chase of that, hopefully with a
Redwing chaser.
Dave Irons
