Darrel,
We’ve all been there before. While leading a field trip I once identified a
plastic milk jug as a Snowy Owl. At least your bird was breathing. I hope the
corvid you are consuming isn’t “Northwestern Crow.”
Tom
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
Darrel Faxon
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2020 1:56 PM
To: obol <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] grosfinch
OK.
I saw the bird.
I have seen Bill's photos.
I have studied Chuck's photos.
I have read the comments.
Consequently, some thoughts are in order.
(1) Given the fact the consensus from a number of very good birders is
that the bird was not a Pine Grosbeak, I concede I may have been wrong. It is
not the first time it has happened, and it likely will not be the last.
(2) None of the photos by either Bill or Chuck look to either Laura or me
like the bird looked in life. Whether that is an artifact of lighting, camera
function or faulty imagination on my part is for others to decide.
(3) The fact that the bird was in ratty plumage did not help in the
identification process.
(4) As others have pointed out, there seem to be discrepancies between the
plumage of the bird as photographed and that of any of the disputed species as
shown in the field guides.
(5) Under the circumstances, it might prove helpful, to some extent, to
shed some species by process of elimination. Excluding Common Rosefinch, which
does not need to be considered, there are six members of Fringillidae, that
could be considered. Pine Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Cassin's Finch, House Finch,
Red Crossbill and White-winged Crossbill. Toss the crossbills. Taking a cue
from consensus, toss Pine Grosbeak. We are down to the three carpodacus
finches.
The bird in question had a deeply forked tail. Even though Sibley does not show
this mark for Pine Grosbeak, nearly all online photos of the species reveal it
to be a prominent feature of that species' plumage. House Finch has a squared
off tail, which is even useful in separating it from Purple Finch, which has a
deeper fork. Toss House Finch. When I first saw the bird in question at my
feeder, I assumed it was a Black-headed Grosbeak, because they had been regular
at that same feeder right up to the day of the sighting, and this new bird was
every bit as large as a Black-headed Grosbeak. In the study I did of it over
the next two and a half hours, much of the time during which it was sitting in
plain sight on an exposed branch of a cherry tree about thirty feet from me, I
had the same impression of its size. Additionally, at one point it was in the
feeder with a Pine Siskin, and the size difference was obvious. One of the
photos taken by Bill Tice shows this fact. I have many Purple Finches at my
feeder every day all summer long, and never once have I seen one I mistook by
size for a Black-headed Grosbeak.. Based on size, toss Purple Finch. That goes
for Cassin's Finch as well.
So what that that leave? I still think there were features of the bird as
I saw it, that answer to PIne Grosbeak, but the photos do not back up that
assessment. For one thing, the bill is simply flat out wrong for that species,
and given that discrepancy, I see no point in discussing other features of the
admittedly ratty plumage.. Grosfinch. pure and simple. I would like to think
this sighting proved to be a learning experience for myself and others, but
what any of us might have learned seems to me be as much in question as the
identity of the bird.
Thank you to all of you, who responded to my posts in regard to it, both on
OBOL and in private. Crow doesn't taste so bad if one puts enough whipped cream
on it.
Darrel
