[texbirds] Re: Recent Hepatic Tanager reports
- From: mitch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: gcwarbler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 13:05:23 -0700
Hi all,
I just want to underscore Chuck's comment. Many Summer Tanagers here
around
Utopia show dark gray bills. It is normal. And as Chuck says generally
the improession one gets from books is that pale bill = Summer Tanager
and dark bill = Hepatic. Which is false. Often upon close scrutiny
many here will show a dark bill with pale horn along cutting edges of
both
maxila and mandible. But at any distance the bill looks all dark on
countless Summer Tanagers here. It is a lead grayish color usually,
but pending light, may look black.
Mitch Heindel
Utopia
On 2014-09-16 11:57, Chuck Sexton wrote:
> TexBirders,
>
> I hope that all the observers of the recent small spate of Hepatic
> Tanagers in CenTex are taking long looks at those birds. While that
> species is known to be a rare fall/winter migrant/vagrant in this
> region, I just had an unnerving experience with a tanager at Longhorn
> Dam on Sunday, Sept. 14:
>
> I studied a female/juvenile Summer Tanager at close range for about 30
> seconds which had an obvious dark bill. The bill color was dark dusky
> gray-brown. The length and shape of the bill was typical of Summer
> Tanager and too long for Hepatic. The plumage was almost entirely
> dull yellow with no orange tones; yellow-olive on back and wings, with
> grayish tail.
>
> None of the standard field guides mention the dark bills of juvenile
> Summer Tanagers, I believe. Upon further research, I noted that
> Pyle’s “Identification Guide” does not mention anything about juvenile
> Summer Tanagers having anything but yellowish or horn colored bills,
> HOWEVER, the extensive descriptions in Oberholser’s “Bird Life of
> Texas” state that juvenile male and female Summer Tanager’s will have
> a bill which is “brownish to dark brown”.
>
> The “dark” bill of Hepatic tanager is a distinctive blackish color
> which sometimes may have a bluish white base or lower mandible
> (breeding season?). There are structural differences of Hepatic’s
> bill from Summer along with plumage differences. Just noting a “black
> bill” on a yellowish tanager will be insufficient to confirm an
> out-of-range Hepatic Tanager.
>
> Just sayin’…
>
> Chuck Sexton
> Austin, TX
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