ID-FRONTIERS for October 14-20, 2001

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Date   Time   Re: French gull ID   Peter Adriaens    Mon, 15 Oct 2001   10:14am   Basic Adult (?) Bridled Terns   Noel Wamer    Tue, 16 Oct 2001   1:30pm   Help with basic-pl wigeon   creagrus    Thu, 18 Oct 2001   11:52am   Re: Help with basic-pl wigeon   Andrew Guthrie    Thu, 18 Oct 2001   2:03pm   Richard's Pipit Anthus richardi photos from Spain online   =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricar   Thu, 18 Oct 2001   2:44pm   Re: Help with basic-pl wigeon   Lethaby, Nick   Thu, 18 Oct 2001   3:28pm   uncommon nighthawk   paul conover    Thu, 18 Oct 2001   9:42pm   Re: Help with basic-pl wigeon   Killian Mullarney    Fri, 19 Oct 2001   2:48am   aleutian tern flight style   Phil Pickering    Sat, 20 Oct 2001   9:17am   Re: basic-plumaged wigeon   Don Roberson    Sat, 20 Oct 2001   6:38pm

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Subject: Re: French gull ID
From: Peter Adriaens <Peter.Adriaens(AT)KENDER-THIJSSEN.BE>
Date: 15 Oct 2001 10:14am

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Hi all,

this is a rather late reply on the French first-year gull; I was away on a
birding trip.
The photographs are instructive because they illustrate how similar
Yellow-legged Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls of this age can be at
times. This is not just a "beginner's problem"; even birders with vast
experience of both species may find it hard to distinguish between them
occasionally. Many good articles on the identification of Yellow-legged
Gulls have been written, but they tend to leave out the distinctions from
first-year GBBG, though Jonsson (in Alula) mentions that some of those can
be very puzzling.

The theoretical characters distinguishing both species in their first-year
plumages are well known. Among the more useful, I would include bill shape
(nearly always very blunt in GBBG, with a very steep downward curve at the
distal end of the upper mandible, and with pronounced gonydeal angle), tail
pattern (the black tail band is normally thin in 1y GBBG, while solid and
rather thick in YLG; also, fresh-plumaged GBBGs normally have a broad white
terminal edge on the tail), and pattern of the underwing (uniformly dark
underwing-coverts in 1y GBBG; quite often some paler bands or streaks
present in 1y YLG, especially along the greater underwing-coverts).
First-year GBBG often has boldly marked dark scapulars, while the greater
coverts (except outers) are very white, with only three obvious black bars
-- thus the scapulars may look more solidly dark than the greater coverts.
The second-generation scapulars of typical YLGs are rather pale, having only
thin dark barring or anchors, while the greater coverts are quite dark --
this may create the effect of a paler 'saddle' contrasting with darker
wingcoverts in first-winter birds. This is, however, not always true, as
some 1y YLGs certainly can have boldly marked scapulars.
Size alone will tell most birds apart, but not all -- small female GBBG may
be very close to large male YLG. Adding to the problem, some 1y GBBG can
look surprisingly long-winged (due to a rather long primary projection) and
some juveniles have a surprisingly rapid moult of their scapulars.

One median covert on the French bird looks interesting -- it is quite
differently patterned than the others, but perhaps it is just an oddly
marked or replaced feather, not a moulted one.

I tend to believe that the bird is more likely a YLG, but would like to see
flight shots of it. Little can be seen of its tail, but the visible part
seems rather pale -- there is certainly no suggestion of a solid dark tail
band (note: exceptionally, 1y YLG may have only a thin or broken tail band,
but this is rare). Bill shape seems better for YLG than GBBG (especially
when you look at the gonys).

While looking at the website
(http://digimages.multimania.com/goeleu/goeleu.htm), I was actually more
surprised to see the bird labeled "1er hiver, 26 novembre 2000, lac de
Maine" included as a Yellow-legged Gull. To my eyes, and based on the two
available photographs only (no flight shots), it looks very much like a
normal Lesser Black-backed Gull to me (both in shape and plumage, including
moult state).

Best regards,
Peter Adriaens
Belgium

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Subject: Basic Adult (?) Bridled Terns
From: Noel Wamer <nwamer(AT)MEDIAONE.NET>
Date: 16 Oct 2001 1:30pm

Hi,

The passage of tropical storm Gabrielle across the northern Florida
Peninsula in mid-September brought many Bridled and Sooty Terns on-shore in
the northeastern part of the state.  I was able to find a number of these
birds on the morning of September 15 at Guana River State Park in northern
St. Johns County.  Many of the Bridled Terns were in what I can only assume
was adult basic plumage.  This was my first experience with this
plumage.  I was able to photograph two such individuals along with several
juveniles, and an apparent alternate plumaged Sooty Tern.

In my search for information on Bridled adult basic plumage I was able to
find only two illustrations of it (Sibley, Olsen and Larsson).  Neither of
these paintings is especially close to the individuals I photographed, but
the written description in Olsen and Larsson might be a good matching
description.  Very striking to me is the very limited dark in the loral and
post ocular areas that produced a beady-eyed look.  Also, I was not able to
locate any photographs of this plumage, so it may be seldom photographed.

Whatever, nine photographs can be viewed on three web pages, starting at:
http://www.badbirdz.com/terns1.htm

As always any comments on this subject will be appreciated, and complaints
will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Later...

Noel Wamer
Jacksonville, FL, US
The Virtual 'Hood: http://www.badbirdz.com/dripperCam.htm
Check the latest garden pix: http://www.badbirdz.com/garden04262001.htm
"Even in its most primitive form, naming is a kind of judgment."
                                                        (Walker Percy)


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Subject: Help with basic-pl wigeon
From: creagrus <creagrus(AT)MONTEREYBAY.COM>
Date: 18 Oct 2001 11:52am

Eurasian Wigeon are regular in small numbers in California among flocks
of wintering American Wigeon, but it is quite scarce in coastal central
California where we see only alternate-plumaged males (about
1-3/winter). Last week I encountered two basic-plumaged wigeon in
Carmel, Monterey County, that presented difficulties in sex/ageing
and/or i.d. Photos are posted at:
http://montereybay.com/creagrus/Wigeon-crm.html

The first bird (top 2 photos) seems to be a Eurasian Wigeon but does
anyone have a good handle on sex and/or ageing criteria in early
October? Do adults migrate in basic plumage? Or is this a first-basic
male as I suggest on the web page after a review of BWP? BWP seems to
say that adults do a short molt-migration in Aug-Sep, and then the
long-distance migration is Oct-Dec, apparently after pre-alternate molt?

As to the second bird, some have stated to me that not even the flight
shot is diagnostic. Are the axillaries hidden as one commentator has
suggested? My suggestions on the page may be in error.

I would especially appreciate input from Europe or the East Coast where
you see many more of these birds.

Thanks in advance,
Don Roberson
Pacific Grove, CA

P.S. Lots of recent rarity highlights in Monterey Co. are at
http://montereybay.com/creagrus/MTY_2001.html
and various new bird family pages are now available. See
http://montereybay.com/creagrus/new.html


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Subject: Re: Help with basic-pl wigeon
From: Andrew Guthrie <andrew.guthrie(AT)EY.COM>
Date: 18 Oct 2001 2:03pm

Don Roberson's message comes just as Angus Wilson and I have been
pondering the same issue on the east coast.  Angus has put together a
quick web page with pictures of a rusty-headed basic-type Eurasian Wigeon
that I first noted at Jamaica Bay refuge in New York City on October 13,
2001, along with 3 "typical" male Eurasian Wigeons in various stages of
molt.  Angus was able to relocate these birds the following day and
managed to get closer pictures of the intriguing individual.

Our thoughts were similar to Don's - that the bird was likely an eclipse
or first-year male.  One question we still have is whether an adult
eclipse male is likely to be in this plumage at mid-October.  We would
also appreciate any thoughts or comments on aging and molt timing.  Wigeon
often remain at Jamaica Bay well into late fall, so we'll try to keep an
eye out for this individual to see if it shows any molt progression.

Angus's web page is accessible at:
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/EurWig.html

Cheers,
Andy Guthrie
Port Chester, NY
andyguthrie(AT)earthlink.net

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Subject: Richard's Pipit Anthus richardi photos from Spain
          online
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricard_Guti=E9rrez?= <GUTARB(AT)TERRA.ES>
Date: 18 Oct 2001 2:44pm

Four large format photos of a Richard's Pipit Anthus richardi seen yesterday
at Llobregat Delta, Barcelona, Spain can be found at Rare Birds in Spain
website http://www.terra.es/personal3/gutarb
The bird was a 1st winter but already on 17.10 had moulted all median
coverts to adult pattern plumage. However retained greater coverts and
tertials,which appeared worn and showing juvenile pattern pointed towards a
first winter bird. All these details are visible in the shots.
Hope it's interesting for the list

Ricard Gutiérrez
Spain
18.10.2001


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Subject: Re: Help with basic-pl wigeon
From: "Lethaby, Nick" <nlethaby(AT)TI.COM>
Date: 18 Oct 2001 3:28pm

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All:

In Cal, I've seen eclipse male Wigeons in Oct at least a couple of times.
Eclipse males tend to be pretty bright red-brown and are really obvious.
Real females seem to be very hard to find. I've only seen a few in over 12
years of looking, but I would probably only see obviously noticeable ones
next to male Eurasians.

Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Guthrie [mailto:andrew.guthrie(AT)EY.COM]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 2:06 PM
To: BIRDWG01(AT)LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [BIRDWG01] Help with basic-pl wigeon

Don Roberson's message comes just as Angus Wilson and I have been
pondering the same issue on the east coast.  Angus has put together a
quick web page with pictures of a rusty-headed basic-type Eurasian Wigeon
that I first noted at Jamaica Bay refuge in New York City on October 13,
2001, along with 3 "typical" male Eurasian Wigeons in various stages of
molt.  Angus was able to relocate these birds the following day and
managed to get closer pictures of the intriguing individual.

Our thoughts were similar to Don's - that the bird was likely an eclipse
or first-year male.  One question we still have is whether an adult
eclipse male is likely to be in this plumage at mid-October.  We would
also appreciate any thoughts or comments on aging and molt timing.  Wigeon
often remain at Jamaica Bay well into late fall, so we'll try to keep an
eye out for this individual to see if it shows any molt progression.

Angus's web page is accessible at:
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/EurWig.html

Cheers,
Andy Guthrie
Port Chester, NY
andyguthrie(AT)earthlink.net

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Subject: uncommon nighthawk
From: paul conover <conover(AT)TALSTAR.COM>
Date: 18 Oct 2001 9:42pm

    those of you who have copies of the 'handbook of the birds of the world'
at your disposal should examine the photos of the nighthawk[s] on page 321
of volume 5.
    i don't recall whether this misidentification had been discussed before
on the list, but thought it worth a mention in case it hadn't.

paul conover
lafayette, la


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Subject: Re: Help with basic-pl wigeon
From: Killian Mullarney <kmullarney(AT)EIRCOM.NET>
Date: 19 Oct 2001 2:48am

Just in case some of you may refer to the Collins "Bird Guide"/ Princeton
"Birds of Europe" for information on ageing/sexing Eurasian Wigeon at this
time of year, I feel I should draw attention to an unfortunate caption error
on the Wigeon plate, page 51. The left-most main figure (in both the
Eurasian Wigeon and American Wigeon arrangements) are incorrectly captioned
"juv"; they are in fact both adult females (this has been corrected in the
Collins large format edition).  In autumn/fall when all wigeon are either
juvenile or eclipse adults the most reliably judged and consistent ageing
feature, when visible, is the pattern of the wing coverts. Of course, most
of the time these remain more or less completely hidden behind flank
feathers or scapulars but prolonged observation of an individual will
usually pay off, eventually, when the bird preens, or wing-stretches.The
differences in wing-covert patterns, and other associated age/sex indicators
that I have noticed are as follows:

Adult male: large white wing patch, all year round, so even full-eclipse
birds have extensively white wing coverts and a "sliver" of this is often
visible on swimming birds (as in photo 7 on Angus Wilson's site). Most are
still very much in eclipse in early-mid-October, but more advanced birds
have by now acquired quite a lot of basic plumage. Note that even in
July/August eclipse males seem always to show a large patch of grey (at
close range finely vermiculated feathers)  on the mantle. Their plumage is
otherwise very dark and richly coloured, deep rust-brown. Note that the
bill, at least at this time of year is clean, pale grey blue, paler  and
brighter than on  juvs and with a neat, clear-cut black tip.

Adult females:  variable, but median+lesser wing coverts always more crisply
and cleanly fringed white producing a "fish-scales" pattern (as in
incorrectly-captioned Collins guide illustration) than juvs.

Juvenile/first-winter (or first- basic) male: Again, variable, but wing
covert patch usually rather plain, washed-out (light) greyish-brown, never
the bold, clean white of adult males. Some juv males have a
"ghost-impression" of the adult's wing-patch (though much reduced in
extent), or a few of pale greyish-white feathers among an otherwise pale
brownish patch. Note that young males tend to have a more blackish speculum
(often with a small patch of iridescent-green) than young females. Young
birds of both sexes often have a trace of dark along the culmen (forking
toward the bill-base, just above the nostrils);this is certainly absent in
adult males, and usually also absent in adult females, but there may be
exceptions in the case of the latter. Young males which have commenced the
post-juvenile moult can often be easily sexed when they acquire a few
adult-type pale grey ( finely vermiculated at close range) scapulars or
flank feathers. By late-November many are so advanced in their body moult
that they look superficially like adult males and you may need to wait until
the wing coverts are revealed to be sure they are not adult.

Juvenile/first-winter (or first-basic) female: Often the drabbest, most
washed out members of the flock are young females. They usually have very
plain wing coverts with little more than very thin buffish fringes to the
wing coverts, though on some one row of medians may have a slightly
stronger, whiter fringe. Usually, the secondaries are dull greyish (rather
than backish) and they completely lack gloss. Note that on fresh juveniles
(of both sexes) the feathers of the breast, flanks and scapulars are
comparatively small with a beautiful, subtle regular pattern/texture, as is
visible in photos 4 & 5 of Angus Wilson's compilation.

A few years ago I devoted a lot of time to looking through  Eurasian Wigeon
flocks in an attempt to work out the best means of ageing and sexing birds
at this time of year and a little earlier. At first, the variation was
bewildering but gradually I began to recognise that in spite of a high
degree of individual variation there are certain consistent traits of each
age/sex category. Many of them are really too subtle or too "personal" to
waste time describing  here without having some accompanying visual. Over
and over again though, it was the pattern of the wing coverts which, in
combination with other aspects of the plumage (especially the first
post-juvenile feathers in young males) confirmed the age and sex.

I believe the "Mystery wigeon" featured in the first five photos on Angus
Wilson's site is a "dark" juvenile male Eurasian, but I would love to know
what its wing covert pattern was like! Note the bill pattern in shot 3,
which certainly eliminates adult male eclipse (as does, I believe, the
absence of clearly grey feathers in the mantle area), and the beautiful
texture of the breast/flank in shots 4 and 5, which is typical of fresh
juvenile plumage.

I'd be more circumspect about offering an opinion on the age/sex of Don
Roberson's birds  except to say that neither is  an eclipse male. There is
no question, however, that the axillaries are visible in the lower photo and
that they are grey, like a Eurasian.

The bottom line in all this is, try to get a look at the wing covert pattern
of any difficult-to-age/sex wigeon, and you're almost there!

Regards,

Killian Mullarney
kmullarney(AT)eircom.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Guthrie <andrew.guthrie(AT)EY.COM>
To: <BIRDWG01(AT)LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: [BIRDWG01] Help with basic-pl wigeon

> Don Roberson's message comes just as Angus Wilson and I have been
> pondering the same issue on the east coast.  Angus has put together a
> quick web page with pictures of a rusty-headed basic-type Eurasian Wigeon
> that I first noted at Jamaica Bay refuge in New York City on October 13,
> 2001, along with 3 "typical" male Eurasian Wigeons in various stages of
> molt.  Angus was able to relocate these birds the following day and
> managed to get closer pictures of the intriguing individual.
>
> Our thoughts were similar to Don's - that the bird was likely an eclipse
> or first-year male.  One question we still have is whether an adult
> eclipse male is likely to be in this plumage at mid-October.  We would
> also appreciate any thoughts or comments on aging and molt timing.  Wigeon
> often remain at Jamaica Bay well into late fall, so we'll try to keep an
> eye out for this individual to see if it shows any molt progression.
>
> Angus's web page is accessible at:
> http://www.oceanwanderers.com/EurWig.html
>
> Cheers,
> Andy Guthrie
> Port Chester, NY
> andyguthrie(AT)earthlink.net
>
>
>
>
****************************************************************************
***
> Note:          The information contained in this message may be privileged
> and confidential and protected from disclosure.  If the reader of this
> message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible
> for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby
> notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this
> communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
> communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the
> message and deleting it from your computer.  Thank you.  Ernst & Young LLP
>
****************************************************************************
***
>


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Subject: aleutian tern flight style
From: Phil Pickering <philliplc(AT)HARBORSIDE.COM>
Date: 20 Oct 2001 9:17am

Can anyone with Alaskan experience comment on the (cruising) flight
style of Aleutian Tern? Are the wing strokes strong and fairly even
like Common, or is there an Arctic-like hesitation on the downbeat?
Are the wing strokes noticeably slower than Common?

Thanks,

Phil Pickering
Lincoln City, Oregon
philliplc(AT)harborside.com


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Subject: Re: basic-plumaged wigeon
From: Don Roberson <creagrus(AT)MONTEREYBAY.COM>
Date: 20 Oct 2001 6:38pm

Thanks to a plethera of replies from "Frontiers of Bird i.d." (both public &
private), I have been able to both relook at the Carmel wigeon and accurately
age & i.d. them (they are juv/first-basic Eurasian Wigeon, and at least one is
a male), and I have revised my web page to compile some of the fine analysis
received in response to my questions. Many thanks to you all. Am also
cross-posting to local chat for those who may be interested.
The page is at http://montereybay.com/creagrus/Wigeon-crm.html

Don Roberson