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Quiz #15 (answered)
Quiz #15 06/09/08-06/22/08
Nearly everyone guessed a woodpecker, so family obviously was not too cryptic this week. However, this can be confirmed by the position, on a tree trunk, and the fact that it is bracing itself upright by the use of its rectrices (tail feathers). Only woodpeckers and creepers do this and Brown Creeper can be eliminated by plumage. So, we have a very black woodpecker. Most ABA woodpeckers are in fact quite black but in most of these the black is restricted at least in part to the dorsum.
When we consider that this bird has black on the legs, vent and belly most are eliminated. Leaving us with four species. Yes, four. Looking in Sibley’s you will likely come up with three, Lewis’s, White-headed and Pileated. Whether you believe in the “rediscovery” or not for our purposes we really should be considering Ivory-billed Woodpecker. IBWO is still on the ABA checklist after all. In this shot we would likely see the rose and white coloration on the belly of Lewis’s. And, as has been much publicized recently, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have completely white secondaries. This bird clearly doesn’t so, sadly, this species can be eliminated (from this quiz only!) as well. Saying nothing of the fact that I would be quite famous if I had taken a picture like this of an Ivory-bill. The last two are surprisingly similar given the view we have here. Both species have white at the base of the primaries and are all black (in what is visible). However, the amount of white showing would be way too little for White-headed Woodpecker. It probably helps that this bird is a male since female Pileateds have more white on their primaries (in general.) I took this shot of a feeding male PILEATED WOODPECKER at Tryon Creek State Park in Portland, OR.
As an aside, I chose this shot in part because of the similarity between this shot and the few frames from the, now famous, Luneau video from Arkansas of a (disputed) Ivory-billed Woodpecker that shows the bird in question’s right wing as it prepares to take flight. Check out the evidence for yourself if you haven’t done it already!
ANSWER BREAKDOWN:
Pileated Woopecker – 12
Vaux’s Swift – 1
ANSWER:
PILEATED WOODPECKER
CONRATULATIONS:
Tom Discoll
John Notis
Doug Robinson
Pamela Johnston
Larry McQueen
Mark Nikas
Patty Newland
Nanette and Rich Armstrong
Michael Butler
Dave Mellinger
Gina Johnson
Steven Holt
Quiz #15 (answered)
Quiz #15 06/09/08-06/22/08
Nearly everyone guessed a woodpecker, so family obviously was not too cryptic this week. However, this can be confirmed by the position, on a tree trunk, and the fact that it is bracing itself upright by the use of its rectrices (tail feathers). Only woodpeckers and creepers do this and Brown Creeper can be eliminated by plumage. So, we have a very black woodpecker. Most ABA woodpeckers are in fact quite black but in most of these the black is restricted at least in part to the dorsum.
When we consider that this bird has black on the legs, vent and belly most are eliminated. Leaving us with four species. Yes, four. Looking in Sibley’s you will likely come up with three, Lewis’s, White-headed and Pileated. Whether you believe in the “rediscovery” or not for our purposes we really should be considering Ivory-billed Woodpecker. IBWO is still on the ABA checklist after all. In this shot we would likely see the rose and white coloration on the belly of Lewis’s. And, as has been much publicized recently, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have completely white secondaries. This bird clearly doesn’t so, sadly, this species can be eliminated (from this quiz only!) as well. Saying nothing of the fact that I would be quite famous if I had taken a picture like this of an Ivory-bill. The last two are surprisingly similar given the view we have here. Both species have white at the base of the primaries and are all black (in what is visible). However, the amount of white showing would be way too little for White-headed Woodpecker. It probably helps that this bird is a male since female Pileateds have more white on their primaries (in general.) I took this shot of a feeding male PILEATED WOODPECKER at Tryon Creek State Park in Portland, OR.
As an aside, I chose this shot in part because of the similarity between this shot and the few frames from the, now famous, Luneau video from Arkansas of a (disputed) Ivory-billed Woodpecker that shows the bird in question’s right wing as it prepares to take flight. Check out the evidence for yourself if you haven’t done it already!
ANSWER BREAKDOWN:
Pileated Woopecker – 12
Vaux’s Swift – 1
ANSWER:
PILEATED WOODPECKER
CONRATULATIONS:
Tom Discoll
John Notis
Doug Robinson
Pamela Johnston
Larry McQueen
Mark Nikas
Patty Newland
Nanette and Rich Armstrong
Michael Butler
Dave Mellinger
Gina Johnson
Steven Holt