Birds in the hand - what it does for your bird ID skills

Now that you've seen the process of bird banding, lets take a closer look at some of the birds. Keep in mind that since it's fall, these birds are no longer in their breeding plumage, which will make for some tricky ID work, especially when it comes to the warblers. (My Peterson's guide has several pages devoted to "confusing fall warblers" which I didn't really appreciate until now!)

By the way, I would just like to clarify that I did not handle any of these birds personally. All birds were banded and handled by the trained staff and volunteers of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. This was all part of a public banding demonstration.

We'll start off with the thrush triple play that I mentioned a few posts back. Two of these birds were lifers for me.

We start off with the Wood Thrush, a denizen of our woods each spring and summer. The prominent identifying marks here are the bold white eye ring and the rusty coloring.

I have to apologize for the lighting on the next few pictures...

Grey-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes (from left to right), both life birds for me. It's unlikely I would see them in my neck of the woods as they both breed far north into Canada. It would be a rare treat indeed to see them pass through on migration on this patch of land.

Both the Swainson's and the Grey-cheeked are more olive colored (especially compared to the Wood Thrush), but the Swainson's has a more visible eye ring than Grey-cheeked.

Here's the Grey-cheeked, perhaps the most drab of all 3 presented here. (Again, I apologize for the dark photos.)

Swainson's and Wood Thrushes side by side. Here you can really see the drab olive coloring of the Swainson's on the left versus the rust (some might say ochraceous) coloring of the Wood Thrush on the right.

And here, if you will indulge me in one more comparison, you can see the subtle differences in the spotting of the chest on the Swainson's on the left and the Wood Thrush on the right.

Okay, moving on to the warblers!

This is the Common Yellowthroat, which I never would have guessed the identity of in a million years. The BSBO folks said it's a hatchling-year bird (sex unknown), which is a likely explanation for the lack of the diagnostic black mask.

This little gem is the Magnolia Warbler. Again, a far cry from his boldly streaked plumage during breeding season, but still identifiable by the presence of wing bars and, more tellingly...

... the white band across the middle of the tail feathers.

Another thing that stuck out in my mind was the faint necklace of white between it's chin and chest. Oh yeah, this was a lifer for me.

Black-throated Green Warlber. Aside from the wing bars, only the faintest hint of black remains in the throat to give away who this is. Kelly and I tracked one of these down at Cedar Falls in the Hocking Hills back in July.

Nashville Warbler (lifer). Pretty plain as warblers go, this is distinguished from the Connecticut Warbler (which we did not see) by the fact that it's throat is yellow (the Connecticut would have a olive/bluish head AND throat).

Finally, we will conclude with some little sprites:

The Winter Wren and House Wren (left to right). Both life birds for me, and very good for me to see because I had no idea exactly how small they are. Compared to a Carolina Wren, well, these guys are tiny.

Comparing the tails of the House Wren (on the left) and the Winter Wren (on the right). Everything about the Winter Wren is compact, including it's stumpy little tail!

Here you can also compare the somewhat curved beak of the House Wren (left) to the straighter beak of the Winter Wren (right). Also, notice the eyebrow stripe on the Winter Wren.

I just want to put him in my pocket and carry him around with me all day - he's that cute!

Seeing all of these birds so close, having these pictures to study at my leisure, and comparing the photos to books and online field guides has greatly increased my likelihood of being able to identify these tricky birds in the future. I am grateful to the knowledgeable staff and volunteers at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory for pointing out so many of the field marks that I mentioned here.

This concludes my official "report" about my experiences at this year's Midwest Birding Symposium. I still have some random images I'd like to share, but I do have some other things I'd like to get posting about. If you found any of this info about the symposium even remotely interesting, keep September 2011 in the back of your mind for the next one (hopefully at Lakeside!).

Happy birding!