Plume Zoom #6, answers revealed

Okay, I admit I was a little harsh on you with this one. I didn't give you a whole lot to go on. While none of the guesses were correct, they were noble guesses indeed, and not without merit.

Let's review:


With regards to the one on the left, does this help?

Still unsure? How about this?

The correct answer is a female Red-winged Blackbird. The striping alone in that "teaser" picture really didn't give you enough information. Plus, you couldn't get any idea of the size of the bird (thus, Pine Siskin was a pretty darn good guess!)

According to Cornell's All About Birds site (and also according to my Peterson's guide), Red-wing Blackbirds are year-round residents in most of the United States? So where the HECK do they hang out when it's not breeding season? I've never seen a RWBB in fall or winter.

Some interesting facts about the RWBB:

• The Red-winged Blackbird forms roosting congregations in all months of the year. In the summer it will roost in small numbers at night in the wetlands where it forages and breeds. In winter, it can form huge congregations of several million birds, which congregate in the evening and spread out each morning. Some may travel as far as 80 km (50 mi) between the roosting and feeding sites. It commonly shares its winter roost with other blackbird species and European Starlings.
• Different populations and subspecies of Red-winged Blackbirds vary markedly in size and proportions. An experiment was conducted that moved nestlings between populations and found that the chicks grew up to resemble their foster parents. This study indicated that much of the difference seen between populations is the result of the different environments.

Next up, our little yellow friend. Here's a full view:

Isn't he cute? This is a Pine Warbler. I about drove myself crazy trying to ID this bird last year. After looking at the map for this little one, I see that its range is actually quite small. Doesn't get west of eastern Texas, and it only gets that far west down south. As I learned from experience last year, this is one of the first warbles to return north, arriving as early as February in areas just north of their winter range. This warbler was first spotted at our feeders March 9th last year.

Cool facts:

• The Pine Warbler is the only warbler that eats large quantities of seeds, primarily those of pines. This seed-eating ability often brings them to bird feeders where they eat seeds in addition to suet.
• It is rarely found in deciduous vegetation except during migration.

The reason I chose these birds for this Plume Zoom is because there's a possibility one or both of these birds might show up at YOUR feeders in the next couple of weeks, and I wanted you to be prepared. Sorry for the level of difficulty.

Until next time...

Bird info provided by All About Birds.

Plume Zoom number 6

Where does the time go? I see it's been almost a month since my last Plume Zoom quiz! Sorry about that. Since it's been so long, I'll make this one a twofer.

Both of these birds made the disguising easy for me by either flying between the trees or flying out of the frame altogether. Do you know who they are?

More pictures, some interesting facts, and the answers on Wednesday!

Plume Zoom 5, answer revealed

I almost hated to wait until Wednesday to post the results of this week's Plume Zoom, since the answer is obviously not suspenseful to ANY of you who ventured your guess this week. Congratulations to all of you, nicely done.

The mystery bird is, of course, the Eastern Towhee. According to the Cornell Lab's All About Birds site, the Eastern Towhee became its own species in 1995. Until then it was "lumped in" with its western cousin, the Spotted Towhee. I think before the division they were simply called Rufous-sided Towhees.

Ground feeder and hopper extraordinaire, one of the identifying behaviors of the Towhee is the way it hops backward and scratches the ground to uncover its food. Other ground feeders do this, too, but the Towhee being larger than Juncos or most other sparrows, they make a little more of a show of it. They can be rather easily identified by ear as they sometimes say their name - "tow-HEE!" I find in the spring and summer months I hear them happily "tow-HEE"ing away, and making lots of racket working their way through the leaves, only to have a difficult time actually locating them. They also make a sort of "cheWINK" sound, and let us not forget their trademark song of "Drink your TEEEEEEEE!"

Three Towhees all lined up. So far this winter I think I've counted as many as 8 Towhees at one time.

The females are differentiated from the males in appearance by having brown feathers where the males have black feathers. I happen to like the female's coloration - I think it's quite pretty. Like this little girl here.

Looks like I'm going to have to step it up a notch for the next round and give you all a bit more of a challenge!

Plume Zoom #5

We're well overdue for a new edition of Plume Zoom, wouldn't you say?



As always, leave your guesses as to what species this is in the comments. I will reveal the answer and full photo on Wednesday evening. Can you wait that long?

Plume Zoom #4, answers revealed (and a life bird!)

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week's Plume Zoom. I think this edition has had the most participation yet! Thanks, and keep it coming everyone!

Okay, so here's the original shot that I gave to you in the quiz:

Here's zoomed out on that same shot:

Still not sure? Here's someone else, for comparison:

The correct answer is the Pine Siskin, which is a Life Bird for me! Here's a photo of both a Pine Siskin and its very near look-alike, the American Goldfinch, with distinguishing field marks emphasized for each.

When I saw the Siskin at my feeder my first thought was "Is that?!... no.... I think it's a Siskin!" First I grabbed my binocs for a more detailed look, and after confirming my suspicions I grabbed my camera (should always grab the camera first and confirm later, dummy, seeing as how the image may be the only way you CAN confirm it!).

The confirmation of this bird at my feeders shook my bird identification confidence a little. I often just make passing glances at the thistle feeder and don't really pay much attention to the birds that are perched there, just assuming they're Goldfinches. Seeing the Siskins there made me wonder how many other times they might have been there and I just didn't notice that subtle difference in their markings; however, when I was outside later that day and heard them chattering amongst themselves, I knew I was hearing a bird sound that was new to my ears, and that made me feel a little better that this was truly the first time they had been at my feeder, at least for any length of time.

I was worried it was going to be a short-lived thing with the Siskin that day, but it and 5 of its friends stayed around for the entire weekend. I hope they'll stay around for the rest of the season! Their presence does complicate my counts for Project Feederwatch a little bit, since I can no longer assume that all the birds at my thistle feeder are Goldfinches. Oh well - I enjoy having a new species on my weekly list.

Interestingly, I just saw this over on Bill of the Birds yesterday: "From the reports I've heard this is a big pine siskin year and a big white-winged crossbill year here in Ohio." Sounds like our Siskins are part of a state-wide trend!

There's always lots of squawking and scrapping at the thistle feeder.

The Pine Siskin is a winter visitor in most of the United States, including here in Ohio, but it is a year-round resident throughout parts of the west and along the west coast.

No, I don't feed my birds bling - I was shooting all these pictures through a screened window, and there must have been a bit of moisture on the seed that got caught just right between the sunlight and the screen.

Plume Zoom #4

Quiz time again. Welcome to the first Plume Zoom of 2009! As always, leave your guesses in the comments section. I will post the answer and more detailed photos on Wednesday.

As a side note, this is my 75th post! Woohoo!

Also, here's a funny photo I saw on I Can Has Cheezburger the other day, hee hee!



Maybe he will use his Kaufman guide to ID the bird in my quiz!

Plume Zoom #3, answers revealed

Well, I think it was not a good idea to run a quiz during the holiday season since it did not get much participation. At any rate, I'll go ahead and post the answer.

I know this is a little out of season, but I thought it might make for a good stumper (and I was right about that).


It's a bebeh Carolina Wren!

Look at him... he's all like, "where do I go?!"

One of baby's parental units on a nearby tree.

Isn't he just the cutest? I love his little Don King-wannabe tufts of feathers.

Okay, here's a brief synopsis of the story behind this little darling. It's May 2007, and Dave and I are both outside doing stuff, when I hear this awful squawking coming from the Wren nest under our house. I mean, I've never heard Wrens squawk like this. I assumed there was a snake threatening to invade the nest or something. It took a minute for me to figure out that the parents were ever so gently kicking the nestlings out of their nest. I think this little one must have been the runt of the proverbial litter, because I didn't see him fly much. It's brothers and sisters took off after mommy and daddy as they lured them farther and farther away from the nest, but this baby actually hop-flew-hopped in the OPPOSITE direction. Dave did his part to shoo it back in the right direction, and I think I did my not-so-great part by stressing the little booger out. I was so excited at the prospect of seeing a nestling so close that I pretty much got right on top of it with my camera (thus the fantastic detail in the first photo). Not a smart thing to do, and hopefully I will have enough restraint and respect for the bird if I'm presented with such a situation again. Luckily, after some time, this little one got reunited with its family (at least as far as we could tell).

Unfortunately, there is a sad side to this story. The wren's nest under the house is very close to our dogs' pen, and they were also very interested in all the noise and excitement. So excited that they had to investigate the first baby bird that made it to the ground up close and in person. Needless to say, that baby did not make it. I debated whether or not to include this bit of information in the story, but nature's not always pretty to our eyes and sensibilities, so I thought I should disclose all the information. After the first baby met its untimely demise, we penned the dogs up until we felt sure all the little ones were far enough away to be out of the dogs' reach.

Plume Zoom #3

Alright folks, this will be the last Plume Zoom post until after Christmas. If you're good, maybe the answer will be posted as an early Christmas present! ;)



Good luck, and see you in the comments.

Plume Zoom #2

Here is the next edition of the Plume Zoom bird ID quiz. This was a tricky ID for me this weekend.



Good luck! I'll reveal the answer at the end of the week.

Plume Zoom, answers revealed

Thanks to all of you who participated in the inaugural Plume Zoom quiz! I deem you all Darn Cool Birders just for making the effort.

Everyone got the Song Sparrow ID correct, which is awesome. The American Tree Sparrow was a little more tricky. It took me a few seasons before I was able to differentiate it from the Chipping Sparrow that one of you guessed. One way to tell the Tree Sparrow apart from the Chipping Sparrow is that the Tree Sparrow has a bi-colored bill (the top half is grey, the bottom half is yellow). Another characteristic that sets the Tree Sparrow apart from the Chipping Sparrow is breast markings: Tree Sparrow has a spot on its breast (not visible in this photo), whereas the Chipping Sparrow is clear-breasted.

Don't let my information about sparrow markings trick you into thinking that sparrow identification is easy for me. Quite the contrary. Every FeederWatch season is a lesson anew in sparrow ID. Sometimes there are as many as 4 different sparrows on the ground at once, and I'm often looking at them from up above, so seeing breast markings is sometimes a challenge, and keeping them all straight enough to count each species is even more of a challenge. Who has 1 wing bar and who has 2? Who has a spotted AND streaked breast? Who has just the spotted breast? Eye stripes? Eye rings? Pink bill? Yellow bill? AAARGHHH!

The challenge, however, is part of why I enjoy FeederWatching. It helps me to feel more engaged with the birds, and to appreciate them in their uniqueness.

By the way, there's a great guide to tricky sparrows over at the Great Backyard Bird Count site, along with other tricky bird ID guides, and great birding info in general.

Plume Zoom, the inaugural post

Alright faithful readers - I apologize for being so rough on you for not participating in my last "guess where I took it" photo quiz. For one thing, I didn't give you all enough time. And maybe I made it too easy. We'll try again.

I had an idea the other day for a new thing I could add to my posts, a little thing I call Plume Zoom. For the time being it will focus on zoomed in parts of birds, and you get to try your hand at ID'ing the bird. I will apologize in advance that the quality of the zoom won't be spectacular, but I think it will do the job.

Here are our first guests on Plume Zoom:

I will mention that there's a bit of seed in the top bird's beak, just so you don't think it's a deformity or part of its beak. And these are 2 different birds.

With Thanksgiving coming up, I'm sure we'll all be busy, so I'll give you all plenty of time to make your guesses on this. Check back next week for the answer. If you get it right? Well, then you're a darn cool birder.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!