GAME: name that bird!

[armchair bushman]

 

The Histurgops ruficaudus group were photographed in a dense thicket at the top of Lookout Hill in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

@@Tom Kellie,

 

I'm a little slow here (several days late), and I know you're on safari at the moment, but when you get back, PLEASE can you upload this record with a photo to the Kenya Bird Map and send in to the rarities committee. Rufous Tailed Weaver is only supposed to occur in Northern Tanzania, but my colleague, a keen birder has seen them once in Mara Naboisho Conservancy, and there has only ever been one or two other official records in Masai Mara. It is clear that they are there in Masai Mara, whether permanent or just on occasion, and your record on the Kenya Bird Map will be of GREAT use to the Kenya bird atlas.

 

Let me stress this again, this is an IMPORTANT record!

Rarities Committee: http://www.naturekenya.org/content/east-african-rarities-committee

Kenya Bird Map: http://kenyabirdmap.adu.org.za/aboutus.php

Email Colin Jackson with your photo and the exact location: colin.jackson(at)arocha.org (Colin is on the rarities committee, and this will be of great interest to him).

[janzin]

Still no more guesses? Or is no one around to participate... Here's another hint, its a South American bird (that at least eliminates a bunch from other continents!)

[Geoff]

@@janzin I was waiting for other members to have a turn.

 

My 2nd guess would be Santa Marta parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata)

[janzin]

@@Geoff you got it right! And all the way from Australia! Santa Marta Parakeet, endemic to the Santa Marta mountains of Colombia. Have you been there?

 

Now its your turn to post the next challenge...

[Geoff]

@@janzin No, I've not been there but I have birder friends (some are mad twitchers) that have and I've seen their images of South American parrots.

 

My offering. An Australian species that thrives in inhospitable salt marsh habitat. It also has a beautiful call.

 

[janzin]

@@Geoff I have no idea and I have no Australian field guides, but lovely photo!

[Geoff]

The last image seems to have stopped the game and I'm away from my main computer until the end of the week (skiing). So if anyone else wants to post another pic go for it...

[inyathi]

Even if you are away for a bit @@Geoff I thought I should at least take a punt before posting a new photo, I think it is a striated fieldwren Calamanthus fuliginosus

 

Does anyone have any ideas what this jungle beauty is?

Edited July 27, 2015 by inyathi

[Geoff]

@@inyathi Excellent, game on. Striated Fieldwren it is.

[offshorebirder]

@@inyathi - that is a tough one! But I think it is an Orange-headed Thrush (immature perhaps?)

[inyathi]

Yes it is an orange-headed thrush although it’s actually an adult male but of the white-throated race Zoothera citrina cyanota (or Geokichla citrina cyanota) found in peninsular India. There are perhaps 11 subspecies of orange-headed thrush though possibly some may turn out to be full species, the other subspecies are found in the Himalayas, Southern China and much of South East Asia including Java, Bali and Northeast Borneo. This subspecies is the only one to have such pronounced black and white face markings, some subspecies like Z. c. aurimacula from South Vietnam and Hainan and Z. c. melli from Southeastern China do have much the same face markings but the black and white is not nearly as pronounced, the other races do in fact as far as I know also have these face markings but they are so faint they're barely discernible.

 

The photo was taken in Periyar NP in Kerala in Southwest India.

 

Over to you @@offshorebirder

Edited July 28, 2015 by inyathi

[offshorebirder]

Thanks for the detailed info @@inyathi. I thought it might be an immature due to the brown (not blueish) wings, as the depictions I had seen all seemed to have blue colored wings...

 

-- By the way: I wish I had stumbled upon this thread sooner; it's fun! Kudos to @@Jochen for this little game.

I do not have my photo archive handy at the moment or I would post a fiendish ID challenge. :-)

But here are a couple of photos for y'all to peruse:

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2015 by offshorebirder

[inyathi]

I think this is one of the American flycatchers and I hope a North American species as there are quite a lot of birds that look rather like this in South America but for really no other reason than that you’re from the USA @@offshorebirder I am going to rule those out and plump for one from the North on the assumption you took these shots somewhere close to home.

 

My guess then is Acadian flycatcher Empidonax virescens

[offshorebirder]

I am impressed - you are very close @@inyathi - but not quite. And yes, you are lucky it is not one of the Elaenia of Central or South America, or identification from photos alone might be impossible :-)

 

I should probably give a hint, since my photos do not show the bird's primary projection. It had a short-to-medium primary projection (distance the primaries protrude past the tertials on the folded wing) .

 

Also note the bill length is a tad short for Acadian Flycatcher.

[inyathi]

Thanks @@offshorebirder I really wasn't certain so I had a feeling that my guess might prove close but incorrect, I’ll take one more punt and say alder flycatcher Empidonax alnorum

 

If I’m wrong again as may well be the case there are a couple of other possibilties but rather than take another guess I’ll pass and see if someone else wants to have a try, it shouldn’t be very difficult now that I’ve narrowed the field considerably.

[offshorebirder]

Close again but not quite I am afraid @@inyathi

 

I will go ahead and say it is not a Willow Flycather either, since they are essentially impossible to separate from Alder Flycatcher based on photos alone. Willow and Alder Flycatchers used to be called Traill's Flycatcher and birders still call seen but not heard individuals a Traill's. Unless one has them in the hand for precise measurements or hears them vocalizing, identification to precise species is uncertain.

[Soukous]

I'm feeling very left out and ignorant here as I know nothing about American bird species.

Impressed with your encyclopedic knowledge as always @@inyathi.

[janzin]

Given the extensive yellow I'd say Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Empidonax flaviventris. I'm no expert on the Empy's though!

[offshorebirder]

Close again, @@janzin but not quite I am afraid. But along with the yellow wash, I can see why you guessed YB Flycatcher since the bird in the photos does have such a short bill (hint hint).

 

For what it's worth, multiple Empidonax species can show surprising amounts of yellow wash on the underparts - particularly hatch-year birds. Acadian Flycatcher in particular is often mistaken for Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. But Acadians have much longer bills than YB Flycatcher and this bird. And Acadians have more vivid green backs and napes than this bird.

 

But in addition to yellow bellies and dirty yellow breasts, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers have yellow throats AND yellow chins which this bird does not...

 

Since another person has taken a stab, I would say it's fair for @@inyathi to have another go if he would like, since he was so close and narrowed the field so much with his previous venture.

[inyathi]

@@offshorebirder

 

@@Soukous

 

I’m reasonably familiar with South American birds now although there are far too many of them to ever really get to know them that well unless you wish to spend half your life in the Amazon or up in the Andes chasing antbirds and such like. My knowledge of North American birds is more limited as I’ve only ever spent a couple of weeks in the Southwest, my US bird list currently stands at only 36 and doesn’t include any of these troublesome flycatchers.

 

Before my last guess I thought I had narrowed it down to one of two the alder or the yellow-bellied I was going to go with the latter but then after a Google image search I saw a photo of the alder showing that the longest visible primary extends beyond tertials nearly ¾ and more than ⅔ the visible length of the longest tertial in the folded wing. I assumed that that was what you were referring to with your earlier clue but I guess perhaps I had that wrong the photo is on the following website but you have to click through the photos to find it.

 

http://www.choctawhatcheeaudubon.org/BirdHub.html

 

That was really the only reason I didn’t go with the yellow-bellied but now I see I was wrong on both counts I think therefore on the basis that it has the shortest bill of all of them I will now go with Hammond’s Empidomax hammondii

 

It all just goes to prove that Empidonax flycatchers are pretty difficult to tell apart, after my first guess I did find the following Identifying Empidonax Flycatchers: The Ratio Approach quite useful at least it excluded several species narrowing it down a bit I just guessed the wrong one again.

[offshorebirder]

Sorry @@inyathi but Hammonds Flycatcher is not it. If one looks at images of Hammond's, one will notice a much broader white eye-ring segment behind the eye - much heavier than the white eye ring segments in front of, above, and behind the bird's eye.

 

The bird in these ST photos has a fairly even whitish eye ring all around.

 

Sorry for the game of pin-the-tail on the Empid...

 

But there are only a few more Empid possibilities especially with short bills...

[Geoff]

A wild guess. Gray Flycatcher?

[offshorebirder]

Sorry @@Geoff - but it is not a Gray Flycatcher either.

 

Gray Flycatchers really are a drab gray color and they also have much longer bills.

 

And white not yellowish wingbars...

 

I will give another hint - the photos were taken on the east coast of North America during fall migration.

[kittykat23uk]

I am not familiar with these flycatchers but I will guess Least Flycatcher?

[offshorebirder]

Yes indeed @@kittykat23uk - Least Flycatcher it is.

 

The first photo shows the "big-headed" look the species often gives. Short bill, even eye ring (not teardrop effect), short/medium primary projection, not peaked-towards-the-rear crown shape, yellow wash on underparts not inconsistent, short to medium tail length.

 

Over to you @@kittykat23uk with honorable mention to @@inyathi for sure.