GAME: name that bird!

[Soukous]

Very frustrated that none of my bird photos are remotely difficult to ID.

 

[Peter Connan]

I would have thought that's a god thing?

[Geoff]

That's a very easy one for me Martin. I'll let other members have a guess. It's one of these...

 

Edited October 6, 2015 by Geoff

[janzin]

I think I got this one--Australian Magpie.

[Soukous]

@@janzin - nope, I'm pretty sure it is not

[mvecht]

@@Soukous

 

With Geoff mentioning that it is easy for him I am guessing that it is an Australian bird.

Having only been to Australia once on a business trip I am not too familiar with Australian birds but I think it is

Cracticus nigrogularis (Pied Butcherbird)

Edited October 7, 2015 by mvecht

[janzin]

Ack you're right, I had the chest colors reversed! That's what I get for rushing late at night

[Soukous]

Yes @@mvecht you got it. Pied Butcherbird.

Over to you

[mvecht]

OK

The next one is not from Australia.

It is considered a very noisy bird and is quite famous in the area where I took the picture

[janzin]

Chachalaca, but which one? Could be Grey-headed or Rufous-Vented...

 

I'm going to go with Rufous-vented Chachalaca.

[mvecht]

@@janzin

spot on. Rufous vented chachalaca or Cocrico or Ortalis Ruficauda. The national bird of Tobago photographed in Castara, Tobago.

Your turn.

[janzin]

Ok I'll try again to stump you folks but it seems we are all very good birders here Lots of birds in this group and they all look rather similar

 

[janzin]

hmmm no guesses even? Do you need a hint?

[Soukous]

I'd love a hint, just the continent would help.

[Geoff]

looks like a flycatcher of some sort. I'm guessing it's a South American species of which I've never seen any.

 

I'll take a stab with Crowned slaty flycatcher.

[janzin]

Well I was just about to give a hint but @@Geoff did it again! Was that a wild guess, what gave it away?

 

Yes its Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher, taken in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador.

 

Back to you Geoff!

[Geoff]

Well I was just about to give a hint but @@Geoff did it again! Was that a wild guess, what gave it away?

 

Yes its Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher, taken in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador.

 

Back to you Geoff!

 

@@janzin I picked a few diagnostic features ~ namely what I thought was a cap appearing on the head and the white eyebrow and blackish bar behind the eye. On the premise that it was a South American flycatcher I did some online research. Though it was still a guess the Crowned Slaty-flycatcher was the only one that loosely fitted the bill.

 

Is the bird in your image a juvenile?

[Geoff]

I don't think this is too hard. What do we have here?...

[Soukous]

looks like a flycatcher of some sort. I'm guessing it's a South American species of which I've never seen any.

 

I'll take a stab with Crowned slaty flycatcher.

 

He's done it again!

No idea, and then a wild stab in the dark and he gets in first time.

[janzin]

 

>>Is the bird in your image a juvenile?

 

It might be...but then I'm not really an expert on plumages This is what Neotropical Birds says re: Juvenile: "Juvenile Crowned Slaty Flycatcher is similar, but has prominent but narrow white fringes to the wing coverts and inner remiges, the rectrices have narrow rufous fringes, and the supercilium is paler and more contrasting than in the adult."

 

[inyathi]

I thought I’d give everyone else a fair go at the last few before jumping in again, I’d guessed straight away that the last one was some sort of South American flycatcher but I hadn’t had sufficient time to get as far as working out which one.

 

As to this bird, going through The Slater Field Guide to Aussie Birds it took me a little while to find this one but I think I have, so I am going to say is it a rufous bristlebird Dasyornis broadbenti?

 

[Geoff]

Yep, Rufous Bristlebird it is. This species is considered vulnerable and their known range finishes about 1 kilometre past my house. They have very tiny wings and prefer to run about rather than fly. I've never seen this species fly more than a few feet off the ground and then only for about 15 - 20 yards at most.

 

@@inyathi Over to you...

[janzin]

I think in order to keep playing this game I will need to purchase an Australian field guide

[inyathi]

@@janzin When the rules of this game changed to include species from anywhere in the world I was worried that someone could post a photo of some rare Amazonian antbird leaving everyone clueless killing the game off entirely but now that we have a someone who is a bit of a South American expert in our midst I think that it is no longer likely. This means that all the birds that I thought would be really difficult are now not necessarily difficult at all at least not for some so chosing a challenging bird is getting much harder, however I think I may have found one.

 

 

[Soukous]

Holub's golden weaver - Ploceus xanthops???