Veery vs Gray Cheeked
"What the heck am I anyway?"For those who love a good hard core birding debate, check out the comments on the last photo quiz (the one asking for correct id) someone is saying this is a dark morph veery? Anyone care to comment? We do get veerys (or is it veeries) in Minnesota, but I'm new to the concept of a dark morph/dark phase. There were several people involved in the id of this bird and even before I posted the quiz, I had a friend on the records committee of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union give me his thoughts. All landed on gray-cheeked.
For those not as interested in hard core birding, I promise colorful bird photos in the blog are on the horizon. Really.
For those not as interested in hard core birding, I promise colorful bird photos in the blog are on the horizon. Really.
posted by birdchick at 1:36 PM
11 Comments:
This might help a little. If you go to this site:
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/276/4443/1024/IMG_0936.jpg
You'll see one of my photos of (from left to right) a Veery, Swainson's Thrush, and a Gray-Cheeked Thrush. These three individuals were netted and banded in May of 2005 at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. The thing about your bird in question is that it seems to have an awfully large amount of cream or buff color in the face and breast. I would lean more towards a Veery or Swainson's Thrush before I'd think Gray-Cheeked. The reddish back would make me think Veery
For what it's worth, I was birding at Carpenter Nature Center this (Wed-Aug30) morning and saw what I identified as a veery. It had very light spots under the chin - In fact I had to look closely to see them at all. Certainly, much different from the thrush that is in question.
Sibley shows the spots much lighter which is what I used. On the other hand the photos show a veery with obvious spots. What's going on here?
In response to Casey's comment, Sibley shows the Gray-cheeked Thrush as having some buffy wash on the breast, akin to the bird in the photographs. Is Sibley wrong here? Swainson's ought to be eliminated by the lack of any sort of eyering or other facial pattern. I suppose one could see a bit of a reddish tinge on the back of this bird, but it's hardly a solid base for an identification, especially since the dominant shade is a sort of gray-brown. (The veery in Casey's photo seems much redder.) The breast spots on this bird are also very dark and heavy for a veery.
Sharon:
I am sorry to hear you are no longer working at Eagle Optics. I really enjoyed your blogs when you went to these birding festivals for Eagle Optics. I am sure there more exciting opportunities for you in the near future.
The photo is a toughy! When I fisrt glanced at the photo I said to myself "Grey-cheeked" but then after reading comments and looking at the bird it also could be a Veery. I know if I saw this thrush in the field I could ID it but not in this photo.
Hey folks - look back at the original post by Sharon - There are several photos.
Mike, if you're having trouble with the id, this is a toughie. You're a guy who really does know his birds.
Tony Hertzel landed on gray-cheeked but he did note that the extreme warm tones "bothered him".
The job at EO was awesome, but I must admit, traveling with all the binos, plus my own luggage was daunting enough. I was kind of dreading traveling with 60# of optics with the new airport security changes.
Hey, any of you guys reading this on the ID Frontiers listserv? Would the photos of the thrush in question be worth posting? I know it's not a gull, but about every six weeks someone mentions a bird other than a gull on there ;)
This might sound stupid, but did they happen to get any measurements of the bird? The close-up photo made me think Veery, but having gone back and looked at some of the originals I'm kinda' torn between Swainson's or Gray-cheeked.
This photo gives the bird a warmer reddish/buffy appearance:
http://www.birdchick.com/uploaded_images/quiz-742651.jpg
But this photo gives it a more overall gray appearance:
http://www.birdchick.com/uploaded_images/quiz5-786764.jpg
The fact that we're thinking Gray-cheeked, but that Tom Hertzel commented on the "warm tones" bothering him, makes me wonder if this isn't an out-of-range Bicknell's. The measurements might help sort this question out.
A nominate Bicknell's was netted at Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Ohio several years ago.
Some other possibilities are some sort of hybrid, or a slightly melanistic Veery, or a slightly rufous Gray-cheeked (could be due to diet).
I've posted a number of comparison photos at: http://caseybirdphotos.blogspot.com/
I have photos there of side-by-side comparisons of G-C, Veery, Swainson's, & even a Wood Thrush, just for comparison's sake, from 2004 & 2005. Hope they help!
The measurements were recorded when the bird was banded. I'll be at Carpenter on Friday and can look that up that morning.
Too deep for me. I still vote for "Some Kinda Thrush." (See my previous post.)
We did get the wing cord of the bird and it was 93.
According to Pyle:
Veery: Female 89 - 103
Male 91 - 106
Gray-cheeked: Female 93 - 106
Male 93 - 106
The bird was also identified as a male...but that was under the impression it was a gray-cheeked.
Concensus has poured in that this is a veery--albeit a hard one to identify.
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