Tycho@cup.portal.com (Chris Nanine Hall) (07/31/89)
I was birding over the last weekend and saw a bird which has
me stumped. I consider myself a pretty fair birder, but I
know eastern birds better than western. Here are the details:
Location: Small pond with cattails, on Sonoma Mt. in Sonoma
County, CA. General habitat is oak/grass land.
The Bird: Very plain, brown, finch size; no wing bars, eye ring
or any other distinguishing characteristics. Seed-like finch
bill, dark legs. Wings were dark brown, the rest of body was lighter brown.
Bird was in cattails, making "cheep" like call notes.
My guess: Female Indigo - too far west? My bird too brown.
Female Varied Bunting - way out of range but looked
most like this in Nat. Geo. bird book. Hmmm
Your answer????dmark@cs.Buffalo.EDU (David Mark) (07/31/89)
In article <20890@cup.portal.com> Tycho@cup.portal.com (Chris Nanine Hall) writes: >The Bird: Very plain, brown, finch size; no wing bars, eye ring >or any other distinguishing characteristics. Seed-like finch >bill, dark legs. Wings were dark brown, the rest of body was lighter brown. >Bird was in cattails, making "cheep" like call notes. My guess is a juvenal Brown-headed Cowbird. The "cheep" calls suggest a begging recent fledgling. None of the standard cattail birds seem to fit the description, and cowbirds could have parasitized a Common Yellowthroat or some other innocent marsh-breeding passerine. The juvenal should look pretty much like the female BHC in plumage-- very plain. David Mark
amber@scott.stat.washington.edu (Amber Tatnall) (08/01/89)
Sorry to be so picky, but Juvenal was a Roman satirical poet. Juvenile is what some people would like to be after that hit some dreaded age.
john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) (08/01/89)
Amber Tatnall (amber@scott.stat.washington.edu) writes: > Sorry to be so picky, but Juvenal was a Roman satirical poet. I believe the ``juvenal'' spelling is acceptable. Steen's _Dictionary of Biology_ gives two definitions: (a) as a synonym for juvenile, and (b) referring to the plumage following the natal down. (Sorry to post a spelling flame, but when I tried to e-mail this, it bounced.) -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu ``A lesson from past over-machined societies...the devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines.'' --Frank Herbert
dmark@cs.Buffalo.EDU (David Mark) (08/01/89)
In article <2135@uw-entropy.ms.washington.edu> amber@scott.UUCP () writes: >Sorry to be so picky, but Juvenal was a Roman satirical poet. Juvenile >is what some people would like to be after that hit some dreaded age. "JUVENAL. Term applied in ornithology to the plumage of a young bird that comes in immediately after, or succeeding, its natal down. ... Some passerines, or songbirds-- for example, sharp-tailed sparrows and seaside sparrows-- wear their juvenal plumage for 2 or 3 months, but most songbirds lose it shortly after leaving the nest by molting all the body feathers into the postjuvenal (prebasic) or first-winter plumage of the so-called immature bird." [Terres, J.K. (ed), 1980, "The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds", p. 562] "JUVENILE. See definition under Nestling." [op cit., p. 562] "NESTLING. ... ... ... According to Wood (1946), a juvenile is a young bird that is out of the nest and able to care for itself but has not completed its postjuvenal molt." [op cit., p. 626] Here's another authority: "... Reference is frequently made in the descriptions in this book to juvenal plumage. This is the first plumage acquired after natal down. The juvenal plumage is usually worn but a short time, and is not to be confused with the term "juvenile," which is applied to any immature bird and its plumage at any stage." [Godfrey, W.E., 1986, "The Birds of Canada (Revised Edition)", p. 12] So, to be really correct, I should have said a "Brown-headed Cowbird in juvenal plumage" or a "juvenal-plumaged cowbird", since only the plumage can be juvenal, and not the bird itself. (I wonder what Juvenal-the-Roman-satirical-poet would have to say about all this? David Mark dmark@cs.buffalo.edu
nora@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (nora.y.mclaughlin) (08/02/89)
OK, my guess to name that bird is, The Brown headed Cow bird.