Birders,
In response to the possible wren habitus of this bird, we
agree that size is somewhat confusing in the field, and especially from one or
two photos. Judging by the apparent length of the grass, the bird appears
to be between 8 - 11" long. Much of the jizz goes along with the Rock
Wren, but to my mind the back and wings are too warm a tannish-brown rather than
the gray that both adults and juveniles have. The bird seems to be more
elongated than any of the small wrens are. Besides, the prominent barring
of the vent is missing on both photos and the spotting of the wing is not exact
for a Rock Wren. The Canyon Wren is another decent shot, although the
proportions are not quite right in my mind, either. The head is too gray
compared with the mystery bird. If anything, the photo is quite similar to
the Thrush-like Wren of the tropics, which is closely related to our Cactus
Wren. The Cactus Wren's breast is too heavily streaked and spotted for
this bird, unless it is a young juvenile, but the general size and
proportions are about right. The prominent white eyebrow stripe of the
Cactus Wren is not present in the photos, although there is a buffy eyebrow
noticeable. Plus, the Cactus Wren is known to spend a fair amount of time
on the ground, whereas the other 2 wrens spend 95%+ of their time on rocks,
hills and cliffs.
--Steve
-----
Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 10:13
AM
Subject: [BirdTalk] Mystery Bird
Well, hello all. Kind of a la Tim Avery, here is a quiz
for all of you
folks. However, I don't know the answer. This
photo was taken at Red
Hills Golf Course in St. George on June 18, 2004 at
about 1:30 p.m. It
was just a little smaller than a flicker in
size. I have run this past
Kris Purdy, Bill Fenimore, Milton Moody
who ran it past the records
committee and Dennis Shirley, and Charlie in
St. George who has run it by
some his friends, one of which monitors
Flickers and we have very
effectively ruled out that it is a flicker in any
stage of its life. The
only consensus we have is that it is a
Thrasher. Kris and I think it is a
juvenile Thrasher. Too big
for a Rock Wren as some have suggested (sorry,
just going to have to trust
me on this). Had I known it was going to be
this difficult, I would
have taken a lot more photos. There were three of
them in the
immediate vicinity of Tee #2. They did not call in the short
time
they were there. Complicating things is that I also was only there
a
short time (i.e. about 1.5 hours), and saw them only towards the end of
my
stay there. Some golfers came along and scared them away, not to
be seen
again (why there would be golfers on a golf course, go
figure). Each of
the three were on the grass as you see these.
They seemed to be in search
of food. They were very active, though I
never saw them actually get any
food. When they flew, they flew to
parts unknown. They were only there a
brief time that I could see, a
maximum of ten minutes.
Of the people who have seen it, there is one
vote so far for a juvenile
LeConte's Thrasher, and this person has given
their reasoning. That
certainly fits the size requirements. I
won't say who it is so as not to
prejudice anybody's thinking. I
would appreciate it if you respond to
birdtalk and not to me personally
just so that whoever joins in this can
gain the same information. Oh,
and we also have one vote for a Bahama
Mockingbird [but I won't tell you
who voted for that! ; )]. I do have
four bird ID books and none have
a juvenile LeConte Thrasher for me to
compare it with.
Thank you all
in advance and a big thank you to all who have already
looked at it..
Sorry the quality isn't top notch. For those who do
respond, please
give your reasoning as to why.
http://www.pbase.com/image/32199637
http://www.pbase.com/image/32199636/original
Brian
L. Currie
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