[reccom] FW: [CVBirds] help with id of Solitary Vireo

[David Wheeler]

Excellent submission!  Thanks for sharing that.  (And, on a personal
note, curse you for throwing our Willard Bay sighting into doubt).  This
would be an excellent posting for the Birdnet / Birdtalk to educate the
rest of the birder community, perhaps once we have discussed it. 
Certainly something to consider, though.  I would have probably called
it a Blue-headed too.
 
--David--

>>> "Rick Fridell" <rfridell at burgoyne.com> 9/29/2006 8:34 PM >>>
Hello,
I thought you all might find this of interest, particularly in light of
the
large number of Blue-headed Vireos reported in recent years.
Regards,
Rick



-----Original Message-----
From: central_valley_birds at yahoogroups.com 
[mailto:central_valley_birds at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Joseph
Morlan
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 7:03 AM
To: c. pechal
Cc: central_valley_birds at yahoogroups.com 
Subject: Re: [CVBirds] help with id of Solitary Vireo

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:59:59 -0700, "c. pechal" <cpechal at comcast.net>
wrote:

>I saw this Vireo with a group of Bushtits on the Sacramento River
near
Garcia Bend (across the river from Babel Slough).  It seemed too
colorful
for a Cassin's, but am not sure what else it could be.  Could it be a
Blue-headed Vireo? Can anyone confirm the identity of this bird?
>  Here are links to 2 photos:
>http://www.pbase.com/imagestruck/image/67056457 
>http://www.pbase.com/imagestruck/image/67056459 
>
>Thank you so much for your help in advance.
>
>Chris Pechal
>Sacramento

Chris,

These are very interesting photos which became a topic for the "Bird
Identification Panel" at the recent Western Field Ornithologists
Annual
meeting in Boulder Colorado.

Although none of the panelists were willing to completely eliminate
the
possibility of Blue-headed Vireo or hybrid, the consensus was that this
was
probably a very bright fresh fall-plumage Cassin's Vireo.  Subtle
features
such as the greenish back penetrating into the nape area, some
blurriness in
the malar region, the white rather than yellowish wing-bars, and
reduced
white on the edges of the outer rectrices were all points that led away
from
Blue-headed Vireo and towards Cassin's Vireo.

If the panel was correct in its assessment (and I believe it was),
these
photos have implications for sight-records of Blue-headed Vireo in
California.  The overall brightness of your bird would certainly lead
many
observers to identify it as a Blue-headed, especially if influenced by
experience with dull worm-plumage Cassin's Vireos seen in Spring and
Summer.
A description of your bird, without the photos, emphasizing the
extreme
brightness of the bird, might lead to acceptance of such a bird as a
Blue-headed.

Blue-headed Vireo is a "review species" of the California Bird Records
committee and we struggle annually with descriptions of claimed
Blue-headed
Vireos in which the observer says the bird was much brighter than any
Cassin's Vireo.  Sight records, without photos, are likely to be
subject to
extra scrutiny because of the existence of very bright, fresh-plumage
birds
like yours.


--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044   jmorlan (at) ccsf.edu
Fall Birding Classes start Sept 6   http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/ 
California Bird Records Committee   http://www.wfo ( http://www.wfo/
)-cbrc.org/cbrc/



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