Monday, September 24, 2012

What Is It? (Round 2)

     Congratulations to Gloria on her correct identification of last week's Cape May Warber (Steophaga tigrina)!
     Here's this week's ID challenge:
photo by the author
     Hint: Click on the photo, then right-click and select "view image". This will let you zoom in and let you view it full size so you can get a good view of the birds. This odd trio was at Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin in late July. Try to ID both species, since they will be scored separately (see below).

     Some people have been wondering about prizes. Isn't knowing that you correctly identified the bird enough of a prize? Oh, fine. There will be prizes. Small ones. Maybe. And there is now a scoreboard for all-time top identifiers.

Here's how scoring works:
     You automatically get 1 point just for posting an answer (right or wrong)!
     The first correct answer gets 4 extra points.
     The second correct answer gets 2 extra points.
     Any later correct answers get 1 extra point.

     Since this week's challenge has two species, you can get a maximum of 10 points if you are the first to correctly identify both species.

     Have fun!
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6 comments:

  1. GloriaSeptember 27, 2012 at 9:45 AM

    Okay, so the closest I can get to either one is the Double-crested Cormorant. That being similar to the black one. This is difficult!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GloriaOctober 7, 2012 at 5:10 PM

      I did some more location-specific research and I think it might be Neotropical Cormorant. No idea about the other one, though!

      Delete
  2. David GongSeptember 27, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    I agree with Gloria. This is challenging! It's fun nevertheless. I think I'll take a jab at this.

    After some short and unpromising research, I have decided that the black ones are some type of heron... Actually, I don't know. At least I tried? As for the second one, my best guess is a Northern Harrier. Or maybe some kind of hawk?

    I suspect that my guesses aren't even close but I'm determined to get better at this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David GongSeptember 27, 2012 at 8:14 PM

      I meant Hen Harrier, not Norther Harrier. This huge list of birds on Wikipedia is getting me all jumbled up.

      Delete
    2. ArchRSeptember 27, 2012 at 8:33 PM

      Actually, Hen Harrier and Northern Harrier are the same species--one is the British name and the other is the American name for the same Circus cyaneus. I'm glad to see you intend to keep up at this!

      Delete
  3. UnknownOctober 7, 2012 at 3:54 PM

    After some online investigation, I too came to the conclusion that the black birds are Double-crested Cormorants. Those are North American sea birds so I would guess the other bird is a hawk or bird of prey that lives near a body of water, in this case what looks like a marsh. I would guess it is a marsh hawk, also known as a Hen Harrier.

    Also, these ID challenge are fun and I look forward to more.

    ReplyDelete

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