ABA Online Bird Photo Quiz 20

ANSWER

Usually, shape is a great help in identifying birds. Even here, when the bird is facing away, we can still tell that this is some kind of passerine. In this case, it's a rather chunky one with a fairly short tail but long wings. Yet, sometimes there are other clues that are so distinctive that we simply have to use them, such as the broad white patches in the wings. From what we can see, the bird has white on the flanks and a black and white tail (with buff uppertail coverts). This all contrasts with the generally grayish-brown upperparts, with buff-rust highlights to the crown, auriculars and tertials.

This combination simply doesn't leave us with a lot of options. The pattern of the mantle may suggest something like a Brewer's Sparrow, but the white wing patches don't fit that species or any sparrow. The same is true for Horned Lark, any pipit, longspur or finch. Lark Bunting has white wing patches, but these patches are mostly confined to the greater wing coverts. Further, Lark Bunting would have a longer and darker tail, with black or brown sides to the tail. In fact, only two species regularly show white wing patches that extend from the secondaries, which are just visible below the tertials, all the way up to the top of the wing: Snow Bunting and McKay's Bunting.

The head, mantle and rump are too heavily marked for even a young female McKay's Bunting (first-year female McKay's Buntings are the most heavily marked). One should always be cautious of birds with white and/or pale plumage, as in many instances these white or pale feathers may be albino or leucistic. In this case, everything else is perfect for Snow Bunting, so we don't need to worry.

I photographed this Snow Bunting in late October 2004 at Grand Marais, Cook County, Minnesota—arguably the state's finest vagrant trap with records of seemingly everything from Fieldfare to Rock Ptarmigan!

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The following people (listed by submission date beginning with the earliest) submitted correct answers for the November Bird Photo Quiz – Snow Bunting:

1. Mark Stevenson, Tucson, AZ
2. Petro Pynnönen, Helsinki, Finland
3. Bill Maynard, Monument, Colorado
4. Marcelo Brongo, Barcelona, Spain
5. Brandon Percival, Pueblo West, CO
6. Tom Benson, San Bernardino, CA
7. Jason Sailing, Madison, WI
8. Ed Harper, Sacramento, California
9. Neil Gilbert, Beverly Hills, MI
10. Matthew Weiss, New York, NY
11. Bill Etter, Perkasie, PA
12. Larry Kline, Woodbridge, VA
13. Erik Mundall, Connell, WA
14. Bryan Patrick, Woodland Park, CO
15. James McKay, Mesa, AZ
16. Michael Woodruff, Spokane, WA
17. Roger D. Woodruff, Spokane, WA
18. Patrick Dechon, Ellenville, NY
19. Aaron Boone, Columbus, Ohio
20. Bertram.E.B.Bree, Jersey island near Normandy,France,Europe
21. Curtis Hoagland, Beaumont, TX
22. Will Richardson, Truckee, CA
23. Eric Secker, Wheaton, Illinois
24. Bill Schmoker, Longmont, Colorado
25. Tyler Bell, California, maryland
26. Vicki Sandage, Ashland, KY
27. Jason Giovannone, Columbia, SC
28. Ronald Payne, Middlebury, Vermont
29. Tim White, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
30. Igor Caragodin, Westminster, CA
31. Rob Young, alexandria va
32. Larry Lade, Saint Joseph, MO
33. Graham Etherington, Norwich, United Kingdom
34. Jeremy Faucher, Bloomfield, CT
35. James Cole, Carmel, IN
36. Joel Kits, Guelph, ON
37. Aaron Brees, Des Moines, Iowa
38. Jay Keller, Arlington, VA
39. Kevin Picard, Temagami ON, Canada
40. Ryan Beaulieu, Los Lunas, NM
41. Nicholas Pederson, Albuquerque, NM
42. Dustin McCrank, North Bay, Ontario
43. Brian E. Small, Los Angeles, CA
44. Thomas Schultz, Green Lake, WI
45. Dan Mooney, Knoxville, TN
46. Eva Pratt, Inman, SC
47. Manuel Grosselet, Mexico city
48. Kevin Kerr, Guelph, Ontario
49. Ben Coulter, Erie, PA
50. manuel mondejar, Taos,NM
51. Raymond VanBuskirk, Albuquerque, New Mexico
52. Nels F. Thompson, Owatonna, MN
53. Steven Rodan, Cape May, New Jersey
54. Larry Semo, Westminster, Colorado
55. Thomas Snetsinger, Brownsville, OR
56. Blake Mathys, Rutgers U., NJ
57. Travis A. Mahan, Decatur, Illinois
58. Mark Cranford, Mississauga, ON
59. Adrian Azpiroz, St. Louis, MO
60. Luke Seitz, Falmouth, ME
61. Mark Peterson, Colorado Springs, CO
62. Aaron Hulsey, Smiths Grove, Kentucky
63. Karen Rubinstein, New York, NY
64. Matt Pike, Lacey WA
65. Stephen Seiffert, Lansdowne, Ontario Canada
66. Sandra Keller, Barrington, NJ
67. Nicholas Sly, Ithaca, NY
68. Ben Griffith, Merrimack, NH
69. Matt Anthony, Bel Air, MD
70. David Hollie, Ringgold, Georgia
71. Jim Pawlicki, Williamsville, NY
72. Josiah Malueg, Hooper, Colorado
73. Kalen Malueg, Hooper, Colorado.
74. Matt Baumann, albuquerque, NM
75. Philip Chaon, Cleveland Ohio
76. David Vander Pluym, Santa Cruz, California
77. Joseph Sutherland, Medford, MA
78. Kai Reed, North Egremont, Massachusetts
79. Richard Garrigues, San Antonio de Belen, Heredia, Costa Rica
80. Rob Fergus, Austin, TX
81. Sam Koenen, Bozeman, MT
82. Craig D. Dodson, Clifton, CO
83. Melissa Hein, North Branch, MN
84. Kevin M Kincaid, Indianapolis, IN
85. Louie Toth, Fairview Hgts, IL
86. Eric Huston, Olympia, WA
87. Kent Fothergill, Buhl, ID
88. Alex Dopp, Ann Arbor, MI
89. James McRacken, Charlotte, NC
90. Ken Young, Coquille, Oregon
91. Claire Curry, Greenwood, Texas
92. Steven Mitten, St. Louis, MO
93. Susannah B. Lerman, Keene, NH
94. Cathy Carroll, Canton, Michigan
95. Liis Veelma, Winnipeg, MB
96. Claude Girard, St-Michel de Bellechasse, PQ
97. Jack Stenger, Cincinnati, OH
98. Jon Atwood, Keene, NH
99. Jeff Brown, Crows Landing, CA
100. Ben Young, Salem, OR
101. Liz Day, Indianapolis IN
102. Kendall Cochran, Kennesaw, Georgia
103. Bob Williams, Bloomington, MN
104. Dan Ombalski, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
105. John Arnfield, Columbus, OH
106. Janneke Kimstra, Bilthoven, Netherlands
107. Jerry Jourdan, Wyandotte, MI
108. Maggie MacPherson, Haileybury, ON
109. Filip Beeldens, Antwerpen, Belgium
110. Bradley Wilkinson, Tallmadge, Ohio
111. Harry Hooper, Tallahassee, Florida
112. Dave Magpiong, Bellmawr, NJ
113. Josh Southern, Greenville, NC
114. Sandra Lautrup, Effingham, Il.
115. Tim Avery, Salt Lake City, Utah
116. James P. Smith, Keene, NH
117. Andrew Sigerson, Wantage, NJ
118. Per Ole Syvertsen, Mo i Rana, Norway
119. Lori Fujimoto, Colorado Springs, CO
120. Jim Hoover, Jefferson Hills, PA
121. Paul Matthews, Ottawa, ON
122. Elsa Suárez, Ottawa,ON
123. Robert Doster, Albuquerque, NM
124. Noah Strycker, Creswell, Oregon
125. Jason Beason, Paonia, Colorado
126. Bill Pranty, Avon Park, FL
127. Dave Robichaud, Victoria, BC
128. Kyle Carlsen, Vincent, OH
129. Tasha DiMarzio, Seward, Alaska
130. Ann McDonald, Kamloops, BC
131. David Barrett, Lawton, OK
132. Tim McFadden, Philadelphia, Pa
      

HOW DID YOU COMPARE?

The list below shows that the highest number of answers submitted was for Snow Bunting (132), followed by Lapland Longspur (6). Please note that answers must consist simply of the Common or English name exactly as it appears in the ABA Checklist.

Snow Bunting		132
Lapland Longspur		6
Lark Bunting		4
Common Redpoll		3
American Pipit		2
McKay's Bunting		2
Pine Siskin		1
Smith's Longspur		1
Sprague's Pipit		1

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The photo and answer for this quiz were supplied by Chris Wood.