Re[2]: Western Tanager at Riverbend, VA

Marshall Howe (Marshall_Howe@usgs.gov)
Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:14:15 -0600 

     Kurt
     
     Although I no longer have your original description of this bird, 
     nothing I read here eliminates yellow-throated vireo (possibly also 
     pine warbler?).  Particularly given that the initial impression was 
     that of a warbler, and the subsequent size comparison with a 
     yellow-rumped warbler makes it sound more the size of a large vireo 
     than a tanager, which would be considerably larger yet.
     
     Marshall Howe


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Western Tanager at Riverbend, VA
Author:  mdosprey@ARI.Net at NBS-Internet-Gateway
Date:    10/8/98 7:28 PM


Rob,
     
I have heard of this thin wing bar on the black wings of Scarlet's 
occasionally being seen on first year birds after the molt into basic plummage 
(or maybe it is during the molt?).  Cannot say I have ever seen this, but all 
the books describe it to some degree.  Fortunately, the wing bars on a Western 
are quite obvious (including the one at Riverbend) and do not require a second 
look from a more direct angle to glimpse.  In fact, when I first viewed the 
bird, it was from the back and the lime green scapular, lighter lime green 
colored-nape and back of head and the white wing bars on the grayish wings 
(viewing angle about 15degrees, and note that the wings were not black) lead 
to an initial thought that this was a warbler, possibly a Black-throated 
Green.  When the bird turned and the nice yellow breast (quite unlike a 
Scarlet's greenish yellow) contrasted quite well with the nape and scapulars, 
I was clearly forced to think in other directions.  Imagine, if you will, 
picking up a lime and a lemon at the grocery store and holding them side-to- 
side.  This is somewhat similar to the colors on the Western at Riverbend.  
     
(There is this great Simon Perkins story in Mass. about denying a Western 
sighting because the lime green back was not described.  A few minutes after 
the initial call was placed to the hotline number, Perkins called the 
correspondent with the reply, "you saw a Baltimore Oriole - Westerns have 
green backs," and then quickly hung up.  No amount of arguments subsequently 
made a difference to him since people can easily change their descriptions 
after the fact!).
     
The helpful Yellow-rump landing on the next branch gave a useful size 
reference as well as body shape reference - somewhat chunky and not slender 
(which was neccessary to consider and eliminate a Balto Oriole - the poor 
lighting at that point had not allowed me to carefully consider the bill of 
the bird.  Fortunately, I could reacquire the bird after it flew over to the 
tree-edge and presented itself in much better light.
     
Kurt Gaskill