Fall Birds & Questions

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message: David: "Anyone want to take up a collection to fund Greg Miller's travel?"
• Previous message: Dendroica@aol.com: "Re: Dogwoods and Holly"

What a wonderful, prolonged fall migration. I have been enjoying two fox
sparrows in my yard for the past week.  I have also observed more than the
usual number of ruby-crowned kinglets and sapsuckers in various places in the
past few weeks. 

I have two questions about fall plummages which I haven't been able to resolve
by looking in the field guides:		

A grey catbird seen well by several birders at Great Falls NP on Nov. 15th.
had the right field marks, including the rusty undertail coverts, but lacked
the black cap.  Is this a stage of immature plummage, or merely an individual
plummage variation?

Kinglets I have seen in three different locations in the past two weeks,
seemed to lack eye-rings and eye-lines.  I finally identified one as a ruby-
crowned at Riverbend when it raised its red crest while pursuing another.  Two
seen at Occuquan NWR by several observers on Nov 14 posed a similar
problem--no noticeable eye-rings and no eye-stripes.  Are these field marks
sometimes absent in immature or fall plummages in either or both kinglet
species?

Thanks, 

Ralph Wall
Great Falls, Va.

• Next message: David: "Anyone want to take up a collection to fund Greg Miller's travel?"
• Previous message: Dendroica@aol.com: "Re: Dogwoods and Holly"