Jordan Lake

Tag

By eye-ring update and my error…..

 

Ah, dear Friends,
As is my wont, I asked some of my birder friends to help me identify the bird I posted yesterday as a new life list bird, a blue-headed vireo.  Included in my inquires was a letter with the photo to the NC Museum of Natural History through their Ask a Naturalist program https://is.gd/KuSTMK.  I had studied my photo.  Studied the identification points in my Crossley Guide and Stokes Birds books.  I was pretty darn certain that the bird was a blue-headed vireo and so were the birder friends I had sent it to.  Alas, here is the reply from Dr. O’Shea at the Museum…and it appears that he was startled by the similarities of the bird to a blue-headed vireo.
“…Hi, although I had to do a double-take on this one, it is a Pine Warbler.  The broken eye-ring and “spectacled” look is exceptionally bright on this individual, but there is some variability in this species in the Fall, and for that reason it is one of the most confusing of the warblers at this time of year.  In general, the stocky shape, thick bill, lack of streaking, and the fact that it was with a flock of Pine Warblers also argue for the ID.  Hope this helps, Brian”  
 
Brian J. O’Shea, Ph.D.
Collections Manager for Ornithology
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
11 W. Jones St. Raleigh NC 27601
 
My apologies and back to the hunt for a true blue-headed vireo.
peace and grace and sheepish grin on my face,
doc ellen

By eye-ring…

I heard that a blue-headed vireo had been seen at Jordan Lake.
I didn’t even know there was such a vireo.
This morning I was photographing a mixed flock of palm, prairie and pine warblers.
There appeared in this busy flock of “yellow” birds a bird with a startling eye-ring –
hallmark of a vireo.
Another bird got added to my life list: blue-headed vireo.

WALK8163 08-22-16 @ 07-15-52 Ebenezer blue-headed vireo

By eye of the raptor, 2 photos

The eye of a raptor gleams with its dominance of the skies.
This is an immature Accipiter, most likely a Cooper’s hawk.
It soon got tired of the crows that were pestering it.
The hawk exploded off its perch, twisting through the trees towards the noisy pests.
The crows scattered all over the small cove.

WALK7411 08-16-16 @ 10-23-04 Ebenezer raptor eye

WALK7419 08-16-16 @ 10-23-07 Ebenezer raptor eye