Re: [cayugabirds-l] Guess which bird...

[Dave Nutter]

My guide to birds of Europe says Redwing breeds in Scotland and winters in the 
rest of Britain. I'm sure it's a fun bird to see, but it would not make 
headlines. Their red is on the sides and wing lining. The Redwing shows actual 
white on the brow and chin.  Female Red-winged Blackbirds are more tawny on the 
brow to even orange on the lores and chin, as shown in the photos in the 
article. Like other of our common birds, the female Red-winged Blackbird is a 
good bird to study to think about details of plumage. 
--Dave Nutter

> On May 2, 2017, at 10:49 AM, Bill Mcaneny  wrote:
> 
> To clarify (or to add to the confusion), there is a migratory thrush in 
> Europe that goes by the name of REDWING.  It is not clear to me that the bird 
> in the report from Scotland is a Redwinged BLACKBIRD.  The REDWING looks 
> superficially like the female blackbird, being brown, sort of stripey, and 
> showing a white eye-line.  It may be unusual or even rare in Scotland, 
> causing some excitement.  BTW, the Redwing is in the same family (turdus) as 
> the American Robin.  Glad to be of help.
>  
> Bill McAneny
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Guess which bird...

[Scott Haber]

The original article correctly identifies the bird in question as a
Red-winged Blackbird and includes several diagnostic photos from Scottish
birders. I'm not sure why there's been any "confusion".

-Scott

On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Bill Mcaneny  wrote:

> To clarify (or to add to the confusion), there is a migratory thrush in
> Europe that goes by the name of REDWING.  It is not clear to me that the
> bird in the report from Scotland is a Redwinged BLACKBIRD.  The REDWING
> looks superficially like the female blackbird, being brown, sort of
> stripey, and showing a white eye-line.  It may be unusual or even rare in
> Scotland, causing some excitement.  BTW, the Redwing is in the same
> family (turdus) as the American Robin.  Glad to be of help.
>
>
>
> Bill McAneny
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[cayugabirds-l] Guess which bird...

[Bill Mcaneny]

To clarify (or to add to the confusion), there is a migratory thrush in
Europe that goes by the name of REDWING.  It is not clear to me that the
bird in the report from Scotland is a Redwinged BLACKBIRD.  The REDWING
looks superficially like the female blackbird, being brown, sort of stripey,
and showing a white eye-line.  It may be unusual or even rare in Scotland,
causing some excitement.  BTW, the Redwing is in the same family (turdus) as
the American Robin.  Glad to be of help.

 

Bill McAneny


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Guess which bird made the front page of the Scottish BBC news...

[Chris R. Pelkie]

I wanted you to know that I got the forwarded note from a Scots woman colleague 
whom I just showed a male Red-winged Blackbird to a couple weeks ago on a trip 
around the pond, presumably for her first time.
I hope the Scots who get to add the F to their life list are as thrilled as I 
was with the Tufted Duck a couple years ago.

And I still think we should all be called “twitchers”, the instinctive lurching 
and twisting motion made in response to peripheral activity, a far more 
accurate nickname than “birdwatchers” which implies there is a bird sitting 
still long enough to be watched. Like that ever happens!

ChrisP
__

Chris Pelkie
Information/Data Manager, Application Systems Analyst
Bioacoustics Research Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850

On May 2, 2017, at 09:22, Dave Nutter 
> wrote:

Everyone knows what Red-winged Blackbirds are. They arrive here at the very 
start of Spring when there are still bouts of cold and snow to survive, causing 
general wonderment about their judgement. They fly, perch, and call 
conspicuously, establishing their territories. Their short, harsh song is among 
the best known by the general public. Their plumage is all black except for 
big, bold, red wing patches. They are obvious birds, well-named, and easy to 
ID. But those are just the males.

The females are a totally different story. They arrive a couple weeks later 
when people have stopped paying attention to the males. Females' most obvious 
association with the males is to be chased at high speed around marshes. 
Females act different, doing more skulking in marshes where they feed and nest. 
They are smaller than the males. They have no black. They have no red. When 
most people see a female Red-winged Blackbird, they think, "Oh, a stripy brown 
bird." Many people stop there, daunted by that category, while other folks are 
confused by finding not finding it among the sparrows. The name is no help at 
all. Identifying a female Red-winged Blackbird is a more complicated puzzle 
which birders memorize. It's also a reminder, whenever there is no obvious 
match for a brown bird, to check the field guide for females of various 
species, using shape and habitat as clues. And often birds' names are just 
distracting arbitrary words.

--Dave Nutter


On May 1, 2017, at 1:47 PM, Jody Enck 
> wrote:

Hi All,

Here's an opportunity to dust off your field guides (as many as you can find) 
and look at all the different plumages presented in those guides of Red-winged 
Blackbirds.  Like many, many species of birds, males and females of Red-winged 
Blackbirds look quite different.  The picture posted on the BBC website of the 
bird is a female.  So, yes, this time of year about half the Red-winged 
Blackbirds out there really do look like this.  As these are typically 
short-distant migrants, it is quite astounding that this bird made it all the 
way to Scotland.  Even if it hop-scotched across Greenland and Iceland to get 
there, it is quite a feat for this bird.  Very cool.

Jody

On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 1:34 PM, Tom Hoard 
> wrote:
Maybe a juvenile?

Sent from my iPad

On May 1, 2017, at 11:36 AM, Sandra J. Kisner 
> wrote:

Is that what they think a red-winged blackbird looks like?  Or is it just a 
poor choice of illustration?

Sandra

From: 
bounce-121484551-3493...@list.cornell.edu
 [mailto:bounce-121484551-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Chris R. Pelkie
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2017 11:24 AM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
>
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Fwd: Guess which bird made the front page of the 
Scottish BBC news...

The things some people get excited about… (:-)
__

Chris Pelkie
Information/Data Manager, Application Systems Analyst
Bioacoustics Research Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850


Begin forwarded message:


Subject: Guess which bird made the front page of the Scottish BBC news...
Date: May 1, 2017 at 10:16:00 EDT


http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-39769825/birdwatchers-flock-to-orkney-for-rare-bird
[https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/164D1/production/_95854319_p051n2tf.jpg]

Red-winged blackbird spotted on North Ronaldsay - BBC 
News
www.bbc.com
Birdwatchers are making their way to North Ronaldsay after what is claimed to 
be the first European sighting of a red-winged blackbird.


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