Steve, Thanks for the detailed analysis. I spent a few hours yesterday trying to find the bird again in both my backyard and around the neighborhood, but sadly did not see/hear any sign of it. It's definitely been an interesting discussion and I have learned a lot! I appreciate everyone's comments.
I have images uploading every 10 seconds so I was lucky to even notice that bird on camera. At one time I had streaming video going on the webcam but a squirrel chewed through the wire so it's been down for a while. I'll try to get that back up and running, because it's more fun to watch. And who knows what other interesting migrants might stop by. :) Liz On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 11:05 PM, Steve Weston <[email protected]> wrote: > Interesting photo! Wouldn't it be nice if the birds would carry ID > tags. The bright white supercillium and long tail narrow the field down > to just two choices: Carolina Wren and Bewick's Wren. The Carolina Wren is > regular in the SE Minnesota and perhaps into the Metro Area. The Bewick's > is accidental with only 7 fall records in the state and hasn't been seen > since 1998. Obviously, we can't expect it to be a Bewick's. The really > long tail and the cool brown color make it an easy decision: it is a > Bewick's Wren. The only problem is that I do not have confidence in the > color integrity. Looking at the white under-tail coverts, and using > Sibley, we definitely tell that this is a juvenile plumage...ummm...a > juvenile plumage Carolina or Bewick's. If you look carefully, you will > see some faint barring on the edge of the wing, which according to Sibley > makes this definitely a Carolina Wren and when you look at National Geo for > confirmation, you can see that both species have barring on the edge of the > wing. Look at the shape of the bird. Sibley describes the Carolina as a > stocky bird and the Bewick's as slender. The Carolina weighs more than > twice the Bewick's. And, when we compare this bird to the Downy on the > edge of the photo and ask the question of comparative size: Is the Downy > closer to 1.33 times the weight of the wren or three times the weight of > the wren? To me, the Downy looks much larger than the wren and easily > twice its weight. > > I believe that this is the rarer Bewick's Wren. I think that the size, > shape, tail length, and most important, color indicate an ID of Bewick's. > > Steve Weston > On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN > [email protected] > > > On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 9:09 AM, Liz Stanley <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Yesterday I noticed this bird on my feeders, which appears to be a type of >> wren. We had a lengthy discussion on the Minnesota Birding Facebook page >> about it and I was curious if anyone here has an opinion on what it might >> be. While the camera does capture high quality images, of course it would >> be much better to have additional views of the bird, which I unfortunately >> didn't get (not for lack of trying.) >> >> http://www.pbase.com/image/152304186 >> >> Any comments are appreciated! >> >> -- >> Liz Stanley >> Bloomington, MN >> Backyard weather and feedercam: http://www.overlookcircle.org/ >> Photo gallery: http://www.pbase.com/gymell/liz_favorites >> Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lizmstanley >> >> ---- >> Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net >> Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html >> > > -- Liz Stanley Bloomington, MN Backyard weather and feedercam: http://www.overlookcircle.org/ Photo gallery: http://www.pbase.com/gymell/liz_favorites Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lizmstanley ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
