Hi Doug, Thanks for starting this interesting discussion. I looked into Painted Bunting molts earlier this winter when I started looking at the spate of e-bird reports of vagrants from around Maryland and north. I found at least 15 or so records for this fall and early winter, many of them included photos or at least a description. All that I checked were green birds- right up until a recent Connecticut adult male within the past couple of weeks broke the mold. I didn’t realize, and I suspect most casual birders also don’t realize, that even male Painted Buntings are green until their second basic plumage in their second fall- this is true even though they are capable of breeding in their first summer. Per CW Thompson in The Condor: “This is the only passerine known in which sexually mature sub adult males grow female- like rather than adult male-like plumage during prealternate molt.” https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v093n02/p0209-p0235.pdf
This is probably a simplified description of the situation, but once I started digging into it, I found quite a lot of interesting discussion online, including mentions of different molt timing between east coast and western populations. Regards Mike Cooper Ridge, NY Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 12, 2020, at 9:52 PM, Herb Smith <herbsmith.i...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thanks for posting this Doug, it is very interesting to hear what Peter had > to say about it. I do see what you're talking about though with the slight > blueish tinge in the nape area. > Good point regarding bid info as well > > Herb > >> On Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 8:16 PM Doug Gochfeld <fresha2...@gmail.com> wrote: >> While the specifics below directly pertain to one individual vagrant, the >> overall take home message should be valuable to anybody who tries to >> classify natural organisms. >> >> This winter’s incursion of Painted Buntings into the region has brought >> delight to many New York birders. All three of the lingering Long Island >> individuals are green. The bunting that was found at Brooklyn Bridge Park by >> Heather Wolf in late December has been seen by hundreds of people at this >> point, and eBirded perhaps a couple of hundred times. >> >> Of those reports, many have comments regarding the age or sex of the bird, >> and of these, a not-insignificant portion refer to the bird with certainty >> as a female and a an immature male, virtually none of which have any >> discussion as to why it is being classified as such. >> >> In January, I E-Mailed Peter Pyle some photos, to see if he could make sense >> of it. He sent me a detailed analysis, which I have pasted as the bottom of >> this E-Mail, but the concise version is this: The bird IS an immature >> (hatched in 2019). It CANNOT, in its current plumage, be visually identified >> to sex, and it seems most likely that it is a young male (as so many >> vagrants are) if he had to guess. >> >> On that note, and given that eBird reports become a part of the permanent >> record, it would be great if the comments, when people look back years from >> now, were not just consistent, but accurate. Rather than having the very >> careful and earnest eBird moderators (a wholly volunteer and typically >> thankless job), in this case Sean and Shane, whom many of you know, reach >> out to every single person who writes “female” or "_ male" in the comments, >> it would be great if those reporting the bird going forward make comments >> that reflect only the highest level of certainty, rather than assumptions or >> guesswork. Also, if you have gone to see the bunting, please also check your >> prior observations to see if your comments can use some amending. >> >> >> In the meantime, the young Painted Bunting does indeed continue at Brooklyn >> Bridge Park, seemingly becoming more acclimated to passers by as time goes >> on. Here are some photos and video of it from a couple of days ago, where it >> seems, though it may be my imagination, that there are some brighter green >> feathers and a bluish tinge starting to appear around the nape: >> >> https://ebird.org/checklist/S64302675 >> >> >> Full text from Peter Pyle: >> "So you are correct, this is a first-winter bird (SY now). The rectrices >> have been replaced during the preformative molt, so shape and condition of >> these are no longer useful for ageing. However, you can see molt limits in >> the remiges indicating an "eccentric" preformative molt, which confirms SY. >> It looks like p5-p9 and s5-s9 or s6-s9 have been replaced leaving p1-p4 and >> s1-s4 or s1-s5 as juvenile. I can't quite decide on s5 in the photos you >> sent but the limit is easiest to see on image 3563 between the green >> tertials/s6 and the browner s1-s4. The limit in the primaries is also >> subtle here but seems to be between p4 and p5. >> >> So, reliable sexing in formative plumage is not really possible, but its >> brightness and the relatively big bill suggests male to me. If it winters, >> keep an eye out for some blue and/or red featherd to come in within the next >> 4 months. These would probably be accidentally lost and replaced feathers >> rather than molt. If it gets away without replacing any feathers like this, >> best to leave it as sex unknown. >> >> Hope this helps and feel free to re-post these comments." >> >> Good Birding, >> -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. >> -- >> NYSbirds-L List Info: >> Welcome and Basics >> Rules and Information >> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave >> Archives: >> The Mail Archive >> Surfbirds >> ABA >> Please submit your observations to eBird! >> -- > > > -- > HERB SMITH > artist > > www.herbsmithart.com > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > ABA > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
