>From Steve Cardiff:
It's a very interesting bird for sure. It's a fresh HY individual based on
the extent of rusty color on the wings. I would agree that it's definitely not
an Ash-throated- bill way too large, plumage too bright, tail wrong. It does
seem superficially similar to Brown-crested. However, I would still have to
lean towards Great Crested on this one:
--the white inner tertial stripe looks GCFL and is just too broad for a BCFL.
--the brighter olive tones on the upper parts is better for GCFL, and I'm not
picking up the subtle grayish nuchal collar that is usually present on BCFL and
ATFL (see attached specimen photos).
--from what I can see of the tail pattern, it is better for GCFL; BCFL should
have a thin dark inner shaft stripe and on this bird it looks like the rufous
inner web extends to the shaft (although on some BCFL the BCFL pattern may not
hold to the tip of the feather.
The bill seems a tad large to me for GCFL, but bill size can be pretty
subjective/deceptive and you noted that the bill was similar to GCFL seen at
the same time (plus see specimen photos)- for sure this bird is not a M. t.
magister. I don't know what to say about the lack of color at the base of the
mandible although it looks like there's at least a hint of pink along the basal
edge of the mandible. Pretty sure there is enough individual variation in that
mark that if it's obvious then GCFL, but if it's not obvious then it could
still be a GCFL. We have soft parts descriptions from fresh GCFL specimens
with base of mandible described as "dark horn." The paleness of the
throat/breast would seem to argue against GCFL, but such paler-throated GCFL
can occur at least rarely- here in LA we have collected at least one bird as a
"BCFL" that turned out to be a pale-throated Great Crest. From the specimen
photos you can see that there is considerable variation among GCFL in
throat/breast color and how much blending there is between the breast and the
yellow belly to creat the olive areas on the sides of the breast.
--
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