Hi Rob and all, Early on, I gave Rob my opinion that these were Boat-tailed Grackles, but in case the identification has not yet been resolved to everyone's satisfaction, I thought I'd offer my reasoning to the group. More generally, I think this debate has been an interesting and productive exercise.
It's worth starting with two general principles: identifying birds from photos is much more difficult than identifying birds in life, and the kinds of expertise that yield correct outcomes differ slightly--but predictably--between the two contexts. Reading through the various posts, it was very obvious to me that the people who posted confidently that these were Boat-tailed Grackles were not only highly skilled field birders, but also exceptionally experienced in collecting and evaluating bird reports from other people. This is far from the first time that Hugh has encountered this very situation. And my own sent box holds multiple examples of discussions of this very species pair, which, believe it or not, are frequently confused on eBird checklists in our region. I recall a debate on the ID Frontiers list in which some of the most highly respected birders in North America disagreed in a similar situation. People who study other people's reports carefully are more likely to be aware of pitfalls in the information content of photos. In this case, the photos in question don't allow rigorous discernment of relative tail length, so that mark was immediately demoted in my mind relative to other, more salient, features, such as color tone, habitat, and flock size, density, and sex ratio. A dense group of tawny colored female blackbirds perched in an isolated bare tree near coastal marshes immediately suggests BT Grackle to me, and from there the finer points of plumage, molt, eye color, etc. fall into place quite readily. For the record, female BT Grackles do not always show strikingly long tails, as shown in this photo: https://picasaweb.google.com/109808209543611018404/Icteridae#5984082554919471282 Other photos in that album illustrate many other points about both species that Joe D and others have already made. Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Robert Taylor [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 7:15 AM To: nysbirds-l Subject: [nysbirds-l] Thank you: re: Meadowbrook Parkway Blackbirds Hi Everyone, Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped ID the birds I saw last Saturday off the Meadowbrook Parkway. (regarding Scott's post, I also considered female common grackles at one point) It's definitely been a good lesson on Icterids. Best regards, Rob in Massapequa -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- ________________________________ The Campaign for CSI: For College and Community<http://www.csi.cuny.edu/foundation/> -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
