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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in OpenLab2009.
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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching
Posted on: June 19, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Bohemian Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bohemian Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus, photographed near Brandon in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 12 February 2005 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 20D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Tim Lambert 11.22.2009
PZ Myers 11.22.2009
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
Ed Brayton 11.22.2009
Ed Brayton 11.22.2009
Comments
I want to say a cedar waxwing, but it seems plumper. Maybe a juvenile?
The waxwings descend on us late in the year, and clear out all the yaupon berries. Since they're coming from the north, I assume they nest somewhere up yonder.
Posted by: Russell | June 19, 2009 10:27 AM
It's an extremely beautiful photograph of a Bohemian waxwing, not cedar.
They're greyer than cedars, cedars don't have that white stripe on the wing.
Here's a cedar waxwing for comparison.
Waxwings are among my favorite birds, as they sport a well-groomed, immaculate appearance that's directly opposite of my own appearance :)
Posted by: dhogaza | June 19, 2009 12:02 PM
Bohemian waxwing. Besides the white on the wing and the "grayish belly" (rather than the cedar waxwing's "warm brown" and "pale yellowish belly"), there's also this bird's "rufous undertail coverts" (rather than the cedar's "whitish undertail coverts") (Sibley).
Posted by: John Callender | June 19, 2009 12:13 PM
Bohemian Waxwing! Cedars have a yellowish belly, and no white on the wings.
Posted by: kyllikki | June 19, 2009 2:07 PM
Bohemian waxwing, for the reasons stated above me.
Posted by: Lia | June 19, 2009 4:12 PM
dhogaza - you're trying to confuse us with that photo, aren't you?
Posted by: Bob O'H | June 20, 2009 1:57 AM
Ah yes, a Bohemian waxwing.
I, too love waxwings for their silky good looks. And for their charming behavior, as well. Who could not love watching them pass berries from one to another and another and another...? So well behaved, and so unlike the other birds I watch feeding in my serviceberry.
The feathers are as silky to the touch as they are to the eye, and the wax nubbins themselves, an enigma.
Posted by: pk1154 | June 20, 2009 10:01 AM
Bohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) Dutch; Pestvogel
Larger and greyer than cedar,
cedars have a yellowish belly, and no white on the wings.
Posted by: Hans | June 20, 2009 1:23 PM