Since a few passionate members asked for more ID challenges, here is one. What is this?
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It's odd, the HTML tags didn't work in the previous two panes. If you cannot see the image above this line, copy the below into a new browser window.
http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d/5213-1/ID+challenge+2.jpg
I think I know this one, but I'll let others have a go before jumping in.
BTW, this is fun Akos. I hope you've got more once these are done.
nothing springs to mind immediately but is it some sort of shrike thrush or whistler?
BTW.. these ID challenges are great Akos.
Cheers, Owen.
Thanks Mark and Owen. If you know it Mark e-mail it to me.
Owen, none of those. :)
I am useless at baby birds ....they all look the same to me :)
Do I have them up here?
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Do I see some stripes appearing on that tiny tail?
M-L
It has a very chunky beak for a juvenile, is the beak growing into a black, rather big beak? (Any clues?)
M-L
Could it grow up to be a Cuckoo-shrike? (Yellow-eyed,as the juveniles have a whitish-grey breast? Or a White-bellied, as their breast vary from white to grey?And the young have those round black eyes.
M-L
Hi Windhover
Very young MB??
Ed Townsville NQ
No, no, no, no and no. :)
BTW Ed, you mean Mistletoebird? No.
Just for everyone adding their bird species comments:
It would be great to state the name you think it is in full so that others reading who may not be bird-brained (LOL) enough to work out from two letters can also get an idea of what or what not. :) Thanks! :)
Not so good with ID's but I am guessing a Bell Miner.
Wanda has the kind of group in a way. While Bell Miner it isn't, they are related to birds that feed on nectar etc.. Hint.
Just one more try for me it is addictive. Maybe a White-naped Honeyeater.
I was thinking Mistletoebird, but now that you've excluded that from being a possibility, and with your last hint, the only bird I can think of with this sort of bill as a juvie is a Fuscous HE.
Hi Gelmir boy that was my other choice the Fuscous HE but decided to go with the White-naped HE.
Not Fuscous, not White-naped. Not a Mistletoebird. :( Warm, but I am still freezing here. :) Know what I mean? Another hint.
Males and females look totally different (color wise that is). And their calls are high-pitched squeaks. Kind of musical and very pretty. I can whistle it, but what's the point? LOL!
Following the clues and eliminating the 'not thats' I come to a (red breasted?)Robin but as they are few and far between up here in NQ that's the best I can do.
Ed Townsville NQ
Scarlet Honeyeater?
Seems to fit all the criteria :)
Taz
noisy miner
And the (non-existent) prize goes to TAZ! Yes, well done.
Don't know how you figured it out, but it is a Scarlet Honeyeater fledgling I photographed on Australia Day 2009 along Glenbrook Creek, Blaxland. At first I could almost touch the male bird he was so close, but I couldn't get a photo of him. Then this little one came down and sat near us while mum and dad brought food for him/her.
cheers!
Wow clever Taz!
For Windhover, I am just a little confused and as I said I am not so good with ID's but his beak keeps throwing me off as I cannot see that it is the same as a Scarlet HE.
Does the juvie's beak change that much as it gets older?
His/her little beak is so chubby and does not to appear to be long and pointy like the Scarlet HE.
It is just a question from someone who is not so good at this but likes a challenge.
PS I know you are right as you were sitting right there when the parents fed it.
I was wondering all the same things Wanda. I had come up with the SHE in my mind, but didn't know enough about how a juvey changes either !
Next challenge acn we have something older please!!!! LOL
Well done Taz :')
Sunshine Coast Queensland
.....that makes three of us. Earlier in the challenge you will find, that I asked that question about the beak being so chunky.(might just be the angle of the photo?) The other problem with photos is, hard to tell, if you don't know how big the bird is?
M-L
wow you guys are good. i would never have guessed scarlet honeyeater!
Cheers, Owen.
Ha ha ..... not that good except for Taz Owen :')
I went through every HE in my S & D and came up with that as one of the only ones that has totally different colours between male and female and fitted other criteria .
Oh well... it made me research the genre at least !
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I'm surprised to find out it is a Scarlet HE? It does not look like a HE beak. Has anybody considered it could be some kind of Cuckoo. It is hard to tell how big it is, which may rule out a Cuckoo anyway.
Ray
Yes, I did raysimula, (06-Apr. 6.38,and 06-Apr.8.14 ), and later I asked about the size of the bird?
M-L
Sorry Araminta. The 6.38 post was a bit cryptic for me, no mention of a cuckoo here! What had me fooled about the other mentioned post was the fact that you named a shrike not a cuckoo. Sorry for my ignorance, I will be more careful in future.
Ray
LOL.... get that tongue out of your cheek Ray :')
Yes Araminta there is a difference between a cuckoo and a cuckoo-shrike as you may know!
ALso remember that Windhover saw the parents feeding it so we can count the cuckoo idea out !!!
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Again I'm sorry birdie, but isn't that what Cuckoos do. Lay there eggs in another birds nest so that the other bird feeds the baby Cuckoo.
Ray
Ha ha ...... sometimes life on a forum can be very confusing.... so you were serious about a cuckoo? my turn to be sorry and say I hadn't even thought about what cuckoos do in this instance ... probably only because Windhover witnessed it and I feel sure he would recognise the difference if he saw it I guess.
I still say you had your tongue in cheek though :') in a nice way of course.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
well, earlier in the challenge, I did think of a cuckoo, when I asked about the strips in the tail, then I got sidetracked by the colours of the bird.But as I said, the beak is very chunky? And,as you said , the parents wouldn't look like the baby? Tongue in cheek or not (?), there are still a few questions.....? Life is one big mystery!LOL
M-L
Hi Ray
If you look at the plumage, it is very similar to the female Scarlet Howneyeater. Greyish. It was also small, a little smaller than the two adults feeding it. I also happened to have my friend with me at the time who is about as trustworthy of identifying and co-identifying as I would consider myself to be.
A lot of young birds take time to develop adult beak shapes. Take a look at this FLEDGED White-winged Chough. It is a White-winged Chough fledged days before the image was taken, not some other parasitic bird. Note the bill looks nothing like the adults'.
http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d/1364-2/White-winged-Chough_4505v1.jpg
G'day Windover. I'm not saying it is a Cuckoo,I don't know what it is. I was just wondering if anyone had considered that possibility, and the fact that it was being fed by Scarlet H.Es did not nessesarily mean that it absolutely had to be a Scarlet HE. If you are sure it is a S.H.E then that's good enough for me. Ray
No worries Ray. :)
I was merely making the point of bills not developing into adult shape upon fledging. The fact you mentioned if anyone considered a cuckoo prompted me to see whether honeyeaters would play host to cuckoos. I guess at the chick stage since a lot of food provided has to be a protein source, eg insects, it's likely that cuckoos also use honeyeaters as hosts. It would be great to know that. So I will dig deep.
Cheers mate
*proudly claims Windhover's non-existent prize* Thanks :)
Yeah I pretty much did what Birdie did and searched on google just in case. The beak shape really made this quite a conundrum but it taught me something interesting :)
Good luck reseaching on the cuckoos and honeyeaters.
Taz