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| The bird formerly known as the Warbling Vireo |
When we last left our hero, the little bird formerly known as the Warbling Vireo, it had attained a new identity as a Red-eyed Vireo.
And I felt pretty good and noble about owning up to my lack of knowledge, and about the learning experience. The lessons learned included that thing about always questioning the ID and "getting" it for yourself. The takeaway was to always take time and study the details.
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| Red-eyed Vireo Merritt Island, FL 9/15/12 |
So I studied the field marks, and consulted the guides, and - when the details didn't all add up (as, in birding, they frequently do not; damn those birds for not complying with the descriptions some experts have so deftly put down on paper!) - I punted, relying on the best inputs I had. Heck, the bird looked more like a Red-eyed Vireo than Warbling Vireo. That was good enough for me.
I felt so darn good about the transformation of this bird from a Warbling Vireo to a Red-eyed Vireo that I asked Dave, they AMBer who chairs our bi-weekly classes, for a moment to go through the new ID during his half hour before our speaker was scheduled to get going. I said it would be a good thing to include this "teaching moment", and to share it with the class.
Little did I know that if anyone was in for more teaching - and learning - it was me.
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| Warbling Vireo Mount Tabor Park, Portland, OR 6/9/13 |
So tonight, we're set, and Dave goes through his list of announcements and questions and such. Then he gets to me and the vireo, and pulls up a slide he's put together of my previously published photos of the bird. I get up and go through the reasoning: the dark eye stripe, the dark cap, the yellowish tint, all of it. It's going well. A few people are nodding and saying, "Great catch!"
Then Chuck, one of the Master Birders, says, but why isn't it a Philadelphia Vireo.
Hmmm.
Um.
Geez.
I dunno. What's a Philadelphia Vireo? Does anyone have a field guide I can borrow?
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| The bird formerly known as Warbling Vireo, then formerly known as Red-eyed Vireo. |
Chuck's query gives Dave a perfect segue. Dave, in prepping for the class, sent my photos off to Hugh Kingery, who is the father of the AMB program. Hugh is, for me and probably countless others, the last stop when you are stumped for bird ID. He has been birding since, oh, maybe the beginning of time, and if Hugh doesn't know, he's on first name terms with the folks who do know.
Hugh isn't in class tonight, but Dave reads through his email, something that goes through a litany of the reasons this bird is not a Warbling Vireo (something I thought I already knew) and then a litany of reasons the bird is not a Red-eyed Vireo (it's small comfort that the reasons are things I had doubts about earlier, but still). A Red-eyed Vireo has a much more pronounced dark line above the eyebrow; the adult Red-eyed Vireo actually has a red eye (I had not seen this in my photos, and chalked it up to the fact this bird was always in shadow and, quite frankly, my photos are pretty lousy). Hugh brings up habitat: is the bird in a shrub or tree? He doesn't think that the Red-eyed would be in this habitat.
And then the punchline: this bird is a Philadelphia Vireo.
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| Philadelphia Vireo Crow Valley Campground, CO 9/7/13 |
Well, damn.
Once I get over my shock, it's actually pretty cool, for a number of reasons. First and foremost is this: this is an ID I can get behind. When I look at my field guides, it's the best match. I was always kind of bugged that the drawings I have of Red-eyed Vireos have a much more distinctive eyebrow. And I was bothered that none of my photos have a red eye. But I never really looked at the Philadelphia Vireo - an omission I'd like to chalk up to the fact that the range map doesn't show it in Colorado.
But the truth is, I made the same blasted mistake again. I didn't really take all the evidence into account.
The beauty of the whole experience is that, as we took a break before our star speaker began, everyone in the room was buzzing. All of the master birders were engaged, looking at field guides and examining photographs. All of my fellow students were doing the same. We were all talking about this, and everyone was marveling, and I could read the thoughts in the room: I need to update my ebird list!
It was, as Chuck (remember Chuck, the guy who said, so why isn't it a Philadelphia Vireo?) likes to say, a teaching moment.
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