This photo was posted a couple of days ago and has caused a bit of conversation as to it's possible ID. The question has been asked as to why this bird is not a Hooded Oriole versus an Orchard Oriole. I contacted Mark Newstrom who banded the bird on Sunday and there are a couple of things he saw that are not obvious in the photo. First, there were blackish feathers on the crown and chestnut colored feathers in the rump. Neither one of these would show up in an immature (second year) Hooded Oriole. There is a good look at a similar bird at Cornell's "Birds of North America" site.
Off and on storms all this weekend may cut into birding time but there is still lots of good stuff around. My sweet wife is riding the MS 150 Bike Event (Duluth to the Twin Cities) this weekend so I may not have as much time in the field as I would like. I may get some early morning banding in but the mosquitoes have showed up in significant numbers. The hardships of a bander......
1 comment:
Glad it wasn't me that caught this bird! I would have had to let it go unbanded since I probably could not 100% identify what species it is.
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