To describe my lifelong fascination with flight and with creatures that fly I like to echo the words of John James Audubon who in 1839 wrote of himself as "...one who never can cease to admire and to study with zeal and the most heartfelt reverence, the wonderful productions of an Almighty Creator."
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Western Tanager
I'm thinking that this Western Tanager, seen today in Bend, Oregon, is a male because of the yellow abdomen and yellow upper wing bar, but obviously it's not in breeding plumage. Does that make it a "hatch-year bird" or a male that has already molted? However, I could not detect any vestige of red about the head and face, and the back seemed too light for a male. So... maybe it's a female that has more than the usual amount of yellow on the abdomen and wing bar. (?) The books I have looked at do not agree with each other.
I'm thinking that this Western Tanager, seen today in Bend, Oregon, is a male because of the yellow abdomen and yellow upper wing bar, but obviously it's not in breeding plumage. Does that make it a "hatch-year bird" or a male that has already molted? However, I could not detect any vestige of red about the head and face, and the back seemed too light for a male. So... maybe it's a female that has more than the usual amount of yellow on the abdomen and wing bar. (?) The books I have looked at do not agree with each other.
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