Pay Close Attention!

[SCraig]

I went to the Old Hickory Wildlife Management Area this morning to see what was there. It was the first time I've been there so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was basically just a boat landing area for the lake. There were, however, a lot of Ring-Billed Gulls wheeling around and American Coots paddling around. I have hundreds of photographs of both so I wasn't paying a lot of attention to them. There was also a Black-Crowned Night Heron that I have NO decent photographs of, and of course he took to his wings as soon as I got within range so I still have NO decent shots of them.

So, rather than waste a trip, I started shooting some shots of the gulls since they are always interesting. Then I realized that among the dozens and dozens of Ring-Billed Gulls there were also a few that were smaller. Looking closer I also realized that they had black bills instead of the yellow bills on Ring-Billed Gulls. I just happened to notice that there was a different species mixed in. It turns out that they were Bonaparte's Gulls but I never would have seen them had I not happened to notice that they were smaller. Same overall color, same black on their tail, same brown patches on their sides. Looking closer I could see a black bill and a black spot behind the eye, but I had to LOOK for the differences.

When I got home I started trying to find out what I had seen and even then got stuck between two that are still very, very similar in appearance. I was pretty sure it was either a Bonaparte's Gull or a Little Gull and had to send the photos to a bird expert I've used for help before.

The point of this post being that those of us who shoot bird photos should always pay close attention. We become accustomed to seeing the same thing over and over and don't always see the differences that are mixed in right in front of us. Most of us aren't bird experts and one gray gull looks the same as another gray gull until we start seeing the small differences between them. Many species of bird are very similar in appearance, and it's important to look closely or we can miss something unusual and never even know it.

Bonaparte's Gull

Ring-Billed Gull and Bonaparte's Gull

The Ring-Billed Gull in the photo above is a little misleading since they don't always have such prominent brown patches on their sides. The colors among most of the Ring-Billed Gulls and the Bonaparte's Gulls were generally the same overall gray.

 

[coastalconn]

It's funny, a few months ago, I was at a state park here in CT, with the counting birders as I call them (The kind without cameras that just document species). I saw a small, all white gull streaking towards us and no one even bothered looking at. I managed a quick shot as it passed. Turned out to be an immature Bonaparte's Gull. Still the only one I have seen... I always pay attention to anything that flies near me. Almost the red neck hunting mind-set, If it moves "shoooooot it"

Gull for ID? by krisinct, on Flickr

 

[baturn]

Nice shots (both of you) and a good heads up for the rest of us. Thanx.

 

[JacaRanda]

Very good heads up and I thank you also! >>>>Guilty<<<<< No more.

 

[sm4him]

Wow, cool! I admit it, I see gulls and generally don't look very closely at them--I'll take a picture if they come close enough though (obviously, from my most recent thread!), but I still don't know if I'd have realized it was different.

I had sort of the opposite experience yesterday. Went to one of my favorite nearby wildlife refuges. For the first hour, literally the ONLY bird I saw was a single mockingbird. It was freaky really, as this place is generally teeming with birds of all sorts. I did end up seeing some other birds, including a hawk and the bald eagle that lives there, but they were all just too far off to get any decent shots.

As I was leaving, I saw a hawk coming in across someone's yard. I pulled into the driveway and hopped out just as it was turning to fly straight toward me, nice and low. It was going to fly right overhead--I started shooting and as it got a bit closer, I thought maybe it wasn't a hawk, maybe it was a juvenile eagle--too dark for a hawk. But kinda too big for a juvenile eagle.

Then I glanced at the trees it seemed to be heading for...and saw FOUR more just like it. Turkey vultures.
Ah well. Such is life for a bird photographer with poor vision...

Nice shot of the gull, by the way. If you hadn't told the story, I might have just thought that's what juvenile ring-billed gulls looked like!

 

[Onerider]

You realize that when the birds have left an area it usually means danger is near. You have heard of the Tennessee Bigfoot haven't you? I hear it's up your way.
It could also have been a stinking meth lab too.

 

[sm4him]

You realize that when the birds have left an area it usually means danger is near. You have heard of the Tennessee Bigfoot haven't you? I hear it's up your way.
It could also have been a stinking meth lab too.

LOL...it actually DID make me wonder things like that, because it was really downright eerie! Usually I can't walk any of the trails there without little birds that are hiding in the fields taking flight. On the other hand, it was also incredibly cold, so perhaps they were all just frozen to their perches.

 

[SCraig]

The biggest problem is that, as with, say, dogs, I expect to see a significant difference among species whereas with birds it isn't always so. For example, I mentioned that I wasn't sure whether the gull I shot yesterday was a Bonaparte's Gull or a Little Gull and sent the photos to a true bird expert to determine which it was. He wrote back that the Little Gull is smaller than the Bonaparte's Gull and the Little Gull has a straighter bill than the Bonaparte's Gull. Being smaller is relative, and unless the two are together it's not always possible to tell. And the bill being straighter? I don't even think of things like that being a difference.

The biggest thing, in my opinion, is that we become conditioned as to what to expect. I had this exact same thing happen a couple of years ago and didn't take the lesson to heart then. I was shooting photographs of a Cardinal in a tree, and it was a few minutes later, after the bird had flown away, that I realized that it wasn't a Cardinal. The bill was wrong and it didn't have that tuft of feathers on top of its head. When I got home I looked at my photos and sure enough it was not a Cardinal but a Summer Tanager. I automatically assumed it was a Cardinal because I have never seen another solid red bird in this area of the country, or at least not one that I realized was different. Completely different birds but all I saw was "Red" and my mind said "Cardinal" so I never looked closer.

Summer Tanager

Cardinal

No excuse for not seeing the difference between these two but I didn't until the bird had already flown away.

 

[sm4him]

Wow, that tanager is awesome!
<note to self: Self, go buy lots more memory cards, because you are about to start taking a picture of every single durn bird you see...>

The WORST ones for me are the purple finch vs. the house finch, and even worse--the Chickadee. You know the difference between a Carolina chickadee and a black-capped chickadee? Yeah, exactly. Neither does pretty much anyone else--it's primarily based on WHERE you find it. I mean, *C'mon Man* <cue ESPN segment here > --if the ONLY difference you can spot is where you find it...there IS no difference. :lmao:

 

[SCraig]

Heck, the small ones all look alike to me. I can't tell a Wren from a Sparrow unless I look it up.

 

[irfan.in.tx]

Well said, Craig. Gulls are confounding, because not only do you have different species, but also different plumages based on season and stage in life. Finches and sparrows are also hard for me. I think practice and good bird guides will eventually make it easier.

Well done on the pictures.

 

[SCraig]

Well said, Craig. Gulls are confounding, because not only do you have different species, but also different plumages based on season and stage in life. Finches and sparrows are also hard for me. I think practice and good bird guides will eventually make it easier.

Well done on the pictures.

Absolutely right. Ducks are especially dependent on the time of year. Their plumage in summer is frequently completely different from their winter plumage. So different that one would never know that they are the same species.

Wood Ducks in Winter Plumage (long range shot, not that great)

Wood Ducks in Summer Plumage

 

[shefjr]

When it's not mating season it is IMO even more difficult to tell the difference between the Bonaparte's Gull and the Black-headed Gull. They are really similar! Both having the same basic identifiers with the exception of size and beak.