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------=_Part_79223_2931380.1228091951407 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Hi, As I mentioned, I felt that there was too much dark on the face and cheek, and too much streaking on the flanks, to make this into a pure Hermit. This was the conclusion reached after looking at Sibley, The Warbler Guide (Dunn & Co) and NGS. The other 3 of us in our vehicle felt the same. All of us were relying on the sources we had, but none are familiar with either species except in high breeding plumage seen in California a long time ago! Since then, yourself, Ian etc. have pointed out that other sources suggest I'm probably wrong, and that the bird is certainly also compatible with a pure F. Hermit. I hope you're correct, for the sake of listers and for advancing our collective ID knowledge of these rare westerners! But I still feel we should really submit everyone's photos to someone out west who is an expert and familiar with all plumages of Hermit, before drawing definitive conclusions, with such a rare bird. Good luck tomorrow-- Richard On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 8:21 PM, Don Codling <dcodling@hfx.eastlink.ca>wrote: > November 30, 2008 > > Lois and I were looking carefully at your pictures - thank you for posting > them! We are hoping the bird will still be there tomorrow when we can go and > look for it, weather permitting. > > Could you tell us why you and others suspect a Townsend's cross? We were > comparing your pictures to our guides, and the Peterson Warblers Guide on > pages 324 and 325 has pictures of a first fall female hermit and a first > fall female cross. To our eyes, the Hermit picture is about as exact a match > for your pictures as you could ever hope for, while the cross is quite > different. The book seems to indicate that crosses should always show some > yellow on the breast - it isn't as clear as it could be about that - and it > appears to us that your pictures show a fully white breast. So left to > ourselves, we'd look at your pictures and say, "That's a Hermit". > > We'd appreciate learning what better birders see that points to a > cross-breed, not that we have a lot of hope of getting good enough to see > such subtle marks, but at least for interest. > > Don Codling > 900 Old Sackville Road > Lower Sackville, NS B4E 1R1 > -- ################# Dr.Richard Stern, 70 Exhibition St. Kentville, NS, Canada B4N 4K9 Richard Stern, 317 Middle Dyke Rd. Port Williams, NS, Canada B0P 1T0 sternrichard@gmail.com ################### ------=_Part_79223_2931380.1228091951407 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Hi,<br><br>As I mentioned, I felt that there was too much dark on the face and cheek, and too much streaking on the flanks, to make this into a pure Hermit. This was the conclusion reached after looking at Sibley, The Warbler Guide (Dunn & Co) and NGS. The other 3 of us in our vehicle felt the same. All of us were relying on the sources we had, but none are familiar with either species except in high breeding plumage seen in California a long time ago! Since then, yourself, Ian etc. have pointed out that other sources suggest I'm probably wrong, and that the bird is certainly also compatible with a pure F. Hermit. I hope you're correct, for the sake of listers and for advancing our collective ID knowledge of these rare westerners! But I still feel we should really submit everyone's photos to someone out west who is an expert and familiar with all plumages of Hermit, before drawing definitive conclusions, with such a rare bird.<br> <br>Good luck tomorrow--<br><br>Richard<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 8:21 PM, Don Codling <span dir="ltr"><dcodling@hfx.eastlink.ca></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">November 30, 2008<br> <br> Lois and I were looking carefully at your pictures - thank you for posting them! We are hoping the bird will still be there tomorrow when we can go and look for it, weather permitting.<br> <br> Could you tell us why you and others suspect a Townsend's cross? We were comparing your pictures to our guides, and the Peterson Warblers Guide on pages 324 and 325 has pictures of a first fall female hermit and a first fall female cross. To our eyes, the Hermit picture is about as exact a match for your pictures as you could ever hope for, while the cross is quite different. The book seems to indicate that crosses should always show some yellow on the breast - it isn't as clear as it could be about that - and it appears to us that your pictures show a fully white breast. So left to ourselves, we'd look at your pictures and say, "That's a Hermit".<br> <br> We'd appreciate learning what better birders see that points to a cross-breed, not that we have a lot of hope of getting good enough to see such subtle marks, but at least for interest.<br><font color="#888888"> <br> Don Codling<br> 900 Old Sackville Road<br> Lower Sackville, NS B4E 1R1<br> </font></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>#################<br>Dr.Richard Stern, <br>70 Exhibition St.<br>Kentville, NS, Canada<br>B4N 4K9<br><br>Richard Stern, <br>317 Middle Dyke Rd.<br>Port Williams, NS, Canada<br> B0P 1T0<br><br>sternrichard@gmail.com<br>###################<br> ------=_Part_79223_2931380.1228091951407--
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