Voting Comments
Record #: 83-B-06
Blue-headed Vireo
First Round: (6-1)
Second Round: (5-2)
ACCEPT
|
1st Round |
2nd Round |
| 04-24-2007. Shirley Sturts -- Accept Well written report - field marks those of the Blue-headed |
06-22-2007. Sturts -- Accept On this 2nd round I checked out the description in "The Birds of North America Number 379, 1998" author Ross D. James, Kathleen's description on page 2 of her report seems to fit those described by Ross James. Kathleen's description includes: the blueish gray head with the bold white "spectacles" and distinct white throat, the greenish mantle/back, yellowish flank and the 2 dull yellowish wing bars. Ross says the Plumberous Vireo has an entirely gray head and back, the sides with only a faint yellow wash. Ross goes on to say the Cassin's is the most similar but with a brownish gray head and with little contrast to the brownish olive gray back, sides paler yellow and wing-bars narrower and whiter. Poo's descrption and sketch does not touch on all the field marks but I think there is enough description between the two reports to cover the major distinctive field marks. In addition, the the fact that they had good lighting, the distance 15-20 feet, binoculars being used and 15-20 minutes of viewing time all contributed to my going with an accept vote. |
| 4/24/07. Cliff Weisse -- Reject, specific identification not established To feel comfortable with this ID I'd like to see a description that includes the color of the edges of the outer rectrices, contrast of nape and mantle, extent of yellow or greenish flanks and amount of contrast between flank and belly. The sketch shows little contrast between nape and head and depicts mantle as grayish. Although this may have been a Blue-headed Vireo the reports do not completely convince me. |
7/3/2007. Cliff Weisse -- Reject, specific identification not established I'll stick with my vote to not accept this record for the reasons given in my comments in the first round. |
| 04-28-2007. Dave Trochlell -- Accept This one was a tough decision for me. By the admission of one of our reporters, she doesn't have a great deal of experience with the confusing "Solitary" Vireos, and the separation of some bright fall adult Cassin's Vireos from Blue-headed Vireos can be very tricky, even for advanced birders. Still, both reports cover major field marks used to differentiate these species, so I gave this one my nod of support. |
06-30-2007. Dave Trochlell -- Accept Despite the reservations mentioned in the first vote comments, I'm going to vote to accept this one again. |
| 05-05-2007. Carlisle -- Accept Good description and timing seems right. |
6-30-07. Carlisle -- Accept In my experience, the difference between Blue-headed & Cassin's in the white tail edges is not huge (to address Cliff's concern). Certainly it's one of many important field marks but if this detail wasn't seen, the others seem enough for me. |
| 05-06-2007. chuck trost -- Accept multiple observers, good descriptions and good drawing. |
07-02-2007. chuck trost -- Accept The drawing, plus descriptions of white throat, dark head and colored flanks convince me. |
| 5/10/2007. Charles Swift -- Accept Based on the information currently available the ID seems correct. |
7/19/07. Charles Swift -- Reject, specific identification not established I'm changing my vote to reject in this round. Like Cliff, I feel that this could well be a Blue-headed Vireo but the report is just not quite rigorous enough for the difficulty of the identification in my opinion. The observers note the whiteness of the throat but did not note the more relevant contrast and demarcation between throat and head. In addition, bold spectacles were noted but this is a feature of Cassin's and Blue-headed. Apparently Cassin's molts on the breeding ground so it's fresher appearance could stand out to observers as this bird apparently did. |
| 10 May 2007. Hardy -- Accept Describes impression of a colorful bird - also the white throat and head/back contrast. |
1 July 2007. Hardy -- Accept Same comments as first round. |