An out-of-focus bird in a shrub? What kind of quiz is that?

A realistic one, as our bins are not always focused at the right distance when we put ‘em up to our eyes. The bird could fly off before you get a sharp focus, so take in what you can when you can. Besides, it’s perched in something of a tight situation, so there is a host of species we can immediately rule out, and that and the posture quickly rule out most of the non-passerines (the species generally in the front of the book).

The bird’s apparent brown head, contrasting a bit with gray upperparts, may not be a feature combination that leads immediately to the subject’s identification to species, but the combo is surprisingly uncommon. Even though many might think there are not enough clues to identify the bird to species, I guarantee that there are more than enough… so long as one looks closely enough.

Photos and answers are supplied by Tony Leukering, a field ornithologist based in in Colorado. He has strong interests in bird migration, distribution, and identification. He has worked for five different bird observatories from coast to coast, has conducted hawk counts in Michigan, New Jersey, Colorado, and Texas, and seabird counts in Michigan, New Jersey, and California. Tony considers himself particularly adept at taking quiz photos—that is to say, bad pictures! He is a member of the Oklahoma Bird Records Committee, is a past member of the Colorado and New Jersey committees, and was a long-time reviewer for eBird. Tony is also interested in most everything else animalian that flies, particularly moths and odonates.