December 2024 Photo Quiz

Tony Leukering
Dodge City, KS
greatgrayowl@aol.com

Wow! Missed the appropriate camera settings big time! However, this photo, whether truly taken like this or not, gives me a chance to discuss a feature notable here, one that I’ve wanted to broach in this venue for a very long time: Sometimes, it’s the little things that we don’t think about that make the ID. The quiz bird is not a Slaty-backed Gull, nor is it remotely similar to that species, but I still want to discuss its string of pearls.

Photos and answers are supplied by Tony Leukering, a field ornithologist based in southeast Dodge City, KS, with strong interests in bird migration, distribution, and identification. He has worked for five different bird observatories from coast to coast and considers himself particularly adept at taking quiz photos (that is, bad pictures!). Leukering is a member of the Colorado Bird Records Committee and had been a reviewer for eBird since its inception. He is also interested in most everything else that flies, particularly moths and odonates.