July 2023 Photo Quiz

Tony Leukering
Dodge City, KS
greatgrayowl@aol.com

There are not a lot of ABA-Area bird families that could claim a bird that looks like this, what with those long legs, strongly patterned tawny wings, and strongly black-barred tawny tail. In fact, most observers probably immediately narrowed the bird down to just a couple of species, neither of which is at all rare in the ABA Area (although one or both are rare in some portions of the ABA Area). The problem here lies in deciding which species provides the correct identification.

If only the bill were in view.

But the bill is not in view, yet the bird is readily identified to species with careful scrutiny.

What species is represented here?

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.