“Ugh,” one might say upon seeing this quiz photo (taken in February).

I understand. Truly. However, I hope that quiz takers get to a subsequent thought, which might be along the lines of: “Wait. This might not be too tough.” While it may seem that there is very little to go on in this quiz photo, many identification-useful features are included; one might simply not have considered one of them from this angle.

The bird’s general size can be estimated by comparing it to the dead leaves, and the combination of blue upperparts and tiny size rules out a veritable host of possibilities. Indeed, it is possible to age the bird. Granted, knowing the age of the bird does not truly provide us with anything significant as far as identifying the species, but I thought I would toss a few ducats into the ID bucket; our quiz bird is an immature. That is, it is neither a juvenile nor an adult, but it is wearing some of the juvenile feathers retained through the prebasic molt it conducted in late summer or early fall last year. It is at this point in these photo quizzes that I oftentimes provide another little ID hint or two. Sorry, but an old chestnut states that a picture is worth a thousand words. How many of those words can you find?

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.