What IS that? Is that a tail and wingtips? What?!

Yup, and that’s how it’s gonna be. There’s not all that much to go on, but more than enough to get to the right species, so long as you know that I took the photo in Colorado, and the individual bird was not a mega rarity.

To paraphrase Euell Gibbons (and you young whippersnappers may never have heard of him; oh well), “Some parts are… ID-helpful, even if many birders are not aware of such.”

 

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.