Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Answers to Hidden Pictures

Below are closer crops of the photos from my Hidden Pictures post, showing the hidden birds.

We thought the bird above was a downy woodpecker, but it may have been a hairy woodpecker, as participant Richard suggested. The two are difficult to distinguish from a distance.

Honestly, we don't remember what we thought the bird above was at the time -- it is quite nuthatch-like, but at this point you're free to tell ME what it is. The photo was taken looking directly overhead, catching the underside of whatever it was.

This was a very difficult one, and if I hadn't remembered where the downy (or hairy) woodpecker was from when I snapped the shot, I doubt I would ever have found it in the photo. If you still can't quite make it out, the light-colored breast is framed on the left by the darker wing color. The breast extends up above where the branch divides, and there is a hint of head and dark beak above that.

Thanks to all who played the game! Jim H. said he didn't know if it was fun... or torture. What do you think?
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3 comments:

Mary said...

Great idea for a post! I'm always catching the underside or badly lit birds when I'm somewhere new and then get frustrated when I can't figure out what I took a photo of!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

That overhead bird looks like
a Northern (Yellow-shafted)
Flicker to me.

Hap in New Hope

Unknown said...

Hap from New Hope also wrote in a comment elsewhere, "Once I saw the
two-point tail I knew it was a
woodpecker; and it appears as
though the underside of the tail
feathers is bordered in black.
That's why I called it a Northern
(yellow-shafted) Flicker."

We'd forgotten that Dave did think it was a northern flicker at the time! I copied in your other comment, since it contains such a good explanation for the identification. Thank you!

And Mary - also thanks! I'm glad it was fun for at least a few.