[obol] Hutton's Vireo/Ruby-crowned Kinglet angst

[Alan Contreras]

Hutton's do flick their wings, but not constantly as kinglets do, and it is sometimes a sort of dubious flick as though they are not sure they should do it.  if you see something at a distance that is flicking constantly, it is probably a kinglet.

Caveat: Hutton's flick more when agitated, e.g. if there is a pygmy-owl, real or fake, calling nearby.


-----Original Message-----
>From: Linda Fink <linda at fink.com>
>Sent: Mar 12, 2008 8:08 AM
>To: obol <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
>Subject: [obol] Hutton's Vireo/Ruby-crowned Kinglet angst
>
>A few days ago, while watching what I thought was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet 
>flycatch over the large stream going through our property, I heard a 
>Hutton's Vireo in the trees behind me. Even with binocs, the 
>wing-flicking flycatching bird was too quick and small and distant for 
>me to check out where the darkest part of his wing was (behind the 2nd 
>wing bar or between them). And seeing the bill was impossible. (I 
>couldn't even see if it *had* legs, so please don't go there.) Soon 
>there were two small wing-flicking birds darting about and I no longer 
>heard the vireo. Doubt started trickling in...
>
>That night, I checked my National Geo Complete Birds of North America... 
>AARGH!!! It says Hutton's Vireos also flick their wings!! I have never 
>before heard this. None of my guidebooks say this. All my life, I've 
>assumed wing-flicking little Ruby-crowned/Hutton look-alikes were 
>Kinglets. How many Hutton's Vireos have I misidentified over the years?? 
>Tell me, experts, is it true?? Do Hutton's Vireos really flick their 
>wings like Kinglets?? Oh, woe is me.
>
>These birds did, in retrospect, act more like vireos than kinglets. That 
>is, they periodically stopped and sat still for a few seconds on a twig 
>(usually hidden from my view behind other twigs) before darting out 
>again. In case they come back to the same haunt, I'll go down there and 
>try to get a better view first chance I get.
>
>Linda Fink, flummoxed in Grand Ronde
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Alan Contreras - Eugene, Oregon