Week Ten - Wrens, Swallows, Vireos, Cuckoos, and Kinglets Flashcards
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - Cuculidae
Long tail with big white spots.
Bright yellow mandibles, with black on top.
Rapid, harsh kakakakakakakakowkowkowp. Dense, throaty coos.
Black-billed Cuckoo - Cuculidae
All-black bill, and has no rusty red in it’s wings.
Has a narrow, very red eye-ring.
Soft, mellow cu-cu-cus in groups of 2-5, all on the same pitch.
Purple Martin - Hirundinidae
Our biggest swallow, with glossy-black on top and greyer on the wings and below.
Black bill.
Tree Swallow - Hirundinidae
Glossy blue or green, with a dark cap that comes down to the level of the eye.
A series of liquid twittering for the calls.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - Hirundinidae
Dull grey on throat that fades to white on it’s belly. No sharp contrast on underparts, unlike any other swallow.
Sounds like a very drawn out, hard, low, “b-r-r-ret”.
Bank Swallow - Hirundinidae
Brown above, white below, and with a sharply defined chest band.
Cliff Swallow - Hirundinidae
Buffy rump, dark back, chestnut throat, with a very white patch on the forehead.
Barn Swallow - Hirundinidae
A long, forked tail.
Steel blue back and chestnut throat. No white forehead patch like the cliff swallow.
House Wren - Troglodytidae
Plainer than most other wrens, with a faint eyebrow, thin eye-rings, and bars on both the wings and tail.
Sounds like a gurgling, bubbling song that rises first, then falls.
Winter Wren - Troglodytidae
Small and ark, with a shorter tail, dark flank barring, and has a paler throat.
Has a series of high pitched chatters and trills.
Sedge Wren - Troglodytidae
Narrow streaks on both the crown and back, and has a relatively shorter bill.
More pattern on the wings than marsh sparrows, less obvious eyebrow too.
Has a series of harsh notes like two pebbles tapping together.
Marsh Wren - Troglodytidae
Bold white eyebrow, solid brown crown, white stripes on a black triangle in the center of the back.
Sounds like a liquid song that ends in mechanical chatter, like a sewing machine.
Carolina Wren - Troglodytidae
Rich chestnut colored, and the boldest white eyebrow ever. Butterscotch tummy.
Sounds like “tea-kettle” or “tweedle tweedle tweedle”.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptilidae
Blue-grey, with a white eye-ring and outer tail feathers. Can have thin, black eyebrows.
A thin, musical warble. Call is pretty nasally buzzy.
Golden-crowned Kinglet - Regulidae
Stripes on face and no eye-ring, but has a central orange crown.
Thin, wiry and ascending call, with tumbling chatter.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulidae
Bold white eye ring, wings with one strong white bar, with a black bar just behind it.
Has a bold red crown, that is raised only in excitement!
Sounds just like musical chattering.
Yellow-throated Vireo - Vireonidae
Has bold yellow “spectacles” and throat, with a gray rump/
Sounds huskier than Red-eyed. Sounds like a screamy robin, almost.
Blue-headed Vireo - Vireonidae
White spectacles and wingbars. Has a blue-grey head that contrasts with the white throat, greenish back, and yellow sides.
Has a lot of very sweet, slow and slurred phrases with a bit more musicality than Red-eyed.
Philadelphia Vireo - Vireonidae
Distinct, dark lores and has the brightest yellow on it’s upper chest, unlike Warbling, which has it on it’s sides.
“See-me? Here-I-am! Up-here. See’me?”
Warbling Vireo - Vireonidae
Grey and white with yellow tinges. No wing bars, obvious white eyebrow, and a les obvious dark eyeline.
Drosy, rampling warble that ends on a rising note, kind of like a Purple Finch.
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireonidae
A strongly patterned head with black stripes, white eyebrow, and grey crown. Has red eyes, and a longer bill than Warbling.
Has a series of short, musical robin-like phrases that are endlessly repeated; much less musical than Blue-headed.
