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ABA Photo Quiz

ABA Online Bird Photo Quiz 103

Answer

Bird Photo
[+] Click Image for Larger Version

This month, we’ve got an apparently all-black bird, with a tail so short that we can see that the feet extend to the tail tip. The wings look pretty broad, and the hand is quite fingered; in fact, there are six fingers, which rules out an awful lot of options. Taking a look at those long outer primaries, we can see that they have distinctly white shafts and are paler than the inner primaries. Finally, we can see the very tip of what seems to be a pale bill sticking out between primaries 5 and 6 (remember, the bird’s ten primaries are counted from the outside in). Immature California Condors are virtually all-black with short tails and white primary shafts, but their outer primaries are otherwise the same color as the inner primaries. Additionally, they have thick-tipped dark bills.

I took this picture of a Black Vulture in West Cape May, Cape May Co., NJ, in January 2011.

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The following people (listed by submission date beginning with the earliest) submitted correct answers for the October Bird Photo Quiz—Black Vulture:

  1. Bryan Calk, Brackettville, TX
  2. Dave Clark, Sandusky, Ohio
  3. Gary Bloomfield, CA
  4. logan kahle, San Francisco, CA
  5. Bob Proctor, Elgin, Scotland
  6. Marcelo Brongo, Sant Cugat del Valles, Spain
  7. Anne Swaim, Chappaqua, NY
  8. David Hollie, Ringgold, GA
  9. William Burke, Milford,MI
  10. Claude Auchu, La Pocatiere, Quebec
  11. Alain Pataud, Paris, France
  12. Josh Southern, Raleigh, NC
  13. Reid Barclay, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  14. Drew Weber, STATE COLLEGE, PA
  15. Graham Etherington, Norwich, UK
  16. Dale Young, Boxboro, MA
  17. John R., Pasadena, CA
  18. Mike Wasilco, Caledonia, NY
  19. Liston Rice, Houston, TX
  20. Anya Auerbach, New York, NY
  21. Eric Antonio Martinez, Oaxaca,Mexico
  22. Jilly Rodriguez Mendez, Oaxaca,Mexico
  23. John Rizzo, Granville, OH
  24. Laure Neish, Penticton, BC Canada
  25. Monica Nugent, New Westminster, BC
  26. Georgia, patzcuaro michoacan mexico
  27. Ron Pozzi, Granite Bay, CA
  28. Spencer Hardy, Norwich, VT
  29. Netanel Paley, Teaneck, NJ
  30. Kayla P., Hamler, OH
  31. Nancy P., Hamler, OH
  32. Landon Neumann, Loganpsort, IN
  33. Michael Lester, Tucson, AZ
  34. Blake Mathys, West Mansfield, OH
  35. Alexandre Anctil, Rimouski, Qc
  36. Jacob Drucker, Amherst, MA
  37. Dustin Holschuh , Rock Falls Illinois
  38. Don Pendleton, East Palo Alto, CA
  39. William Rockey, Esparto, CA
  40. Sam Pratt, Inman, SC
  41. Steve Hampton, Davis, CA
  42. Lance Verderame, Livingston Manor, New York
  43. Thomas Hall, Livermore, CO
  44. Eric Pineiro, titusville, FL
  45. Josh Parks, Fairbanks, Alaska
  46. Wayne Meyer, Denison, TX
  47. Aaron Bilyeu, Placerville, CA
  48. Matthew Rymkiewicz, New York, NY
  49. Eric Plage, St. Petersburg, FL
  50. Olivier Barden, Quebec City, Qc
  51. Peter LaBelle, Thetford, VT
  52. Pete Fenner, East Peoria, IL
  53. Yousif Attia, Calgary, AB
  54. Gary Woods, Fresno, CA
  55. Jill Kaminski, Naples, FL
  56. David Bell, Guelph, ON
  57. Greg Samuel, Fordland, Mo
  58. Derek Courtney, Morgantown, WV
  59. Ted Stiritz, Russellville, AR
  60. Alex Hale, New York, NY
  61. Samuel Denault, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  62. Pamela Corwin, Charleston, SC
  63. Robert Packard, Riverside, CA
  64. Darrel Wilder, Johnson City, TN
  65. Robert Meehan, Durham, NC
  66. Chris Warren, San Marcos, TX
  67. Wes Hatch, Chagrin Falls, OH
  68. peter lane, Québec, Canada
  69. Julio Moises Gomez Ochoa, Davis, CA
  70. John Hammond, Durham, NC
  71. Tom Howe, Alcoa, TN
  72. John Mariani, Lumberton, TX
  73. Jason Coombs, Athens, GA
  74. Jeremy Medina, Tucson, AZ
  75. David Bowden, Oakland
  76. George Cresswell, Colorado Springs, CO
  77. Dan, Barrigada, Guam
  78. Andrew Guttenberg, Bozeman, MT
  79. Geoffrey A. Williamson, Chicago, IL
  80. Barb Robertson, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  81. John Kuenzli, Columbus, OH
  82. Larry Kline, Fredericksburg, VA
  83. Harley Yerdon, Laramie, Wyoming
  84. Gabriel Cohen-Glinick, Providence, RI
  85. Greg Schrott, Avon Park, FL
  86. John Oliver, Arcata, CA
  87. Mike Fialkovich, Pittsburgh, PA
  88. Nicholas Newberry, Oakton, Virginia
  89. Linda Hoffman, Springville, NY
  90. Scott Richardson, Berwick, Maine
  91. Josh Obrecht, Ames, IA
  92. Peter Lamboy, Scotia, NY
  93. Margaret Smith, Boulder, CO
  94. Mike McCloy, Cullowhee, NC
  95. Andrew Thornton, Asheboro, NC
  96. Lucie Bruce, Houston, TX
  97. Joshua Kamp, Marne, MI
  98. Michael Kline, Fredericksburg Va.
  99. Mike Boyd, Vancouver, BC
  100. Vince Cavalieri, DeWitt, MI
  101. Alan Dupuis, Cambridge, NY
  102. Robert C. Elvander , Laurel, MD
  103. Jim Mountjoy, Galesburg, IL
  104. Jim Kopitzke, Mesa, AZ
  105. Jim Flynn, Seattle, WA
  106. Alvan Buckley, St. John's, Newfoundland
  107. Su Snyder, Wooster, OH
  108. Kim, MD
  109. Terry O'Connor, Indianapolis,Indiana
  110. S M Kuroda, Farmington Hills, MI
  111. Robert McNab, Laguna Niguel, CA
  112. Tim Hochstetler, Millersburg OH
  113. Ryan Phillips, Campbell, CA
  114. victor hugo valencia, patzcuaro michoacan mexico
  115. Sean Williams, East Lansing, MI
  116. Benoit Dorion, Laval, Quebec, Canada
  117. Sarah Laughlin, College Station, TX
  118. Rick Laughlin, College Station, TX
  119. Jeff Bogan, Bethel Park, PA
  120. Greg Zupansic, Eugene, Oregon
  121. Bobby Walsh, Davis, CA
  122. Joel Mundall , Loma Linda, CA
  123. Mary Walsh, Valencia, CA
  124. James Rudolph, Oshkosh, WI
  125. Travis A. Mahan, Decatur, Illinois
  126. Eleanor Kwik, Sugar Land, TX
  127. Matthew Schneider, Silverton, Oregon

How Did You Compare?

As stated in the quiz rules, answers must consist simply of the Common or English name exactly as it appears in the ABA Checklist.

The following list shows the number of submissions for each species guessed.

Black Vulture
127
American Crow
16
Turkey Vulture
12
Fish Crow
5
Common Raven
3
Double-crested Cormorant
2
White-crowned Pigeon
2
Crested Caracara
1

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The photo and answer for this quiz were supplied by Tony Leukering.