I found the outcome of this saga wonderfully instructive.  Like Sebastian, I
was puzzled by the obvious white flashes in the tail in Jed's photo #3336 from 5
Nov in particular, and the demarcation between the brown (almost orangey brown)
throat in that photo appeared too sharp for Northern Rough-winged Swallow.  Nor
could I detect any brownish wash extending to the sides of the upper breast, and
- after looking at plates in, e.g., Sibley - the apparent extension of the tail
beyond where I surmised the undertail coverts would have ended seemed excessive
for Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

The gross patterning struck me as more like a stubby-tailed, hatching-year Barn
Swallow, despite the fact that the overall shape - especially posteriorly -
looked too compact and under-attenuated for that species.  Still, I think had
#3336 been a photo-quiz bird, I would have gotten it wrong.  And re-reviewing
the photo today, I fail the test again.  (Maybe we should run this as an IOS
photo quiz?)

Today's photos, with nice shots of the perched bird, seem entirely diagnostic,
and I assume that all the pix apply to the same individual.  There's a moral
here that bears re-learning over and over again:  photographs can also be
misleading, and when reviewing the archives of significant bird records, the
simple info that a bird was photographed should not be treated as a guarantee of
identifiability (well, at least not to everyone's satisfaction!).

Paul Clyne
Hyde Park, Chicago

paulclyne2000@...


--- On Sat, 11/7/09, Sebastian Patti <sebastianpatti@...> wrote:

> From: Sebastian Patti <sebastianpatti@...>
> Subject: RE: IBET Kankakee: Northern Rough-winged Swallow Continues
> To: "Jed Hertz" <jhh_60910@...>, "Illinois Birds"
<ilbirds@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Saturday, November 7, 2009, 6:15 PM
>
> good pix . . . esp. the perched bird . . . in the pix
> yesterday, I was confused by what looked to be alot of white
> in the tail . . . just a trick of the light, I guess . . .
> great record!! 
> 
> sebastianpatti@...
>
> Sebastian T. Patti
> (Lincoln Park)
> Chicago, ILLINOIS 60614-3354
> PHONE: 312/603-4416 (o) 773/248-0570 (h)
> FAX: 312/603-2041 (o) 773/248-0264 (h)
>
>
> 
>
>
> To: ILbirds@yahoogroups.com
> From: jhh_60910@...
> Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2009 15:20:40 -0800
> Subject: IBET Kankakee: Northern Rough-winged Swallow
> Continues
>
>  
>
>
>
> Hi all,
> 
> Sat 07-Nor-09: Kankakee Area: LeVasseur Park/Metro-Sewer
> and North St Wetlands.
> 
> On a warm, breezy, and sun-filled day how appropriate for a
> swallow to be found feeding over the Metro-Sewer  tanks
> on a plethora of airborne insects. The continuing Northern
> Rough-winged Swallow (molting hatch year bird) was sighted
> and photographed mid-afternoon while fly-catching over the
> sewage tanks as well as perched on an electrical cabinet
> close-by.  Interestingly, this species is known to molt
> during migration and that's exactly what this young bird
> showed - molting flight feathers (see photos).  Here's
> a quote from Birds of North America describing this
> condition:
> 
> "Molt dates overlap migration dates, indicating
> simultaneous occurrence of these 2 activities (Lunk 1962,
> Graber et al. 1972, Pyle et al. 1987, T. Yuri and S. Rohwer
> pers. comm.). E. U.S. adult Northern Rough-winged Swallows
> move southward while molting only until they reach the Gulf
> of Mexico where an apparent trans-Gulf migration is delayed
> until the flight-feather molt is completed after 1 Oct (T.
> Yuri and S. Rohwer pers. comm.). They do not arrive in
> Yucatán Peninsula until mid-Oct (Howell 1989). Eastern
> juveniles initiate flight-feather molt later than adults,
> about 30 Jul (range late Jul–early Aug) and do not
> complete their flight-feather molt until 1 Nov (range
> mid-Oct to mid-Nov), after which the trans-Gulf trip
> occurs."
> 
> Pretty neat to actually witness this supposedly rare
> condition: simultaneous molting and migrating.
> 
> Anyway, here's my lists for the day from LeVasseur/Metro
> Sewer and a brief stop at North St Wetlands:
> 
> **** LeVasseur Park/Metro-Sewer: (33)
> 0705-0945H + 1330-1525H (1/2 W)_Sun_56-74_SW 5-20_Beaver_E
> Chipmunk_Insects_River normal.
> 
> Anatidae 3
>   ¨ ¨ 54 Canada Goose ¨
>   ¨ ¨ 2 American Black Duck ¨ quarry; plus one
> AmBlDu x Mallard
>   ¨ ¨ 6 Mallard ¨   
> Accipitridae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Red-tailed Hawk ¨ imm + ad
> Charadriidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Killdeer ¨   
> Laridae 2
>   ¨ ¨ 10 Ring-billed Gull ¨ at least one 1st cycle
>
>   ¨ ¨ 4 Herring Gull ¨   
> Columbidae 2
>   ¨ ¨ 4 Rock Pigeon ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 4 Mourning Dove ¨   
> Cerylidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Belted Kingfisher ¨ M + F together
> Picidae 4
>   ¨ ¨ 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Downy Woodpecker ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Hairy Woodpecker ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Northern Flicker ¨   
> Tyrannidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Eastern Phoebe ¨   
> Corvidae 2
>   ¨ ¨ 4 Blue Jay ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 5 American Crow ¨   
> Hirundinidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow ¨ molting HY
> bird; 1405-1525H; flight style relatively slow compared to
> BanSwa or BarSwa; photos
> Sittidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 1 White-breasted Nuthatch
> ¨   
> Troglodytidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 3 Carolina Wren ¨   
> Regulidae 2
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet ¨   
> Turdidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 34 American Robin ¨   
> Sturnidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 54 European Starling ¨   
> Bombycillidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 44 Cedar Waxwing ¨   
> Emberizidae 3
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Song Sparrow ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 3 White-throated Sparrow ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Dark-eyed Junco ¨   
> Cardinalidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 4 Northern Cardinal ¨   
> Icteridae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Red-winged Blackbird ¨   
> Fringillidae 2
>   ¨ ¨ 3 House Finch ¨   
>   ¨ ¨ 12 American Goldfinch ¨   
> Passeridae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 14 House Sparrow ¨   
> 
> **** North Street Wetlands: (7)
> 1010-1045H_Sun_66_SW 10-20.
> 
> Anatidae 2
>   ¨ ¨ 4 Mallard ¨
>   ¨ ¨ 7 Northern Shoveler ¨ molting
> Accipitridae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 1 Red-tailed Hawk ¨   
> Charadriidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 2 Killdeer ¨   
> Corvidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 2 American Crow ¨   
> Sturnidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 55 European Starling ¨   
> Emberizidae 1
>   ¨ ¨ 62 Lapland Longspur ¨   
> 
>
> Jed Hertz
> Kankakee, Kankakee Co, IL (60 mi South of Chicago)
>
> Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhertz/
>
> Give "ebird" a try: http://ebird.org/content/ebird
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>     
>         
>           
>  
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>     ILbirds-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>