Mysterious Puzzlebird

Phillip's Fetching Birds

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Puzzlebird Contest — November 2014

First a recap of the last puzzle before we move on to the new one, as it's been awhile. IDs are listed below each photo.

A. Northern Shrike, everyone got this bad boy right.

B. Surf Scoter, adult male, another no problem bird.

C. Bald Eagle, juvenile. This one tripped up about half the entries as Bald Eagle juves and immatures can be quite variable from below. Typically the juve has white in the underwings but a warm belly in the middle, while in 2 and 3 year olds the white from the underwings goes right across the belly. Swainson Hawk juves look similar from below, but their wings are not as wide or as long and their throats are usually white.

D. Wilson's Snipe, once considered a subspecies of the Common Snipe of Europe and Asia, but now considered separate.

E. Thick-billed Murre, everyone got this right too.

So winners for this last puzzle are Michael Smith for first correct answers and Joanne Normandin for last set of correct answers. Congratulations! Honorable mentions to Don C, Cam Barrett, Jim Sparnell, HJ, and Linda MacDonald.

Now 3 birds for the Thanksgiving puzzle, all of these were photographed in November of years past, which doesn't make them common November birds, but neither are they turkeys!

november puzzlebird a

november puzzlebird b

november puzzlebird c

Email entries to puzzlebird@fetchingbirds.com and watch for You've Got Birdmail early to mid-December for the answers and winners, or check back here if you aren't on the mailing list. Feel free to pass along the link to this page to any of your birder friends and please don't be offended if you don't hear back from me about your entry until the next update. First and last set of correct answers win a copy of Phillip's Fetching Birds 2015.