BIOL 4142 Photo QuizLab 1 Ornithology birds:

Gaviidae through Cathartidae

First, you’ll see a photo showing just enough to allow you to clinch the ID. Then, you’ll see the full photo with the name and perhaps some ID tips on specimens (not field ID)

Black-crowned Night Heron; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

The only heron with a black crown and back, clean whitish underparts

Blackish body and nearly feather-less grayish black head

Black Vulture; Cathartidae; Accipitriformes

White Ibis; Threskiornithidae; Pelecaniformes

Only the White-faced Ibis has a decurved bill like this, and it isn’t white

Wood Stork; Ciconiidae; Ciconiiformes

Bare head like a vulture; bill decurved at tip

Tawny crown and center of breast; pale bill and legs

Cattle Egret; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

American Bittern; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

The only heron with complex, brown plumage; note the blackish malar

Yellow-crowned Night Heron; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

The only bird, much less heron, with a yellowish crown; note uniform gray underparts

Turkey Vulture; Cathartidae; Accipitriformes

Specimens never have heads this red, but they are never blackish

Green Heron; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

Small heron with green feathers in back, dark crown, dark reddish brown neck, breast, and face

Little Blue Heron; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

The only heron with reddish brown head (variable) and grayish blue body

Snowy Egret; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

All white heron with black bill

Unfortunately the yellow feet don’t retain that color much in the specimens

Great Egret; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

All white heron with yellow bill

Great Blue Heron; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

Large gray heron with black crown

Magnificent Frigatebird; Fregatidae; Suliformes

Large, black, long FORKED tail, hooked bill

Double-crested Cormorant; Phalacrocoracidae; Suliformes

Large, black, relatively short tail, hooked bill; posterior border of facial skin relatively rounded; lores not feathered

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel; Hydrobatidae; Procellariiformes

Small, blackish, white upper tail coverts; single elevated tubular nostril, visible even in this photo

Neotropic Cormorant; Phalacrocoracidae; Suliformes

Like Double-crested, but posterior border of facial skin relatively angular, often bordered by white feathers; lores feathered

Least Bittern; Ardeidae; Pelecaniformes

Tiny heron with dark back and crown, tawny brown face and upper wing coverts

Large, black, relatively long tail, straight bill (no hook like cormorants); silvery feathers in upperwing coverts; notice corrugated central rectrices, tipped light brownish

Anhinga; Anhingidae; Suliformes

White-faced Ibis; Threskiornithidae; Pelecaniformes

Decurved bill and not white, so …

May look black, but …

Audubon’s Shearwater; Procellariidae; Procellariiformes

Blackish brown above, white below; note parallel tubular nostrils on bill (barely visible at the base of the bill in this photo)

Roseate Spoonbill; Threskiornithidae; Pelecaniformes

What else could it be?