ML186139061

Observation details

I initially defaulted this to EAME as I had zero experiecnce with WEME and was working so didn't have time to research until later in the evening when I then switched to EAME/WEME. It was pointed out to me by Brandon Holden who had found the photos on eBIRD that it looked very western so I started to do some research on how to separate the two and consulted David Pryor. Pryor pointed out to me that it checked the key WEME boxes and encouraged me to post on Advanced Birding In Ontario facebook group to solicit more opinions. My ID comments on the group-"The bird struck me as quite pale in the field and based on the latish date I figured I better try for some photos and hoped to get some tail shots. Unfortunately this poor angle is the best I got. That being said the central tail feather barring appears narrow, and the outer two tail feathers being white and the third being white with long black outer edge to my eye points to WEME. The head has low contrast. There doesn't appear to be any yellow in the malar but my understanding is that this is unreliable in the fall on non-breeding birds. The flank streaking appears blotchy and seems to be more heavy on one side, although I'm not sure this is reliable way to separate the two as there seems to a lot of variation. It did not call unfortunately". Comments: Jamie Spence “It looks good I would say. Overall frosty tones. Less white in tail (only 3) and whitish flanks/sides, pale supercilium behind the eye. It’s in non-breeding plumage so the malar isn’t as much of a strong field mark. “ Jeff Skevington “Definitely a Western IMO. Faint cross streaks on central rectrices and pattern on 3 outer recs are perfect for Western.” Frank Pinilla “The tertials appear to show thin black, distinct bars on them not the thicker blotchier bars of EAME. This along with your comments above and Jamie’s comments - it looks good for WEME to me.” Kevin Mclaughlin “ One thing that I have learned for separating these two species is the colour of the dark head stripes. They seem to be more brown than black so this makes a Western feature. I think this is a juvenile-first winter so the amount of yellow extending onto the side of the throat is not present, so another feature that can work for Western” After checking with multiple people the clear consensus all points to WEME so I have changed it to reflect that.