Where can one see these two species...
... plus this one...
... and this one...
... and this one...
... in the same place? Tough enough, that, what with Bald and Golden eagles, Northern Goshawk, Western Kingbird, and Ash-throated Flycatcher. Certainly it could be done in at least a few places in the West, but what about on the same date? That would be just slightly trickier, but in no way insurmountable. Now, let's add another species...
... Eurasian Wigeon. But, how about we make one more condition: that single date has to be in November, specifically, Veteran's Day, 11 November.
Now, that ain't easy! Regardless, I'm going to add one more stipulation, one has to see this species, too....
Obviously, this being the Bird Cape May blog, the answer must be Cape May. But, really, where else could it be done? For me, the truly interesting thing about all this is that none of these species are truly eyebrow-raising here. Oh, certainly, Ash-throated Flycatcher and, particularly, Cave Swallow, used to be considered true accidentals, but we dab Cape May hands actually EXPECT to see those in November each year now.
Finally, except for the Western Kingbird, I didn't have to leave Cape May Point State Park to nab all of 'em. All three raptors were photographed from the Hawkwatch platform, the Ash-throated Flycatcher (presumably the one first found two days ago near the lighthouse by Mike Crewe) was along the Blue Trail beyond the bridge, the immature male Eurasian Wigeon was on West Lighthouse Pond, and the Cave Swallow was the single bird of the species that we could find today from the platform.
Did I say 'finally?' I'm much too verbose to be ending things this soon. No, I wanted to converse about white in Golden Eagles and ageing Western (and other) Kingbirds. The above juvenile Golden Eagle sports the most white I've ever seen on a Golden Eagle, and I've seen a fair few of 'em. Conversely, the fourth-year Bald Eagle pictured above exhibits just about the least amount of white I've seen on a Bald Eagle!
Now, finally (seriously), ageing members of the genus Tyrannus. The age of individuals of all species of kingbird (including Scissor-tailed and Fork-tailed flycatchers) is determinable by studying the bird's outer primaries. On adults, these feathers are notched, that is, with the trailing edge of the feather cut out -- quite strongly in males, while juveniles sport more typical rounded primaries. One can see this feature in the picture above, but one can just look at the picture below, too.
In the above, the Western Kingbird that Steve Kolbe found yesterday along Sunset Drive in West Cape May (and which was still present today) has the rounded outer-primary shape diagnostic of a juvenile, while the right image shows an adult Cassin's Kingbird (photo taken on the Baja Peninsula years ago) with the very pointed outer primaries typical of an adult kingbird. In this case the bird is probably a female, because males sport even more deeply-notched primaries.
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