![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/western-kingbird-0730-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSometimes what I see in the field and in my images doesn’t match very well with\u00a0what I see in field guides. This is an example.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/9, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Nine days ago I photographed two juvenile\u00a0Western Kingbirds as they begged for food from one of their parents near Howell, Utah. Here we see the adult on the left and one of the juveniles on the right. Note that the light on the birds and their poses are essentially identical.\u00a0To my eye the difference in dorsal body and head\u00a0colors of the two birds\u00a0is\u00a0fairly dramatic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/9, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Another shot of the same two birds shows the same thing and if I remember correctly\u00a0the other juvenile looked just like this one.<\/p>\n But the color plates of\u00a0the Sibley Guide to Birds (both the newer 2nd edition and the older version) show the dorsal colors of adult and juvenile\u00a0to be\u00a0virtually identical and that confuses me. It makes me wonder who got it wrong – these birds or Sibley…:)<\/p>\n I realize that there are color variations in birds (and that both David Sibley\u00a0and I make mistakes – some of his mistakes have been corrected and\u00a0mine often are…)\u00a0but to me this seems a little extreme to be accurate. I’d be interested if those of you who have a copy of Sibley could take a look and let me know if you agree. Or not.\u00a0I have a lot of respect for David Sibley and his work but in this case\u00a0I’m having trouble reconciling my images with his paintings (there are sites on the web that include Sibley’s paintings and I’d like to provide links to them\u00a0for those who don’t have a copy of the field guide but they seem to be copyright infringed so I won’t be doing so).<\/p>\n Could this simply be a matter of regional variations (which doesn’t make much\u00a0sense to me because these birds are migratory) or\u00a0molt timing? Or possibly a\u00a0lack of accurate color interpretation on my part? (I color-calibrated my monitor just yesterday.) Or am I making a mountain out of a mole hill?<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – I’m only a bird photographer and not a\u00a0birder with great ID skills so I’m just trying to learn something here.<\/em><\/p>\n Addendum: I’m posting the following image in response to the question posed by Daniel Gustafsson in his comment below. The image was taken on May 25 of this year.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes what I see in the field and in my images doesn’t match very well with what I see in field guides. This is an example.<\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/western-kingbird-0679-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/western-kingbird-2528-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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