by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org

Click on the pictures to enlarge

This Townsend’s Solitaire’s bright white eye rings are what helps many birders recognize the species in a flash. Many other birds have a similar feature that not only help people, but other birds to identify others of their kin. Read on to see a number of variations of this feature.

Eye rings are made up of concentric rings of feathers. A species has its own shape that is consistent. The width of the eye ring depends on the number of concentric rows of feathers. The Townsend Solitaires’ eye ring consists of a double row of bright white feathers starting at the outer edge and over the top of the eye; at the bottom of the eye, a single row of feathers completes the design.

Cassin’s Vireo is said to have “spectacles” because the bright eye rings are connected by a patch of white feathers across the top of the beak.

Warbling Vireo eye rings are broader and accented by an “eyebrow” type of design over the top.

Both the Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs have similar eye rings. Identification is more challenging because we have to rely on other features.

The Solitary Sandpiper, another similar-looking wading bird, has a bright eye ring like its frequent companions above. I always rely on leg color to distinguish it, but that’s a challenging feature to rely on when they are all wading in water to the top of their legs!

Not all Eye Rings enclose the whole eye. Birds that follow have eye accentuation in Eye Arcs.

MacGillivray’s Warbler has Eye Arcs that do not meet at the sides; the Ruby-crowned Kinglet‘s eye arcs, like parentheses, accentuate the inner and outer edges. The Golden-crowned Kinglet has no eye ring. It has so much color detail on its head, an eye ring would not help to identify the species.

Robins’ Eye arcs do not meet at the edges. Eye arcs are a feature that they acquire as they get feathers. The immature Robin at right has the beginnings of eye arcs.

Wilson’s Warbler has partial eye rings: yellow feathers accentuate the outer edge and bottom of its eyes. Townsend’s Warbler has yellow and black feathers around its eyes. And the Yellow-rumped Warbler has bright white Eye Arcs!

As I started seeing migrants. many of them juveniles, coming through this month that I hadn’t seen in a long time, identification was challenging! After struggling with several species, it suddenly dawned on me that I needed to pay more attention to eyes. Birding has always been fun, and their beautiful,varied colors will always be what I look at first.

Ref: David Sibley article “FD Tool Kit” in Mar/Apr 2018 issue of BirdWatching