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juv. skua from Bavaria/Germany (1 Viewer)

I

i-Birder

Well-known member
Hello,

I just wanted to draw your attention to a juv. skua that has been present near an airfield in Bavaria/Germany.
http://www.otus-bayern.de/galerie/galerie.php
http://www.otus-bayern.de/galerie/galerie.php?autor=&version=1&sort=datum_hochgeladen&index_edit=337&format=mittel&ansicht=tabelle&seite=1&sort=datum_hochgeladen

This bird sowed me that I've grown overconfident in identifing juv. skuas...

Btw. Klaus Malling Olson and Hans Larsson have already given their opinions...
and I still think that this bird is quite a brain teaser. What do you think?

Kind regards
Gerald
 
i-Birder said:
Hello,

I just wanted to draw your attention to a juv. skua that has been present near an airfield in Bavaria/Germany.
http://www.otus-bayern.de/galerie/galerie.php
http://www.otus-bayern.de/galerie/galerie.php?autor=&version=1&sort=datum_hochgeladen&index_edit=337&format=mittel&ansicht=tabelle&seite=1&sort=datum_hochgeladen
What do you think?
Click to expand...

Is everyone busy studying comedy seabirds? Tricky but this is an Arctic, no?

Light barring around the tail, warm-coloured, bill pattern, fair amount of white in the primaries...

Pfft, skuas are much easier to id at distance and in difficult weather ;)
 
To me it looks like a Long-tailed Skua. Like Chris mentions, the roundedness of the central tail feathers is an id feature, but they are more rounded on Long-tailed Skua than on Arctic Skua, not the opposite way. The bird also completely lacks white tips to the primaries, which is a good feature of Long-tailed Skua. Also the bill looks very good for Long-tailed (short, no clear gonys angle):
http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?pic_id=muu1200312893&lang=eng

I believe this is just a very dark individual with limited patterning on the vent, compare with this:
http://www.artportalen.se/artportalen/gallery/Image.aspx?rappsyst=1&obsid=3186866&imageID=2618
 
Yes, this is undoubtedly a Long-tailed Skua, albeit a very dark one.
It is a matter of looking at the most important features: bill shape, amount of black on bill (c. 50% here), amount of white primary shafts (two here, with hint of a third one, which is fine for LT Skua), and length and shape of the central rectrices.
 
I would also cautiously go with Long-tailed, I think structure points to LT, what limited barring there is on the uppertail and undertail coverts seems rather cold and whitish to me, and isn't an inland skua feeding on a ploughed field much more likely to be a Long-tailed on location/behaviour?

Plumage-wise this bird reminds me of a specimen featured in a Dutch Birding article about 10 years ago, which was identified as a dark-morph juvenile Long-tailed (though I never understood the point of the article, the bird seemed to be like the dark extreme of a cline rather than a distinct morph).
 
cajanuma said:
and isn't an inland skua feeding on a ploughed field much more likely to be a Long-tailed on location/behaviour?
Click to expand...

That did occur to me... I was looking at pics of the very well watched bird in Notts a couple of years ago for comparison.

So assuming it is a long-tailed then yikes it's a dark one.
 
This look like the darkest of dark morph juv Long-taileds and the kind you couldn't claim without photos this good or the equivalent view.

Those central TFs are diagnostic. I'd like the bill to look a little less long and thin though
 
The experts called this bird a definite (although very dark) LTS, mainly based on structural features (bill structure, common gull-like appearance and jizz in general) and lack of some typical arctic features (chevrons on primary tips and streaking on forehead and crown).
The rather warm brown coluoration is probably owing to the fact that the pictures were taken in the low evening sun light...

Lessons learned:
In identification of juv. skuas structural features beat plumage features anytime!

And a new rule of thumb: A juv. skua sitting on a barren field in the middle of nowhere should be considered a LTS until proven otherwise...

Congratulation to everyone who got it right
 
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