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World Rarities - the most widely strung species?! (1 Viewer)

cuckooroller said:
To follow up on Des's observations. I am supposedly at least moderately proficient in the Philippines, and I have lots of problems with the Pernis. Some recent threads of birds shot in various locations in the Philippines:

http://birdphotoph.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=photo&thread=8410&page=2
http://birdphotoph.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=id&action=display&thread=8371
http://birdphotoph.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=photo&action=display&thread=8378
http://birdphotoph.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=id&action=display&thread=8392
Click to expand...

In a 30 sec review of each, I'd go for Pernis on 1,3 and 4 and pass on 2 for the moment....

cheers, a
 
I think Steve must be getting confused here. I am sure he means Spizaetus. The long, thick, fully feathered tarsi indicate Hawk eagle as well as the eyebrow ridge of course.
 
I met a local birder in New Zealand who expressed weary amazement at the number of Petrel, Prion, Shearwater and Albatross species British birders were claiming from their trips.

I saw his point, had to cross a couple out myself when sanity returned.
 
Alan: 1 & 2 are probably the very same bird - a juvenile Steere's Barred Honey Buzzard.
3 is a resident race philippensis of Oriental Honey Buzzard. 4 mostly shows adult Steere's HB (4.1, 4.4) but 4.2 is obviously an osprey. 4.3 is also a Steere's, but a 2cy (thanks to Anita Gamauf for that one!).
Des
 
dnsallen said:
Alan: 1 & 2 are probably the very same bird - a juvenile Steere's Barred Honey Buzzard.
3 is a resident race philippensis of Oriental Honey Buzzard. 4 mostly shows adult Steere's HB (4.1, 4.4) but 4.2 is obviously an osprey. 4.3 is also a Steere's, but a 2cy (thanks to Anita Gamauf for that one!).
Des
Click to expand...

Phew, glad I didn't get any wrong (didn't get to the osprey!). Can anyone direct me to good online photos of Phil Hawk Eagle sensu lato?

I have a theory that rarity is inversely proportional to photographs available. In time and as the online image database grows) this will probably show well on a graph. Anyone seen a Cebu Flowerpecker photo lately? Thought not...;)

cheers, a
 
lewis20126 said:
What do people think are the most widely strung rare species on foreign trips? I've got a few suggestions and wonder if others can supplement the list:

Madagascar: Dusky Greenbul, Madagascar Sparrowhawk
Halmahera: Dusky Friarbird,
New Guinea: Papuan Parrotfinch, Pygmy Longbill, Olive and Tawny Straightbills,
Colombia: Santa Marta Sabrewing,
Chile: Rufous-tailed Hawk
Philippines: Philippine Hawk-eagle, [Cebu Flowerpecker?!]
South America: Green Manakin
Cuba: Zapata Rail

The usual requirement is a commoner species that is relatively similar. All good padders for those tour groups!

cheers, alan
Click to expand...

Ficedula - my first post included Dusky Tetraka which we we've recently been discussing off list!

cheers, a
 
dnsallen said:
I think Steve must be getting confused here. I am sure he means Spizaetus. The long, thick, fully feathered tarsi indicate Hawk eagle as well as the eyebrow ridge of course.
Click to expand...

Hi Des,
I have already made the mental conversion of thinking of oriental Spizaetus as belonging to Nisaetus as per: E. Haring1, K. Kvaløy, J.-O. Gjershaug, N. Røv and A. Gamauf (2007). "Convergent evolution and paraphyly of the hawk-eagles of the genus Spizaetus (Aves, Accipitridae) – phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial markers". J Zool Syst Evol Res 45 (4): 353–365
 
lewis20126 said:
Ficedula - my first post included Dusky Tetraka which we we've recently been discussing off list!

cheers, a
Click to expand...

A large part of the problem is the fact that it is apparently strung by one of the popular field guides to the region. We saw quite a few "Dusky Tetrakas" of the Sinclair variety at Masoala.

If you really want an eye-brow raiser, google "Dusky Tetraka images".
 
angusmcoatup said:
I met a local birder in New Zealand who expressed weary amazement at the number of Petrel, Prion, Shearwater and Albatross species British birders were claiming from their trips.

I saw his point, had to cross a couple out myself when sanity returned.
Click to expand...

I hear some even had the audacity to claim the long-extinct New Zealand Storm Petrel! Thank goodness the locals know best! ;)
 
Alan: there are several wild Phil Hawk Eagle photos around - but maybe no Pinsker's. Probably the same number as Steere's sensu stricto though. Not many Winkler's around.

It is not a bad theory, but haw many Benguet bush warbler photos are there? And that is common as muck! Rusty-faced Rabor's Wren babblers/warblers are not rare either...

Steve: Spilornis???
 
dnsallen said:
Steve: Spilornis???
Click to expand...

Yes, Des, Spilornis loosely translated as a total brain fart - I go off a lot on snap impressions, and then I start thinking about what I am looking at - since I am pretty brazen about how I do ID's I don't care that much if people see my stupid mistakes, as long as I get them right in the end.
 
dnsallen said:
It is not a bad theory, but haw many Benguet bush warbler photos are there? And that is common as muck! Rusty-faced Rabor's Wren babblers/warblers are not rare either...
Click to expand...

Ok, the skulkers are a bit of an issue but look at all of the amazing photos of pittas, babblers and antpittas that are now being taken. I could never have imagined this even ten yeas ago. Part of it is the new high ISO settings as well as the use of hides, baited sites etc. There are some amazing shots of most bush warblers in the K+P guide, except Benguet - not even PAJM has snapped that one!

cheers, alan
 
Notes on Santa Marta Sabrewing:
I lived in Minca, and worked in a place of hummingbird feeders. (It is the only place with a lot of feeders and that is regularly visited by major birding tours, but other places with fewer feeders may be better situated yet less frequently observed.) I never saw SM Sabrewing at the feeders. At first I had some suspicions, but when I actually got to know the bird I realised these were wrong. Lazuline Sabrewing has visited and has been photographed however. I often heard either plumeleteers or Mangoes called as Sabrewing at the feeders, but to my knowledge all have been incorrect IDs.
The very few times (6) I saw SM Sabrewing near Minca were near the canopy in drier viny forest just out of town (once well below town near Tigrera at 250msnm) and all were females - I have never seen a male. In five of the six cases the birds responded to Glaucidium recordings - they were one of the first birds to respond and left after a matter of seconds. I generally thought it best to look above my head as I was playing. That this worked 5 times in what could have been over a thousand attempts obviously says something about the unpredictability of this bird.
Females have a strikingly pure white central breast and the largish white postocular is very much the stand-out feature. The postocular is deep - not a stripe behind the top half of the eye, but rather short and tall. The bills of females appear more curved than those of males that I have seen in photographs and it might be speculated that sexes segregate in some way, perhaps by habitat or altitude.
 
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lewis20126 said:
Yes a Hawk-eagle - was this one photographed at Subic Bay?

cheers, a
Click to expand...

Yes taken at Subic Bay, it was seen on three consecutive days, but on the last day when the photo was taken it really performed just sitting there as we watched it for the best part of an hour at close range.
 
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