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Dark Snipe? u.k (1 Viewer)

O

ortolan

Well-known member
Took these pics of a Snipe that jumped out at me as
upperparts so dark.Also thought fair bit of barring on
underparts and a spotty?area on flanks.Have just seen
pics of Wilson's and that looks similar.To put my mind at
rest is it just a dark C.Snipe?
 

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Hi.

One diagnostic feature for Wilson's is, the lighter barring on the tertials is fine, a lot finer than Common Snipe. In these pics both birds seem to have barring the same width. Common Snipe light/dark 50/50, Wilson's light/dark 25/75. So I would say not Wilson's.

Twite.
 
Hi Tim,

I'd guess it's within individual variation for Common Snipe, but just to be on the safe side... Did you get any pics showing the underside of the wing & the axillaries, or the outer tail feathers?

Cheers,

Ben
 
Hi Ortolan.

Here are a couple of Wilson's showing the finer light barring on the tertials.

Twite.
 

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Last edited:
I dd say that the tertial feature is to be understood as such:

In Wilson's, the dark bars gradually become thinner towards the base of the feather and the paler bars may widen a bit in this direction, whereas in Common the dark barring will extend over the full length of the visible tertial in about the same width but are easily equally wide as the outer dark bars in Wilson's.
 
gerdwichers8 said:
I dd say that the tertial feature is to be understood as such:

In Wilson's, the dark bars gradually become thinner towards the base of the feather and the paler bars may widen a bit in this direction, whereas in Common the dark barring will extend over the full length of the visible tertial in about the same width but are easily equally wide as the outer dark bars in Wilson's.
Click to expand...

You say that in Wilson's the dark gradually BECOME thinner towards the base of the feather and the paler bars MAY widen a bit in this direction. Which is it?
My assessment is only based on what I can see, the visible portion of the tertials. What is going on in the hidden part of the tertials is irrelevant.

Twite.
 
Twite said:
You say that in Wilson's the dark gradually BECOME thinner towards the base of the feather and the paler bars MAY widen a bit in this direction. Which is it?
My assessment is only based on what I can see, the visible portion of the tertials. What is going on in the hidden part of the tertials is irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Hi Twite,

The tertial pattern on your two Wilson's Snipe attachments appears to show feathers that are paler proximally and darker distally. The dark bars are thin proximally, and thicker distally. The light bars are thicker proximally and thinner distally. Isn't that what gerdwichers8 is saying too?

gerdwichers8 said:
In Wilson's, the dark bars gradually become thinner towards the base of the feather and the paler bars may widen a bit in this direction, whereas in Common the dark barring will extend over the full length of the visible tertial in about the same width but are easily equally wide as the outer dark bars in Wilson's.
Click to expand...

Chris
 
Hi Chris.

Yes you're right and so was gerdwichers8. Sorry, it was a long day and I should have left it until the morning to reply. ;)
However in these pics the fine pale tertial bars would seem to be the most reliable feature for id. The scaps are dark but match the overall tone of the bird, whereas in Wilson's the scaps would be darker than the overall tone, I don't doubt there can be individual tone variation within Wilson's too. Taking this into consideration. I still think it's a Common based on the tertial pattern, just a dark individual.

Twite.
 
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