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?wagtail..I.D please (1 Viewer)

Dr Manjeet Singh

Dr Manjeet Singh

Dr.Manjeet Singh
Is this bird a wagtail?yellow wagtail or what-unable to I.D. took a pics at my patch-Pandamaran Jaya-Port Klang Malaysia-Thank you.It was wagging it's tail upwards every 25seconds.(i just remembered)
 

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Its a big pipit :) Its got pale lores. I think the options are Richard's, Blyth's and Paddyfield. It has very light breast streaking and it doesn'y look much like the Richard's I have seen (but may be a race thing) and I haven't seen Blyth's so I would tentatively veer towards Paddyfield - but I hasten to add I'm not certain!
 
Jane Turner said:
Its a big pipit :) Its got pale lores. I think the options are Richard's, Blyth's and Paddyfield. It has very light breast streaking and it doesn'y look much like the Richard's I have seen (but may be a race thing) and I haven't seen Blyth's so I would tentatively veer towards Paddyfield - but I hasten to add I'm not certain!
Click to expand...
Thank you Jane |8(|
 
Jane Turner said:
Its a big pipit :) Its got pale lores. I think the options are Richard's, Blyth's and Paddyfield. It has very light breast streaking and it doesn'y look much like the Richard's I have seen (but may be a race thing) and I haven't seen Blyth's so I would tentatively veer towards Paddyfield - but I hasten to add I'm not certain!
Click to expand...
I'd go with Paddyfield Pipit too.
Regards,
Sumit
 
Would agree with the pipit possibilities suggested by Jane, but would then go for a flip a coin in the sky option for specifics :)
 
Decided to have a better look at this bird. In particular can I rule out Richard's and Blyth's Pipit. Firstly I can't see any juv type greater covers - they all have rather buff edges.

The upperparts are not very strongly streaked which would not be a good fit with a dauricus Richard's Pipit (assuming that is the race where this bird was seen). Furthermore there is no SHARP central point to the median coverts which further mitigates against Richard's.

There is however a diffuse central point that I'm not sure Blyth's can show. Another strange feature for Blyth's (or Richards) are the rather less than black centres to the Greater coverts and the rather diffuse buffy edges.

I haven't seen Paddfield Pipit - none of my ID books cover the species, but in a quick google seach I did locate a bird with nearly identical appearance. So I strengthen my original opnion slightly. Tim - what do yu think, you must have seen enough of all three.
 

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For what it's worth, most Paddyfields I have seen have very indistinct malar and moustachial stripes, while Blyth's have quite strongly marked faces, the moustachial stripe being particularly pronounced.

S
 
much more likey to be a Paddy in Malaysia in winter than Richard's and especially Blyth's

diff to be sure from one pic but it appears to be rather small for a Richards and the tail seems short too. The breast streaking is a little restricted for a Richard's so i'd have to plump for Paddy as well... Saw several Richard's and Blyth's recently and it doesn't push any buttons there

Tim
 
Tim Allwood said:
much more likey to be a Paddy in Malaysia in winter than Richard's and especially Blyth's

diff to be sure from one pic but it appears to be rather small for a Richards and the tail seems short too. The breast streaking is a little restricted for a Richard's so i'd have to plump for Paddy as well... Saw several Richard's and Blyth's recently and it doesn't push any buttons there

Tim
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Tim and Jane thank you and sorry for the trouble.Will go again to the patch of mine and try to get a closer view and will try to record it voice.
 
Blyth's can be immediately ruled out by the median covert pattern; this has dark blending into the pale fringe, not shown by Blyth's.

Separation of Richard's and Paddyfield is fraught with difficulty in my opinion, and is oftne over-simplified. I saw lots of large pipit sp in Sri Lanka last year, and we really couldn't be sure we'd seen both.

I personally can't see anything that clinches this identification any further, though range might be a deciding factor.

Comments welcome from anyone with extensive experience of both.

GV
 
fair points Sean

I have seen a good number of Paddies too and this bird looks okay - it seems way too 'slight' for a Richards. In the field I've found them fairly easy, size usually clinches it very early on, then call

Tim
 
Ghostly Vision said:
Separation of Richard's and Paddyfield is fraught with difficulty in my opinion, and is oftne over-simplified. I saw lots of large pipit sp in Sri Lanka last year, and we really couldn't be sure we'd seen both.
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Agree with this, had the same problem in Sri Lanka last year! Hence, my 'flip the coin' suggestion :)
 
Tim Allwood said:
fair points Sean

I have seen a good number of Paddies too and this bird looks okay - it seems way too 'slight' for a Richards. In the field I've found them fairly easy, size usually clinches it very early on, then call

Tim
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Unfortunately I'm one of those people who sometimes can't see jizz that others can; even on the Blyth's pipits I've seen (three in Britain), I thought they looked very similar to Richard's on jizz, and not nearly so distinctive as some people made out. So, I'm probably not best qualified to comment.

But, good points yourself Timmeeeh, though my comments were pointed more towards trying to i.d. the two species from photos rather than in the field.

GV
 
the only 'large' pipit species in Sri Lanka is Richard's and that's only in winter

any other pipit there would be Paddyfield

Richards will flush and clear off with a huge 'shreeeeep', Paddies just flutter pathetically a short distance, just above the deck calling repeatedly

Tim
 
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