Needletail in Mongolia? (2 Viewers)

[Liebzi]

Hi,

I had this birds migrating east in west Mongolia around Khovd for 4 years ago in September. It was flying extremly fast and direct, and pretty far away (1-2km?). First seen in scope, before shooting a few distant shots. This was what I got before it disapeared. I felt myself that it was a Needletail, but after talking with biders from around Khovd, I started doubting the observation. It's not very common there, which made me delete the observation. Now a few years later this bird is til hunting me, which is making me give it a shot in here.

Is it possible to exclude species like Merlin on these photos. I feel that the postere of the bird is wrong giving me needletail feeling. Also I feel I can see pale back and whitish throat/underump, but not quite sure if that is because of the picture quality. I have made a collage of the best photos of it, let me know if you want them in singles instead.

Cheers,

Anton

 

[Butty]

let me know if you want them in singles instead

You tell us... If the originals are better quality than we see here (seems likely), then please post them.

 

[CARERY]

Agree that the originals would be much better to have here. Anyway, the way the bird seems to bend it's wings doesn't strike me as a stiff-winged swift/needletail...

 

[Patudo]

I've never seen a needletail, so you need to take this with the appropriate amount of salt - but the top row of photos, and the bottom left, give me the impression of something much more like a hobby or similar small falcon (Amur etc) - which at a distance could easily look like a large swift.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Not identifiable IMHO, apart from Merlin, I couldn't even exclude any of the Pratincoles were they to be in range.

 

[Dimitris]

Not identifiable on these images. If the originals are anywhere close to this quality, I doubt it could be assigned to species.

 

[Stonefaction]

Could (Oriental) Pratincole be a possibility?

 

[Richard Prior]

Could (Oriental) Pratincole be a possibility?

2nd winter female, definitely

 

[Stonefaction]

2nd winter female, definitely

I'll reword the question in case anyone helpful happens to be passing through this thread....

Having never seen any Pratincole species (I quite probably never will), I wondered if a distant Pratincole species MIGHT look like the bird in the pictures. The apparent pale underwing in the 4th pic would seem to rule it out - though I'm not certain it is actually pale, but the last photo has a paler looking fuzzy area where the rump should be, and there are hints of possible other pro-Pratincole features in some of the other photos when zoomed in. I'm not getting a falcon feel from any of the photos - and I take a lot of photos of distant specks that are often raptors. (Oriental Pratincole only warranted a mention as it was the only Pratincole species showing in Mongolia on the range maps that I looked at). I agree that the bird photographed is likely unidentifiable but if it definitely can't be a Pratincole species, then I'd be interested in knowing how/why it can be completely ruled out.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I'll reword the question in case anyone helpful happens to be passing through this thread....

Having never seen any Pratincole species (I quite probably never will), I wondered if a distant Pratincole species MIGHT look like the bird in the pictures. The apparent pale underwing in the 4th pic would seem to rule it out - though I'm not certain it is actually pale, but the last photo has a paler looking fuzzy area where the rump should be, and there are hints of possible other pro-Pratincole features in some of the other photos when zoomed in. I'm not getting a falcon feel from any of the photos - and I take a lot of photos of distant specks that are often raptors. (Oriental Pratincole only warranted a mention as it was the only Pratincole species showing in Mongolia on the range maps that I looked at). I agree that the bird photographed is likely unidentifiable but if it definitely can't be a Pratincole species, then I'd be interested in knowing how/why it can be completely ruled out.

Yes, hence my comment above but I also think your comment on the underwing is a valid observation.

 

[Stonefaction]

Yes, hence my comment above but I also think your comment on the underwing is a valid observation.

Andy, I've got you on 'ignore' (along with a few others) as I prefer not to read some of your opinions on subjects other than birds (or planes), so I hadn't actually seen your post previously but thanks for the response to my query.

 

[Richard Prior]

I'll reword the question in case anyone helpful happens to be passing through this thread....

Having never seen any Pratincole species (I quite probably never will), I wondered if a distant Pratincole species MIGHT look like the bird in the pictures. The apparent pale underwing in the 4th pic would seem to rule it out - though I'm not certain it is actually pale, but the last photo has a paler looking fuzzy area where the rump should be, and there are hints of possible other pro-Pratincole features in some of the other photos when zoomed in. I'm not getting a falcon feel from any of the photos - and I take a lot of photos of distant specks that are often raptors. (Oriental Pratincole only warranted a mention as it was the only Pratincole species showing in Mongolia on the range maps that I looked at). I agree that the bird photographed is likely unidentifiable but if it definitely can't be a Pratincole species, then I'd be interested in knowing how/why it can be completely ruled out.

Ouch, my humble apologies for my unhelpful response!

 

[Xenospiza]

Pallas's Sandgrouse seems the most likely explanation for the images.
Fast and direct flight, common in Mongolia.

 

[Stonefaction]

Ouch, my humble apologies for my unhelpful response!

No apology necessary, Richard. If I'd seen Andy's post last night I wouldn't have even asked the question (as in effect he'd already suggested Pratincole as being possible), but as there's no levels to the 'ignore' button (needs a "don't ignore 'just birds' posts" option), I didn't even see that he'd made a post until I got the notification he'd responded tonight and by viewing that it showed his earlier post.