• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Recent content by CAU

  1. C

    Howard and Moore 4th edition - Passerines

    Olsson et al. directly propose the treatment that has been adapted by e.g. IOC (except that they don't comment on the status of intensior). Päckert et al. agree with this, except that they question the validity of hainanus as a species (but also write that further studies are required to clarify...
  2. C

    Howard and Moore 4th edition - Passerines

    Thanks! Yes, probably too late, but I still don't see the point in lumping a pretty distinctively looking and parapatric (if not sympatric) taxon just based on a study of the mtDNA of a single individual (as in the paper by Päckert). Wang et al confirmed the mtDNA similarity using a larger...
  3. C

    Howard and Moore 4th edition - Passerines

    IMO here the authors jumped to the gun a bit too quickly… In the most recent study by Wang et al, which is much more thorough than that of Päckert et al, the two taxa (Sooty and Black-browed Tit) are referred to as different species, with the differences in nuclear DNA being clearly larger than...
  4. C

    Sichuan Birding

    I'm thinking Kloss's Leaf Warbler. It's a first summer male White-bellied Redstart, compare with this: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=9&Bird_ID=2607&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 It's a Baikal Bush Warbler, a split from Spotted Bush Warbler (which also occurs in the region). Yes...
  5. C

    Falcon ID

    Experienced birdwatchers seem to have really differing opinions regarding the id of this falcon... To me it is a Hobby, and I have tried to motivate my opinion in the attached picture.
  6. C

    Galveston Texas bird

    The flying bird in the third photo in post #8 looks like a Dunlin to me. All other birds look like Black-bellied Plovers.
  7. C

    Indian spotted eagle

    Based on tens of trips, Finnish birdwatchers have found that juvenile Indian Spotted Eagles winter commonly in Goa (but probably not older individuals). Steppe Eagle, on the other hand, is quite scarce. An identification article in Alula 2/2004 contains numerous photos of first winter Indian...
  8. C

    Redstart subspecies or hybrid? Central Lithuania.

    Hi Magnus, you are probably right. Here's a juvenile from Sichuan showing quite pale edges to the tertials and secondaries (the paleness may be enhanced by the light): http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=36&Bird_ID=2596&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 Here's a bird labeled as adult female...
  9. C

    Redstart subspecies or hybrid? Central Lithuania.

    Thanks for the link, I wasn't aware of the other thread. Although separating an eastern Black Redstart from a hybrid is extremely difficult (if not impossible), I believe that the almost simultaneous appearence of three birds to different parts of Sweden in late October would favour eastern origin.
  10. C

    Redstart subspecies or hybrid? Central Lithuania.

    I wonder if it might not be an eastern (phoenicuroides/rufiventris) Black Redstart. Females often show a reddish wash to the underparts: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=11&Bird_ID=2596&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 http://tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?pic_id=annika1278004135&lang=eng...
  11. C

    Buzzard sp ID

    It looks uniformly dark even in a lightened picture. My bet would be Marsh Harrier.
  12. C

    Raptor ID in Kuwait please

    You'll also have to remember that the breeding period of Tawny Eagle is probably much longer than that of more northern raptors (i.e. there's a lot of variation in the real age of the "same" generation of Tawny Eagles). I have noted those, too, and I agree with you. Additionally, also this one...
  13. C

    Raptor ID in Kuwait please

    The bird in your link is adult-type (and interestingly it shows a pale throat). I would be interested in seeing pictures of uniformly mid-brown (milk chocolate brown) juvenile Tawny Eagles. Here are some juvenile-type Tawny Eagles from India (but if someone adds pictures to the gallery, the...
  14. C

    Raptor ID in Kuwait please

    Hi Tib! You are correct about the ageing. I'll cite a part of the caption of Plate 436 in Forsman's guide: "Juvenile in worn plumage (2nd cy spring). Aged by uniformly worn plumage, in particular by uniform greater coverts and secondaries with extremely worn pale tips." In this case the pale...
  15. C

    Raptor ID in Kuwait please

    I'd believe that it is a spring 2cy Steppe Eagle. Despite the short looking gape, the plumage is mid-brown (not especially tawny or sand coloured), the throat is pale and the bill doesn't look especially thick. Tawny Eagle has not been recorded in Kuwait and is very rare anywhere in the WP.
See more
Back
Top