Recent content by stuart winter

Javan Plover...

Besides the double white "quote marks" on the underwing, which I think are a diagnostic fieldmark for Poms, are the white bases to the rectrices a significant feature, too?

Juvenile Sanderling...

I think the key to this bird's ID is the large, pale grey area on the nape - a good diagnostic field mark for Clay-coloured Sparrow.

Late summer wing moult can give a "hooked" effect to Wilson Petrel wings in late summer. Rather than a white underwing flash I think I can see a grey upper wing coverts.

The presence of a tick on the ear coverts has helped obscure a usually reliable Tree Pipit feature, the "ear spot". Although nowhere near pronounced as in Olive-backed Pipit, it is a useful aid when combined with other features such as call etc...

Sooty Falcon would have a hint of a moustachial area on the face and also a pale chin.

1) Tree Pipit... The buzzard looks long winged enough to be a Long-legged Buzzard.

Beema would have more Wedgewood-blue toned head and the white would be more extensive below the eye.

Hi Brian, Just for clarification, I would have sworn Dunn's on the marked dark line running through the lores as well as the plain sandy coverts with an absence of dark centres. There is also a distinctive primary projection which doesn't occur in BcSL. I've limited experience of these species...

I would go for Dunn's - the so-called "Mascara" mark cutting through the loral region is a good diagnostic fieldmark. Sparrow-larks also have dark centred greater coverts, whereas these birds have sandy-toned gcs...

The last item was filed while Tottenham Hotspur play their most important game in 50 years. That's how strongly I feel about this issue. S

In my book Tales of a Tabloid Twitcher I dedicate a whole chapter to Lee. I urge everyone who has contributed to this thread to read the section as I feel it gives an accurate insight into Lee's unique contribution to birding over the past four decades (this is not an advertorial for the book so...

There has been some awful journalism over the past week that has painted the Sparrowhawk as Public Enemy Number One. Anyone who has seen the joint BTO/St Andrews University paper cannot help but conclude that our commonest raptors are having little impact on the majority passerines. I wrote...

Having looked at the enlarged photo, it is possible to make out the white outer tail which is a feature of Klaas's.