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Arctic or Pomarine Skua? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter sjahanmi
- Start date
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Left bird is Arctic (needle-sharp tail point, fairly small bill). Right bird might be a Pom, given what appears to be a much heavier bill, but not the best of view angles.
Maffong
Well-known member
Are you sure? This is not an adult, so I don't think we should ID it based on tail form only as it might be moulting. To me this looks like a third year bird. The white on the primaries' upperside is relatively small and on the lower side I think you can see the two white crescents. Also the bill looks pretty heavy and belly-heavy, don't you think?
Maffong
Maffong
I thought so as well. Here's a photo of a Pomarine with (seemingly?) very pointed central tail feathers.
www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=showpicture&picture_id=62853
Peter
chris butterworth
aka The Person Named Above
Another for Pomarine. Maffong sums it up perfectly.
Tib78
Well-known member
There are 2 different birds involved for sure as the second bird lacks elongated tail feathers among other things.
I am not particularly experienced on skuas (especially LTS) but I feel the first bird can't be a Pomarine as too many features speak against that option.It looks like an Arctic to me and I don't find the bill particularly impressive. On top of that I am having difficulties to see how those pointed tail feathers might belong to a Pomarine, the Pomarine linked to by Peter has its tail feathers twisted, yet they still look blunt-tipped to me. The dark cap is straight edged and mainly confined to the crown: it barely encircled the back of the eye and does not the reach malar area as expected for a Pomarine. At this point it would be usefull to rule out LTS too, I think that can be achieved by looking at the numerous white primary shafts, rather cinnamous tinged axilliaries, largely pale base to bill, not-so-solidly dark boa and untidy face pattern.
The second bird is, I think, a Pomarine with its strong bill, golden nape and well barred uppertail coverts.
I am not particularly experienced on skuas (especially LTS) but I feel the first bird can't be a Pomarine as too many features speak against that option.It looks like an Arctic to me and I don't find the bill particularly impressive. On top of that I am having difficulties to see how those pointed tail feathers might belong to a Pomarine, the Pomarine linked to by Peter has its tail feathers twisted, yet they still look blunt-tipped to me. The dark cap is straight edged and mainly confined to the crown: it barely encircled the back of the eye and does not the reach malar area as expected for a Pomarine. At this point it would be usefull to rule out LTS too, I think that can be achieved by looking at the numerous white primary shafts, rather cinnamous tinged axilliaries, largely pale base to bill, not-so-solidly dark boa and untidy face pattern.
The second bird is, I think, a Pomarine with its strong bill, golden nape and well barred uppertail coverts.
Like Maffong and others I see a Pomarine here. The tail shape suggests Arctic but is hard to judge due to the angle and in any case the bird is a subad and in moult. It's hard to argue with the white primary coverts, this is a classic Pom character. The bill is strong and stout and the head profile is barrell-shaped, lacking Arctic's more snouty look to my eye.
Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
Can a pom ever show so much pale feathering at the base of the bill, like the first bird?
Tib78
Well-known member
The white base to the primary coverts in indeed a classic Pom feature, though not 100% diagnostic as a tiny fraction of Arctic and Long-tailed may sho this pattern.
This Arctic is essentially similar in this respect: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=937&Bird_Image_ID=51556&p=27
Beside, there is indeed kind of white flash towards the outer primary coverts but the pattern isn't so clear and if you check the inner primary coverts they clearly don't show a white base.
Maffong
Well-known member
I think you might actually be right. now that I look at the pics again a Parasitic doesn't seem so wrong anymore. I had actually thought, that those tail feathers were not necessarily the long inner rectrices but could also be the outer ones. Now that I look at them again it seems I was wrong. The bill is dificult to judge from this angle and I wouldn't exclude either species on this picture. The belly-heavy look might as well be due to the angle of the picture and the crescents-feature is debunked by your pics, Tib78. The head pattern fits Parasitic better indeed.
I find it still easier to identify skuas in the field, where giss helps a lot, which is always difficult to judge on pictures.
Maffong
I find it still easier to identify skuas in the field, where giss helps a lot, which is always difficult to judge on pictures.
Maffong
