BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="nobbyball" data-source="post: 3611212" data-attributes="member: 89778">Not sure I can agree with you here based on your example... when you've got a whole flock of birds at different angles surely one or two of them would show something different because of catching light at different angles. A single bird is a different proposition... and you make the point 'briefly'. As soon as the angle changes a little bit the light reflection changes... the colour changes. Here we have birds at all different angles already...On a recent seawatch flocks of godwits and whimbrels flew past at much further distance than the OPs picture. At times they were dark but there were always one or two in the flock that showed tell-tale pale on the back or wing bars or the bill shape obvious. There was never anytime even at distance that the whole flock was completely dark like the OPs picture... And even on that seawatch there were frustrating Kittiwakes that 'briefly' in certain light when all dark were appearing skua like in profile. I certainly wouldn't criticise anyone for claiming 'dark' Kittiwake's because of the way that they fly compared to other gulls. People just need to be patient in seawatches because of the problems that light can create.</blockquote>