The link should lead you to five pictures that were taken on 23rd of September near Lübeck in northern Germany.
Tundra Bean Goose is by far the more prevalent species and most of the birds present (about 150) were without a doubt Tundra. Among them was a family of seven (circled in the attached pic), that caught my eye. I believe that they are Taigas. That species has become so rare in northern Germany now, that they have to be submitted to a rarities committee. After a few months of waiting, the speaker (who is a friend of mine) wrote to me, that they had never before discussed a report as mine. They consulted several experts who came to different conclusions and in the end they had several votes before the sighting was ultimately rejected with a heavy heart.
I understand their reasoning, but I still keep them as Taiga on my personal list. Looking at your article, I wonder if the acceptance of Taiga is handled too strictly here and that a little bit of a grin patch or sometimes a hunkered down position can occur in Taiga too
Thanks for the clarification. I hadn't realized you were querying these specific birds, and without the context I didn't know quite what was going on in the collage image.
It would probably be clearer if you posted the full body images of each of the 7 "head shots" (it doesn't look like each of these comes from the larger image itself?), so if you're trying to convince powers that be, maybe line each zoomed up head shot with the full body image, or indeed multiple images if possible, to give as full an impression of them as possible. As it stands it's difficult to relate the circled birds to the head shots.
I'll start with what I think is the easiest, if you'll allow me, the left circled bird I've indicated with the arrow...Taiga. The body and serpentine neck structure scream Brachiosaurus. It jumps out at me, and I would lock on to a bird like that in a flock straight away. Hope there's plenty who who agree with me on that one.
Unfortunately, the rest of the postures are not helpful. Taiga can indeed hunker down. Suck that neck into the chest and make themselves obscure in a flock of Tundra. And rear on, it can be very difficult to get a good impression of the neck, of either species, as the crest of the back interferes with your view. If your accompanying Tundra are very alert and stretching the neck up, this further exacerbates things. So you watch, wait, get those profile views.
Dealing with the 7 head shots, anti-clockwise from the bird in the top left corner
1. The head and bill shape look fine for Taiga. I would like to see more images to try and assess the neck. It looks on the thick side, but this could be just the posture in one image.
2. Looks OK for Taiga, though a little block headed in this one. Again, would like to see more (if this is the left circled bird? Probably no issue if so).
3. This too looks good for Taiga. If it's the same bird as circled just above it (which it appears to be?) It's particularly wedge headed in the group image, and I guess just huddled up. Would be good to get more on the neck.
4. I'm loathe to even attempt a comment on a bird facing away like this. If you have nothing in profile on it, let it go.
5. I like the bill for Taiga. Head is on the short side of things slightly, but forehead and chin feel good.
6&7 These I would be hesitant on. They have that particularly gormless look I associate with Tundra at times, so would reserve judgement for more images and poses.
I can't advise on rarity committee approaches, not really placing any value on such processes 😈😉 but if these are all the images you have, perhaps it was the entire package which stumbled?
Surely the left hand circled bird can be given reprieve?
At the end of the day, if you feel all the birds involved, on the balance of features, lined up with Taiga, I don't think anyone will be sharpening the guillotine for you.
Regards
Owen
helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com
