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SIPO vs Pied Oystercatcher

To: "David Stowe" <>, "Murray Lord" <>
Subject: SIPO vs Pied Oystercatcher
From: "Greg" <>
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:44:07 +1100
Hi David,

I was fortunate to be at Ballina when Bo Totterman found the first Australian SIPO and along with Bob Moffatt and Bo worked out what it was. I also managed some reasonable slides taken through my spotting scope.

The best ID characters are an extremely long thin bill and very short legs when compared to a Pied Oystercatcher. As Australian POs can have legs shorter and bills longer than the average they can appear to be SIPOs. The best character is that the white above and below the wing reaches the trailing edge as a white panel in the SIPO. It doesn't usually reach the trailing edge in POs however in juveniles the trailing edge is grey and not black as in adults (as illustrated in HANZAB).


Greg Clancy




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