Hi all,
Not wanting to steal kudos here but just so it doesn't get left out I
thought I'd record that Chris Benesh from the US suggested, amongst
other other likely candidate species, that Slaty-backed Gull seemed
the best fit. This he sent to me in a mail note I forwarded to Mike
Carter and Tony Palliser very early on the morning of the 16th in
Sydney (15th in Arizona)!
Chris also is not one to be excited whether he receives credit or not
but I was very impressed with his quick response from ONLY one of the
very first photo's sent out on the bird in fact his response was
within 18 hours of the first photos of the bird being sent out from
Parks in Qld., even allowing for the tyranny of distance!!
So from me at least, Thanks Chris, great work.
Cheers
Alan
************************************************************************
*
Alan McBride
Be green and read from the screen
e-mail:
Skype me: mcbird101
Tel: + 61 2 9973 3141
Mob: + 61 419 414 860
Fax: + 61 2 9973 2306
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they
are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error please
notify the sender. This e-mail is also subject to copyright. No part
of it should be reproduced, adapted or transmitted without the prior
written consent of the copyright owner.
************************************************************************
*
On 23/02/2008, at 20:02 , Jeff Davies wrote:
G'day Nikolas,
I think DNA would be fine but its an issue as to how this is achieved
and
who would pay for it. I'm still more interested in knowing what is
left to
stand in the way of it being a Slaty-back, I think that's where the
discussion should go from here.
Cheers Jeff.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Nikolas Haass
Sent: Saturday, 23 February 2008 7:06 PM
To: Mike Carter; Tony Russell; BIRDING-AUS
Subject: Cooktown Slaty-backed Gull happily post
sittingtoday
Hi Mike and Jeff,
What I wanted to say with my provocative mail is that we obviously had
problems ID'ing this bird. For me it still could very well be a Slaty-
back
and I also pointed out earlier that I don't like to call everything a
hybrid
that I can't ID - but did we really rule out a hybrid? I do agree
that many
features speak for Slaty-back and that's why I initially ID'd it as
such.
However, several others vehemently ruled out Slaty-back (because of
color
and pattern of scaps and mantle feathers, because of the size and
shape of
the bill and I think there were more mentioned). So apparently it is
not a
'straight-forward' ID. So after all this confusing back and forth, I
really
would be curious about the results of a DNA analysis!
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
----- Original Message ----
From: Mike Carter <>
To: Nikolas Haass <>; Tony Russell
<>;
BIRDING-AUS <>
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 6:08:40 PM
Subject: Cooktown Slaty-backed Gull happily post
sitting
today
Nikolas Haass <> said today
To: "Tony Russell" <>; "Mike Carter"
<>; "BIRDING-AUS" <>
Although I was the first one who dared to ID the bird as a female
first-winter Slaty-backed Gull (see old posting below), I still
would NOT
say that we 'SETTLED' on a definite ID.
We clearly ruled out Thayer's Gull, American Herring Gull (see
below), the
fuscus complex including Heuglin's Gull (heuglini and taimyrensis),
Eurasian Herring Gull, and most of the "yellow-legged gull complex".
Moreover, as I indicated a week ago, tail and primary patterns speak
against Mongolian and Steppe Gull.
And also Vega doesn't fit 100%. But - although it was my favorite -
does
Slaty-back fit 100%? No, it looks good for a Slaty-back, but
apparently
not 100%! Look at all the divergent comments from experts from all
over
the world! I think, the final ID at this point should be "possible
Slaty-back".
Nikolas
So although you named it several days ago, you are still not 100%
convinced?
Please tell us what you consider unsatisfactory in that ID.
Jeff Davies and I will prepare the BARC submission and we are
confident that
we can totally justify that diagnosis. Among significant aspects that
you
didn't address were the plain dark underwing pattern and short primary
projection beyond tail. Once those two features fell into place for
Slaty-backed ruling out Vega Gull the one remaining stumbling block
was the
scapular pattern which was more typical of Vega Gull. But now we know
some
Slaty-backs can be similarly patterned there are no contra-
indications. The
presence of that second generation secondary feather noted by Alvaro
was a
bonus. All discriminators are in favour of Slaty-backed Gull. QED.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
________________________________________________________________________
____
________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
