Your right Mike, but none of the features add up to any known Shearwater so
we are really just having a bit of fun trying to find a best fit rather than
an absolute match. I don't think it would be a very fresh Little Shearwater
if he could manage those dimensions out of it, in fact it would look much
like a little Shearwater afterwards that's for sure. Some of his features
have to be wrong or inaccurate, the question is which ones, I suspect the
foot colour. It would be really useful if Ted put in a second appearance now
that he has heard some of the discussion.
Cheers Jeff.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Carter
Sent: Monday, 8 February 2010 9:49 PM
To: Jeff Davies; 'Moorhead Family'
Cc: 'Birding Aus'
Subject: Help with Shearwater ID
I thought of that knowing that dead Buller's have been mistaken for Little
Shearwater on appearance but I don't think that included foot colour (did
it?). Buller's don't have bluish feet. Moreover, Ted thinks he may have
stretched the specimen 'too aggressively' so his measurements should if
anything be on the large size. But his 38 cm long falls well short of
Buller's at 46 cm long and wingspan of 90 cm well short of Buller's at 98
cm.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
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