Hi all,
having just ticked off African Hoopoe (in Africa - where else!),
a couple of comments on the NT bird (postings dated 3rd March 2014), if I may.
Firstly, the IOC checklist version 4.1 (2014), and earlier versions split
African and Eurasian Hoopoes.
Thus we have Upupa epops and U. africana.
(And a third species Madagascar Hoopoe U. marginata.)
Secondly, the far eastern subspecies is no longer considered to be saturata, it
is longirostris
ranging from ne. India through to s. China, Indochina and n. Malay Peninsula
(IOC 4.1). So could be difficult
to pin down the subspecies - the NT bird could be nominate epops which breeds
from Europe and
nw. Africa to nw. India, south central Russia and nw. China.
Thirdly, as alluded to, it is very useful to see the open wing, since africana
has a large white patch in the secondaries which is lacking in all subspecies
of epops (these have black and white barring). U. epops has a white bar in the
outer primaries that is
lacking in africana. Africana is also appreciably darker overall.
Cheers
Peter
_______________________________________________
Birding-Aus mailing list
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
|
