Separating Satins and Leadens is a recurrent topic.
Anyone really interested is urged to consult a copy of ‘Wingspan’
for June 2003 where there is a comprehensive article by Graeme Chapman on the
subject. I am not able to reproduce this in its entirety but here are
excerpts:
‘A male Satin is best regarded as a black bird
(with a blue sheen just like a Satin Bowerbird), with white underparts.
One reason they are so often misidentified undoubtedly stems from illustrations
in most of the field guides. Both painting and printing a blackish bird
with a bluish sheen is no easy task and the most useful book in this respect is
the Slater Field Guide. ... [T]he sighting needs to be made under ideal
conditions. [This photo] shows how dark a Leaden Flycatcher can be
under less than ideal conditions. A useful field character ... is
the shape of the demarcation line between throat and breast feathers. In
Satins the line tends to be down-curved, the white breast forming an obtuse
angle with the edge of the wing, whereas in Leadens it curves upwards forming
an acute angle with the edge of the wing ... [This] is not always obvious ... [illustrative
photos provided] ‘
‘Adult female Satin Flycatchers display a diagnostic
bluish sheen on the crown which is not evident in female Leadens, nor in
juveniles of either species. The density and extent of the rufous colouring
on the throat is variable and not a reliable character; adult female Satins do
tend to be darker. They are also a bit darker on the back than female
Leadens, but this is not easy to assess in the field ...’
‘Calls too are not diagnostic. ... there is great
variation in the calls of the Leaden Flycatcher, both within and between
individuals as well as from place to place. Similar variation occurs with
individual Satins and it would need a very practised ear to separate the two
species.’
