canberrabirds

rufous fantail and flycatcher

To: "'Eric Wenger'" <>, <>
Subject: rufous fantail and flycatcher
From: "Julian Robinson" <>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:03:34 +1100

I hope someone answered Lucy and Caroline’s question.  Once again the politics of this list mean that I have no way of knowing if anyone did answer since some responses go privately -- so I’m compelled to respond even though dozens of others may have already done so back-channel. 

 

Anyway my view – yes it’s a Satin because of

 

a)      mainly, the dark undertail as the Leaden has lighter brown grey undertail.

b)      The plumage does look black/shiny/blue/satin as the Satin does, but I find that can be misleading because sometimes the Leaden can seem that way, have a look at the third pic on the COG gallery http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/Species%20HTML/leaden_flycatcher.html …, and

c)       People reckon you can tell the difference by whether the black/white dividing line on the chest is ‘convex’ or ‘concave’.  The experts (and HANZAB) often repeat this, but I’ve asked some whether they mean concave up or down (since “concave” on its own doesn’t specify which way a curve runs) and got different answers so it’s not at all clear!  I’ve never been able to pick it and I doubt if you will either looking at the comparison between the gallery pics of each.

 

http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/Species%20HTML/leaden_flycatcher.html

http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/Species%20HTML/satin_flycatcher.html

 

If anyone can tell me what I’m missing in the convex/concave clue I’d be grateful.

 

 

From: Eric Wenger [
Sent: 16 October 2010 16:49
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] rufous fantail and flycatcher

 

There was one rufous fantail today at Umbagong District Park (Latham/Macgregor).  There was also this flycatcher.  I think it’s a satin, because it looks quite different to the leadens we had last year.  Can someone confirm if it’s a satin or a leaden?

Lucy & Caroline Wenger.

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU