Darter? Soaring!

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Robin,

 

Absolutely characteristic of them. The wide tail is also typical of soaring flight. They can fly so high and their neck is so thin that it can be hard to see their neck and head. Indeed to someone unfamiliar with both species, a male darter flying very high could invoke ideas of it being a Black Falcon (as in they can look more like that, than a cormorant).

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Robin Eckermann [
Sent: Sunday, 11 March 2012 10:29 AM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Darter? Soaring!

On Saturday morning at Campbell Park, Mel Clark's very sharp distance vision spotted no less than 14 of these bird soaring at a very high altitude - almost out of sight. I snapped a picture, but its pretty poor quality given the distance. The "best fit" match for the wing-shape etc seems to be Darters - though the tail features are flared out much more here than in any of the samples in field guides.

(click on thumbnail for larger view)

I must confess it was a puzzling sighting - first to see such a large group soaring at such altitude - and second, above Campbell Park. I've always associated these birds with sitting around the Lake, either actively fishing or drying their wings. Nevertheless, unless someone disputes the identification, these will go into my collection of photographs for the area as species #86.

Regards ... Robin Eckermann