Lindell - you do not say when that photo was taken but it appears to be the same as the single bird I saw yesterday. If it is, as believed, a first year bird retaining some juv plumage it will not be developing breeding plumage but will be an example of individual variation, with a stronger ‘diffuse breast band’ From: Lindell [ Sent: Tuesday, 11 September 2012 4:46 PM To: Geoffrey Dabb Cc: Canberra Birds Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Wader Is the slight rusty coloration on the upper breast of this RNS the start of it developing breeding plumage? The accompanying bird is paler in colour. Lindell On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:02 AM, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote: Yes Bob, people like Steve Holliday seem to ID these effortlessly but I often get distracted by irrelevant features. I thought the bill on this chap looked quite non-RNS but Jeff Davies says it’s ‘within range’. The top 2 are this one, Cb for current bird. The middle snap from elsewhere shows what I regard as typical Red-neckeds ( with a couple of sharpies). Very white underneath. The lower snap is the stint from FSP last October, with a sharpie. The other thing is the overall colour which varies substantially with the light. The lower snap was in early morning yellow sunlight. The 2 above were yesterday in strong early afternoon sun. You can also see the degrading effects of heat shimmer. In that situation, much better quality shots are obtained in the early morning – which also has the advantage of reducing thermal noise where that is a problem - given the temperature range these days between zero and 20 degrees. Hi Geoff !
On an other matter I thought the bird looked like it had a longer Sanderling type bill jizz about it from the photo Roger took. Bob Checked out small wader this afternoon at what is generally known as Rusk 7/ACTEWAGL 1B. Thought it looked slightly unusual so sent pics to Jeff Davies who confirmed it as a first-year Red-necked Stint (some juvenile plumage).
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