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The
"duller" bit is correct, but that is comparative, so requires some knowledge of
both. Like so many things, the description in The McComas Taylor & Nicolas Day guide is good enough for easy to identify birds but
when it comes to difficult ones, it is variable, from adequate, to fairly
mediocre, to sometimes just wrong. So such birds warrant using another book.
Also (in the males) the main wing feathers - that show less blue
shine - are close to black in the Satin but grey in the Leaden. I suspect the
females are even harder to pick.
I think you can be 99%+ confident that a pair using a territory and
likely breeding at this time of year, in woodland like Campbell Park, (not
forest) are going to be Leaden Flycatchers, just on the basis of habitat.
By the
way, I changed the subject, I think it is a cf (comparison) more than a vs
(adversary).
Philip
Robin
- if these were near the creek by the Little Eagle paddock there is a
mini-colony there, with one nest quite non-typical - less than 2m
high against the main stem of a live sapling with no over-branch. The
agitated adults come to within 2m so a site best avoided.
There
are various theories about the varying angle of the breast demarcation, but the
best guide, as Graeme Chapman pointed out in a Wingspan article some years ago,
is that the male Satin is white and BLACK, not just dull-looking in low light,
but blue-BLACK like a Satin Bowerbird. Your dullest shots will look
darkish, but these are clearly Leadens. g
From: Robin Eckermann [
Sent:
Sunday, 23 December 2012 1:37 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Leaden vs
Satin Flycatchers
I snapped these Flycatchers at
Campbell Park this morning - I suspect they're Leadens, though they're a bit
glossier than some of the Leaden's I've shot in the past. The McComas Taylor
& Nicolas Day guide seems to have nearly identical descriptions for both
species, with the main differentiator being that Leadens are duller. Does anyone
have any other tips for distinguishing between these two very similar
birds?
   
(Click
on any image for larger view)
Regards ... Robin
Eckermann
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