Hi Michael et al,
In short on the issue of th Banyule Snipe I stand corrected in terms of its sex
- in line with Fred Smith/ Peter Lansley etc, - it appears to be a female.
However the basis of my initial analysis that the bird was male was as follows:
1. The bird was obviously immature.
2. This meant that the bird was either:
a.) this year's birds - in which case it would be probably be hard to
distinguish which sex it was! It may be just to early to tell.
b.) last year's bird - in which case, if it was a female it should (?) show
more characteristic (brighter) markings.
3. My inclination therefore was that it was last year's bird and consequently
the duller markings suggested a male.
The crucial point that I missed however (sorry Russell) was the lack of any
golden buff spotting on the wings! This is a bit of a give away and definitely
tended towards female.
Conversely if it was this year's bird would these spot be so evident? What do
you think?
Yours somewhat corrected,
Tim
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