Hi all,
Well, this bird has been causing a stir amongst a few people who were on that
trip. At the time the bird was called as a Long-tailed and was never questioned
as being possibly an Arctic. The jizz was all Long-tailed (slight bird,
tern-like flight etc) and behaviour also (kept generally high and never showed
interest in any other birds). I'm still tentatively holding on to Long-tailed
as the ID. With these birds I think jizz / behaviour is very important and this
emphasises the malady of identifying from fotos. Not that I'm suggesting that
it's definitely not an Arctic...I would just like to know more about the
reasons why if people still believe it is. This bird is worthy of discussion.
As far as the 'morph' is concerned I'm not even sure if there is an accepted
'dark morph' for Long-taileds. I have been informed that this species has a
'dark type' as opposed to 'dark morph'...whatever that is, maybe someone can
shed some light on that? One would think that the 'dark type' is much more
likely in a young Long-tailed than an adult bird.
If you go to Tobias' photostream you will notice that the second Jaeger has
been called an Arctic by a northern hemispherean birder/photographer. And when
you flick between the 2 shots you really notice the difference in the bulk of
the birds and in particular, the bill. I also have a foto of what I'm assuming
is the same bird, see:
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/Brewerbackpacker/Wollongong%20Jaegers/UnidentifiedJaeger.jpg
This foto gives you a better persepctive of the bill, which looks more like a
Long-tailed to me. But keep in mind that the head is slightly turned towards
the camera so this could alter the size appearance slightly. Check out the
other Jaeger while you're there...yes, this is hard work!
Notwithstanding, from what I've read so far, this is a summary of the features
people are basing their ID's on:
Long-tailed
- slight build / proportions
- short, relatively thick bill
- nicely barred undertail (but see below for Arctic)
- half the bill being black (as opposed to less than half on Arctic)
- barring in the underwing suggesting a young bird (2nd year?)
- tail feathers ok for a 2nd year bird
- the tarsus on a 2nd year bird should be partly dark on an Arctic but appear
to be pale, suggesting Long-tailed
Arctic
- deep breast
- broad base to wings
- undertail barring not uniform enough to be Long-tailed (should be more
strongly barred, even spaced and sized) - a point of contention
- presence of gingery tones in the feathers and some other general plumage
characteristics
For those who dare, this link is worth looking at:
http://www.martinreid.com/Main%20website/jaeger4.html
Bottom line...maybe some birds are just too tough to call from fotos?
Mick
________________________________
From: Jeff Davies <>
To:
Sent: Friday, 6 March, 2009 12:35:08 AM
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Re: dark morph Long-tailed Jaeger
G'day Tobias,
I'm with you on this bird, my money is on dark morph first year Long-tailed
Jaeger, to my eye the bill looks too short for an Arctic and the rest looks
structurally OK. Sorry to disagree Mike and Phil.
I lost the original post so I have pasted the link to your photo and
previous thread below from archives.
Cheers Jeff
http://www.flickr.com/photos/callocephalon/3329565621/
This was my opinion also after seeing the photos.
Phil.
Subject: Re: dark morph Long-tailed Jaeger
From: "Mike Carter" <pterodroma AT bigpond.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 18:55:14 +1100
In my opinion it is an Arctic Jaeger. Told by deep breast and broad base to
the wings.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
Hi all,
Just wondering what the status of dark morph Long-tailed Jaegers is in
Australian waters. On the recent (February 28) Wollongong pelagic, I took
some
photos of a dark morph jaeger that appears to be a Long-tailed (I thought so
too at the time in the field). They are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/callocephalon/3329565621/
Interestingly, Pomarine and Long-tailed Jaegers were the most common
jaegers,
only a couple of Arctic were briefly spotted.
Other highlights form the trip included nice views of Streaked Shearwaters.
Cheers
Tobias
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