Continuing a thread from a couple of weeks ago ...
I received my copy of Hayman yesterday, in excellent condition, a
bargain for only about $20 including postage, I should have bought one
years ago.
It looks excellent, BUT ... no pictures of the Hudsonian undertail at
all! It shows the underwing as a side view with the wings raised. I
suspect that because it isn't useful for id, they haven't bothered to
show it. Fair enough, but I think we're entitled to a warning that
you're not going to get a look at the colour of the tail feathers just
by waiting till the bird bends over. This possibly applies to lots of
species.
At least Pizzey and Knight gives a hint that this might happen by showing the
white coverts extending a little way over the black tail in flight. It just
goes to show that no field guide is perfect.
Peter Shute
Jackie Moorhead wrote on Saturday, 27 June 2009 7:26 PM:
> For those interested in a good field guide for waders, then I would
> recommend, "Shorebirds ,an Identification Guide" by Hayman, Marchant
> and Prater.It is published by Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston USA.
> It has all the waders in the world, about the size of Slater without
> all the numerous mistakes that are in all the Australian field
> guides. All your comments about the Hudwit are illustrated well in
> this guide Peter. I bought mine a few years ago through Andrew Isles
> for about AUD50 I think. All field guides should be as good as this
> landmark one. Cheers, Bill
> "Peter Shute" <> wrote on Saturday, June 27, 2009 8:30 AM:
> Some great shots there, David. Was the second Bar-tailed Godwit
> present?
>
> Some questions for anyone who can answer them:
>
> I've been trying to work out why the Hudsonian's undertail appears to
> be white when it's on the ground, yet black in flight. Photo 5549
> shows what I mean. I guess it's just the undertail coverts hiding
> the tail when it's folded, and the flight shot, 5476, backs that up,
> although the legs prevent us seeing whether the coverts extend the
> full length of the tail.
>
> Neither Morcombe nor S&D show the undertail in flight. Slater shows
> it with the black extending right across, P&K shows the coverts
> protruding a little way into the black.
>
> Photo 5540 shows why I initially thought the reddish bird was the
> Hudsonian. Its tail appears black in that side on photo, whereas the
> Hudsonian's appears to be white. I can understand now why the latter
> looks white, but why does the Bar-tailed's tail look black? Am I
> mistaking a primary for a tail feather (and vice versa for the
> Hudsonian)?
>
> This photo:
> http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/scolopacidae/limosa_haemastica.htm
> shows the outer tail feathers have a white outer web, which wouldn't
> help things when viewed side on.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> ________________________________________
> From:
>
> On Behalf Of David Stowe
> Sent: Friday, 26 June 2009 11:04 PM
> To: Birding-aus (E-mail)
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Hudsonian Godwit
>
> A quick belated note to say that we saw the Hudsonian Godwit at the
> mouth of Laverton Creek on Tuesday morning. Grant Brosie, Nick Livanos
> and myself went down from Sydney to see it.
> I have uploaded some shots to my pbase site if anyone is interested.
> Weather was terrible but we had great views of the bird at rest and
> in flight.
>
> http://www.pbase.com/davidstowe/hudsonian_godwit
>
> Many thanks to those posts on birding-aus and especially to Geoff
> Jones for taking us around. Cheers
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