Hi all,
Yes a great discussion and timely for me too, as I was sitting next to Nikolas
on the way out on the weekend's Wollongong pelagic and commented how the Port
Stephens trips were going well...but that I was still not on top of the Sooty
vs Short-tailed identification thing! It has always fascinated me how it seems
to be something many observers take for granted but I have always grappled with
it. Chris's comments below make me feel a lot better! I have been on pelagics
where some of the most experienced sea-birders around have argued the ID of a
shearwater that was confidently called as "Sooty" or "Short-tailed".
Unfortunately I didn't see the bird in question but I do have to back-up what
Nikolas said about flight pattern etc being important. Sometimes being there on
the day can make all the difference and I think that the filtering-in-the-brain
that Chris talks about is more likely to be confused by lighting than
behavioual traits observed in situ. Maybe I'm wrong? Identifying from photos
can be fraught with danger I guess is my point (not always, but I've seen
numerous birds misidentified in images, especially Jaegers and Terns). I'm just
not sure if I would agree that photos provide an unbiased view but I know what
you mean by that Chris. But often any comparisons can be useful, even if the
birds aren't necessarily very similar.
Currently a few of us are sorting out Swifts and Swiftlets from Christmas
Island and I have to say that although it is a daunting group, being in a
situation where there are clearly 'different' species above you flying around,
having the luxury of comparing relative sizes and flight patterns etc gives a
big headstart, ahead of what can often be picked up in photographs of birds
like that.
Mick
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