[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by steve siegel on 07:35:15 11/28/14
In Reply to: Tropcial Kingbird and more posted by Larry Manfredi
Great video, Larry. But you have burst my bubble!
I have always maintained that a good (visual) video grab was sufficient to identify a difficult bird when obscure field marks were needed. My poster child was the Tropical Kingbird, where, according to Pyle (1997 page 253 and errata), p10 is shorter than or equal to p5. The opposite is true in Couch's.
Your bird clearly shows p10 slightly longer than p5 with the wing well spread. I assume this is a video grab from about 8 seconds into your video, a bird obviously Tropical by voice. So the primary difference ID that I like to tout is wrong. I wonder if the distinction in feather length can only be made in the hand, as perhaps banders spread birds' wings differently than they appear in flight, or what? Robin, do you have a comment?
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]