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Post by des on Sept 16, 2010 12:07:09 GMT
O & M do quote morphological differences given in HBW, but guimarasensis is not obviously very different - though I admit the calls in the Tolinnis area of southern Negros are. Have you checked out Tobias et al in the latest Ibis: Quantitative criteria for species delimitation 1 2 3 JOSEPH A. TOBIAS,1* NATHALIE SEDDON,1 CLAIRE N. SPOTTISWOODE,2 JOHN D. PILGRIM,3 4 LINCOLN D. C. FISHPOOL4 & NIGEL J. COLLAR4
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Post by des on Sept 16, 2010 11:58:02 GMT
This looks very tricky, but Bar-tailed has long scapulars with contrasting dark centre lines and pale edges, longer and more contrasting than Black-tailed. So I would go with Bar-tailed, though the tail looks like it might be black rather than barred....
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Post by des on Sept 16, 2010 9:30:52 GMT
We can't see the tail clearly which is the best ID feature for snipes. However, they lack a white trailing edge to the secondaries which rules out Common Snipe. The toes are projecting well beyond the tail tip, probably a useful feature for Swinhoe's over Pintail. Common Snipe typically makes very sharp turns as it towers up and away with a very rasping call. Swinhoe's tends not to make such rapid turns.
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Post by des on Sept 16, 2010 8:58:05 GMT
These splits derive from the paper by Carl Oliveros and Robert Moyle. The evidence rests on divergences of mtDNA and 2 nuclear genes between very small sample sizes of bulbuls - usually one or two specimens only. There is no comparison of morphology or vocalisations, for example. A much more thorough DNA study by Adriana Silva-Iturriza, Valerio Ketmaier and Ralph Tiedemann backs up significant differences between Mindoro Bulbul and the Visayan Philippine bulbul populations though. Mindoro Bulbul looks and sounds different to other Philippine bulbuls, and was described as a distinct species originally. For taxonomists other than die-hard phylogeneticists I think the jury is still out on whether to accept the splits.
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Post by des on Sept 16, 2010 8:32:46 GMT
I think it may be a Grey-backed tailorbird. Des
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Post by des on Sept 16, 2010 8:25:55 GMT
The second bird has mottled feathers on the head and lesser wing coverts, and lacks any grey on the head. That is not typical for an adult male Brush cuckoo. However, females can be like the males, or barred or in mixed plumage. (ref: The Cuckoos. Payne (2005) OUP). This does not look like a juvenile so i suspect it is a mixed plumage female.
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Post by des on Aug 30, 2010 20:11:39 GMT
The Camarines Sur bird looks rather different on the underparts. I wonder if that is typical.
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Post by des on Aug 29, 2010 16:14:51 GMT
This is a very odd beast! If it is a Handsome why is there so much red on the breast? It looks like it might possibly be a Handsome-Crimson hybrid! Have you got any other angles eg to show its rump? Des
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Post by des on Aug 22, 2010 21:34:10 GMT
I vote for Grey-backed Tailorbird. It seems to have a grey back anyway
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Post by des on Aug 21, 2010 17:45:02 GMT
Superb!
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Post by des on Aug 18, 2010 9:38:56 GMT
The colour is a bit mysterious. Are they not Domestic pigeons?
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Post by des on Aug 18, 2010 7:01:07 GMT
The pink legs and colourless bill suggests it is an albino. I think the eye is dark because of the lighting, but would be red if we could see...
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Post by des on Aug 15, 2010 12:22:13 GMT
The Striped looks like an immature - the bill base and gape looks yellow. Pygmy male has a glossy green wash on wing coverts and tail, an olive rump, a rather fine bill and should have a white centre to the throat. Nilo's pic could be a female...
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Post by des on Aug 15, 2010 12:10:23 GMT
I would say so
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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 15:18:22 GMT
The tail is very worn and new feathers are appearing at the side. The flight feathers are moulting from the inner primaries out and it looks in body moult too.
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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 8:55:21 GMT
These are extremely useful photos! The first few seem to show a contrastingly pale rump, more like Edible-nest Swiftlet. How many of these birds were there? Are the photos all of the same bird?
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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 8:51:46 GMT
The first bird seems to lack any brown ('bronze olive') on the back and scapulars as mentioned in the KG. It is also very different from the description in 'Rails of the world'. I am wondering if the descriptions in books so far were based on subadult specimens.
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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 8:47:51 GMT
One of several Camiguin Sur endemics, ssp isidroi
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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 8:45:03 GMT
The kingfisher looks like it must be a juvenile judging from the brown feathers on the crown. This is not mentioned in the KG, which says immatures may have black scaling on the breast or a rufous wash there. Has anyone photographed these last two features? Are they correct?
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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 8:35:19 GMT
The cuckoo looks like it is regrowing its tail feathers. Is the violet tinge to the gape real, or just an artefact?
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