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Post by des on Aug 2, 2010 8:20:01 GMT
Apart from the black crown you can see the yellow throat, edged darker; The left bird has white outer tail feathers, and the right bird may also too, if they are folded under the rest of the tail.
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Post by des on Aug 1, 2010 15:47:24 GMT
Looks like Black-crowned Babbler, Stachyris nigrocapitata boholensis to me, Bobby. There are not many photos of this. Congratulations! The left one may be a juvenile as it looks the same size. It would be much smaller if it were a Philippine Leaf warbler Des
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Post by des on Jul 28, 2010 14:35:11 GMT
I wonder what the significance of the exceptionally red legs and rich blue facial skin is? They are even brighter than some pics of mating birds on OBI Des
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Post by des on Jul 26, 2010 17:55:02 GMT
OK many thanks. For the cuckoo, note the broad rufous barring on the tail so that the dark brown bars taper to a point; the orange inner two thirds of the lower mandible; the lack of yellow eyering; the pale brown iris; the narrow barring on the underparts. cheers Des
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Post by des on Jul 25, 2010 21:49:04 GMT
The Forest Wagtail is a rare bird in the Philippines. Could you tell us what date you saw it and more or less where? many thanks Des
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Post by des on Jul 25, 2010 12:17:15 GMT
Congrats from me, too. Des
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Post by des on Jul 24, 2010 11:07:56 GMT
I haven't seen photos of a young Mountain Shrike before. The sides are much more orange; there are pale fringes to the tertials (though adults can show this) and possibly wing coverts too. The crown looks to have a brownish tinge. The bill looks less massive, as well as being straw-coloured, and lacks a strongly hooked tip; the tail feathers are notched at the tip, as caused by being jammed into the nest sides during growth, and is generally rather frayed. cheers Des
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Post by des on Jul 24, 2010 11:00:48 GMT
Interesting shots, Ely, as usual. Both are in moult. The LPFC looks like it may be a young male as there seem to be some brown feathers showing. The eyebrow has not grown fully. But the lack of any yellow gape mark may mean it is just in body moult, but that may have been lost already. The redstart is moulting the flight feathers. The inner primaries/outer secondaries seem to have been replaced with darker feathers, as has the innermost tertial. I am surprised that the feathers are getting darker rather than brighter rufous. cheers Des
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Post by des on Jul 18, 2010 14:19:44 GMT
I think it may be that the flight feathers of the left wing are mostly in shade and so are dark. But the wing is curled round under the bird, so the top surface of the outermost primaries of that left wing are facing us and in sunlight. The very outermost one has separated from the others and appears as though it is a bar on the underwing, but I think it is in a different plane from the underwing. Des
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Post by des on Jul 13, 2010 12:11:40 GMT
Nice pic! Judging from the wing pattern it is a juvenile male.
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Post by des on Jul 13, 2010 7:15:06 GMT
Hi Tonji, On checking and reflection I think it is a female Little Pied. Check out orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=4&Bird_ID=2660&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1Your bird lacks a yellow base to the lower mandible that is diagnostic for Asian Brown. The upperparts are very grey, and the upper tail looks like it is probably rusty, though in any case the Malaysian birds may have a less rusty tail than the Philippine birds cheers Des
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Post by des on Jul 9, 2010 15:04:20 GMT
OK. I wold like better ones of the bill especially lower mandible. I htink it must be Asian Brown but will check when I get access to my books. cheers Des
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Post by des on Jul 5, 2010 10:41:33 GMT
Looks like it but do you have a better one to show the eyering and throat? Des
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Post by des on Jun 9, 2010 8:40:05 GMT
The photo of the immature along with the female are much much more interesting to me than another photo of a male. The immature has orangey-brown feathering around the eye. At what age does it get the blue skin? Does the intensity of blue vary with age or season? The bill is grey. When does it turn yellow? What about the green base? When does the crown, mantle and collar feathering get replaced with darker feathers? It does look like a fly on the back - possibly what we called flat flies. These are a kind of nest parasite. The young bird appears to have more rictal bristles than the female. There is no date with the photo- could I urge all you photographers to put a date of capture along with location to help researchers in the future? Many thanks Des
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Post by des on Jun 9, 2010 7:27:29 GMT
Thanks. Yes the contrasting wing panel formed by the edges of the primaries is typical, though on Tablas is more rusty than shown here - but that may be the angle of the light.
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Post by des on Jun 7, 2010 13:55:45 GMT
Yellow suffusion on underparts, particularly on centre of breast; tail short but not minute as in Handsome sunbird, and with pale tips at least to outer tail feathers; greyish face; eye with narrow broken pale eyering; bill dark with pinkish base to lower mandible, curve close to centre. All of these are consistent with female Purple-throated sunbird (on Tablas at least). cheers Des
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Post by des on Jun 6, 2010 16:48:41 GMT
Looks like female Olive-backed Sunbird. cheers Des
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Post by des on May 24, 2010 8:24:52 GMT
These are quite good shots. With higher resolution we might be able to count the feathers in the wing, which would be useful. My first guess would be Glossy Swiftlet, as there seems to be a bit of greenish gloss on one upperwing, followed by Philippine Swiftlet as it ranges over there. I think it will be identifiable one day, but I don't know enough to identify it yet.
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Post by des on May 22, 2010 10:38:33 GMT
It is a swiftlet. The outer primaries look much longer than the inner primaries, which is interesting, unless all the primaries are bunched in the photo and we can only see the spread secondaries, but I don't think so. Do you have any higher res shots? The rump appears dark, and the whole bird may be dark but we can't really see in these photos as there isn't a clear shot of the underparts. The body appears very plump. The crop looks full as though it is stuffed with insects. There doesn't seem to be any tail fork. Unfortunately there is nothing to give a measure of size, and we can't see if the tarsi are feathered or not, so I would be surprised if anyone can give a positive ID yet. Des
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Post by des on May 20, 2010 21:27:04 GMT
I think the tail racquets must be for stability (though they are ornaments in some other species like peacocks, for example). The main tail of a racquettail is barely longer than the wings, while Blue-naped, for example, have noticeably longer tails. A racquettail in flight will look short tailed because we don't see the racquets clearly. Superb pics, it goes without saying...
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