Thursday, May 13, 2010

Oriental Pratincole

well the peace was well and truly shattered this afternoon with the discovery of an Oriental Pratincole at Frampton Marsh -- needless to say a first for Lincs and only the 6th for Britain - although often close it was behind a high bank with an abundance of vegetation and there was a chill wind and side light with heat shimmer and high contrast but what a great bird and actually a British tick for me  -- these shots show most of the ID features -- note the very narrow pale buff tip to the secondaries, most obvious from below when backlit, but also the buff at the base of the outer primaries and the median primary coverts -- possibly a first-summer? the nostril shape and tail shape and pattern are also good features plus the peachy wash on the upper breast, the rich coloured nape and throat patch and the long legs and dare I suggest the almost visible restricted red on the underside of the bill base

2 comments:

Jason Bugay Reyes said...

Excellent !

RyukyuMike said...

Graham,
Awesome shots from all angles. This bird had me stumped until someone at the BirdForum helped me ID it today.
I'll be posting some of my awful shots on my blog and create a link to this post for those interested in seeing a bit more clearly.

Cheers,
Mike