Mon 1/03/2010 21:43
I D please！
2010/2/27
Hong Kong Wetland Park
Common Snipe or Pintail Snipe?
[img][IMG]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/wongshuichi/DSC_7758-6.jpg[/IMG][/img]
HFCheung 1/03/2010 22:15
Common. The pattern on the back is useful to identify them.
HF Cheung
ajohn 3/03/2010 10:10
I would say this looks more like Pintail/Swinhoe's.
The pale fringes on the upperparts are only obvious on the inner scapulars, making the upperparts less contrasting than usual on Common (which usually has 4 obvious stripes down the back, whereas this bird only has 2)
The head pattern is also more suggestive of Pintail/Swinhoe's in my opinion - less contrasting than Common, with a less obvious cheek bar than in that species.
Also the bird looks darker underneath than I usually associate with Common.
But I admit that I often find snipe difficult to ID on the ground.
I'm not sure how relevant this is, but in my experience, Pintail/Swinhoe's is more often in intertidal/brackish than freshwater habitats in winter (at least at Kam Tin), although Common can be in either habitat. This bird looks to be in intertidal mangrove edge.