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Subject: pls help me identify this bird [Print This Page]

Author: butter Time: 22/07/2009 18:53 Subject: pls help me identify this bird

it's been seen in early Apr at Sai Kung (Inner Port Shelter). There're some egrits nearby beside the mangrove. We're on our kayaks, when it noticed us and took off. It's been seen again on 11/7 at the vicinity just before typhoon signal #3 was hoisted.
I've checked some books plus the internet, but still can't identify it. It's head pattern looks a bit like the osprey, but not it's body ...

Image Attachment: unknown_bird.JPG (22/07/2009 18:53, 20.11 KB) / Download count 572
http://hkbws.org.hk/BBS/attachment.php?aid=4016

Author: pitarhk Time: 22/07/2009 23:38

I think this is Great Cormorant breeding

Peter

Author: butter Time: 23/07/2009 19:19

Quote:

Original posted by pitarhk at 22/07/2009 23:38
I think this is Great Cormorant breeding

Peter

hmm...but its neck wasn't that long; its size and shape tended to be similar to a White-collared Crow. By the way, I've seen such crow at the vicinity 2-3 times, not sure if they're related.

Author: HFCheung Time: 23/07/2009 21:16

Surely a Cormorant, not a Crow.

HF Cheung

Author: butter Time: 29/07/2009 19:04

Quote:

Original posted by HFCheung at 23/07/2009 21:16
Surely a Cormorant, not a Crow.
HF Cheung

but it doesn't look like the other cormorants seen earlier in the same waters. At the first glance, it gave me the feeling that it's a raptor (not a crow then). Since there's a size limit of 100 something for photo upload, I can't let you see the whole photo I took. There're some egrits around, so you can see that it's not as big as a grown cormorant. Of course, I don't know how a smaller one looks like. Do you mean that the one in my pic looks like that case?

Would you let me have a look of another pic of the same case?

... I understand that my pic has a very poor resolution/quality.

I've found a photo here of a great cormorant in the NaturePhoto-CZ.com, it does look similar to the bird in my pic, but they're not the same, say, the bird I saw had feathers covering the whole of its head (no exposed parts)
http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/great-cormorant:phalacrocorax-carbo-photo-19.html

[ Last edited by butter at 29/07/2009 19:31 ]

Author: John Holmes Time: 29/07/2009 22:13 Subject: Great Cormorant

It is a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage, with the white patch on the rear of the flanks and white head.

Here is one I took at Nam Sang Wai in March

(ID MK IIn + 800mm)

Author: butter Time: 31/07/2009 19:54

Quote:

Original posted by John Holmes at 29/07/2009 22:13
It is a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage, with the white patch on the rear of the flanks and white head.

Here is one I took at Nam Sang Wai in March

(ID MK IIn + 800mm)

http://i287.photobucket.c ...

I've also noticed that its white patch on the rear of the flanks is in common with the pattern on great cormorant ...
do this type of bird seldom being alone? for the 2 times I met it, it had no companiion.
The one in my photo has grey wing tips and tail, are those parts of the breeding plumage?

Author: butter Time: 26/08/2009 19:36

[ Last edited by butter at 26/08/2009 19:52 ]

Author: butter Time: 26/08/2009 19:51

右後方的牠有白頭(不是白臉),灰翼尖及尾,黑色身. 黑眼帶, 白脇(只有這點及黑身似鷷鷺) ... 我在冬天時是見過一群群或數隻一起的鷀鷺的,但看來牠的大小不像(較小),頸也粗短些. '天鵝'之前那次(只有三號波)我也見到牠由左至右飛過...可惜那時雖然朋友有相機,但他們沒有及時看到(他們也沒有觀鳥習慣)

Author: butter Time: 7/01/2010 14:11

Last Sunday, after watching a movie clip at Wetland Park, I could confirm that the bird in the clip was the one I saw at Inner Port Shelter, namely, an Eastern Marsh Harrier 白腹鷂/澤鷂 with a white head and black eyestripe ... sorry that my photo was so poor that it's become misleading to you. By the way, those photos of this type of bird shown here at this forum don't look like the one I saw (they look like the illustration in my book), but the one in the Park's movie looked the same.

[ Last edited by butter at 7/01/2010 14:16 ]

Author: kmatthew Time: 7/01/2010 14:58

Great Cormorant in every aspect as far as I can see!!

Author: cwho Time: 7/01/2010 21:13

I also agreed. Certainly a Great Cormorant at all. No way tobe an Easter Marsh Harrier.

Author: butter Time: 8/01/2010 12:58

Perhaps let me post the whole photo here, it's the bird on the top right hand corner, with a white head, black eyestripe, grey wing tips and grey tail. I've seen many other cormorants in the same area before, they're not of the same size (bigger than this one) or shape.

[ Last edited by butter at 8/01/2010 13:04 ]

Author: wcaptain Time: 8/01/2010 15:07

Butter,

It is a Great Cormorant no doubt. Pls read P.38 of Birds of HK and South China (中文版).

Field guide in this case is irreplacable.

Beginners always make mistakes about identification, but it is not a problem. People can learn more after making mistakes.

Captain

Author: ajohn Time: 8/01/2010 16:54

I agree with the other opinions that this is a Great Cormorant. The white head and white flank patch are indications of breeding plumage (the dark behind the eye is also typical of this plumage). Your concerns about the greyer wings and tail are a result of the photograph (the light is reflecting off these areas). The size in relation to the egrets in the larger picture looks fine.

Compared to Eastern Marsh Harrier, the bird is not the right colour (black rather than brown), has a longer bill (a yellow bill is apparent on this photo) and is wrong in terms of structure. The location and habitat is also unlikely for harriers. The only possible confusion in my opinion is Japanese Cormorant, which cannot be ruled out on these photos but is highly unlikely.

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