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Pallas's Reed Bunting 葦鵐

Pallas's Reed Bunting 葦鵐

long valley Nov 12, 2012







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Good found !!

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Great find

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Stunning photos of a stunning bird.  A female, but do you have photos which show the tail better to see what age it is?

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hi paul, did the following help? a good chance for me to learn how to tell the age from the bird tail. thanks.

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UQ5A6979.jpg (78.13 KB)

14/11/2012 15:52

UQ5A6979.jpg

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Based on the very fresh and rounded tail feathers this is an adult.  First-winter birds have more pointed and worn tail feathers at this time of year.  There is a slight possibility that it is a first-winter bird which has lost and replaced all the tail feathers, but the primaries appear to be in a similar condition indicating that they are the same age as the tail.  On plumage, this is a female.

One of my favourite birds...

This pretty much works for all emberiza buntings at this time of year with the notable exception of Yellow-breated Bunting for which first-winters replace the tail and four outer primaries prior to southwards migration.

[ Last edited by lpaul at 16/11/2012 09:35 ]

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Good lesson to all of us.

Thank you so much !

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