Funny curlew (1 Viewer)

[mjgrunwell]

Why is this curlew looking so dark? Really dark primaries, skinny feel, any chance of eastern (oriental) curlew? Photos taken in Qatar in Oct.
Never saw the bird in flight otherwise the lack of white rump would be be diagnostic, not claiming oriental just interested in why it was so dark and odd.
Thanks for any suggestions
Michael

 

[vwxyzen]

Why is this curlew looking so dark? Really dark primaries, skinny feel, any chance of eastern (oriental) curlew? Photos taken in Qatar in Oct.
Never saw the bird in flight otherwise the lack of white rump would be be diagnostic, not claiming oriental just interested in why it was so dark and odd.
Thanks for any suggestions
Michael

They look like retouched images!

 

[Morg]

They look like retouched images!

Who do you think you are - Lee Evans!!

 

[lewis20126]

I'm no lighting specialist but the photos look impossible to me!

cheers, alan

 

[KFC]

mjgrunwell is being accused of doctoring images? I wouldn't blame him/her if s/he never posted again. I'm afraid I have no experience to share... but comments on how orientalis would look would be much more constructive.

K

 

[MSA]

I fail to see any photographic "trickery" here - in fact, just the opposite! Taking a photo of a dark bird amongst pale birds on a pale background is surely going to favour one or the other, and here the "target" bird is the one that's come out best. No ideas on racial ID, though, sorry....

 

[Jane Turner]

Its interesting how the last image seems less alarming dark than the rest. Is there a chance that part of the darkness is down to orientation of the bird?

orientalis is hard to id, but is generally less darkly marked on a paler ground colour.

I think this has to be melanism of some form.

 

[james holdsworth]

It must be down to angle of view. Look at photo three, where the rear Curlew now looks darker on the mantle than the previous photo.

Gull mantle shade is especially susceptible to this illusion.

 

[mjgrunwell]

Just down to light and a bit of melanism?

I do think that some of the impression of darkness was down to strange angle/light. The bird kept moving around and I could always pick it out by naked eye on darkness.
But look at its wings! What's with those really dark primaries? If it is not N madagascarensis then it must surely be a touch of melanism?
Sorry but I never do anything with my photos in photoshop except crop, rotate or reduce image size.
Thanks for your help

 

[Jane Turner]

The underparts appear too white in that last photo and the size isn't really in its favour...

Have a look at these images - especially the animation

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=7947

 

[lostinjapan]

IMO this is definitely not a Far Eastern Curlew.

I used to see them regularly in the spring in Japan.

Several things usually stand out, the spotting extends along the flanks and on the vent, the ground colour is usually buffier, the rump is streaked and the bill even longer and more decurved than Eurasian Curlew.

I'd hazard a guess that the bird in question has some degree of melanism, but is a Eurasian Curlew.

Cheers

Sean

 

[Bubbs]

http://www.pbase.com/dophoto/image/89512180

 

[rockfowl]

IMO this is definitely not a Far Eastern Curlew.

I used to see them regularly in the spring in Japan.

Several things usually stand out, the spotting extends along the flanks and on the vent, the ground colour is usually buffier, the rump is streaked and the bill even longer and more decurved than Eurasian Curlew.

I'd hazard a guess that the bird in question has some degree of melanism, but is a Eurasian Curlew.

Cheers

Sean

I believe Michael's asking if it is an orientalis Eurasian, not a Far Eastern as in N. madagascariensis Sean, and there lies the difficulty!

Nice link from Bubbs.

 

[lostinjapan]

I believe Michael's asking if it is an orientalis Eurasian, not a Far Eastern as in N. madagascariensis Sean, and there lies the difficulty!

Aah..sorry misread the posting.

In that case it is a little more difficult . In my experience in Japan, 'orientalis' tends to be larger, longer-billed, slightly more spotted on the flanks and lacking a supercilium than 'arquata', but those are all rather subjective observations, as not had the 2 subspecies side by side. Beyond that I cannot comment.

Here is a shot of an adult on OBI from Japan:

http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=20&Bird_ID=1224&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1

Here is a shot of a juvenile which seems a lot darker overall, though again may be the light:

http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=30&Bird_ID=1224&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1

cheers

Sean

 

[mjgrunwell]

Thanks for the advice

Actually I was rather hoping but not expecting someone to say it shows characteristics of far eastern (oriental) curlew N. madagascarensis which would be a first for Qatar but that is clearly not the case.
IMO most of the Curlew in Qatar are so riduculously long billed that they surely must be the eastern orientalis race so I wasn't fishing on that front either.
I just wanted to show an unusually dark curlew which was clearly very different from its consortees, I must say I am simply staggered that anyone would suggest that the pictures had been in some way doctored! For what possible purpose? I know times are hard back home and a lot of people have too much free time but why on earth would I (who is way too busy working and spends as much time as I can spare doing my local patch of Al Khor and surrounding coastline) spend time and effort doctoring a curlew picture?
Quite bizarre!
Guys and gals, some of you NEED TO GET OUT MORE!

So in summary:
Bird is common curlew probably of the longer billed eastern race, the darkness is due to a combination of strange lighting and perhaps some melanism.
Thanks again for your constructive advice.
Michael J Grunwell

 

[dantheman]

I must say I am simply staggered that anyone would suggest that the pictures had been in some way doctored! For what possible purpose? I know times are hard back home and a lot of people have too much free time but why on earth would I (who is way too busy working and spends as much time as I can spare doing my local patch of Al Khor and surrounding coastline) spend time and effort doctoring a curlew picture?
Quite bizarre!

You shouldn't take this at all personally. Stranger things have happened ....


Related to the id issues of the eastern orientalis race, is the apparent contrast between the greyish wing and darker mantle a feature of this race, or just part of the natural varaition in all curlews? I merely ask as had a long-billed curlew with these features yesterday in a small flock of more normal (ok one was smaller too) curlews yesterday...

(I know this might need it's own thread, and I should have been looking at commoner birds more closely for more of my life too). Cheers!

 

[bitterntwisted]

why on earth would I (who is way too busy working and spends as much time as I can spare doing my local patch of Al Khor and surrounding coastline) spend time and effort doctoring a curlew picture?
Quite bizarre!

Michael,

Obviously you wouldn't personally doctor pictures, but I assume you have the benefit of being compos mentis, unlike some previous new members. We've had wooden models of ivory-billed woodpeckers, reversed images of Steller's Eiders 'off the golf course in Wales', unsolved mystery US blackbirds with big bright yellow bills, ravens with 20-foot wingspans etc. Hence the understandable scepticism of some. As Dan says, don't take it personally.

Graham