Look what we saw this morning + Bird Id's

[Connor7]

Hi Again
Went to River side country park again and as usual we need some Bird Id's again but first here is a Little Egret we saw It was hard to take a picture of it as it was so bright so i had to change the aperture while following it while it was flying



Some Brent Geese just landing


What are these?








Is this just a sparrow?




And a pretty pair of mallards



Thanks for reading, we managed to identify the other 50 birds but its hard to tell the difference between some waders, and between some of the bunting type birds
Thanks Again
Connor

[Picidae]

Hi Connor

1. Little Egret, so you're quite correct!
2. Brent, again as you rightly identified
3. Grey Plover
4. House Sparrow
5. Dunnock
6. You have a male and female Pintail at the top. The gull is possibly a BHG. The wader is a Common Sandpiper
7. Female House Sparrow

[Connor7]

Thanks, thats a couple more to go on the list
Connor

[ron1863]

Looks like you had an enjoyable day out Connor and got some lovely bird shots too, well done

[GuyF]

Originally Posted by Picidae

Hi Connor

1. Little Egret, so you're quite correct!
2. Brent, again as you rightly identified
3. Grey Plover
4. House Sparrow
5. Dunnock
6. You have a male and female Pintail at the top. The gull is possibly a BHG. The wader is a Common Sandpiper
7. Female House Sparrow

I'd agree with these ids except I think that the wader in photo 6 is a Greenshank,
Guy

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by GuyF

I'd agree with these ids except I think that the wader in photo 6 is a Greenshank,
Guy

You could be right Guy, I only looked at the pics very quickly earlier. I did consider it briefly but erred on the side of caution with regard to it's size. Greenshank would be nearly the same size as the BHG in the background give or take a few cms. Given the wader is much closer, it looks rather small to me but this could simply be just a funny camera perspective. The bill also looks too short with no sign of the darkening tip you'd see on Greenshank again, this could be down to the photo image.

I think the leg length is deceptive much of apparent length could simply be reflection if you look at the amount of reflection of the reeds and yet it's hard to make out what's leg and what's reflection.

Have enlarged Connor's photo with crop, but not sure it's much clearer!



A couple to compare here:
(greenshank)
http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictu...off=135826&v=0

Common Sandpiper
http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictu...off=169958&v=0

As I said, you could be right ... I'm not entirely convinced on this photo alone either way!

[Adam Cheeseman]

Definitely a Greenshank.

Cheers,

Adam

[Pete Collins]

Picidae,

You clearly know far more about birds than I do, so I hesitate to question one of your identifications. But my first impression, like GuyF, was that it was a Greenshank. And I think there is a flaw in your argument regarding the size of the wader compared to the gull - your argument would be valid if it was a BHG, but surely it is too big to be a BHG if you compare it to the Pintails?

Pete

Edit: And well done Connor on spotting the Little Egret and a good selection of other birds!

[ChrisJB]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Definitely a Greenshank.

Cheers,

Adam

I agree. Probably a bit early for Common Sand' in my experience too (well, up here anyway). Saying that, I've seen one today at Tal-y-cafn in North Wales, though this bird has wintered there for several years now. Excuse my digression.

Regards, Chris

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

I agree. Probably a bit early for Common Sand' in my experience too (well, up here anyway). Saying that, I've seen one today at Tal-y-cafn in North Wales, though this bird has wintered there for several years now. Excuse my digression.

Regards, Chris

Not sure the time of year is so important to be honest. We have a reasonable steady population of wintering Common Sand in the Uk.

As for the wader, as I said in my last post, having taken another look earlier, Guy could be right and gave all the reasons why I might have originally said otherwise and why I might be wrong. (That usually means I've taken a closer look and have been swayed!) I only looked very briefly at all of these much earlier this evening, my first thought was actually Greenshank as I said in response to Guy's post, then ''erred'' on side of caution! .. it's not a very clear pic and my first post was probably down to some subjective interpretation on my part, but happy to go with the majority on this one!

Pete, one should always question someone else's ID if you have reason to believe otherwise, it's a good way of learning to rationalise your own Identification processes. No one is infallible and everyone can be guilty of making bad judgment calls, even those with lots of experience, especially on single photos which aren't too unclear!