Evenin' all,
Trying out my new toy today, not really meant for bird photography but got some reasonable snaps of this one:-
i41.tinypic.com/nf1nk9.jpg
I'm not sure if it's some flavour of Godwit, or a Snipe, or something else entirely. Wondered if one of the experts out there could enlighten me?
Cheers.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Fri 26 Mar 10 at 19:04
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Don't know what the bird is Spammy, but it's an excellent photo, well done.
Ted
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Snipe says my Spaniel - who is an expert :-)
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Looks like a Greenshank to me.
Kevin...
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ooohhh I reckon PU's spaniel failed to spot the slightly upturned bill ( mmm crunchy), which makes Kev's suggestion of Greenshank the current favourite:-
www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/greenshank/index.aspx
Thanks folks!
Thanks SotC I'm pleasantly surprised considering this was taken with a fairly compact camera.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Fri 26 Mar 10 at 19:36
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I would have gone for the Greenshank against the Snipe..
The thread takes me back to my early teens, before girls and motorbikes were invented. I was interested in all sorts of things and one of them was ornithology....in my own little way.
I enjoyed drawing birds and eggs, reading books on the subject and doing a bit of field spotting...twitching now !
I remember lying on my back in the warm grass in the field next to our house, listening to a Skylark and trying to see it, high in the sky. Interest after interest came along in those days.
My own kids, now grown up, had no such hobbies. We got the train and hiked all over the Dark Peak, cycled to the Lakes, camped, made illicit visits to loco sheds, etc. I read all the time, all the books of Arthur Ransome , reference books on all sorts of things.....crammed my mind with information !
No telly, you see.......just an hour a day of childrens progs, all in black and white with fuzzy pictures.
The happy highways where we went and cannot come again !
Ted
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Ted. Today's Children are missing out and it is affecting society already. I truly fear for the future.
Best....Martin.
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>>> Today's Children are missing out and it is affecting society already <<<
It's called progress my friend, if we didn't progress we'd still be living in caves or even the primordial soup.
You really do need to read Childhoods End by Arthur C Clarke.
:)
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Green Sandpiper? www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/greensandpiper/index.aspx
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 07:05
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>> Green Sandpiper? www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/greensandpiper/index.aspx
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Thanks snaily, that looks very close as well. I'm torn between green sandpiper and greenshank now. I might drive over again today with my proper camera and see if the little blighter's still there - there was only one of these birds around amongst the usual black headed gulls and turnstones.
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Looking at my bird book, I reckon greenshank.
The green sandpiper, it says here, has a straight, needle-like bill.
Spammy's rather excellent pic shows a much thicker bill than the pic in the book of the sandpiper.
The slight upturn is the clincher.
On a bird watching note, is Bill Oddie still with us?
He had problems with stress, if I recall.
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Thanks, I've decided Greenshank as well, I hadn't really noticed the bill thickness, but the Green Sandpiper has a black stripe between eye and bill whereas the Greenshank doesn't.
I'll be turning myself and half C4P into proper bird spotters at this rate ;-) . I'm already developing Bill Oddie's physique.....
FWIW this is the new toy I've bought to cheer myself up, that I used to take the photo:-
tinyurl.com/yhdo5gf
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 17:23
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Can Spam Can tell us roughly whereabouts the picture was taken? Coastal? The distribution map on the RSPB site may allow some inferences for location. I'm inclined to think Greenshank bit there's nothing for scale in the pic (particularly with legs submerged).
The Green Sandpiper is rather more dumpy than the Greenshank and both RSPB and my trusty Mitchell Beasley comment on it's resemblance in flight to a large house martin.
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By the wonder of Streetview I can show you the pretty much the exact spot I took the photo from:-
tinyurl.com/y9o9d9q
So West Hants coastal.
In terms of size I reckon bigger than blackbird smaller than magpie.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 17:29
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...bigger than blackbird smaller than magpie...
My book uses a pigeon for comparison purposes.
The greenshank is approaching pigeon size, if not bulk, whereas the sandpiper is much smaller.
Fitting that into Spmacan's comments strongly suggests the original pic is a greenshank.
As does 'west Hants coastal' - the greenshank's habit is listed as estuaries among other places, whereas sandpipers prefer muddy freshwater pools.
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I'm going for greenshank too.
As for Bill, there was an item about him in January, here. It's the Daily Mail.
tinyurl.com/y88ug9j
Last edited by: Crankcase on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 18:05
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I've stopped Alfie's allowance....
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From the article: "I spent two periods in hospital,' he told his local newspaper in North London, the Ham & High."
Good of Bill to give his first interview to his local paper, when he could have gone to any of the nationals.
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That Micra on Streetview looks as if it's got some major oil leak problem !!
Ted
Last edited by: silence of the cams on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 23:28
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The Green Sandpiper's wings and upper body are normally much darker than those in spamcan's photo and it doesn't have an upturn to it's beak.
The location is the real giveaway though - as ifithelps mentioned, the Sandpiper is primarily a freshwater critter.
If you see him again, ask him to open his wings. If he has an inverted white V running almost the full length of his back from the tail feathers up he's a Greenshank. If it's just a white rump he might be a Sandpiper with a dodgy beak ;-)
Kevin...
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Great photo Spam - how about some info on your "new toy" - these birds are not easy to get close to - reckon you have a v fine "toy".
Silence - "before girls and motorbikes were invented. I was interested in all sorts of things and one of them was ornithology....in my own little way."
Boy did that take me back 50 years - good post!
Can't beat a bit of nostalgia!!
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Link to new toy posted earlier in the thread:
www.tinyurl.com/yhdo5gf
Made clickable
Last edited by: Pugugly on Sat 27 Mar 10 at 20:16
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That's actually a good deal that.
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Yes, I've been after one for a while and have been waiting for the price to drop following the introduction of its successor ( TZ8). I wanted something with a decent wide angle and zoom range. The lack of manual control is mildly irritating but I'm getting used to it.
That Greenshank did seem particularly tame, I guess I was about 20 feet away and it just kept wandering up and down. Most of my photos are taken with my trusty 'old' Panasonic FZ20, which is the great grandaddy or thereabouts of the current FZ38. It won't give the quality of a DLSR with appropriate glass but it's a lot lighter and cheaper. The new TZ6 is actually pretty heavy as it's got a metal casing.
The only other birds which seem oblivious are the Egrets:-
img411.imageshack.us/img411/2756/egret.jpg
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Nice camera spam - with a good optical zoom.
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2:45 this afternoon Radio 4
"A Guide to Coastal Birds".
Kevin...
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Post a picture here and subscribers and staff of OU will help
www.ispot.org.uk/
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I'm after a bit of bird identification again - Ted
