Sunday 6 December 2020

H M S OSPREY

 Harking back to the all encompassing rains of Friday / Saturday and why the Hell an outstanding decission on a bird identification should suddenly spring to mind is not known, but it did!  

While a good number of Bird Watchers throughout the land will be familiar with the term

ARMCHAIR TICK

the avid Twitcher holds it in hope as a by-word.

Should there be any discrepancy in the identification of particularly rare birds, or any doubts that it might be one of 2 or more very similar species that science has not sorted out yet, then that is where the Birding Experts and even the Scientists step in. A fair example of this would perhaps be

EASTERN
  and
WESTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER

In this particular instance 'call' and 'song' can be the clincher for those who know them but with the advent of D.N.A. things became so much clearer while accurate measurements and samples of feathers etc from legally traped birds can also do the trick .

While the occassional check has been made via the Internet since the sighting of the species which is about to be in question up until now, 8 years later, there has been no word? Across 4 visits to the wonder that is Australia it is doubtful we have encountered more than a dozen bird watches but those we have met have, almost to a person, bemoaned the matter about to unfold.

It was some days after leaving Perth for the second time, having been down to Cape Leeuwin the most south westerly point on the continent, a stop was made at the

something of a wonder
before a day stop at Lake MacLeod and Coral Bay and then
Bed and Breakfast at Exmouth at the tip of the North West Cape.
This is where was found the first of many dozens of what are now described as
EASTERN OSPREY
Pandion cristatus
in oppose to our own
WESTERN OSPREY
Pandion haliaetus
not shown on this post
only the Australian Model

and of no concern to the

CRESTED TERNs
Tonsils 'n' All

Footnote:- In Greek mythology, Pandion I was a legendary King of Athens, the son and heir to Erichthonius of Athens and his wife, the naiad Praxithea from where the Latin name derives.

and it may be of note or some interest that within a 10 minute’s walk from the Ospreys

BUDGERIGAR
(Long-tailed Finch top centre)
was also added to the
World List a TICK from the comfort of the ARMCHAIR
along with the Finch.