Please see below. Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: From: David James <burunglaut07@yahoo.comburunglaut07@yahoo.com>> Date: 27 May 2014 5:29:10 pm AEST To: Mike Carter <pterodroma@bigpond.compterodroma@bigpond.com>>, Rohan Clarke <rohan@wildlifeimages.com.aurohan@wildlifeimages.com.au>>, Jeff Davies <jeff@jeffdavies.com.aujeff@jeffdavies.com.au>>, “smew.mao@msa.hinet.netsmew.mao@msa.hinet.net>” <smew.mao@msa.hinet.netsmew.mao@msa.hinet.net>> Cc: Birding_Aus <birding-aus@birding-aus.orgbirding-aus@birding-aus.org>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] help for frigatebird identification Reply-To: David James <burunglaut07@yahoo.comburunglaut07@yahoo.com>> Hi Smew and Mike, thanks for passing this on Mike. I only watch birding-aus through the archives site and not always, but the archives is not always working lately. Anyway, to the point, I’d call it a Greater. The belly patch is quite pointy at the front and back, like a diamond (if you hide the spurs). Lesser has a triangular belly patch so it is never pointy at the front margin. CI Frigate has a hexagonal belly patch which can be broadly indented but never pointy at the front, and is always broad at the back. Greater usually has an oval belly patch, but it can be pinched at the front and back to look more like a diamond. The belly patch is out of range for lesser and CI, but in range (at the extreme) for Great. The spurs come off the middle-sides of the belly patch so that is wrong for Lesser (spurs at front of belly patch) but typical for CI and Great. They point straight out along the wing (good for Great and Lesser), not angling forward as in CI. The bill is not strikingly long for a frigatebird, which counts against CI. The alar bars on the upperwing are not very pronounced, which tends towards males and Great or Lesser but not CI. The innerwing is narrow and slender which tends towards Lesser or Great but away from CI. Thus there are features that rule out Lesser and CI , while everything I can see suits Great well. I hope this helps Cheers, David James Sydney ============================== From: Mike Carter <pterodroma@bigpond.compterodroma@bigpond.com>> To: ‘David James’ <burunglaut07@yahoo.comburunglaut07@yahoo.com>>; Rohan Clarke <rohan@wildlifeimages.com.aurohan@wildlifeimages.com.au>>; Jeff Davies <jeff@jeffdavies.com.aujeff@jeffdavies.com.au>> Sent: Tuesday, 27 May 2014 11:05 AM Subject: Fw: [Birding-Aus] help for frigatebird identification Have you seen this. In my opinion it is not a Lesser and I think most likely a Greater. What do you think? Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136 —– Original Message —– From: “茆世民” <smew.mao@msa.hinet.netsmew.mao@msa.hinet.net>> To: <birding-aus@birding-aus.orgbirding-aus@birding-aus.org>> Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 8:49 PM Subject: [Birding-Aus] help for frigatebird identification > > Hi, > > We spotted one frigatebird last week at west coast of Taiwan, > but we could not clearly identify it. > > At first, we think it’s a lesser frigatebird, but the shape of white belly > patch and axillary spur confused us. > After searching the web, we think there is a chance that it may be a > Christmas island frigatebird. > > Could you please help us to identify it ? > > Thanks a lot ! > > photo as below > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vi57b403glya8ks/AACyXtStxM_DH0KIPZHHsagRa#/ > > Smew Mao > _______________________________________________ > Birding-Aus mailing list > Birding-Aus@birding-aus.orgBirding-Aus@birding-aus.org> > To change settings or unsubscribe visit: > http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
