Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult Female - X
Observation details
Definitive basic female initially seen on an island on the main lagoon before flying to the meadow edge where it foraged for the rest of the time we were present. Identification from ssp. islandica based on a combination of overall size and structure, bill structure and breeding colour and limited prealternate moult. A big bird and a good 25% larger than nearby Icelandic birds. Long-billed with a deep base and straight mandibles giving a triangular appearance, more so than Icelandic birds which usually have a slightly concave culmen. The basal two-thirds of the bill was bright orange-yellow and the apical third was blackish. Legs were blackish and tibia appeared longer than Icelandic birds giving this bird a long-legged impression. Prealternate moult was restricted to a few mantle feathers and one scapular on the left wing. These replaced feathers were black centre with a narrow orange-yellow fringe. The head and neck were flushed orangey with the front of the neck and sides also being unmarked. The rear neck and head were washed dusky. The crown was also orangey but mixed with a series of dark streaks giving a capped appearance. The lores were dark and this dark feathering extended behind the eye. The dark line through the eye and capped appearance also gave rise to clearly defined supercilium. This was orangey but with a slightly whiter spot in front of the eye. The breast was whiteish with the odd orangey feather mixed in and a series of short thin dark bars that were centred around the middle of the breast. The underparts were otherwise wholly whiteish and retained following the prebasic moult. Most of the mantle feathers, scapulars, all tertials and lesser coverts were medium grey with a dark shaft streak. The median coverts were a pale grey with dark shaft streaks. The greater coverts were blackish with broad white tips and the primary coverts were blackish. The inner primary coverts also had small white tips. The primaries and secondaries were blackish with white bases, with exception to the inner secondaries which were predominantly white. The tail was a neat jet black square with a white tip and sides. The rump was also a neat square and bright white.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D Mark II
- Lens
- EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/8.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/1250 sec
- Dimensions
- 1667 pixels x 1112 pixels
- Original file size
- 1.44 MB