Mystery Bird #12 - The answer

[sav]

There were 16 attempts at this quiz, with 8 correct answers. But the 8 incorrect answers comprised guesses at 6 different species!!

My sympathies to all those that guessed at any sort of shorebird - I can see just why you thought it might be a Bar-tailed Godwit, or Snipe, or whatever. Even the "bill", which is actually a bit of vegetation (!), is adding to the confusion.

If one does not think about shorebirds the identity becomes a little clearer. Not that many birds on the NZ list are streaky, brown jobs like this: Dunnock, NZ Pipit, Skylark, Yellowhammer etc. To my mind that list very quickly reduces to 2, I think it just has to be a Skylark or a NZ Pipit. And of those 2? - well it is a fairly dumpy looking thing, not slim like a Pipit should be, and the general tones of the plumage are reasonably warm - not the colder grey-toned brown of a Pipit.

So it really is a SKYLARK. Neil will post a pic soon without the added grass!! Congratulations to Richard Schofield for winning the competition with 11 out of the 12 answers correct. I'll leave it to Neil to also pick the winner of the binoculars.

Hopefully more next month!!

cheers

[Richard Schofield]

Thanks for the quiz, guys. I guess I'll now have to get out and do some real birding!

[Neil Fitzgerald]

You're welcome Richard. I might need a break now to collect a few more tricky photos. Here is this month's photo revealed.

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