Thursday 24 March 2016

Lovely but slightly chilly day at Cliffe

When looking at the few Oystercatchers on the islands there was clearly one with a white neck-ring. This could have been an adult that had not yet moulted with a duller bill tip, or perhaps more likely an immature bird that retains its white neck-ring throughout at least the first breeding season (second year). If it was an immature I should also have noticed a duller eye, greyer legs perhaps, a less intense black on the back, and an overall duller and perhaps more pointed bill - but I didn't look. The pointed bill indicates feeding on mudflats and pastures, as the strongest adults strongly defend the best bits of the oysterbeds, the oysters and mussels of which they attack and lever op with a broader blade-shaped bill.

The pale delicate whitish-grey small bird with the Redshanks, with a stiletto bill and orange-yellow legs. Could it have been a Wilson's Phalarope? If not, what are the alternative IDs?

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