10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2015

An American birder might consider a hybrid with the size (actually, slightly bigger) of a Band-tailed Pigeon and the wing pattern of a White-winged Dove. Add a broad, dark tail band and you pretty much have a woodpigeon.

Feral 157

Feral Tail Banding Turtles Hunters 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

It seems the bird I saw is a first-winter one, at least according to the HBW description: “First-winter has head white apart from dark brown mottling on crown and nape; upperwing-coverts extensively marked brown; black subterminal tail-band; dark bare parts.”

Birds 260

Birds Tail Banding Buffalo Psychology 260

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2011

What can you notice about the tail of this bird? The uneven tail bands are usually a dead giveaway for Coop’s. It is hard to distinguish this Sharpie’s head projection, but the view of the tail is good enough. The edge of the retrices look to be a sharp 90 dg.

Hamburgers 198

Hamburgers Tail Banding Philadelphia United States 198

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2012

It’s 90% Broad-wings, paddle-shaped with crisp tail bands, but there are a handful of Sharp-shinned Hawks mixed in too, looking for all the world like the flying gavels described in every hawk-watching tome. Eventually these specks below the horizon coalesce into funnels of birds above the horizon.

South Carolina 167

South Carolina Maryland North Carolina Tail Banding 167

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2012

Also present in good El Nino years are the occasional and much sought after Blue Petrel with its distinctive black sub-terminal tail band with white trailing edge, a unique diagnostic feature amongst petrels.

Albatross 203

Albatross Penguins Dolphins Whales 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2011

From the tail band, it looks like an immature. Skimmers, of course, use that laterally flattened mandible to cut the water and leave a trail of light–intriguing to small fish at dusk. When the fish rise to investigate, a split-second snap of the bill captures a meal. It’s a three-year seagle.

Florida 145

Florida Tail Banding Ohio Ducks 145

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2017

The dreadful screeching put me in mind of a young bird crying to be fed, but the juveniles are much lighter underneath with dark streaking, two broad tail bands and paler, scaled crests. The call sounded as though a piece of bodywork was rubbing against the wheel of an approaching lorry. The mate did not look impressed.

Eagles 113

Eagles Malaysia Tail Banding Reptiles 113