The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Hi

Of interest was a presumed hybrid Black Brant x Dark-bellied Brent in with 1200 Dark-bellieds and one Pale-bellied Brent on Wyberton Marsh (small section of saltmarsh alongside the Haven). Photos in the discussion album.

Purple Sandpiper at Tabs Head on the mud (perhaps the same bird as in late September?)
2 Lapland Buntings in the area but mobile

Cheers,
Paul.

Paul
not that I am an expert on geese but what are you basing the hybrid assumption on re the bird in the photo's; in image hybrid 1 it looks pretty good for a Black Brant; I assume the bird in not the cnetral one in image hybrid 3 but the bird to its left looking down and away or is there a serious discrepency in exposure settings here?

Hi Graham

I thought that these photos might cause some discussion! They were all taken within seconds of each other, so the lighting conditions are the same in all the shots. I completely agree that images 1 and 2 look very good for Black Brant. However, in image 3, it is in fact, the bird in the center of the picture. You can see how much the appearance has changed with the differring angle of the bird. Apart from a rather large collar, this bird would be overlooked at this angle.
It illustrates that Brent Geese should always be viewed over a period of time to truly evaluate the colours in a range of postions and lights. I posted a longer discussion of this bird here http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/forum/vi ... b660413dfa

Cheers,

Paul.