Answers & solutions
Check your identifications against our solutions below. Did you get them all right? Don’t worry if you didn’t, these were tough...
BIRD 1 We start this month’s ID Challenge with a couple of birds, which judging by their size, and what we can see of their shape and coloration, are of the same species. One has its wings spread and the other is facing the opposite direction under the left wing of the first. The left-hand bird has its bill slightly open, but you can still see that it is a short, straight bill (short by wader standards, that is). The wings and back feathers have dark brown centres, fringed in gold (fringing like this is typical of juvenile waders). Other clues are the prominent white wing bar, the white rump (showing on both birds) and bright orange legs. The underparts are largely gleaming white, but the breast and face are dark brown. These can only be juvenile Turnstones.
Key features
n White rump, lower back and wing-bars n Bright orange legs n Blackish breast n Short, straight bill
BIRD 2
This is one of those dreaded sleeping bird photos. Even so, there are enough features to identify this wader with confidence. It is a dumpy fellow, and probably a small wader, using the time-honoured test of the relatively large head (proportionately larger heads indicate smaller birds). Like Bird 1, the neatly golden-fringed, dark back and wing feathers are an indicator that this is a juvenile (though there are some grey ‘adult’ type feathers starting to appear on the shoulder). The dumpy, rounded shape is typical of a sandpiper of the genus Calidris. The default calidrid is the Dunlin, by far our commonest small wader of this ilk. And the key diagnostic feature for juvenile Dunlin is patchy dark streaking on the flanks; just like this bird! This is a sleeping juvenile Dunlin.
Key features
n Dumpy and rounded, little wader n Diagnostic streaks on flanks n Black legs n Golden-rufous fringes to upperparts
BIRD 3
And we move seemlessly from the sleeping bird to the wader in flight, in this case showing the underparts and underwing very well. It is a sleek, slim wader, with a smallish head and long, thin straight bill (with perhaps a very slight downward kink near the tip), and long legs, with feet projecting well beyond the tail. The shape and structure is enough to suggest this is a Tringa sandpiper (the genus which includes the ‘shanks’, the Green and Wood Sandpipers etc). There is a prominent blackish eyestripe and pale supercilium (‘eyebrow’), neatly barred, brown-and-white underparts, and a barred tail, and largely white underwing. A vital clue comes from the hint of red at the base of the lower mandible. This is a juvenile Spotted Redshank, and the legs are black not red because they are coated in mud!
Key features
n Long straight bill (slightly down-curved at tip) n Obvious pale supercilium (‘eyebrow’) n Heavily barred underparts n Long legs covered in mud
MY FAVOURITE SITE “AROUND PETERBOROUGH, WE ARE BLESSED WITH BREEDING HABITAT FOR SOME WADERS, ON THE NENE WASHES” MIKE WEEDON, ASSISTANT EDITOR
BIRD 4
Things have reached a new low with this bird and no-one would blame you if you simply gave up now! However, if you embrace a challenge, read on. Here is a dark wader with pure white belly feathers, plunging its head into water. So, it is hard to assess what is going on. However, look carefully and the clues reveal themselves. There is white in the centre of the back, hinting that this is a wader with a white rump and lower back (which narrows down the field considerably, ruling out most wader species). We are left with birds like Greenshank and Bar-tailed Godwit and Spotted Redshank which have V-shaped white rump patches. But the legs are grey-green, so this is not a Spotted Redshank. And it is not marked like a godwit. This is a juvenile Greenshank.
Key features
n Dark, ‘cold’ grey-brown upperparts n White in centre of back n Pure white underparts n Dull, greenish legs
BIRD 5
Thank goodness for straightforward, side-on portraits of birds in typical poses! This has the rounded shape and small, almost stubby bill, typical of a plover (which are like the thrushes of the wader world, running around probing shallowly and picking for invertebrates, often by sight). The general pattern should also tell you it is one of the ringed plovers (the breast band is a giveaway). As is typical of juvenile waders, the feathering looks ‘scaly’ because of the pale fringing. So is it Ringed or Little Ringed? The fine black bill, dark hooded look (with no clear pale supercilium), the hint of a yellow eye-ring, and the overall slim appearance all indicate that this is a juvenile Little Ringed Plover.
Key features
n Typical small plover shape n Scaly, brown upperparts and breast n ‘Hooded’ appearance n Pale eye-ring and fine bill diagnostic
BIRD 6
We finish with a juvenile wader facing the photographer with wings raised in a flap. Despite the restricted view, it is conveniently revealing some important diagnostic features, making identification relatively straightforward. It is largely brown and streaked above, paler beneath. The legs are long and orange, the bill medium-length and straight. But the single most distinctive feature is the broad area of white on the underwing, with no barring at all on the flight feathers, making a distinctive white trailing ‘patch’. There is just one British wader which has a broad white trailing edge to the wings, Redshank, and this is a typical juvenile, which have less obviously red legs than the adults (just like this orange-legged bird).
Key features
n Long, orange legs n Streaked, brown upperparts n Lots of white in trailing edge of wing n Mid-length, straight bill