Answers & solutions
Compare your answers with our answers and reasoning below. How well did you do, this month? BIRD 2
This is surely not too difficult for most birdwatchers. We can see a golden brown bird with spread wings and tail. The golden colour is spotted and striped with black and there are black subterminal bands on the tail feathers. Also, the tail is notably divided almost in half with the left side being barred and the right being a pale bluish grey with black and grey tips. Also the rump is a bit half and half. This bird is clearly moulting its tail and rump feathers (and some of those feathers on the left of the tail are looking a bit worn!). It is, of course, a Kestrel moulting its juvenile feathering for the adult colours of a male (females have similarly barred tails to juveniles). The bird appears to be in the middle of a typical hover ( hence the spread tail).
Key features
n Mainly golden brown with black bars
n Half of tail has moulted to grey adult male feathers
n Tail spread in typical hover mode
n Black subterminal band on tail
BIRD 1
The most obvious thing we are homing in on this photo of a flying bird is the impression of a black ‘armpit’. This patch of ‘axillary’ feathers is distinctive in one particular wading bird, and diagnostic of it from other ‘similar’ species. The rest of the underwing is whitish to grey and the underparts are white with some black splodges and finely marked breast feathering in brown and white. The tail is barred and the shortish legs and feet are black. This black armpit belongs to a Grey Plover, and those black belly/flank fathers are a trace of the pattern of the breeding bird ( hence the North American name, Black-bellied Plover). In the somewhat similar Golden Plover the axillaries are white, and in American and Pacific Golden Plovers, they are pale grey.
Key features
n Black armpit diagnostic
n Rest of underwing whitish
n Black splodges on flanks/belly
n Shortish black legs
BIRD 3
Here is one which surely most people would identify correctly, wouldn’t they? We are clearly looking at the upperside of part of a left wing with the leading edge on the left of the photo. The longer flight feathers (on the right) are pale buff to white with subtle darker grey markings. The forewing (upper wing coverts) are a beautiful golden buff with grey infusion and white and darker grey ‘speckles’. This unique combination of colours can only point to Barn Owl. And one of the main reasons for including it here is to show that Barn Owls are not just white all over, as many people imagine them, but rather are largely white beneath with beautiful, under-appreciated patterning above. Incidentally, darker birds of the continental race guttata have golden, not white, underparts.
Key features
n Golden/grey wing
n Flight feathers notably paler than wing coverts
n Lovely pattern of spotted grey on golden background
n A tiny bit of the white underparts showing