I feel it's looking a bit more like a Blyth's for me than a Richard's. The innermost Greater Covert looks like it has the right pattern of Blyth's with the broad pale edge and only the shaft blackish. Also the streaks of the crown and on the mantle are really blackish which I know in this form more from Blyth's than from Richards. I think also the bill is quite small but of coure it's not so tiny as known from some other Blyth's. Was your bird calling? Regards, MG
I agree with Martin - looks like a fine Blyth´s! Also the supercillium is rather short and tapering. A detail that may be of little significance is the yellow cast to the legs. I reckon the colour being more pink(ish) in RP, but I have not really dug deep (enough)into this.. Maybe it is already mentioned and in practice somewhere?
4 persons was involved in the late afternoon (seen earlier by a couple more). There was generel agreemant on Blyth's, but the birds (there were 2 of them) were elusive,and despite the often heard calls, we rested our case in expectation of further photo documentation, which seems to comfirm our beliefs. The Greater coverts were not seen for more than a couple of seconds when the birds were not covered by the vegetation.
Some more characters pointing towards Blyth's:
- the belly is buff and not white as in Richard's
- the back is heavily streaked or dotted in blackish. I have never seen this in Richard's but is was obvious on the Blyth's in Halland, Sweden January 2008
The tail and the legs might also seem a little short for Richard’s pipit. Was it possible to see any difference in the jizz - in the way it was standing or flying? Richards’s pipit has a strong and undulating flight, and it stands very upright.
The photos indicates the "uprightness" when the bird was visible. Tail was shorter than what we see from richard's in flight, the undulation was clear and more conspicious than the water pipits they sometimes were in contact with. Maybe the undulations were sjorter, but they were conspicious. Bodywise, it was chubby, which gave a more clumsy jizz than that of a richard's. Our hezitation on the spot was due to lack of continnious study of a standing bird, whereas the flight call was often heard clearly indicating a Blyth's.
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