There are quite a lot of birds, particularly in the global community, which have a possible ID but no agreements. I thought I might put some onto a thread so that all you global birders can venture an opinion.
I’m starting with a putative honey buzzard, a bird that I’ve only seen once, so I don’t feel qualified to pronounce on this example: African Goss hawk | Observation | Southern Africa | iSpot Nature.
I hope others will feel free to put up links to other examples of neglected birds.
Happy to have a look Ken if you put a link up.
Is the link not working?
Here’s one that should be easier: Reposting Dikkop, Rondebosch - 2012 | Observation | Southern Africa | iSpot Nature
Well, that’s one done - thanks, Jo!
This one is a touch controversial. Can someone clarify it’s ID?
Given birds are definitely not my forte… I was surprised to see there are a lot of waders - 41 pages of them in my Collins guide Britian & Europe. Two at the end, rare vagrants, have the name Dowitcher; is that pronounced Do Witcher, or Dow itcher?
Dowitchers are American birds - the ultimate nightmare to separate! I have seen both together and wouldn’t have had a clue without the help of some local birders in California. All I can say is that they were itchy Dow people i.e. nothing to do with the Netflix series, the Witcher.
In the absence of any Iroquois speakers, perhaps pronunciation is open to personal preference.
This site has a puzzle picture which I have copied. I can see why it’s difficult to distinguish the two species.
I’d forgotten about the Asian Dowitcher - fortunately doesn’t occur in Europe (yet) and apparently not in North America. That paper underlines the complexities of separating the dowitchers. SBDO ‘feeds mainly in shallower water’ is useless if you meet an isolated dowitcher in the UK. I’ve seen LBDO in the UK (by far the commoner of the two) but I only knew that it was that because the experts had already checked it out.
A few more without any agreements: