Subject: Re: Sexing Longspurs
Date: Dec 7 07:06:37 1995
From: Stuart MacKay - stuart at animal.blarg.net


> Hmmm, am I the only one having sneaky, sacreligous thoughts
> about a collecting gun and a new larkspur specimen for the
> Burke?

Don't bother shooting it. The bird can be easily caught.

While this is no guarantee at least it would provide a lot more
data than just idle speculation can produce :-) My experience with
snow buntings has shown that the sexes display a range of plumage
characterisitcs and it is impossible to reliably sex about 1 to 2%
of birds. As for ageing it takes alot of experience to them out. Now
if something as "bright and distinctive" as a snow bunting can lead
to confusion, I'm sure that a longspur is way more difficult.

BTW It DOES have a black belly, but has anyone considered that this
may be wet feathers due to the location where it is feeding !!!!!!!

Stuart
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