Memorandum to:         The Director of Birds Australia

 

From:                          Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

 

Date:                            15th January 2007

 

Voting Members:         Mike Carter                   Andrew Silcocks

                                    Rohan Clarke                 Glenn Holmes

                                    John Hatch                    Jamie Matthew

                                    Tony Palliser                 Danny Rogers

                       

cc.                                Ron Johnstone              

 

 

 

Submission No 473:  Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura, Broome, WA, 31st January 2004. Submitted by: Chris Hassell.

 

 

Verdict:  Accepted

 

 

This case relates to a Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura caught during a mist-netting exercise at the sewage treatment plant in Broome, WA on the 31st January 2004.

 

The submission concentrates on measurements and the number of tail feathers to determine the identification. The bill was 57.7mm and the wing 131mm. Measurements overlap with Swinhoe’s Snipe (Leader & Carey 2003). However, the bird had a shorter wing and bill than many that were measured in Hong Kong. The moult was 0:10 indicating that it was a first year bird. The number of tail feathers (28) clinched the identification. Pin-tailed ranges between 24–28, Swinhoe’s G. megala 18-26, Common G. gallinago 12-18 and Latham’s G. hardwickii 18. The outer 7 tail feathers were very narrow (hence the name) with dark brown rachis and mostly brown inner and outer vanes.Their tips were white and the inner vanes of the 4 outer feathers had varying amounts of white.

 

Members agreed with the observer’s findings and voted unanimously in favour of acceptance. Although other reports exist and historically the species is known to occur as a very rare vagrant this is the first record to be accepted by BARC.

 

 

Selected Bibliography:

 

·          Marchant, S. & Higgins P.J. (Eds), (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds,  Vol. 3, Snipe to Pigeons, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

·          Hayman, P., Marchant, J. and Prater, T. (1986), Shorebirds: An Identification Guide to Waders of the World. Croom Helm.

·          Johnstone, R. E. & Storr, G. M. (1998), Handbook of Western Australian Birds Vol. 1 Non-Passerines (Emu to Dollarbird), Western Australian Museum, Perth.

·          Leader. P. J., and Carey. G. J. (2003), ‘Identification of Pintail Snipe and Swinhoe’s Snipe’, British Birds 96, Pages 178 – 198.

·          Cramp, S & Simmons, K. (1983), Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. 3 Waders to Gulls. Oxford University Press

·         Beaman, M. & Madge, S. (1998), The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, Princeton, New Jersey.

 

 

 

Tony Palliser

Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee