Identifying birds by GISS

One whitethorn cognize birds by their sounds. One whitethorn cognize them by their bills. One whitethorn adjacent cognize them by their toes: the magnitude of the toes and the lack of a toe. Among birds migrating to these parts, determination are 2 typical cases exemplifying agelong toes and a conspicuously missing toe.

Seasoned birders place birds by GISS. One cursory look and they cognize successful their bones what they person seen. When successful doubt, they mightiness adjacent astatine the photograph for definite distinctive features. The wintertime successful Chennai brings 3 stints: small stint, Temminck’s stint and long-toed stint. There are diagnostic features that assistance archer 1 from another. The astir distinctive diagnostic successful a long-toed stint is its being long-toed — that was beauteous straightforward, wasn’t it? When a long-toed stint is successful flight, its toes jut retired prominently beyond the tail. Of the 3 toes successful the front, the mediate 1 sticks retired a mile, making recognition immediate, and erstwhile there, 1 request not fuss to look astatine thing other to sanction the bird.

During wintertime astatine Nanmangalam lake, birders are astir apt identifying the long-toed stint by GISS, having go accustomed to it. “All these 3 stints are sighted astatine Nanmangalam lake; and the long-toed stint has been seen successful the past 3 wintering seasons,” says birder Jithesh Babu, who birds regularly astir the lake.

At the Adyar Estuary this year, the migratory play got disconnected to a commencement with sanderlings holding court, but graciously letting into the spotlight the Tibetan soil plovers and greater soil plovers and Kentish plovers.

One cannot confuse the sanderling with immoderate of the different birds mentioned here. Its distinctive diagnostic is the deficiency of a hind toe. But a hind toed tin beryllium seen wherever it does not exist. Or not seen erstwhile it does exist. A hind toed that is contiguous tin beryllium hidden successful the sand. A tiny entity successful the soil tin “attach” a non-existent hind toed to a sanderling.

So, the easier mode to spot a sanderling from a airy year’s region is to look for the achromatic enarthrosis patch. But if you privation to spell for the toes, you request to springiness it a try, clicking distant till you get a photograph that makes it clear.