Hi James, Good to hear from you! Difficult bird, not as such, but because of the distance to the bird and hence the quality of the pic. All in all it looks fine for Short-toed, but the very irregular, large blotches on the body, and the very distinct and coarse barring of the underwing (at least, this is how it appears to me) make me think:. How can you exclude an older immature Black-chested Snake? This species can be superficially very similar to a Short-toed at the age of 2-3 years. This is my first reaction. I shall give it some more time and red wine and will get back to you later. Dick Forsman
Email from Dick Forsman
Hi James, Good to hear from you! Difficult bird, not as such, but because of the distance to the bird and hence the quality of the pic. All in all it looks fine for Short-toed, but the very irregular, large blotches on the body, and the very distinct and coarse barring of the underwing (at least, this is how it appears to me) make me think:. How can you exclude an older immature Black-chested Snake? This species can be superficially very similar to a Short-toed at the age of 2-3 years. This is my first reaction. I shall give it some more time and red wine and will get back to you later. Dick Forsman