I found these feathers on Socheong Island on May 26th 2010. I had found many feathers that year and all were quite easily identifiable- except for these:
Note that the primaries have quite a distinctive shape:
-and the (presumed) secondaries fade into white:
I have been stumped as to their identity for years- they do not match any online wingspreads or field guides for the region. However today I noticed a photo of a Swinhoes Rail on OBC Images(initially linked to on facebook by Mr J Loghry) and it strikes me how similar the pattern is:
Link below:
http://orientalbirdimages.org/images/data/swinhoes_crake_2_gd.jpg
Perhaps other crakes/ rails have something similar?
Can anyone help as to the identity of this mystery? Opinions welcome!
Exciting post ! Still puzzled about the ID, but this kind of challenge is a lot of fun. Hoping to see others’ ideas and comments. I posted this in BK Community (FB), but thought it might be helpful if I leave a link here to an open-winged and very cute Swinhoe’s Rail for reference:
http://beidaihe.blogg.se/2013/september/fredagen-den-13e-numera-benamns-swinhoes-day.html
Thanks for that very useful link. I guess we can rule out Swinhoes Rail, certainly on size – my reconstructed wing is vaguely thrush-sized, with the longest primary 11.5cm.
The pattern of dark greyish primaries fading into white secondaries is similar however, also the bluntness of the flight feathers too.
The feathers were found close together on the ground, on the path to NE point- as if a weasel or predator had partially plucked the bird before making off with the body to eat somewhere else.
Hmm. The mystery continues..