cach or mich

[lou bertalan]

hello all,

such birds cause me headache. a long cach bill but strong transversal bars at the rear, well marked overall, rel. thick double anchor scaps.
note its pale left primary tip.
are the more blotchy markings on head a pointer towards cach (as opposed to fine streaks in mich) ?
pics by cristian in bucharest, march 19th.
ok - why do i think it is a cach???

cheers,

lou

[Cristian Mihai]

So, no opinion about this bird? I'm really confused too...

[lou bertalan]

after some looking i'm rel confident it is a cachinnans, quite confusing. such contrasting transversal stripes we know from these 2nd gen. feathers in cach, we know such well marked birds and with exactly this scap pattern. so why should one bird not combine all these giving the impression of a strong marked but not 'uniformly' dark as some ind. seen this winter. quite an advanced bird. 3rd gen (?) scaps pattern to me doesn't make any difference, they can look alike in both sp.; i've asked myself if the thin subterminal part of the double-anchor (distal part) is a good cach pointer but i think i have seen both anchor parts in all combinations in both sp...
head shape, small, very dark eye located towards bill and that bill - all give a very strong cach impression. it has an 'oddity-dot' - it's pale left p10 tip.

this one has a similar zebra inner greater covert(?) (left bird with solid dark scap centers): http://lou.bertalan.de/gulls/pic/hi/up_0450.jpg
and this one the 2nd gen scap pattern: http://lou.bertalan.de/gulls/pic/hi/up_0394.jpg with slightly more contrasting dark shafts