This week I have a skull with no data that I came across in the collections a little while back. I think I managed to get a decent identification on it, but I’d be interested to see if you all agree:
What do you think it is? As usual you can put your suggestions below. Thanks for helping out!
It looks very like B.b. which I find a lot of. Same size too. Juv ?
It does look similar, but that’s not what I think it is – I’ll do another check against B. b.!
Something from the Ph. family?
It has similar lines, but I don’t think so.
I’d say F.t.
That was my thought, but interesting to have other suggestions, they’ve totally changed my mind about an identification in the past!
I agree with Tony. The round nostril and the barely visible “tooth” in the upper jaw indicate it does belong to the F…idae. Apparently this bird has unfused lacrimals (eyebrow bones), and from the small F’s, F.t., F. n., F.v. and F.sp. have this characteristic and F.c., F su. and F.e. don’t. Looking at the width of the cranium between the eyes and the shape of the palate, F. t. seems the best match to me of the small F’s I have available for comparision.
I have to admit my first thought was sparrow, until I saw the scale.
Looking through skullsite I noticed the nostril shape too which drew me from A. to F.
But the F.t skull is so round around the back, Now I’ve been playing spot the difference too long, I give up on this hobby
The trouble is that there is individual variation to take into account – it means there may be more differences to spot, but they may not be important differences!
I just had another look on skullsite and I think I see the issue – the F.t. skull has been photographed at a slight angle, which I think may be obscuring the slight occipital bulge on the back of the skull that you can see in the photo from the ventral view.
F.t. was the first thing I thought of, but when I checked Skullsite it didn’t look right. So, I dismissed it. I guess the moral of the story is to check more than one example.