Greetings. Agree on plummage. And measurements per Pyle, vol 2, p 218, would seal the deal. The tarsus of an Arctic is much shorter than a Common's; the wing, tail, exposed culmen and bill depth of a Common are each greater and the area of overlap with the Arctic is quite small.
Which brings up legalities. The USFWS has a long, recent history of neither enforcing, investigating nor referring for prosecution clear, uncontestable, violations of "take" under the MBTA. If, although lacking a salvage permit, you are motivated to pick up a dead migratory bird with the intention to deliver the corpse to an educational institution---do it. Best, Peter Peter Doherty [email protected] 214-B 84th Street Virginia Beach, VA 23451 757-470-0774 (cell) 757-321-0255 (local) -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
