Photo ID of a Needle in a Haystack

By the end of what had been a total of about 24 hours looking for this mega on Flint Marshes (3 attempts), I resorted to snapping the flock of ‘Blackwits’ every time they took to the skies on the off chance that I might then pick it out when editing back home. Remarkably, this proved a successful strategy, and I have my own photos as proof now of that elusive needle in a haystack. I was always going to struggle to pick out the bird, even with excellent optics, so studying images on the screen seemed like the only option. To be fair, looking for the bird on the deck was a non-starter– trying to pick out what was a slightly darker bellied/sootier, slightly smaller Blackwit amongst the 4000+ out there – at 70x magnification (and in previous days a heat haze!) was impossible. Looking at the uncropped image below highlights the problem, but at least in flight, one has a chance. Scanning the 550 shots I took was, to be fair, the sort of anally retentive task I enjoy these days, and when I spotted the bird for the first time, my first ever Hudsonian Godwit, I have to say that I was rather pleased with myself! So, here it is, the result of all that hard work. (The dark bird, bottom left of the photo, 10 o’clock from the Cormorant.; the other photos are cropped versions of the same shot) I’m in two minds as to whether of not I can “count” this rarity as I didn’t even ID it through the camera, let alone binoculars, but surely, I deserve some credit for capturing its image in the flock - and finding and identifying it on screen?! Other interesting birds seen over the many hours of watching the flock included a fine adult Peregrine perched on a post (and in flight), Great Egret and a juvenile Marsh Harrier.