Wednesday 18 April 2012

The Wheatear question

I have a confession to make. Despite all my years of birding I still struggle to come to terms with the identification of the Greenland race of Wheatear. Tonight was a case in point. The tempestuous weather conditions today had dropped Arctic Terns, Little Gulls etc at lakes and pools across the Midlands. Despite this I wasn't too surprised to find nothing of the sort at Morton Bagot. The patch still awaits its first Tern of any species. Waders were represented by a single Green Sandpiper, three Redshanks, and two Little Ringed Plovers. Scanning across the flash field I noticed a male Wheatear. A little later I found a female, and then a really bright male. This bird had an intense orange throat and breast, with the orange extending in a more washed out form all the way to its vent. The face mask and and wings were black, and the mantle had a rather tawny wash compared to the pale grey crown. But it was the same size as the female.

Wheatear
So what am I looking at ? Greenland Wheatears are a little larger, longer-winged, longer-billed than Northern Wheatear, but who is to say that the accompanying female Wheatear was not also a Greenland. Greenland Wheatears are described as brighter plumaged than Northern Wheatears.This was certainly that, but how bright can a Northern be? How dull can a Greenland get? You only have to look at photos of the two subspecies to discover an apparently wide range of colour variation. The bird is miles away, in a grassy field, and keeps disappearing from view. I know I'm going to chicken out again, but I can't help suspecting that Greenland Wheatear is actually a lot commoner in the latter half of April than the records might suggest. Certainly there is a double peak in Wheatear numbers every spring, the obvious explanation being that the later birds are going a lot further north than the March arrivals. Ah well, it brightened up a dull evening.

7 comments:

  1. Classic, deep rufous thru to the vent Greenland, Icelandic, Faeroese, and everything in between. Tricksy those Greenlands Richard! Last April saw an early run of Greenlands though thru the Midlands, tho without biometrics i wouldn't be confident to say on some one way or tuther! It's all clinal! It would be interesting to catch a sample to get some biometrics on these Midland passage Wheatear! Had a 1st summ male here few days ago showing Northwestern features! Whatever they are there amazing birds!

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    1. Hi Craig

      I completely agree. The ringers out there ought to try catching a few of them.

      A bit tricky though.

      Thanks for the comment

      Rich

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  2. I'm with Craig on this one. Unless it's a clean cut Greenland I wouldn't call it. The trouble is there are intermediary Wheatears that are somewhere between Northern aqnd Greenland. Its a minefield but too many birders are quick to call a brighter Northern a greenland. I had three called by a known birder at my patch last year... they stuck around for 3 days so a few us had a folk look at them (including myself and Terry Hinett)...alll I will say is they were about as Northern as they come!

    I can only confidently say that I have seen one Wheatear at Shenstopne that I would happily call a Greenland in 5 years of patch watching the area.

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    1. Hi Jason,

      I agree that it is risky calling it a Greenland. I thought it was an interesting topic to take up because I was keen to explore how you identify a clear cut Greenland Wheatear. I don't think any of them are clear cut, its just a matter of subjective interpretation of features. However, I do think the size of the bird is of more importance than colouration.
      All the best
      Rich

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  3. Hi Richard,

    I have seen one at Lower Park, I think it was 2010. But I only know it was definitely a Greenland as it was ringed and the ringer had the biometrics on it. Makes you wonder about the other two it was with... !

    Mike W

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    1. Hi Mike

      That's very interesting. What time of year was it?

      Rich

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    2. Hi Rch,

      May I think, but I'll check my notes.

      Cheers
      Mike

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