APRIL 2008'S MYSTERY BIRD ANSWERS

Were this months birds that difficult? A drop in entrants to the years lowest at 29 suggests so, or was county birding just so good of late that you all forgot? Either way my thanks to all those who did participate, you're all winners in my book ☺

                                                                                     Mystery Bird 7

So, with no less than 5 species believed to be this months first mystery bird it obviously wasn't easy but atleast all 5 offered had the same theme of being a largely black and white wildfowl, well all except one! Some entrants were clearly mislead by the habitat the bird is on (a common theme which carries over into the next mystery bird answer) and perhaps that is were our 'odd one out' comes from with two entrants suggesting Black Grouse, not actually a bad answer but (a male) Black Grouse would display a much longer tail and have no white on the uppertail coverts as in our bird here. So that leaves only the wildfowl and Tufted Duck (1 entrant), Canada Goose (3 entrants), Brent Goose (23 entrants) and Barnacle Goose (1 entrant) were all suggested. Again, similarly with Black grouse, Tufted Duck (male) has no white on the uppertail coverts but also has a black vent and white belly, the opposite to our mystery bird, so it is clearly a goose but which one? Both Barnacle and Canada Goose would never appear quite so dark as this bird, the stretching wings can be seen to be purely black on the secondaries as is the rump and the belly is just too dark for the latter species with what looks like some dark colouration on the white of the belly, staining? No, as those 22 entrants correctly assessed it is not staining but is indeed indicative of a Brent Goose and a dark-bellied race at that, which many entrants managed to pin it down to, well done you!

                                                             Brent Goose, Farlington Marshes, Hampshire, March 2008 (Ian Mckerchar)

                                                                                   Mystery Bird 8

Hmm, a 'little brown job' eh, everybody's favourite? Perhaps not, with 7 species suggested from a variety of 'little brown jobs' many were clearly flummoxed but the answers to it's identification as all there, honest. Before we get into each species, many if not the vast majority of entrants noticed the habitat the bird is in, obviously seashore considering the wrack of Bladderwort by it's feet and whilst such detailed study of the mystery bird photographs is highly commendable and to be encouraged, just sometimes it can lead to a false impression, although perhaps not in this case? So, onto the species and firstly Robin (2 votes), which never displays such contrasting and well marked remiges (wing feathers), nor the streaking visible on the underparts can be quickly eliminated. Yellowhammer (female), Twite, Meadow Pipit and Black-faced Bunting received a single vote each but whist Yellowhammer displays many of our mystery birds characteristics the latter's mantle is clearly not heavily streaked, the nape is uniform, the tertials pale edged without the 'notched' effect of the outer tertials of most buntings and the legs certainly very dark looking so I'm afraid it isn't Yellowhammer. As for Black-faced Bunting, the same applies as for Yellowhammer (tertials and legs) and the rump is too bright here and unstreaked, Twite would display a clearly pinkish rump, white edges to the base of the primaries (the white edges we can see on the mystery bird are on the secondaries), not so well marked greater coverts and although perhaps difficult to judge from the image, a much longer primary projection, so clearly it is not that either. Meadow Pipit is certainly getting closer and isn't a bad call at all but the dark legs of our mystery bird rapidly lead to it's downfall as a correct answer! That leaves us with two, rather similar and very often confused species Rock Pipit and Water Pipit and infact, the necessary feature in this instance for their separation has already been mention in this account, also I wonder how many of you actually read the 'Logicality of littoralis' article covering their identification within this website as that would have ably assisted a correct answer. Both Rock and Water Pipit are indeed often similar but without trawling though feature after feature (read the article if you need that) the fact that this mystery bird clearly and proudly displays a very warm brown rump is enough to secure it's identification in this instance as a Water Pipit. So, how many of you Rock Pipit entrants are kicking yourselves now? Either way, it wasn't an easy bird to identify so well done to you all once again but as only 6 managed the correct answer, well done to Simon Johnson, Rob and Sonia Adderley, Michel Rogg, Mike Chorley, Nick Patel and Paul Cliff.

Read the 'Logicality of littoralis'- the status and identification of Scandinavian Rock Pipit article here

Read the Photospot- Water Pipit, a quick identification recap and review article here

                                                             Water Pipit, Farlington Marshes, Hampshire, March 2008 (Ian McKerchar). For a discussion of this image and other like it, click the Photospot link above.

The race for the front has now been defined further with only 6 entrants managing to identify both species correctly (all those who got the Water Pipit correct!) and now only 4 with all 8 mystery birds correct so far, they are Simon Johnson, Rob and Sonia Adderley, Michel Rogg and Nick Patel. Of course it's easy enough for any one of them to slip up, so keep your entries coming and remember, it really is just for fun and on the off chance that you might learn something new.