APRIL 2009'S MYSTERY BIRD ANSWERS

There was another magnificent 34 entrants again this month, persevering with what was another very difficult round. Well one of the birds was anyway. But which one?

Mystery Bird 7

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with sh...

No problems with this one as everyone got it right and Short-eared Owl it was. It wasn't too difficult really and made up somewhat for the beast below, number 8. Now there's a different story altogether.

Short-eared Owl, Bahrain (Adrian Drummond-Hill)

Mystery Bird 8

Ah yes, mystery bird number 8, this was never going to be one of those one hundred percenters now was it! There were all but 4 entries for a Wheatear species but Water Pipit (1 vote, moulting into breeding plumage) doesn't have such long, protruding primaries, has a stronger supercilium, atleast some flank streaks and some evidence of mantle streaks and solidly brownish ear coverts, amongst other things. Whinchat was mentioned (3 votes) but it has a very boldly pattern black mantle/nape/head and much longer pale supercilium behind the eye, against amongst other intricacies. In the end it came down to two Wheatears, Northern and Isabelline with a 70/30 split respectively. So where to start? Let's look at what we can see.

Pale sandy brown upperparts with a distinct greyish 'shawl' appearance across the mantle and nape (doesn't necessarily help us much either way admittedly!).

Supercilium obviously stronger and paler in front of the eye, distinctly less obvious and buffish behind.

Very pleasant (well I like it anyway) and obvious warm peachy tone to the ear coverts, lacking in extensive brownish tones.

Wing feathers distinctly brownish in tone with paler edges. Compare the colour of the brown to the birds bill (which we know is black) and that will give you a better idea of the exact colouration.

The primary coverts look distinctly pale and the alula slightly more prominent for it?

So, anyone want to change their mind about their entry yet? No, thought not ☺. This mystery bird really is quite difficult, the points above would appear to quite clearly point to it's true identification but when considering species such as Northern and Isabelline Wheatear, their separation can be a difficult affair at best. I'm lucky, I've seen and more importantly studied hundreds of both species and that gives me the edge to be sure that the bird is an Isabelline Wheatear, for that is indeed what it is. If you haven't seen Isabelline Wheatear before then look again at the photo and compare it to Northern Wheatear. Firstly there's really not much in it between the two (I admit that!) but those little features add up to make a distinctive species in it's own right. The whole wing shows little contrast against the upperparts due to it's browner colouration whereas Northern always looks darker compared to the mantle (although wear can play it's part in Northern to reduce this, and this bird is worn, it rarely comes close to this bird) as the feathers are more blackish. That peachy wash to the ear coverts is a classic Isabelline feature that I pick out on all the birds I see and seems to merge into the upper breast (but rarely if ever gets a mention in field guides?), Northern shows much more dull brown which seems confined specifically to the ear coverts. The supercilium in Northern Wheatear would expected to be the opposite of our mystery bird, more buffish in front of the eye and paler behind and clearly that is not the case here. It was never going got be easy but I still feel that the pro-Isabelline features are there and that they outweigh those for Northern Wheatear but as with all the mystery birds, there was no disgrace in getting this one wrong! A few entrants felt the bird showed Isabelline features but still voted for Northern (!) and some felt the bird was an immature Northern Wheatear (but the heavy abrasion proves it in it's second calendar year atleast, as 1st year birds would be immaculate and show no wear). One even guessed correctly were it was taken but others guessed wrong, no it wasn't taken in Cyprus!

Those 9 entrants managing the correct answer were Geoff Hargreaves, Simon (back on the bike soon) Warford, Nick Green, Michel Rogg, Henry (no doubt scouring Hale for one right now) Cook, John (now with massive bragging rights over North Ron's finest) Tymon, Helen (hitting the nail on the head) Garwood, Dennis (Dad knows best!) Latham and Mike Passant. Well done you lot and for those thinking what's the chances of an Isabelline Wheatear in Greater Manchester. Desert and two Black-eared's already anyone...

The Isabelline Wheatear mystery bird image was taken in Bahrain during March 2009 by Adrian Drummond-Hill.

Above 3 images: Spring Isabelline Wheatears, Northern Cyprus (Ian McKerchar)

Compare the images above and below and see if you can make out those finer details!

Below 2 images: Spring female Northern Wheatear, Salford, April 2009 (Adrian Dancy)

Not surprisingly those entrants managing the Isabelline Wheatear went on to correctly identify both species so once again a big round of applause for Geoff Hargreaves, Simon Warford, Nick Green, Michel Rogg, Henry Cook, John Tymon, Helen Garwood, Dennis Latham and Mike Passant.

Our reigning leader up to this point stumbled slightly on this months competition and so it's anyone's to win yet again. So whilst I work out where we're up to and what the leader board looks like now, onto next months round.