JANUARY 2008's MYSTERY BIRDS ANSWERS

With a superb 40 entrants to this first round, such support for the competition is not only truly appreciated but enforces the strength and following that Manchester Birding has accumulated and I sincerely hope it continues. There were entrants from both within the county and outside it, some of which were quite far a field but it was nice to see our usual long distance Manchester Mystery Birder, Michel Rogg of Switzerland back once again. This months competition also saw the two youngest entrants so far with Callum and Brogan Scrimgeour (aged 7 and 11 respectively) having a bash, well done boys! Anyway, let's see how you all got on.

                                                                                       Mystery Bird 1

So, the first round of the new 2008 Manchester Birding Mystery Bird Competition not only saw it's highest ever number of entrants but also the very first dead mystery bird! Dead or alive however, it still remained to be identified and all but 3 entrants managed it successfully with the offered species being Jack Snipe, Merlin and Woodcock.

So, Jack Snipe then (receiving a single vote), is small bird for a wader which if we compare this corpse against the human hands in the image (assuming the hands didn't belong to a midget, which they didn't!) this bird clearly isn't small enough, also it lacks the strong golden stripes along the back of Jack Snipe which should be clearly visible in this photo and Jack Snipe wouldn't appear so extensively rufous and brown, further more Jack Snipe has plain primaries where the mystery bird's are clearly 'notched' with rufous on the outer webs. One down and two to go, so what of Merlin (receiving three votes)? It is easy to see where those entrants were heading when considering Merlin (female/immature of course), being a largely brown bird with boldly barred flight feathers but Merlins are never so clearly rufous and lack the large pale tips to the wing coverts and scapulars so evident on the mystery bird, the primaries are much longer on Merlin (compare the length of the primaries to that of the primary coverts above them), the leg colour is yellow and the claws (talons) are longer and stronger. With such cryptic plumage, clearly rufous with those darker brown feather centres and paler wing covert and scapular edges, combined with the strongly barred outer webs of the primaries there can be only one answer and that is of course, as thirty six entrants agreed, (Eurasian) Woodcock.

This unfortunate beast collided with a window on the new Civil Service building on Bridge Street in Manchester City Centre, not  (unfortunately) an uncommon occurrence as they utilise the river to navigate at night and crash into the all glass buildings. A sad end indeed! 

                                                              Woodcock, found dead in Manchester City Centre, November 2007 (Adrian Dancy)

                                                                                       Mystery Bird 2

And now back to normal, as this one's definitely alive ☺. Thirty eigth of the 39 entrants got this mystery bird correct and not surprisingly there were only two possible species Tree and House Sparrow.

So how do we separate the two species from the features we can see? For me, the bird has an overall 'feel', it appears bright and clean, which is not something I usually encounter with House Sparrows! The mantle stripes certainly appear quite bright, brighter than I would expect of those on House Sparrow which are usually browner, containing less yellow than those of our mystery bird. Despite the fact that the birds head is moving and is therefore slightly blurred there appears to be a quite extensive and distinctly white area on the head, something House Sparrow would lack but of course Tree Sparrow would not. The top half of the head appears noticeable chestnut in colour, without a greyer crown and, is that a small 'sliver' of black in the middle of all that white on the head? Indeed it is and with that we have come to our correct answer, that the bird is a Tree Sparrow. The same individual appears in the image below and ticks all the boxes!

                                                              Tree Sparrow, Rindle Road, Greater Manchester, December 2007 (Ian McKerchar)

There were 34 entrants that managed to correctly identify both mystery birds and they were John Frankland, Ian Woosey, Craig Higson, John Raynor, Mike Chorley, John Tymon, Nick Green, Michel Rogg, Steve Collins, Jimmy Meadows, Helen Garwood, James Hutchinson, Tim Wilcox, Dean MacDonald, Nick Patel, Kane Brides, Tony Coatsworth, Mike Baron, Neil Calbrade, Les Steele, Peter Rolph, Rob & Sonia Adderley, Nick Hilton, Dave Broome, Geoff Hargreaves, Simon Pinder, Ian Bowker, Simon Warford, Iain Johnson, Pete Berry, Dave Evans, Simon Johnson, Andy Isherwood and Paul Wilson.

Well done to you all, now on to another challenge and that can only mean round two!