JANUARY'S MYSTERY BIRD ANSWERS

This months mystery birds were admittedly considerably harder than previous months, yet 19 of you still managed to have a go, so a huge thank you to you all. Their increase in difficulty this month was a conscious decision, as an early attempt to split the 4 leaders that have dominated the competition since the first round, did it work? Read on................

Mystery Bird 7

Mystery Bird number 7 (above) appeared to cause no end of confusion amongst those who attempted it with no fewer than 8 species offered as potential answers, atleast everyone managed to recognise it as a passerine! In this pose, the bird appears to be preening itself, conveniently hiding it's head whilst doing so but we can atleast make out nearly everything else about the bird, other than it's overall size it would appear, but impressively, everyone managed to gauge some idea of size with entries ranging from Linnet (smallest) to Shorelark (largest), well done to you all. So, let us take in what features we can see as there are plenty there and one or two are infact definitive of it's true identity. The upperparts are pale brown with heavy dark streaking which, in fairness, could be one of many pipits, buntings or larks (but rules out Linnet as was one entry), the underparts look fairly clean white with short, dark streaking restricted to the flanks only and we can glimpse the tail which appears very dark (blackish) with white outer-tail feathers, although none of these are particularly helpful in narrowing down our search. The closest wing is partially obscured by the scapular and flank feathering but it would seem that everyone noticed the rather bright mid-wing 'panel', formed by broad reddish edges to the greater coverts, but did you all notice the pale tips to them, forming a short, white wingbar? The latter features would seem to exclude all the pipits (and 3 species were offered), Skylark and Shorelark, although Shorelark, Rock and Water Pipit do share this birds dark legs, something else the others do not. The bird appears to best fit some kind of bunting but which one? 7 entrants went for Reed Bunting and 2 for Lapland but whilst Reed can show bright edges to the greater coverts they would never appear as such a conspicuous patch, especially with such whitish tips and the wings on our mystery bird appear very long, infact the wing furthest away from us (which is being 'drooped' slightly to allow preening) clearly displays very long primaries, a feature shown by only 2 buntings, Snow and Lapland. Our bird is clearly not a Snow Bunting, so this leads us only to it being a Lapland Bunting which is indeed what it is, a clearer image showing the distinctive head and facial pattern and reddish/brown nape can be found below. Only 2 entrants managed to identify this bird correctly, atleast one of which admitting the difficulty involved in making his decision.

Lapland Bunting, Crosby Marina, Merseyside- Ian McKerchar

Mystery Bird 8

All but one entrant went for a gull on this one with 4 species being offered, Great Black-backed Gull (1 vote), Black-headed Gull (8 votes), Mediterranean Gull (8 votes) and Common Gull (1 vote). The bird is clearly an immature, showing such patterned upperparts although some freshly moulted grey adult feathers can be seen on the greater coverts of the left wing and on the rear right scapulars. These fresh adult like feathers are pale grey, thus eliminating the expected much darker adult feathers of Great Black-backed Gull but it is the pattern of the scapulars and median coverts (those just above the solid grey greater coverts on the left wing) which hold the truth to this mystery bird's true identity. Only one species shows such strongly scalloped feathering on the scapulars (that is pale internally to the feather with conspicuous dark subterminally and a strong whitish edge) coupled to such strongly marked median coverts and that species is Mediterranean Gull. This Mediterranean Gull is a juvenile, an age rarely encountered in the county and the image below (with 2 adult Black-headed Gulls) shows it much more clearly, complete with all black legs and bill. 

Mediterranean Gull, Rumworth Lodge, Greater Manchester- Ian McKerchar

This months more difficult mystery birds and their intention to disrupt the leader board did indeed work as only 2 entrants, Tony Coatsworth and Dave Broome, managed to identify both correctly and they now take the lead with 8 correct answers each. There is still all to play for though as any slip up on their behalf could easily let in one of the chasing pack, so please keep your entries coming, remember, it's all for fun!