NOVEMBER 2009'S MYSTERY BIRD ANSWERS

A decent turnout of 23 entrants for this month included three first timers, so a special thanks to Pauline Greenhalgh, Rob Thorpe and Tony Disley. It's a shame some of the usual bunch omitted to get their entries in (or binned the whole thing altogether?) as it would have been a rather splendid turnout had they done so but hey, such is life eh. So how did you all fare?

Mystery Bird 21

Remembering that it was the bird with it's wings held aloft which was to be our centre of attention, everyone, even the self-confessed non-gullers amongst us managed to pin it down to one of the larids! There were however six species of gull offered as answers so let assessment commence...

Firstly, as always, we need to stand back and take a look at the overall picture rather than delving straight into feather minutiae. The comparison species closest to our mystery bird are clearly Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus argenteus), I say clearly although the non-gullers amongst us might not be as confident about that! Either way, they are evidently of the larger 'Herring Gull type' and comparing the mystery bird against them to the best of our ability does make it appear markedly smaller. Secondly we need to attempt to age the gull in question and the combination of wing pattern and tail band assisted everyone to judging it to be a first winter. Both Herring Gull and Yellow-legged Gull received a single vote each but both would be larger than our mystery bird, lack the plain white underwings and the whitish inner webs to the outer primaries. Kittiwake managed a single vote too, no doubt due to our bird's apparent dark outer primary 'wedge' and carpal bar. Unfortunately, our mystery gull also displays a prominent dark bar on the secondaries, visible on the raised underwing. This doesn't fit well at all with the gleaming white secondaries of a Kittiwake and eliminates it immediately. Common Gull totalled three votes and didn't seem too bad a shout on the face of it. However, two features in particular rule out the latter species, namely those whitish inner webs to the outer primaries and that very clean, white underwings, the latter of which is coarsely marked in Common Gull. Sixteen entrants honed their gulling skills and correctly identified this mystery bird as a first-winter Mediterranean Gull.

Well done to Tim Wilcox, Mike Howard, Mike Chorley, Nick Godden, Caroline Clay, Michel Rogg, Pauline Greenhalgh, John Rayner, Mark Rigby, Paul Brown, John Frankland, Dennis Latham, Tony Disley, Helen (guller) Garwood and Dave Broome. 

First-winter Mediterranean Gull, Drift Reservoir, Cornwall, October 2009 (Ian McKerchar)

Mystery Bird 22

It seems everyone loves waders (and you're getting there with gulls ☺) and this selection of mystery birds presented no problems by and large. Besides the odd guess at a shadow and reflection or two along the edges of the image (for which I haven't a clue whether you were right or not!), there were five identifiable birds present and 99% of all entrants nailed all of them correctly. Four of the five birds looked very similar, infact identical and that was due to them indeed being the same species. Their mid-brown uniform upperparts, brownish upper breasts, fine barring on the tail and patent red legs led you to believe they were Common Redshanks and you were right, they are. The bird in the foreground however looks very slightly larger, it still has red legs but has more blatant barring (notching) on the wing coverts, a whiter upper breast, some grey feathering amidst the brown on the scapulars and head and importantly, an obvious white supercilium. Those features led all but one entrant to the correct identification of Spotted Redshank. The only incorrect answer involved one entrant probably thinking I was more devious than I actually am (if I am at all infact) and who thought I was probably 'throwing a curved ball' and that they were all infact Common Redshanks. Now would I do that? Special mention must go to Tony Coatsworth who even managed to correctly guess the location and rough date the image was taken. How the hell...

First-winter Spotted Redshank, Leighton Moss, Lancashire, September 2009 (Dennis Atherton)

So, there were 15 entrants with a clean sweep this month, all of whom have earned their right to extra mince pies this Christmas. Great effort Mike Howard, Mike Chorley, Nick Godden, Caroline Clay, Michel Rogg (enjoy your Christmas over in Switzerland Michel), Pauline Greenhalgh (not bad for a first time effort), John Rayner, Rob Thorpe (keeping the Wigan end up), Mark Rigby, Paul Brown, John Frankland, Dennis Latham, Tony Disley (you're one of us now Tony...), Helen Garwood and Dave Broome.

As Paul Brown prepares to face the bleakness of winter on North Ronaldsay and all the Whiskey that may bring, as long as he doesn't forget to enter next month it's unlikely, nay impossible, he can be beaten. That's not to say the competition is over however, bragging rights at the next big county twitch are always up for grabs. Enjoy your Christmas folks.