Winter Birding: Wintering Lesser Whitethroat in Co. Tyrone by Brian Mccloskey

 

Winter lesser whitethroat by Brian Mccloskey

Siberian Lesser Whitethroat description.

On the 7th of January information about an overwintering Lesser Whitethroat went up online, with two pictures attached. When I saw these pictures, I was very intrigued. It struck me as a Lesser Whitethroat that was possibly of eastern taxa. I wanted to see it but unfortunately the Tuesday and Sunday that were arranged for viewing didn’t suit me with work. John Cusack and Tom McEntee wanted to see the bird as well and we headed up from Monaghan on Saturday the 19th January. We had great views and John managed a record shot of the tail in flight. I left feeling a little disappointed as I knew it couldn’t be identified from the pictures we had gotten. That evening Wilton Farrelly informed me that he had heard a single tack call. With my thinking pushing towards eastern taxa, a tack call would rule out vagrant S.c.halimondendri (Desert Lesser Whitethroat) based on current knowledge, but more information was needed to get this birds identification over the line.

Still intrigued by the bird, Gerard Murray and myself headed up two days later on the 21st. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit rainy and windy and despite good views over 4 hours we had nothing to boost our speculation that it was of the S.c.blythi (Siberian Lesser Whitethroat) subspecies. Cardboard platforms were put under the feeders in hope to collect a DNA sample. We left a little disappointed. 

My third visit was another two days later on the 23rd. I travelled up with Victor Caschera who was hopeful we would clinch it. After good views were had we went outside and attempted to get a recording of its call. Unfortunately, it was keeping its bill closed despite playback. Playback was of no use and the bird never even looked our way when playing Lesser Whitethroat calls. We spent the whole day after this outside trying to hear the call. We lost the bird for approximately half an hour so I wandered up the road and re-found it feeding low in the ditch the opposite side of the road from the house. I signalled to Victor I had it and we had great views. After a few moments the bird hopped into the tree tops and flew onto the feeders. Having had my binoculars on it as it flew, it landed and opened its tiny bill. I could clearly hear the rattle call and in a panic, I started recording while getting Victors attention. Silence followed for a few seconds before… tack tack! The bird gave ten typical tack calls before giving another rattle call and then finishing off with a single tack! I couldn’t believe that it called and better still I had it all recorded. Victor and myself were ecstatic. According to Martin Garners Autumn book the rattle call is typical of blythi. It reminded me somewhat of a Wren as opposed to the Blue Tit like rattle of halimondendri. Had we got enough now? Unfortunately, despite everything pointing towards blythi, DNA was still needed. 

That evening I got contact details of BTO ringers but despite trying to get in contact with them I failed. That was until Declan Coney from Scotstown, Co. Monaghan contacted me a few days later saying he was going to try to ring it and that he had been up that day to see the bird, before contacting the BTO. This was brilliant news to me. Peter Phillips and myself decided to meet him on Tuesday the 29th of January at the house in Omagh. We arrived at about 9.50am and Declan was already there with the nets up. The Lesser Whitethroat showed just before Declan arrived the owners said. At about 10am I picked the Lesser Whitethroat up at the top of the tree opposite the house. It gave lovely views and was the first time Peter saw the bird. At 10.03am it was in the net! My heart was racing as I desperately wanted to see the primaries up close. Declan got the bird out of the net and put it in the bag. Declan gave me the bag with the bird in it while he quickly took down the nets. He took the biometrics and ringed the bird before we got to take pictures. The primaries were perfect for blythi. On the primaries p2 ran through p6 and p7. On S.curruca (European Lesser Whitethroat) p2 would fall between p5 and p6 and on halimondendri it would fall between p7 and p8. The tail was very worn! Not much could be made from it but there was a faded white tip to t5 and the outer t6 was mostly white with the inner web a ‘dirty’ white colour. There was no hint of white on any of the other tail feathers. In the bag there was a few droppings as well as three tiny feathers. I put them into capsules and sent them off to Martin Collinson that evening. 

Age: First-winter. This bird shows many features that age this bird as a first-winter. Firstly, the central tail feathers of this bird are pointed, however the outer tail feathers are somewhat rounded. The fresh feathers indicate first winter and perhaps the roundedness of the outer tail is as a result of wear. The iris colour is grey with no suggestion of warm or tan colour. The primary coverts are weak and abraded and show some moult contrast in the greater coverts. All features indicating first winter. 

Figure 1: shows features that are pro first-winter

Identification: As Lesser Whitethroat but with subtle differences. The upperparts are a sandy like colour suggesting eastern taxa. No hint of a supercilium was visible in the field, however in the hand a very faint white supercilium was visible. The ear coverts aren’t strong at all almost fading into a lighter grey. The tail is very interesting. The first shots of the tail show that t6 is almost completely white with what appears to be a hint of a brown shaft running up the centre, t5 shows a white tip and t4 lacks white. The lack of white on t4 isn’t suggestive of halimondendri. The orbital ring is white but is broken towards the bottom. The alula is black. The bill is quite strong and long which again doesn’t favour halimondendri. The base of the upper and lower mandible is a lighter shade of grey with a hint of green. There is a tiny light tip to the bill. The flanks are buff. Legs dark. The throat is white and has a neat cut off point, which reminded me somewhat of a first-winter Taiga Flycatcher. In some lights the bird had a dark shoulder patch

Call: The bird was only vocal very infrequently. On Wednesday the 23rd of January it opened its bill for the first time. As Victor and myself watched the bird fly from the trees above the road to the feeders it called. I had my bins on it and watched it open its bill. The first call was a Wren like rattle. When I heard the bird call, I alerted Victor it was calling and I started recording straight away. After the original rattle it gave 10 tack calls followed by another rattle and finally one more tack. The rattle was very distinctive and Martin Garner describes the blythi call as like a Spectacled Warbler which sounds very similar. Vagrant halimondendri aren’t known to give the tack calls and therefore as good as rules this out. Just before the Lesser Whitethroat went to roost it gave almost 5 minutes of constant tacking calls. No rattle calls were heard during the tacking in the evening. Poor recordings were taken. 

Figure 2: showing neat cut off on the throat, dark shoulder patch and buff flanks. Mask almost non-existent. White on t6 visible.

Figure 3: John Cusack’s flight shot. t6 appears almost completely white. Small white tip to t5. White on t4 absent. All pro blythi.

Figure 4: on this bird p2 falls between p6 and p7 a feature of blythi.

Figure 5: Showing the tail pattern. Despite being worn looks spot on for blythi.

DNA

Late on the 7th of March 2019, I got an email from Professor Martin Collinson. It read as follows “Good news. Thom has done the Lesser Whitethroat, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, sampled 29 Jan 2018 (our ref LW122), and confirmed it is a Siberian S. c. blythi.  If there’s any question or if you need more info for RC, please let me know.” The DNA sequence was as follows…

LW122 blythi

CtaGGCCTCTGCTTAaTCaCACAAATCGTTACAGGCCTATTCCTAGCAATACATTATACAGCAGATACTTCACTAGCCTTCGCCTCCGTGGCCCACATATGCCGAGATGTCCAATTCGGCTGACTAATTCGCAACCTACACGCAAACGGGGCCTCCTTCTTCTTCATCTGCATCTACCTCCACATTGGCCGAGGAATCTACTACGGATCCTACCTAAACAAAGAGACCTGAAACGTAGGGGTTCTCCTCCTGCTAGCACTTATAGCCACTGCCTTCGTAGGCTACGTTCTGCCCTGAGGCCAAATATCATTCTGAGGGGCTACCGTAATTACAAACCTACTCTCAGCcatCcCATATGTTgGTCAAACACTAGTAgaATGAGCCTGAGG. 

Figure 6: Showing brown upperparts extending up onto the nape.

A fantastic piece of work by my good friend Brian Mccloskey about a wintering lessser whitethroat in Northern Ireland. This is what it takes to discover and learn more about these subspecies.

#Teamwork #Vikingoptical #BirdGuides #Irishbirding #Winterbirding

Kilbogget Park, Adult male 

'Grey-bellied brant' 

Found by Stephen King 

Stephen found a very well marked adult male 'grey-bellied brant'

type at

Kilbogget Park with appropriately 300 pale-bellied brent.

This bird also had two First-winter birds with it that are presumably

offspring from the previous breeding season. This adult and its

two offspring

are not part of the original flock from Sandymount and

Kilcoole in my previous articles. 

This adult male appears to be slightly darker

than that of the Sandymount/Kilcoole bird which

is also attached below. A lot of this is due to the

lighting situations while viewing the birds in question,

which I have spoken about in previous work on geese.

Adult male 'grey-bellied brant' Kilbogget Park  - Stephen King

Adult male 'grey-bellied brant' with family flock Kilbogget Park 28th December 2020 -

Stephen King

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ in flight - Kilbogget - Stephen King

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ - Kilbogget - Stephen King

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ and two offspring - Kilbogget - Stephen King

All images below taken by Stephen king In Kilbogget park, Dublin

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ - Kilbogget - Stephen King

This image represents the broad white neck

collar of the ‘new’ adult male bird from Kilbogget park.

It is broader and almost meets at the front unlike that

of the other adult male from December 2020.

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ Kilbogget December 2020 - Stephen King

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ January 2021 - Kilbogget - Stephen King

Adult male ‘Grey-bellied brant’ December 2020 - Kilbogget - Stephen King

The below images are taken by Niall Keogh

of the new adult male and

its two first-winter offspring. All phonecoped images.

Several ‘grey-bellied brant’ types have

now been found in Dublin alone this year,

it is great to see more and more people searching for them and

photographing candidates.

We will learn a lot from doing so!

#Winterbirding #Irishbirding #VikingOptical

#BirdGudes #Brent #Wildfowl #Geese

Winter Birding: Greenland vs Russian white-fronted goose Identification

Grey Goose Identification - Part One -

Greenland vs Russian White-fronted geese

Two first-winter and adult Russian white-fronted geese - Tom Wright

The Greenland white-fronted goose is a winter visitor to

Ireland each year in large numbers. Their main wintering grounds in

Ireland are located at the Wexford wildfowl reserve were 40% of the

worlds population winter. It is estimated that up to 20,000 birds winter in Co.Wexford.

This provides an excellent opportunity to study these birds.

Each winter on the reserve there is another race of white-fronted goose, known as

the Russian white-fronted in Ireland and the European white-fronted elsewhere.

This is the far rarer of the two, with small numbers wintering on the reserve most winters.

The main task is picking them out from their relatives! In this

identification paper I hope to help with doing so. This paper is from an Irish point of view.

(References: Greenland white-fronted wintering numbers per EcoFact

(Dr. Will O'Connor)

twitter page)

Things to take into account when trying to identify Greater White-fronted geese:

One of the most important issues to access when trying to identify white-fronted geese in the field is quite a simple factor. The light! The lighting situations cause most problems when trying to identify tricky birds. This is no different for this subject. In fact, this is probably the most important factor to take into account with these subspecies. 

Photos - How the Camera lies:

While taking photographs of birds there are many factors to take into account.

Mainly, if you are a professional. But, if like me you just take image's

of birds for records and fun then these image's can often lie.

What do I mean by this? I will use these image's for example. 

Harry Hussey

This is the perfect example, the above image being the original. The below image is brightened to bring out the true colour effects of this Russian white-fronted goose. 

Greenland white-fronted goose Anser albifrons flaviostris

The highest numbers of the Greenland race are found on the Wexford wildfowl reserve (North slob), (see introduction for more information on numbers). Numbers found elsewhere in Wexford are on a far smaller scale, with up to 180 birds wintering each year just north of the reserve at Cahore marsh. Many other sites in the county may have records of this race each year, though they do not tend to spend the winter, likely making their way to the Wexford wildfowl reserve. The Greenland white-fronted tends to be the bigger of the races, though this can be variable due to sexes.

Identification

When identifying Greater white-fronted geese in the field it is very important to remember the variations within the bill colour of both Greenland and Russian birds. This is a highly variable feature of both races. Some Greenland birds may show a pink wash to their bill which can cause confusion and lead to them being identified as albifrons. And some Russian white-fronted can show orange bills. The bill colour is just one of the many features that overlap between both races. In this piece I hope to make the identification of the Greenland and Russian white-fronted goose a little easier and enjoyable. I have spent many hours searching

through the thousands of Greenland birds at the Wexford wildfowl reserve for Russian birds,

and have been lucky to have seen several of these rare vagrants while doing so.

Key Features:

First-winters: 

• Orange bill (Averageing longer than albifrons) This vary's between sexes. Blaze developing with age. In some cases first-winter birds can show a prominent blaze.

• Dark brown head and neck (Averaging darker than albifrons)

• Dark brown upper-part tone (This is a highly variable feature)

• Under-parts can vary from quite pale to darker brown

• Narrow white tail edge

First-winter Greenland white-fronted geese - Richard Bonser

First-winter Greenland white-fronted goose - Will O'Connor

A rather classic first-winter flaviostris. Carrot coloured orange bill, dark brown head, neck flanks and upper-parts. The upper-parts not showing the grey/blue hue of albifrons. Narrow white tail edge.

Adult Greenland white-fronted geese - Will O'Connor

A lovely comparison image of a dark and pale flaviostris. Even though the right hand adult bird appears much paler and perhaps seems to show some albifrons features it is not one. The bill is orange (More so than the left bird), the head, neck, flanks and upper-parts are still slightly differing to that of an adult albifrons. The narrow white tail edge can just about be seen on the left hand bird. This image represent the differences within the flaviostris race.

Adult Greenland white-fronted goose - Richard Bonser

Over all this adult bird is dark, from the head, neck, flanks, under and upper-parts. The only feature that may cause some confusion is the bill colour. It is pinkish just like that of a albifrons. This is a feature that can overlap with both races, as discussed above. A feature to be wary of in the field.

Greenland white-fronted geese (five adult and two first-winter) - Cian Cardiff

This image shows the key identification features of the Greenland race which include; Orange bill, dark head and neck, brown washed flanks, solid black belly and under-part markings, browner upper-parts than albifrons. The bill colour of these birds is more carrot like orange than that of the light pink of albifrons.

Adult Greenland white-fronted goose - Will O'Connor

All round darker than albifrons. Orange washed bill, dark head, neck, under and upper-part tones. Again showing a typical narrow white tail edge.

Adult Greenland white-fronted goose - Mark Carmody

Adult Greenland white-fronted goose - Will O'Connor

An adult flaviostris showing broken and diffused belly and under-part barring. This is a highly variable feature within both races. Overall from this image it is clear that this bird is darker and more browner than albifrons.

Adult Greenland white-fronted geese - Mark Carmody

This image is quite dark, therefore these Greenland white-fronted geese show no features that would be characteristic of the Russian white-fronted. Whereas, if these birds were indeed Russian white-fronted geese in that dull lightning this is likely to cause an identification issue. 

Russian White-fronted goose Anser albifrons albifrons

The Russian white-fronted goose, also known as the European white-fronted is a rare winter visitor to Ireland. Coming from the Baltic/North sea population which breeds in European arctic Russia and northwest Siberia. Wintering predominatly in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Sever cold winters are a factor in the increase of albifrons to Ireland. The Russian white-fronted goose is likely to be an under-recorded race each winter. This is mainly due to the fact of the lack of availability of identification papers. Some field guides have good comparison between both races.

References: (WWT Waterbird monitoring, European white-fronted goose) (https://monitoring.wwt.org.uk/our-work/goose-swan-monitoring-programme/species-accounts/european-white-fronted-goose/)

Identification

Key Features:

First-winters:

• Short pink bill with a black tip (In certain individuals the bill colour can be more orange to fully orange)

• Pale brown head (Substantially paler than flavirostris) with the white blaze developing with age.

• Unmarked light brown under-parts, again developing with age. 

• Averages paler on the upper-parts than flavirostris. More in line with greylag upper-part tone.

• Many birds show a lesser amount of black markings on the under-parts to their close relative, though this is a feature that over-laps between both races.

• Orange legs, the same for both races.

• Broad white tail edge

First-winter Russian white-fronted geese - Fred Visscher

These first-winter birds show an all round pale appearance. Ranging from the head to the upper-parts. With grey/brown flanks and under-parts. Broad white tail edge shown on these youngsters also. The bird on the left shows a more orange tinged bill to the right hand individual. Which on a darker bird may cause some confusion. 

First-winter Russian white-fronted goose - Fred Visscher

First-winter Russian white-fronted goose - Fred Visscher

First-winter Russian White-fronted goose - Rasmus Strack

A rather typical first-winter albifrons. Short pink bill with a black tip, begging to form a white blaze, pale head and neck, pale brown scally upper-parts, clean light brown chest.

First-winter Russian white-fronted goose - Milosz Cousens

Key features on this first-winter include; Pink bill, with a black tip, pale brown head and neck, pale grey/brown upper-parts (Colder looking than flaviosris), pale flanks as the under-parts can not be seen. This bird shows a longer neck than many other birds in this paper. A longer bill and bigger body, this suggests that this bird is a male.

Three first-winter and adult Russian white-fronted geese - Janice Sutton

These three first-winter albifrons are rather classic in appearance. Showing the typical features such as; short pink bill, light brown head and short neck, brown/grey wash to the upper and under-parts, broad white tail edge.

Key Features:

Adults:

• Short pink bill, averaging shorter than flavirostris. Regarding sexes. Lacking that black tip seen on first-winters.

• White blaze above the bill 

• Pale brown head and neck

• Pale brown, scally upper-parts

• Diffused black markings on the under-parts (Tending to be less bold in size and shape to albifrons, though is a highly variable feature also)

• Broad white tail edge

More typical straightforward birds:

Adult Russian white-fronted geese - John Leason

Two classic adult Russian white-fronted to find in the field. These individuals would be quite striking amongst a flock of Greenland birds. Mainly due to their over all paleness on the upper and under-parts. They also show a host of features that vary from Greenland which include: Pink bill, pale brown head and neck, lighter brown, scally upper-parts than flaviostris, Pale chest, diffused black belly and under-part makings, broad white tail edge.

Adult Russian white-fronted goose - Milosz Cousens

An all round pale adult albifrons showing a short pale pink bill, pale head, neck and chest. Lighter scally brown upper-parts to flavirostris, clean chest with diffused black blotching to the belly and under-parts. Also this bird is a rather short necked individual.

Adult Russian white-fronted geese with barnacle geese - Fred Visscher

Three rather classic adult albifons. The darkest of the three being the left hand individual. Showing a slightly darker brown head. In terms of the upper and under-parts of all three birds they are quite equal. The left hand bird shows an extremely broad white tail edge.

These adult Russian white-fronted geese in the dull lightning they are photographed in above may not be quite as obvious when mixed with a flock of Greenland birds. The bird on the extreme left is the darker of the three birds. This particular individual (if alone) would certainly be a bird that would be easily overlooked within a Greenland flock. 

Adult and first-winter Russian white-fronted geese - Fred Visscher

Adult Russian white-fronted geese - Fred Visscher

These adult albifrons contradict the key field identification feature of the diffused black under-part markings that has been used as a feature separating both races for many years. Apart from the heavily marked black belly and under-parts of these birds (The left bird in particular) there is not much else that would suggest flavirostris on this individual.

More subtle Adult albifrons:

Adult Russian white-fronted goose (Greylag right) - Will Scott

This particular individual is a little more like a flaviostris. Though lighting and what the image was taken with, wheather it was with a DSLR, Bridge camera or didgiscoped these are all factors of identifying not just white-fronted but all birds. In this image the bird appears darker headed, darker on the upper-parts than many of the other albifrons in this paper. Though this is a factor in albifons, the light is most likely making this bird appear quite dark. The short pink bill, paler brown head and less bold belly and under-part markings all favour albifrons of flaviosris. And along with all of these features, not to forget one of the key, key features the broad white tail edge. This particular individual maybe a little trickier to pick of a large flaviosris flock.

Adult Russian white-fronted goose - Harry Hussey

This adult bird would not be quite as striking within a large feeding flock of flaviosris. Though this bird is extremely short-necked and billed which would be quite eye-catching features in the field. This bird shows a dark head, neck, flanks and upper-parts. Many images which show darker looking albifrons maybe taken in poor lighting situations. Though this particular bird does appear darker than many other albifrons, though this is likely just due to the image. The camera can lie about a lot of things regarding bird identification (See above for more on this) 

Adult Russian white-fronted geese - Fred Visscher

The extreme left hand bird is quite dark on the head and neck from what we consider of a typical albifrons. This is likely to be a male due to its large size. The relativly short pink bill and grey/brown upper-parts, along with the broader white tail edge all suggest that this is a albifrons over flaviosris. Both the adult bird being discussed and the adult on the extreme right both show quite a narrow white tail edge for albifons. Something to be wary of when in the field!

Adult Russian white-fronted geese - Fred Visscher

This adult albifrons, on the right is a bird that again could be over-looked while scanning through a large flock of flaviosris. This bird shows a slightly darker head, neck and flank pattern to a more typical albifrons. The bill shows an orange tint also. The under-part and belly markings are thick and not as barred and diffused as many albifrons. Though this is often a regular feature to see on this race.

First-winter and adult Russian white-fronted geese - Fred Visscher

This first-winter (Center bird with orange bill) Russian white-fronted is one of the rarer birds that show an orange bill. Rather than the typical pink washed bill. There are no other features that are highly in favour of flavirostris. This individuals head colour is quite dark, as is the upper-part tone. Though this bird is still well within the albifrons race. The broad white tail edge can be seen clearly from this image also.

In Flight

Both white-fronted geese race can be identified when seen well in flight. One very important factor to take into account when trying to identify white-fronted geese, not only in flight but on the deck also. Is the light, strong light can make some flaviosris appear a lot paler than they actually are, and likewise with poor light in terms of albifrons.

Greenland white-fronted geese - Conor O'Brien

This three o of flaviosris show a classic range of features in flight which include; Over all dark brown tones, orange bill, dark brown head and neck, under-parts are darker than that of albifrons, dark under-wing, narrow white tail edge.

Russian white-fronted geese in flight - Simon Carrington

Over all a much paler bird than the above flaviosris flock. These particular albifrons show quite short necks, bills and wings. Pale flanks with diffused black belly and under-part markings. The under-wing colour of albifrons is more typical of greylag or pink-footed goose.