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White-Throated Robin in the Isle of Man: New to Britain and Ireland

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White-Throated Robin in the Isle of Man: New to Britain and Ireland White-throated Robin in the Isle of Man: new to Britain and Ireland Adrian del JVevo n the late afternoon of 22nd June 1983, J. R. Calladine, M. W. Watson Iand I were walking back to the observatory on the Calf of Man, Isle of Man. A movement caught my eye and alerted me to a small bird on top of a drystone wall, some 10 m away. I gained a first impression of a small bird, rather like a Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, standing close to a fuchsia hedge, facing away from me. I commented 'Strewth! That's a funny-looking Wheatear—no, hang on—it's a chat.'JRC and MWW now saw the bird; JRC remarked that it had no white rump and MWW offered an expletive by way of querying what it was. After a short time, the bird flew off along the wall and out of sight. We cautiously withdrew and awaited its return. MWW went to fetch telescopes and to open some mist-nets farther along die fuchsia hedge, while JRC and I furiously recorded our observations in our notebooks and, between us, excluded several possibilities. Within two or diree minutes, die bird returned to its original position. It stood looking direcdy at us as we sat watching from less than 10 m, before it hopped off the wall into some nettles and out of sight. At this point, JRC asked 'What about White-throated Robin?'. Struck by the enormity of this possibility, I agreed but did not dare to be too hopeful and desperately wanted 'just one more look'. MWW, returning with telescopes, twice saw die bird rise briefly from some bracken, but after several minutes, with no further sign of die bird, we agreed to spread out and search for it. I climbed onto die roof of a tractor shed to look down behind die wall. [Brit. Birds 87: 83-86, February 1994] 83 84 White-throated Robin in the Isle of Man After 10-15 minutes, I saw the bird fly across the farmyard. I attracted the other observers' attention, as we seemed to be 'back in business' Unfortunately, despite a thorough search until dusk, and again the following morning, the bird was not seen again. We were able quickly to eliminate North American and Far Eastern possibilities and come to the conclusion that we had indeed seen a White- throated Robin Imnia gutturalis, the first record for Britain and Ireland. Description During the first ten-second view, we saw a small-looking chat-like bird, with a metallic blue-grey nape, mantle, back and rump (blue-grey, similar to male Northern Wheatear: JRC) contrasting with a seemingly wide, dark (brown/black) tail. There was no sign of white or other contrasting colours on the tail or rump. The bird stood alert and erect and turned sideways to reveal the edge of an orange/russet breast and, most notably, dark (black) lores and side to the head. There was a dark 'wedge' of black opening out from the bill to below the eye and covering the lower ear-coverts. (The lores and 'moustachial' region were dark grey, forming a solid wedge from the base of the bill and opening out across the ear-covcrts: JRC). The primaries and greater and median coverts appeared dark brown, similar to the background colour of the wings of a female Northern Wheatear. A relatively small, but obvious, off-white supcrcilium was broad in front of and immediately behind the eye, but extended only slightly behind it. There was no orbital ring apparent. The eyes and the bill both appeared dark, and the legs dark brown. The bill was one-third to one-half the length of the head, relatively broad at the base with a typically chat-like, 'bluntly-pointed' tip (JRC). During the second view, of similar brevity, but with the bird fully visible at close range, we noted the orange/russet breast, fading to cream or off-white on the belly and undertail-coverts (undertail bullish: MWW), wiuh somewhat paler flanks. The. colour recalled that of a male Common Stonechat Saxicola iorquata or Common Redstart Phoenicians phoenkurus. The chin and throat were brilliant white, making a triangular wedge broadening onto the lower throat/upper breast, creating a very marked contrast with the dark sides to the head and dark lores. The lower edge was sharp and strongly contrasted with the breast. The bird looked long-legged (like a Robin Erithacus rubecula: AdN; longer- legged than Northern Wheatear: JRC). It appeared 'dumpy' in die first view, yet 'elongated', making size difficult to judge, but it appeared to be midway between a Robin and a Rufous Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos in size. There were no obvious wing flicks, tail flicks, bobbing or other actions, but its alert posture gave a 'stretched' appearance contrasting with the initial impression of dumpiness. In flight, it looked stocky, with short wings, giving a flap-glide action like that of a Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris. The 'thick' blackish tail gave the bird a solid impression and the contrasting orange underparts were very striking. Plates 31 & 32 have been subsidised by a donation from the Manx Post Office (sec Announcement on page 86) 31. Male White-throated Robin Irania gutturalis, Turkey, May 1983 (Udo PfHerri) 32. Female White-throated Robin Irania gutturalis, Turkey, June 1988 (Kajetan Kravos) 86 White-throated Robin in the Isle of Man The weather at the time of the observation was good, but there had been dense smoke, haze or fog a few hours earlier, reducing visibility from 20 km on 21st to just 2,800 m at midday on 22nd, but this quickly cleared again mat evening. The wind was very light, soudieasterly. Dr Adrian del Neva, Research Department, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL The White-throated Robin breeds from Turkey east to northern Iraq and Iran and winters in East Africa (mainly Kenya and Tanzania). Vagrants have occurred in Europe in France (two, Camargue, 17th April 1987), the Netherlands (3rd-4th November 1986), Norway (15th May 1981 and 17th August 1989) and Sweden (five records, the most recent being 10th May 1981, 10th May 1986 and 16th-20th May 1989). A second occurred in Britain, a female on Skokholm, Dyfed, on 27th-30th May 1990 {Brit. Birds 83: plate 295; 84: 482). Rob Hume (Chairman, British Birds Rarities Committee) and Dr Alan Knox (Chairman, British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee) have commented as follows: 'The record was submitted to the Rarities Committee and unanimously accepted on first circulation (Brit. Birds 80: 551). Members commented that the brownish primaries could indicate a first-summer male, but this was not certain (although the brevity of the observations may have precluded any pale tips to primaries, secondaries and outer wing-coverts, which would confirm immaturity, from being noticed), 'The elongated appearance of the bird when alert was exactly right for this skulking species, and the difficulty of judging size was acknowledged, although the assessment did seem to some Committee members to be rather too small; others felt that the species can look small in the field, despite its actual length being rather greater than that of a Northern Wheatear. This minor problem aside, there was no doubt that the identification was fully established and there are no really serious confusion species. 'Identification was also accepted by the BOURC on a single circulation. With the exception of Tanzania, the countries noted in the range summary (above) are rarely involved in the cage-bird trade and the birds exported from Tanzania are apparently mainly seed-eaters. There are no records of White-throated Robin having been imported into Britain. The BOURC voted to add the species to Category A of the British and Irish list (Ibis 130: 335).' EDS .
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