Sexing of juvenile Montagu’s Harrier

Andrea Corso

he identification (including ageing and sex- the greater underwing-coverts. These parts are Ting) of Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus has nearly unpatterned without obvious marks in been discussed in a number of publications (eg, juvenile male but with often conspicuous dark Forsman 1995, 1999, Clarke 1996, Lontkowski marks in juvenile female. As a result, these parts 1995). Nevertheless, sexing of juveniles is still are uniform in juvenile male, with only occa- primarily based on the eye colour, without utiliz- sionally traces of dark shaft-streaks. However, ing structural or plumage characters. During a some juvenile males show darker and more study of breeding Montagu’s Harriers in Italy, dif- obvious shaft-streaks but these are always thinner ferences in structure and plumage between juve- and less obvious (or not at all) than in juvenile nile male and female were found which may be female. Instead, a juvenile female shows con- useful for sexing a juvenile without necessarily trasting thick dark shaft-streaks, combined with determining the eye colour. The established sex two or three large dark spots, on the axillaries, differences are based on observations of juveni- forming bars or anchor-shaped marks. The white les of c 35 breeding pairs of Montagu’s Harrier rump-patch is often less extensive, narrower than studied in central and northern Italy and on exa- in juvenile female. The rectrices show less mination of more than 200 specimens. obvious dark bars, with often a grey wash on the central rectrices (which, in most cases, are also Juvenile male paler than in juvenile female). Structure The wing-tip reaches the tail-tip or falls short Bare parts only a few millimetres, resulting in no or a very The iris is distinctly paler than in juvenile female, short tail projection in juvenile male. The legs ranging from pale-grey(ish) to yellow(ish). In and talons are less strongly built and structurally nestlings, the iris is pale- to dark-grey(ish), clearly smaller than in juvenile female. contrasting with the pupil; after fledging, the iris becomes paler and, by autumn, it is already yel- Plumage low(ish) (cf Clarke 1996, Forsman 1999). The dark ear-covert patch is usually smaller and paler (not solidly dark-brown or black) than in Juvenile female juvenile female. Normally, the white area around Structure the eye is larger and more contrasting than in The wing-tip falls well short of the tail-tip in most juvenile female, especially above and behind the cases, resulting in a longer tail projection than in eye. Often, there is a collar, generally paler and juvenile male. The legs and talons are more more obvious than in juvenile female. The centre strongly built and structurally larger than in juve- of neck and the upperbreast are paler and more nile male. uniform, without dark streaks (or with only a few spaced and diffuse ones). The wings are darker, Plumage more solidly black, although the outer primaries The dark ear-covert patch is generally darker and (‘fingers’) are usually paler, less solidly black. larger than in juvenile male. Often, the white area Generally, the primary base is more evenly bar- around the eye is smaller than in juvenile male. red, with more distinct and darker bars. On the The sides of the breast are darker than in most underwing, the dark secondaries have a grey juvenile males. The dark streaks on the neck and wash, with more obvious pale and dark bars. On upperbreast are more obvious and more numer- the upperwing, the primary base is paler than in ous than in juvenile male. They extend much juvenile female, with a grey wash; consequently, more often onto the flanks, a pattern rarely seen in in flight, the primary base appears paler than in juvenile male (and, when present in juvenile juvenile female, contrasting more with the dark male, the dark streaks are more diffuse and less secondaries which are often also more uniform, numerous). The outer primaries (‘fingers’) are with less obvious dark bars. The best and most more solidly black. The primary base usually has, reliable character is found in the axillaries and but not always, bars which are less uniformly dis-

[Dutch Birding 21: 189-192, 1999] 189 Sexing of juvenile Montagu’s Harrier

199 Montagu’s Harrier / Grauwe Kiekendief Circus pygargus, juvenile female, Valli di Ferrara, Italy, September 1996 (Maurizio Azzolini & Andrea Corso) 200 Montagu’s Harrier / Grauwe Kiekendief Circus pygargus, juvenile female, Valli di Ferrara, Italy, September 1996 (Maurizio Azzolini & Andrea Corso)

190 Sexing of juvenile Montagu’s Harrier

201 Montagu’s Harrier / Grauwe Kiekendief Circus pygargus, juvenile male, Valli di Ferrara, Italy, September 1996 (Maurizio Azzolini & Andrea Corso) 202 Montagu’s Harrier / Grauwe Kiekendief Circus pygargus, juvenile male, Valli di Ferrara, Italy, September 1996 (Maurizio Azzolini & Andrea Corso)

191 Sexing of juvenile Montagu’s Harrier tributed and less evenly spaced, creating a pale blackish-brown. In nestlings, the iris is perhaps ‘boomerang’ (like in juvenile Pallid Harrier similarly coloured as the pupil or a shade paler; C macrourus) more often than in juvenile male. after fledging, the iris becomes gradually paler The dark secondaries are darker on the underside but, throughout the first year, it is still brown (cf and, on average, also darker on the upperside, Clarke 1996, Forsman 1999). with more obvious dark bars. On the upperwing, the primaries are generally darker, with a less grey Acknowledgements wash and less obvious pale primary base; con- I thank Daniele Aliffi, Maurizio Azzolini, Valerio sequently, in flight, there is a less obvious contrast Cappello, Carmela Cardelli, Roberto Gildi, between the dark secondaries and the pale prima- Marcello Grussu, Carmelo Iapichino and Marco ry base. As already described, the axillaries and Preziosi for their help; and the bird hospitals I the greater underwing-coverts have distinct dark visited for permitting me to photograph the in- marks. Only rarely, these marks are less distinct, jured Montagu’s Harriers in their care. with a pattern similar to that of juvenile male. The white rump-patch is normally more extensive, References broader than in juvenile male. The tail is in most Clarke, R 1996. Montagu’s Harrier. Chelmsford. cases darker than in juvenile male, with darker Forsman, D 1995. Field identification of female and rectrices having darker and more obvious bars, juvenile Montagu’s and Pallid Harriers. Dutch Birding 17: 41-54. especially on the outer rectrices. The central rec- Forsman, D 1999. The raptors of Europe and the Mid- trices never show a grey wash as in juvenile male. dle East: a handbook of field identification. London. Lontkowski, J 1995. Die Unterscheidung von Korn- Bare parts Circus cyaneus, Wiesen- C. pygargus und Steppen- The iris is distinctly darker than in juvenile male, weihe C. macrourus. Limicola 9: 233-275. ranging from dark-brown to warm-brown or

Andrea Corso, via Camastra 10, 96100 Siracusa, Italy ([email protected])

Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard, with comments on mimicry in south-eastern Asian Pernis and Spizaetus species S (Bas) van Balen, Resit Sözer, Vincent Nijman, Rona Dennis, Eric Meijaard & Paul R Jepson

n 16 October 1995, when travelling be- for documentation and identification purposes. Otween Pelabuhanratu and Bogor, West Java, Three weeks later, the bird was still present and Indonesia, Rona Dennis and Eric Meijaard dis- Paul Jepson took additional photographs. How- covered an immature raptor at a roadside bird ever, examination by Bas van Balen and Reflit market. Initially, the bird was thought to be an Sözer of the taken photographs showed that it immature Javan Hawk-eagle Spizaetus bartelsi was not an immature Javan Hawk-eagle or an- and, because of the protected status of raptors in other Spizaetus (or Hieraaetus) eagle but a juve- Indonesia in general and of this rare raptor en- nile Javan Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilo- demic to Java in particular, it was photographed rhyncus ptilorhyncus, another (very) rare raptor

192 [Dutch Birding 21: 192-198, 1999] Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard endemic to Java which, according to del Hoyo et TAIL Undertail-coverts buff-cinnamon. Base of under- al (1994), may be close to species threshold. side of tail white (rest of tail hardly visible on photo- As no descriptions or illustrations of the juve- graphs). nile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard BARE PARTS Iris brown, no obvious contrast with pupil. Orbital ring white to dirty-white. Upper mandible grey- are available in the literature, and in view of its ish; lower mandible whitish, greyish towards tip; cere confusing resemblance to the immature plumage bright yellow. Tarsus and foot pale yellow, talon black. of the sympatric Javan Hawk-eagle, it seems use- ful to publish the compiled description of the photographed juvenile Javan Crested Honey Identification Buzzard and to discuss its identification. Further- The unfeathered tarsus and the long narrow head more, it seems appropriate to comment on mim- excluded the possibility that the photographed icry in south-eastern Asian Pernis and Spizaetus raptor was a Javan Hawk-eagle or another species. Spizaetus (or Hieraaetus) eagle. In fact, the short The data presented in this article are largely unfeathered tarsus, the long narrow head with derived from observations done during field stud- the weak bill and the yellow cere only fitted ies by the authors throughout the Indonesian part Crested Honey Buzzard. The long, sooty-black of the ranges of Crested P ptilorhyncus and and pale-tipped crest was typical of juvenile Barred Honey Buzzards P celebensis (ie, Bali, Javan Crested Honey Buzzard. Presumably, it Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra) in the was a recently fledged bird on account of the period of 1980-98. ‘simultaneously growing’ crest-feathers and ‘very short’ tail (Kees Roselaar pers comm). The partly Description sooty-black head and the plain buff-cinnamon The description is based on the photographs underparts strongly resembled those of immature taken of the juvenile Javan Crested Honey Buz- Malaysian Crested Honey Buzzard Pp torquatus zard. Also, comparisons were made with skins of (of which skins were studied at Museum Zoologi- Javan and other Crested Honey Buzzards in the cum Bogoriense). The white pattern on the head collections at the National Museum of Natural is also found in immature Siberian Crested History, Leiden, the Netherlands, and at the Mu- Honey Buzzard Pp orientalis. Apart from the seum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia. long crest, Javan and Malaysian Crested Honey Buzzards differ from the almost-crestless Siberian STRUCTURE Head long and narrow, with long and Crested Honey Buzzard by the structure of the erect crest. Tail (very) short, apparently still growing. feathers of the upperneck: broad and rounded in Bill weak. Tibia feathered (‘trouser’); tarsus short (about Javan and Malaysian Crested Honey Buzzards as long as middle toe) and unfeathered, talon slightly and long and lanceolate in Siberian Crested curved. HEAD Forehead with white frontal band. Crown much Honey Buzzard (M E G Bartels in litt in van darker than in any Javan Hawk-eagle, forecrown pre- Heurn & van Heurn 1923). dominantly sooty-black and hindcrown (especially The sooty-black pattern on the head and the more central part) distinctly paler and browner. Crest sooty-black crest were more like an adult Blyth’s sooty-black, shorter feathers with brown tip and longer Hawk-eagle S alboniger or even a Rufous-bellied ones with whitish tip. Nape and rest of neck buff- Eagle H kienerii but the buff-brown neck (includ- brown, feathers with dark centre (shaft-streak) (ap- ing the nape) made the bird look more like a proaching buff-cinnamon of underparts). Lore whitish, Javan Hawk-eagle, especially when seen from lore-feathers seemingly scaly (not clearly visible on the aside or from behind. photographs). Ear-coverts brownish, with black ‘cres- cent’ below eye and black spot at rear edge, and sur- rounded by white line, running from rear corner of eye Status on Greater Sundas down around ear-coverts to base of bill. Chin and thro- As already mentioned, Javan Crested Honey at whitish, showing traces of black outline or mesial Buzzard is endemic to Java. There are only two stripe typical of adult Javan Crested Honey Buzzard skins of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard among the (chin- and throat-feathers seemed to be damaged or 50 skins of Crested Honey Buzzard in the Bartels were moulting). collection from Java brought together between UPPERPARTS Dark brown, feathers with pale brownish fringe. 1898 and 1942 (René Dekker pers comm), sug- UNDERPARTS Plain buff-cinnamon, feathers with slight- gesting that Javan Crested Honey Buzzard has ly darker shaft-streak. ‘Trouser’ pale buff to whitish. always been (very) rare. However, van Heurn & WING Primaries blackish-brown. Secondaries, tertials van Heurn (1923) reported the presence of no and wing-coverts dark brown with pale brown fringe. less than 14 skins (and one egg) of Javan Crested

193 Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard in the Bartels collection (now at Pernis exhibit the highest local variability in National Museum of Natural History). The 12 plumage colour and pattern among raptors missing skins may have got lost during World War world-wide, including dark morphs in some taxa II. Four skins of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard are (del Hoyo et al 1994). The general trend of this at Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense. It should variation in Crested Honey Buzzards is for the also be pointed out that well-documented field taxa inhabiting tropical forests to be darker or records of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard are rare. more richly barred in adults, with a crest and a black gorget surrounding a whitish throat to be Convergent evolution or mimicry common; immatures are paler than adults but Immature Javan Crested Honey Buzzard may browner than in the more northern taxa (Brown cause confusion with immature Javan Hawk- & Amadon 1968). eagle. Apart from the above-described similari- As first described for Sulawesi by Meyer & ties in plumage, the flight silhouettes are also Wigglesworth (1898), in the Indo-Malayan and similar. Both raptors are confined to Java and Philippine archipelagos, plumage colour and have not been recorded on any of the off-lying pattern of geographically distinct populations of islands like, for instance, Bali, Kangean and Barred and Crested Honey Buzzards closely Madura. Although few data are available, Javan resemble those of sympatric hawk-eagles, either Crested Honey Buzzard and Javan Hawk-eagle in adult plumage, as on Borneo and Sumatra, or seem to be confined to primary and secondary in immature plumage, as on Java, or in both rain forests. Their altitudinal ranges largely over- plumages, as in the Philippines and on Sulawesi. lap although, in the (upper) montane forest zone, Five mimetic species pairs can be distinguished. only Javan Hawk-eagle is recorded, albeit in- Similarities in these species pairs extend to flight frequently. Although Javan Crested Honey silhouette, presence of crest (pairs 1-4 with crest Buzzard and Javan Hawk-eagle occur largely in and pair 5 without crest), breast and belly colora- the same habitat and show similarities in plum- tion and tail pattern (with a broad pale bar). age and flight silhouette, there is little resem- blance in morphology or hunting and flight 1 Malaysian Crested Honey Buzzard Pp torquatus behaviour. Bill, head, foot and talon differ (adult dark morph) and Blyth’s Hawk-eagle S albo- markedly in morphology. Javan Hawk-eagles niger: Borneo and Sumatra feed on vertebrates taken from either perches in- 2 Malaysian Crested Honey Buzzard Pp torquatus (adult normal morph) and Wallace’s Hawk-eagle side the forest or by soaring close to the canopy. S nanus: Borneo and Sumatra Javan Crested Honey Buzzards mainly prey on 3 Javan Crested Honey Buzzard Pp ptilorhyncus social insects, including larvae, taken both from (immature) and Javan Hawk-eagle S bartelsi (imma- forest and non-forest areas. Hawk-eagles have a ture): Java higher wing-loading (tail included) than Crested 4 Barred Honey Buzzard P celebensis steerei/winkleri Honey Buzzards, 34-39 and 22-23 Newton per (adult and immature) and Philippine Hawk-eagle square metre, respectively (eg, Gamauf et al S philippensis: Philippines 1998b). In general, a higher wing-loading is 5 Barred Honey Buzzard Pc celebensis (adult and associated with a more rapid flight (Burton immature) and Sulawesi Hawk-eagle S lanceolatus: Sulawesi 1989). Javan Crested Honey Buzzard flies with deep wing-beats and Javan Hawk-eagle with Mimic or model? more shallow ones (Nijman & Sözer 1998). The central question now lies in identifying in In conclusion, the resemblance between Javan what direction the mimicry has evolved, ie, Crested Honey Buzzard and Javan Hawk-eagle which species is the mimic and which is the may represent mimicry rather than convergence, model. Crested Honey Buzzard as a mimic may similar to other Pernis-Spizaetus pairs discussed take advantage from the fierceness of hawk-eagle below. whereas especially immature hawk-eagles as mimics may gain from the innocence of Crested Mimicry in south-eastern Asian Pernis Honey Buzzards. and Spizaetus species Gamauf et al (1998a) proposed that, at least in Despite the fact that mimicry is a frequently dis- the Philippines, the ‘weak’ Barred Honey Buz- cussed phenomenon, it has been verified by few zard is, through its similarity, protected against studies and until now has been scarcely taken attacks by the ‘aggressive and dominant’ hawk- into consideration in raptors. As pointed out by eagles. This is because the latter would avoid Gamauf et al (1998a), members of the genus aggressive interactions with similarly coloured

194 Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard

203-204 Javan Crested Honey Buzzard / Javaanse Wespendief Pernis ptilorhyncus ptilorhyncus, juvenile, roadside bird market between Pelabuhanratu and Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, 16 October 1995 (Rona Dennis) 205 Javan Crested Honey Buzzard / Javaanse Wespendief Pernis ptilorhyncus ptilorhyncus, adult, Taman Safari Zoo, Cisarua, West Java, Indonesia, 10 December 1994 (Bas van Balen) 206 Javan Hawk-eagle / Javaanse Havikarend Spizaetus bartelsi, immature, Taman Safari Zoo, Cisarua, West Java, Indonesia, 10 December 1994 (Bas van Balen)

195 Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard

207 Javan Hawk-eagle / Javaanse Havikarend Spizaetus bartelsi, adult, Taman Safari Zoo, Cisarua, West Java, Indo- nesia, 10 December 1994 (Bas van Balen) 208-209 Javan Hawk-eagle / Javaanse Havikarend Spizaetus bartelsi, adult, bird market, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia, 5 July 1989 (Arnoud B van den Berg)

196 Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard competitors to avert injury in escalated fights. Buzzards mimic immature Javan Hawk-eagle The coloration may protect Barred Honey Buz- whereas adult Javan Crested Honey Buzzards do zard also from being attacked by other birds. A not seem to have a model. This may be because prediction that arises from this hypothesis is that a different situation is prevalent on Java, either hawk-eagles would always avoid confrontations through the influx of Siberian Crested Honey with conspecifics whereas other raptors are nor- Buzzards, in which case the second explanation mally attacked. Although hawk-eagles may ap- would come in force (as there would not be pear fierce, no aggressive interactions between enough models for the first explanation), or Javan Hawk-eagles and other raptors were ob- because, on Java, the adult Javan Crested Honey served (cf Nijman & Sözer 1995). Also, other Buzzard’s model has gone extinct through large- bird species with good powers of flight did not scale forest destruction on Java. As it is unlikely seem to be alarmed by the presence of Javan that Blyth’s Hawk-eagle ever occurred sym- Hawk-eagles, in contrast to their reaction to pa- patrically with Javan Hawk-eagle (both form allo- trolling falcons or accipiters (Mooney 1997). species within one superspecies) on Java, the Compared with Javan Hawk-eagle, other Indo- existence may be suspected of an unknown dark nesian hawk-eagles were less intensively studied crested hawk-eagle that stood model for adult but no aggressive interactions between them and Javan Crested Honey Buzzard. This explanation other raptors were observed either. The more would still be consistent with the higher (tempo- abundant a mimic relative to the model, the less rary) abundance of Siberian Crested Honey well-protected a mimic is (Calow 1998). Further- Buzzards as in ancient times the birds would be more, the model should have larger or at least more dispersed over the then-existing forest. equal geographical and ecological distributions. On Sulawesi, Barred Honey Buzzard is slightly Acknowledgements more abundant than Sulawesi Hawk-eagle (Mey- We would like to thank René Dekker for sup- burg & van Balen 1994) but, on Java, Javan plying information on the skins of Javan Crested Crested Honey Buzzard is far less often recorded Honey Buzzard present in the collection at the than Javan Hawk-eagle. Siberian Crested Honey National Museum of Natural History at Leiden, Buzzard is an abundant visitor to Java in the the staff of the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense northern winter (it is largely a passage migrant on at Bogor for allowing access to the skin collec- Borneo and Sumatra while there are no records tion in their care, and Kees Roselaar for com- on Sulawesi). This abundance would make the menting on an earlier version of the manuscript. less abundant model less useful. It must be noted, however, that Siberian Crested Honey Samenvatting Buzzards may only superficially resemble Javan JUVENIEL VERENKLEED VAN JAVAANSE WESPENDIEF, MET COM- MENTAAR OP MIMICRY BIJ ZUIDOOST-AZIATISCHE PERNIS- EN Hawk-eagles, ie, in flight but less so perched as SPIZAETUS-SOORTEN In oktober-november 1995 werd they lack a crest and have different coloration of een juveniele Javaanse Wespendief Pernis ptilorhyncus the underparts. ptilorhyncus gefotografeerd op een vogelmarkt tussen An alternative explanation for the observed Pelabuhanratu en Bogor, West-Java, Indonesië. Javaan- instances of mimicry is that the hawk-eagle is se Wespendief is een (zeer) zeldzame en op Java ende- actually the mimic. Mimicking Crested Honey mische roofvogel. De structuur, het verenkleed en de Buzzards might be advantageous for hawk-eagles naakte delen van de gefotografeerde vogel worden because of the innocuousness of the former. This beschreven. De gelijkenis van onvolwassen Javaanse type of mimicry was described by Jensen (in Wespendief en onvolwassen Javaanse Havikarend Spizaetus bartelsi wordt besproken. Dit in verband met prep) to explain the mimetic relationship be- het mogelijke bestaan van een mimetische relatie tus- tween Wallace’s Hawk-eagle and Malaysian sen Javaanse Wespendief en Javaanse Havikarend zoals Crested Honey Buzzard on Kalimantan. Especial- die ook wordt gevonden bij andere Pernis-Spizaetus- ly, immature Wallace’s Hawk-eagles would take soortparen in het Indo-Maleise gebied en op de Filip- advantage of this as they are ill-experienced hun- pijnen. Javaanse Havikarend komt eveneens alleen op ters and may mislead potential prey animals in Java voor. this way (‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’). On Java, References immature Javan Hawk-eagle may profit from the Brown, L & Amadon, D 1968. Eagles, hawks and falcons abundance of Siberian Crested Honey Buzzards of the world. Feltham. in the northern winter. Burton, P 1989. Birds of prey. New York. Interestingly, on Java (unlike on the other Calow, P 1998. Encyclopedia of ecology and environmen- islands), only immature Javan Crested Honey tal management. Oxford.

197 Juvenile plumage of Javan Crested Honey Buzzard

Gamauf, A, Preleuthner, M & Winkler, H 1998a. Mimicry in a juvenile Wallace’s Hawk-eagle Spizaetus nanus. in south-east Asian birds of prey: Barred Honey Buzzard Meyburg, B-U & van Balen, S 1994. Raptors on Sulawesi (Pernis celebensis) and Hawk-eagles (Spizaetus spp). (Indonesia): the influence of rain forest destruction and Poster presented at 22nd International Ornithological human density on their populations. In: Meyburg, B-U Congress, 16-22 August 1998, Durban, South Africa. & Chancellor, R D (editors), Raptor conservation today, Gamauf, A, Preleuthner, M & Winkler, H 1998b. Philip- Proc IV World Conf Birds Prey Owls Berlin 10-17 May pine birds of prey: interrelations among habitat, 1992, Berlin, pp 269-276. morphology, and behavior. Auk 115: 713-726. Meyer, A B & Wigglesworth, L W 1898. The birds of van Heurn, F C & van Heurn, W C 1923. Over eenige Celebes and neighbouring islands. Berlin. roofvogels van Sumatra’s oost-kust en enkele bijzonder- Mooney, N 1997. Status and conservation of Elang Jawa heden omtrent hun voorkomen in den Archipel. Jaarb (the Javan Hawk-eagle (Spizaetus bartelsi)). Hobart. Club Ned Vogelkd 13: 139-145. Nijman, V & Sözer, R 1995. Aggressive behaviour display- del Hoyo, J, Elliott, A & Sargatal, J (editors) 1994. Hand- ed towards the Javan Hawk-eagle. Kukila 7: 152-154. book of the birds of the world 2. Barcelona. Nijman, V & Sözer, R 1998. Field identification of the Jensen, R A C in prep. Observations on plumage changes Javan Hawk-eagle Spizaetus bartelsi. Forktail 14: 13-16.

S (Bas) van Balen, Department of Terrestrial Ecology and Nature Conservation, Wageningen Agricultural University, Bornsesteeg 69, 6708 PD Wageningen, Netherlands ([email protected]) Resit Sözer, Institute for Systematics and Population Biology / Zoological Museum, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam, Netherlands Vincent Nijman, Institute for Systematics and Population Biology / Zoological Museum, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam, Netherlands Rona Dennis, Velserduinweg 50, 1971 ZE IJmuiden, Netherlands Eric Meijnaard, WWF-Netherlands, PO Box 7, 3700 AA Zeist, Netherlands Paul R Jepson, School of Geography, Oxford University, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 2SB, UK

Varia Churchill late July to early November; their presence is almost guaranteed during the last two weeks of October Churchill, a small village in north-eastern Manitoba, and the first week of November. In autumn, as Canada, is often advertised as the ‘Polar Bear many as 150 Polar Bears pass close to or even Capital of the World’. It is, however, much more through Churchill. Sometimes a lone individual or than that. Because of its unique location on the even a mother with cubs may be present in spring shore of Hudson Bay, where taiga and tundra con- or early summer. Churchill’s bird list has well over verge, it is a birdwatcher’s paradise and in summer 200 species, an unusual high number for such a large numbers of Beluga Whales Delphinapterus subarctic location. A visit during the second and leucas gather at the mouth of the Churchill River. third week of June is best, when migration is still in Although Churchill’s location is not extremely far progress and most local birds have arrived. Because north (58:46 N), the prevailing winds coming over of the diversity of habitats, visiting birders can the Hudson Bay, which is ice-covered for nine expect to see a wide range of birds. months of the year, give the place a truly ‘arctic’ Wildfowl includes Whistling Swan Cygnus look and atmosphere. columbianus, Snow Goose Anser caerulescens and The first migrants appear in mid-April, but the small numbers of Ross’s Goose A rossii, Green- peak time of migration is late May and early June. winged Anas carolinensis and Blue-winged Teals During the third week of June most birds start A discors, American Wigeon Mareca americana, nesting and hatching reaches its peak in early July. King Eider Somateria spectabilis (rare), Harlequin Beluga Whales arrive when the river breaks up in Duck Histrionicus histrionicus, Long-tailed Duck June, usually around the second week, and their Clangula hyemalis, Black Melanitta americana, Surf numbers steadily increase until there are as many as M perspicillata and White-winged Scoters M de- 3000 in the area by the end of July. Polar Bears glandi and Bufflehead Bucephala albeola (rare). Ursus maritimus come ashore from the sea ice from Pacific Loon Gavia pacifica, American Bittern

198 [Dutch Birding 21: 198-204, 1999] Varia

210 Tundra landscape near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1994 (Chris Schenk) 211 Pacific Loon / Pacifische Parelduiker Gavia pacifica, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1994 (Chris Schenk)

199 Varia

212 Hudsonian Godwit / Rode Grutto Limosa haemastica, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1996 (Chris Schenk) 213 White-rumped Sandpiper / Bonapartes Strandloper Calidris fuscicollis, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1996 (Chris Schenk)

200 Varia

214 Semipalmated Sandpiper / Grijze Strandloper Calidris pusilla, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1996 (Chris Schenk) 215 Semipalmated Plover / Amerikaanse Bontbekplevier Charadrius semipalmatus, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1994 (Chris Schenk)

201 Varia

216 Short-billed Dowitcher / Kleine Grijze Snip Limnodromus griseus, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1996 (Chris Schenk) 217 Ross’s Gull / Ross’ Meeuw Rhodostethia rosea, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1994 (Chris Schenk)

202 Varia

218 American Hawk Owl / Amerikaanse Sperweruil Surnia ulula caparoch, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1994 (Chris Schenk) 219 Great Grey Owl / Laplanduil Strix nebulosa, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1994 (Chris Schenk) 220 Bonaparte’s Gull / Kleine Kokmeeuw Larus philadelphia, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, June 1996 (Chris Schenk)

203 Varia

Botauris lentiginosus, Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leuco- mon and Smith’s Longspur Calcarius pictus can be cephalus (rare), Spruce Grouse Dendragapus cana- found at the right spots without too much trouble. densis, Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus, Sora Breeding finches are rather poorly represented but Porzana carolina and Sandhill Crane Grus canaden- include Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator, White- sis can all be seen, although the grouse can be winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera leucoptera and notoriously hard to find. Churchill is especially rich both Mealy Carduelis flammea and Arctic Redpolls of breeding and passing waders, such as American C hornemanni. When you visit Churchill in October Golden Plover Pluvialis dominicus, Semipalmated for the Polar Bears, most birds have left, although Plover Charadrius semipalmatus, Killdeer C voci- Willow and Rock Ptarmigans L mutus (the latter ferus, Greater Tringa melanoleuca (rare) and Lesser being absent in summer) and their predators, Snowy Yellowlegs T flavipes, Solitary Sandpiper T solitaria, Owl Nyctea scandiaca and Gyr Falcon Falco rusti- Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia, Hudsonian colus, remain. Of the passerines, only Grey Jay, Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, Hud- Common Raven Corvus corax, Boreal Chickadee, sonian Godwit Limosa haemastica, American Dun- Arctic Redpoll and the non-native House Sparrow lin Calidris alpina hudsonica, Semipalmated C pu- Passer domesticus stay all-year round. silla, Least C minutilla, White-rumped C fuscicollis Numbers are low, but after a few years of near- (migrant), Baird’s C bairdii (migrant) and Pectoral absence there were again two Ross’s Gulls Rhodo- Sandpipers C melanotos, Stilt Sandpiper Micropala- stethia rosea in 1998. In the 1980s, Churchill be- ma himantopus, Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodro- came famous as the first easily accessible place in mus griseus, Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata and the world to see, study and photograph this species. Wilson’s Phalaropus tricolor (rare), Red P fulicaria Churchill can only be reached by air or rail from (rare migrant) and Red-necked Phalaropes P loba- Winnipeg, Manitoba; there is no road connection to tus. Long-tailed Jaegers Stercorarius longicaudus can the outside world. The 38 h train ride is said to be be seen off Cape Merry in small numbers among an unforgettable experience, in the true sense of the the common Parasitic Jaegers S skua. Regular gulls word. There are several hotels and some less expen- include Bonaparte’s Larus philadelphia (nesting in sive bed & breakfast addresses. With a rental car trees), Ring-billed L delawarensis, Thayer’s L glau- you can drive the 80 km of paved and unpaved coides thayeri, American Herring Lsmithsonianus, roads from which you can explore the various habi- Glaucous L hyperboreus and Sabine’s Gulls L sabini tats on your own. Mountain bikes can also be rent- (migrant). The best spot for the larger gulls is, of ed and enable you to reach most areas, although course, the rubbish dump east of the airport. Other the mosquitos, black-flies and other insects that non-passerines include Short-eared Asio flammeus, become abundant from late June can be a nuisance. American Hawk Surnia ulula caparoch and Great If you plan to go, get a copy of the ABA birdfinding Grey Owls Strix nebulosa (rare), Belted Kingfisher guide A birder’s guide to Churchill (Chartier 1994) Ceryle alcyon, Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tri- to prepare your visit. Also worth reading is de Knijff dactylus and Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus. (1993), who summarized the main birding spots, Several passerine species breed around Churchill with excellent photographs of several characteristic (with very few species migrating to breed further species. It is also a good idea to spend a day birding north), such as Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor, with Churchill Wilderness Encounter, run by Bonnie Grey Jay Perisoreus canadenis, Boreal Chickadee Chartier, the author of the birdfinding guide. She Parus hudsonicus, Grey-cheeked Thrush Catharus can show you the birds that are on the top of your minimus, Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus wanted-list and can tell you where to find all the and Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor. Breeding other species. She can be reached by telephone warbler species are Orange-crowned Vermivora (+204-675-2248) and by e-mail (BChartier@ celata, Yellow Dendroica petechia, Myrtle D coro- compuserve. com). nata, Palm D palmarum and Blackpoll Warblers D striata and Northern Waterthrush Seiurus novebo- References racensis. Breeding sparrows include American Tree Chartier, B 1994. A birder’s guide to Churchill. Colorado Spizella arborea, Savannah Passerculus sand- Springs. wichensis, Fox Passerella iliaca, White-crowned de Knijff, P 1993. Churchill, a sub-Arctic birding hotspot. Zonotrichia leucophrys and Harris’s Sparrows Birding World 6: 284-291. Z querula. Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis is com-

Chris Schenk, Kostmand 52, 1276 CL Huizen, Netherlands ([email protected])

204 Varia

Fuegan Snipe of the video to TP and DR. Both were of the opinion that the bird was a Fuegan Snipe. How- In the southern summer of 1988, we made a trip ever, we were still not completely convinced with the Society Explorer to the Antarctic Pen- because the description and some illustrations of insula. After embarking in Puerto Williams Magellan Snipe G magellanica look very similar (67:39 W, 54:56 S), Antártica Chilena, Chile, we to our Fuegan (eg, Hayman et al 1986). Magellan steamed straight to the Historic Cape Horn mainly differs from Fuegan by its shorter wings (67:15 W, 55:58 S), Antártica Chilena, where we and bill (eg, Blake 1977; note that measurements made a landing in the early morning of 8 given by Hayman et al 1986 differ considerably December. After walking c 500 m through the from those given by Blake 1977). The pale grey- tussocks, we observed a snipe Gallinago show- yellowish legs and the clear facial pattern of ing a peculiar behaviour. It was walking con- ‘our’ bird are very unlike the available illustra- tinuously through the small corridors between tions and descriptions of Fuegan Snipe in del the tussock grass and refused to take flight. A few Hoyo et al (1996). We therefore seeked help photographs and c 5 min of video film were from Theunis Piersma and C S (Kees) Roselaar made. Intrigued by the bird’s behaviour, we con- who were asked to examine the photographs. sulted some literature back home (mainly, From CSR’s conclusions, the remaining doubts Hayman et al 1986) but did not reach a conclu- disappeared and the identification as Fuegan sion on its identity although we strongly suspect- Snipe was established beyond doubt. Important ed the bird to be a Fuegan Snipe (also named features are the round, ‘kiwi-like’ body, the deep- Cordilleran or Strickland’s Snipe) G stricklandii. based bill, the short wings in relation to the tail During a special wader trip to Gabon and and the lack of a broad chestnut subterminal tail Cameroon in 1998, organized by Dave Rosair band seen in other snipe species in this region. and ourselves, we were joined by Tony Prater Because the bird refused to fly but remained and Don Taylor. After many discussions about walking, it was not possible to see its woodcock waders all over the world, we forwarded a copy Scolopax-like wing shape. It is clear that the

221 Fuegan Snipe / Vuurlandsnip Gallinago stricklandii, Historic Cape Horn, Antártica Chilena, Chile, 8 December 1988 (Jacob & Tiny Wijpkema)

[Dutch Birding 21: 205-206, 1999] 205 Varia available illustrations of this species in Hayman in central Chile down to almost sea-level in the et al (1986), Woods (1988) and del Hoyo et al south. It is most common in the southern part of (1996) are inaccurate and thus not very helpful. its range, often appearing on quite small islands. This was one of the reasons why it took so long It is very rare in the Falklands, where there are no to establish a firm identification and to publish documented breeding records nor recent sight- this photograph. Photographs of Fuegan Snipe ings (Hayman et al 1986, Woods 1988). are extremely rare and, as far as we know, have Magellan Snipe is the only other snipe taxon been published before only in Rosair & Cottridge occurring this far south in South America and (1995). therefore the main confusing species. In the Cordilleran Snipe was formerly placed in a southern winter, Magellan Snipe migrates north separate (sub)genus, Chubbia, together with to northern Argentina and Uruguay. Andean Snipe G jamesoni and Imperial Snipe We are grateful to the people mentioned for G imperialis (Hayman et al 1986), although the their help in identifying this bird. Oscar van latter was once given its own (sub)genus, Homo- Rootselaar helped us to obtain information about scopolax. These poorly known species share a Fuegan Snipe. heavy woodcock-like posture and lack a white belly patch. Imperial Snipe is by far the rarest; for References a century, it was known from only two specimens Blake, E R 1977. Manual of Neotropical birds 1. collected near Bogota, Colombia, but was redis- Chicago. covered in 1968 at one locality in southern Peru Hayman, P, Marchant, J & Prater, T 1986. Shorebirds: and was since seen elsewhere in Peru and in an identification guide to the waders of the world. Bolivia and Ecuador (Terborgh & Weske 1972). It London. lives at above 3000 m, around the tree-line, in del Hoyo, J, Elliot, A & Sargatal, J (editors) 1996. damp, mountainous, forested country. Andean Handbook of the birds of the world 3. Barcelona. Snipe occurs in the Andes from Colombia to Johnsgard, P A 1981. The plovers, sandpipers, and Bolivia in marshy areas where montane forest snipes of the world. Lincoln. Rosair, D & Cottridge, D 1995. Photographic guide to grades into grassland, mainly at 3000-3500 m. the waders of the world. London. Fuegan Snipe occurs c 2000 km south of the Terborgh, J W & Weske, J S 1972. Rediscovery of the most southerly breeding Andean Snipes, in a nar- Imperial Snipe in Peru. Auk 89: 497-505 row zone in southern Chile and southern Woods, R W 1988. Guide to the birds of the Falkland Argentina down to Tierra del Fuego, from 3000 m Islands. Oswestry.

Jacob Wijpkema, Damsterweg 67, 9628 BS Siddeburen, Netherlands ([email protected]) Tiny Wijpkema, Damsterweg 67, 9628 BS Siddeburen, Netherlands

Corrigendum

In het artikel over de Dwergooruil Otus scops in de In the article on the European Scops Owl Otus scops at Ooypolder, Ubbergen, Gelderland, in mei-juni 1998 Ooypolder, Ubbergen, Gelderland, the Netherlands, in (Dutch Birding 21: 148-149, 1999) is in de inleiding May-June 1998 (Dutch Birding 21: 148-149, 1999), the per abuis niet de correcte locatie vermeld. De exacte locality of the bird was given incorrectly in the Dutch locatie waar de vogel zich bevond was: langs de text. The exact locality was along Ooyse Bandijk, c 1.5 Ooijse Bandijk c 1.5 km ten noorden van Tiengeboden km north of Tiengeboden and c 1.5 km west of en c 1.5 km ten westen van de Bisonbaai (atlasblok 40- Bisonbaai. EDITORS 43-41). Dit is c 6 km westelijk van de in het artikel aangegeven locatie. REDACTIE

206 Trends in systematics

Relationships among gulls: (1973, 1977). Voous (1975, 1992) pointed out new approaches that the classification of gulls should be consist- ent with that of the terns (and vice versa). He The gulls are currently classified in five to eight argued that placing most species of gulls in Larus genera. All except one of these genera are very is consistent with the facts only if a similarly small. Ross’s Gull Rhodostethia rosea, Ivory Gull wide genus Sterna is recognized for widely dis- Pagophila eburnea and Swallow-tailed Gull parate species of terns, including Caspian Tern Creagrus furcatus are currently placed in mono- S caspia and Little Tern S albifrons. typic genera and the two species of kittiwake are Voous’ list and other contemporary classifica- separated in the genus Rissa. Additional genera tions of gulls were not based on the phylogenetic (ie, Xema, Gabianus and Leucophaeus) are methods that later became dominant in avian sometimes recognized for Sabine’s Gull Larus systematics. The recognition of several mono- sabini, Pacific Gull L pacificus and Dolphin Gull typic or otherwise small genera was based on the Lscoresbii, respectively. The remaining species presence of unique characters (such as a collar are classified in Larus. However, the genus Larus or elongated central tail-feathers) and differences is morphologically extremely diverse and includ- that were judged to be ‘important’ in these spe- es disparate species such as Little Gull L minutus cies (such as a forked tail or a strong and thick and Great Black-backed Gull L marinus. Never- bill). However, groupings resulting from this pro- theless, the current generic classification of the cedure do not necessarily represent natural, gulls of the Northern Hemisphere has been more monophyletic units. Wolters (1971) was among or less stable during the past 20 years which is the first ornithologists to recognize the problems primarily due to the influential lists of Voous of placing some distinctive species in monotypic

222 Dolphin Gulls / Dolfijnmeeuwen Larus scoresbii, Falkland Islands, December 1990 (René Pop)

[Dutch Birding 21: 207-218, 1999] 207 Trends in systematics genera and the remaining taxa in large variable comes several problems that have plagued pre- genera. Wolters (1971), who emphasized the vious studies, such as a lack of a phylogenetic importance of natural, monophyletic higher taxa, framework, insufficient characters and small suggested that large variable genera should be numbers of taxa. Chu used 64 plumage charac- split into smaller, less variable groups to reduce ters and 117 skeletal characters; these data repre- the risk of recognizing unnatural (para- and poly- sent the most extensive evolutionary study ever phyletic) taxa. In his classification, Wolters undertaken on gulls. A large body of literature (1975-82) accepted 12 genera of gulls, many of was covered to assess moult and plumage char- which containing only one to three species. acters, including numerous references to articles Wolters’ classification did not enter mainstream and photographs in the birding literature (Dutch ornithology because leading ornithologists did Birding, Birding, Birding World and British not like his large number of small genera (Bock Birds). Chu assessed the relationships of 58 gull & Farrand 1980, Voous 1992). Among phylo- taxa, which include all species that were genetic systematists, Wolters’ work did not be- recognized by the early 1990s plus a number of come popular as well because it appeared to diagnosable forms not (yet) recognized as spe- suffer from the same problem as Voous’ and cies. Together, these forms represent nearly all other classifications, namely the lack of a detail- valid taxa of gulls, although a few interesting ed character analysis. Palearctic and Australasian taxa were not includ- The introduction of computers in systematics ed (see below). in the 1960s facilitated the analysis of massive data sets. The first quantitative study of gull rela- Evolutionary relationships of gulls tionships was a major and ground-breaking study The new data strongly suggest that the gulls form by Schnell (1970). His study grouped the gulls a natural, monophyletic group, a conclusion according to levels of overall similarity. This supported by 11 derived character states. Though study, however, remained unsuccessful in resolv- the monophyly of gulls is perhaps not surprising, ing evolutionary relationships because it did not it had not been tested before. In the study, the separate similarity based on shared derived char- closest relatives of the gulls are the terns, skuas acter states (which are informative of evolution- and jaegers, which again is not surprising. What ary relationships) from similarity due to con- was surprising, however, was that the skuas and vergence or the retention of primitive characters jaegers turned up among the terns as a sister (which are not informative of relationships). group of the noddies Anous, with Inca Tern Schnell’s study nevertheless represented a major Larosterna inca as the closest relative of the advance in the evolutionary study of gulls and noddy-skua group. This ‘skuas-as-modified-terns’ set the stage for a series of modern studies. hypothesis is supported by features associated Since the late 1970s, a number of attempts with a dark plumage as well as a series of skel- have been made using molecular, cytological etal similarities. Some of the similarities between and other data sets, including chromosomes noddies and skuas were previously noted by (Ryttman et al 1979), immunological data (Rytt- Verheyen (1959). It would be interesting to see if man et al 1980a), proteins (Ryttman et al 1980b, this alliance between skuas and terns will be Ryttman & Tegelström 1981, Snell 1991) and confirmed by further, perhaps molecular, phylo- mitochondrial DNA (Baker 1991, Wink et al genetic assessments. 1994). Most of these analyses involved the ‘large The gulls sorted into two major groups (figure white-headed gull’ complex. However, many of 1). One group is formed by small and medium- these studies had limited success in resolving sized gulls that may be characterized as tern-like. relationships because most species of gulls turn- This group, which Chu has termed ‘the sternine ed out to be extremely similar and insufficient gulls’, includes Ivory, Sabine’s and Swallow-tail- characters could be identified to perform phylo- ed Gulls, the kittiwakes, Little Gull and Ross’s genetic analysis. Moreover, none of these studies Gull and the small hooded gulls. The second included representatives of all currently recog- major group is formed by medium- to large-sized nized genera. The broader picture of gull rela- gulls and may be referred to as ‘the larine gulls’ tionships thus remains unclear and generic limits (for gull-like). Many species in this group have a still lack adequate documentation. white head but the group also includes dark- A new study by Philip Chu (1998) now pro- headed species such as Mediterranean Gull vides a detailed analysis of the phylogenetic rela- L melanocephalus, Pallas’s Gull L ichthyaetus, tionships among gulls. His elaborate study over- Relict Gull L relictus, Hemprich’s Gull L hem-

208 Trends in systematics

skimmers terns and skuas P eburnea Ivory Gull L sabini Sabine’s Gull C furcatus Swallow-tailed Gull R brevirostris Red-legged Kittiwake R (tridactyla) tridactyla Atlantic Kittiwake R (tridactyla) pollicaris Pacific Kittiwake R rosea Ross’s Gull L minutus Little Gull L saundersi Saunders’s Gull L philadelphia Bonaparte’s Gull L serranus Andean Gull L ridibundus Black-headed Gull L genei Slender-billed Gull L maculipennis Brown-hooded Gull L (cirrocephalus) poiocephalus African Grey-headed Gull L (cirrocephalus) cirrocephalus American Grey-headed Gull L brunnicephalus Brown-headed Gull L novaehollandiae Silver Gull L scopulinus Red-billed Gull L bulleri Black-billed Gull L hartlaubii King Gull L melanocephalus Mediterranean Gull L ichthyaetus Pallas’s Gull L relictus Relict Gull L pipixcan Franklin’s Gull L atricilla Laughing Gull L scoresbii Dolphin Gull L hemprichii Hemprich’s Gull L leucophthalmus White-eyed Gull L heermanni Heermann’s Gull L modestus Grey Gull L fuliginosus Lava Gull L belcheri Band-tailed Gull L atlanticus Olrog’s Gull L crassirostris Black-tailed Gull L pacificus Pacific Gull L (dominicanus) vetula Cape Gull L californicus California Gull L audouinii Audouin’s Gull L armenicus Armenian Gull L delawarensis Ring-billed Gull L (canus) canus Common Gull L (canus) kamtschatschensis Kamchatka Gull L (canus) brachyrhynchus Short-billed Gull L livens Yellow-footed Gull L (dominicanus) dominicanus Kelp Gull L graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gull L cachinnans Pontic Gull L marinus Great Black-backed Gull L vegae Vega Gull L schistisagus Slaty-backed Gull L occidentalis Western Gull L smithsonianus American Herring Gull L thayeri Thayer’s Gull L glaucescens Glaucous-winged Gull L (glaucoides) kumlieni Kumlien’s Gull L (glaucoides) glaucoides Iceland Gull L hyperboreus Glaucous Gull

FIGURE 1 Evolutionary relationships among gulls, as inferred from morphological characters (Chu 1998). For clarity, geographic designations in Chu (1998) have been substituted by taxon names

209 Trends in systematics prichii and White-eyed Gull L leucophthalmus, genetic taxonomists, on the other hand, suggest and gulls with largely dark bodies, including that taxonomy should be fully consistent with Heermann’s Gull L heermanni, Grey Gull Lmo- current knowledge of evolutionary relationships, destus and Lava Gull L fuliginosus. even if this might lead to some species being Chu (1998) points out that, among gulls, the reclassified (eg, Sibley 1996, Sangster et al 1998). dark hood is a primitive character – a character To phylogeneticists, representation of evolution- inherited from a common ancestor that has been ary relationships is paramount to the stability of lost or modified in other descendant species. names. Because some species have lost the dark hood A third aspect that merits consideration is the and others have retained it, hoodedness is not a quality of the phylogeny that is used to construct reliable indicator of phylogenetic relationships a taxonomy. Systematists seek to establish phylo- among gulls. genies that are both well-resolved and well- Note that the evolutionary tree (figure 1) supported. A well-resolved phylogeny is com- places Ross’s Gull as the sister-species of Little pletely dichotomous, which means that all Gull, a relationship that was previously suspect- branches in the tree split into no more than two ed on the basis of behavioural and other charac- descendant branches. A well-supported phylo- teristics (Moynihan 1959, Cramp & Simmons geny means that all branches are based on reli- 1983). This means that the current designation of able evidence. The present phylogeny of gulls is a monotypic genus Rhodostethia for Ross’s Gull well-resolved, thus satisfying one criterion of a is no longer warranted. good phylogeny. However, most branches in the The tree depicts the genus Larus as a poly- phylogeny were not well-supported by the data, phyletic group – a group that has two or more which means that not too much confidence independent evolutionary origins. In other should be placed in the groupings depicted in words, the data indicate that the genus Larus figure 1. This should be taken into consideration does not constitute a natural group and needs when the new phylogeny is translated into tax- revision. In such cases, taxonomists basically onomy. have two options: the limits of Larus may be Chu’s work resolved the genus Larus as a poly- expanded to a larger group that encompasses phyletic group and, therefore, some taxonomic other gulls that are presently classified in sepa- adjustments are necessary to let nomenclature rate genera, or the name Larus may be restricted reflect current knowledge of evolutionary rela- to a smaller monophyletic group (see below). tionships. He suggested three alternative taxo- nomic treatments which differ in the number of Taxonomy recognized genera. One way to express phylo- The taxonomic name of an organism (or group of genetic relationships is to recognize six genera: organisms) has a dual function. First, a name pro- vides information about the evolutionary rela- 1 genus Pagophila (Ivory Gull) tionships of the organism(s) as determined by 2 genus Xema (Sabine’s and Swallow-tailed Gull) systematic analysis. Second, an organism’s name 3 genus Rissa (the kittiwakes) is ‘the key to its literature’ and helps biologists to 4 genus Hydrocoloeus (Little and Ross’s Gull) retrieve information about that taxon. There is 5 genus Chroicocephalus (Saunders’s Gull to some tension between these functions because a King Gull, figure 1) well-known scientific name of a species might 6 genus Larus (the larine gulls) not accurately reflect the evolutionary relation- ships of that species. This arrangement preserves four of the five to Taxonomists differ in the priority they assign to eight currently used genus names. It also pre- these functions. Voous (1992) suggested that the serves information about some of the major recognition of genera should not be considered a groupings in Chu’s study. A drawback of this necessary means of expressing evolutionary rela- arrangement is that several species would be- tionships, a presumption that he considered to be come known by a different name. Little and ‘an unwelcome heritage of 19th century think- Ross’s Gulls would become known as Hydro- ing’. Voous (1992) believed that the general coloeus minutus and Hydrocoloeus roseus, public is more interested in the name of a genus respectively; most of the remaining smaller gulls, than in the genus itself. He suggested that prag- including Saunders’s Gull L saundersi, Bona- matic rather than scientific values should be parte’s Gull L philadelphia, Black-headed Gull attached to bird genera and their naming. Phylo- L ridibundus and Slender-billed Gull L genei,

210 Trends in systematics

223 Brown-hooded Gull / Patagonische Kokmeeuw Larus maculipennis, Falkland Islands, December 1990 (René Pop) 224 Short-billed Gull / Amerikaanse Stormmeeuw Larus (canus) brachyrhynchus, Vancouver Island, Canada, 17 September 1998 (René Pop)

211 Trends in systematics

225 Red-billed Gull / Roodsnavelmeeuw Larus scopulinus, New Zealand, January 1997 (Theo Roersma) 226 Black- billed Gull / Zwartsnavelmeeuw Larus bulleri, New Zealand, January 1997 (Theo Roersma) 227 King Gull / Hartlaubs Meeuw Larus hartlaubii, Namibia, 30 March 1999 (Arnoud B van den Berg)

212 Trends in systematics would be placed in the genus Chroicocephalus. considered to barely justify recognition of these Another drawback of this arrangement is that taxa (Cramp & Simmons 1983) but Chu (1998) several of these groups are poorly supported by was able to discern differences in several ana- the data. tomical and plumage characters. A second way to express phylogenetic rela- Silver Gulls L novaehollandiae from Australia tionships is to recognize two genera: (Ln novaehollandiae) and New Zealand (Ln sco- pulinus) did not emerge as each other’s closest 1 genus Xema (the sternine gulls) relatives. Instead, those from New Zealand lined 2 genus Larus (the larine gulls) up with Black-billed Gull L bulleri and King (or Hartlaub’s) Gull L hartlaubii whereas those from In this classification, the name Xema (which Australia assumed a more basal position (figure currently is sometimes used for Sabine’s Gull 1). Another study based on mitochondrial DNA only) would become the generic name for close (Baker 1991) also associated the New Zealand to half the number of species of gulls, which population with Black-billed Gull and placed most ornithologists would probably find un- Australian birds at the base (King Gull was not desirable. More importantly, both groups are included in this study). The fact that two studies poorly supported by the data. failed to document a sister-relationship between A third possibility is to expand the genus Larus the two Silver Gull taxa lend some support to to include all species of gulls. This is the option recent views (del Hoyo et al 1996, Sibley 1996) that Chu (1998) prefers. He argued that even that the New Zealand bird should be treated as a though this alternative does not provide informa- full species: Red-billed Gull L scopulinus. tion about the basic groups of gulls, it is prefer- Surprisingly, Kelp Gulls L dominicanus in able to the other two arrangements because it South Africa (ie, Ld vetula) did not associate does not recognize any poorly supported groups with South American Kelp Gulls (ie, Ld domini- and minimises the number of species reassigned canus). The South African and South American to another genus. This alternative thus promotes forms of Kelp Gull were separated as recently as the stability of names, and is still consistent with 1979 (Brooke & Cooper 1979) but now appear the phylogenetic tree obtained. The placement of only distantly related. If the non-sister-relation- all species in Larus is not unprecedented; based ship among kelp gulls is correct and these lin- on behavioural similarities, Moynihan (1959) eages represent independent branches in the gull also suggested this treatment. tree, then there is no reason to keep them as sub- species in a single species. Chu’s study suggests Gull species that the characters that were originally used to The study by Chu (1998) provides information on include them in the same species (dark upper- the relationships of many forms, which provides parts, limited streaking on head in winter plum- a test of the monophyly of several putative ‘poly- age, greenish or yellowish legs and feet) are typic’ species. Most ‘polytypic’ species taxa were primitive and hence are no valid basis for group- recognized on the basis of gross similarity and ing them. may not represent natural, monophyletic groups. The new data also suggest that herring gulls The new work by Chu (1998) suggests that sever- from north-eastern Asia (ie, Vega Gull L vegae) al previously accepted polytypic species do not and North America (ie, American Herring Gull represent monophyletic groups. However, as Lsmithsonianus) are not sister taxa (figure 1). with any phylogenetic study, the relationships Further studies must determine how closely Vega inferred in Chu’s (1998) study represent hypoth- Gull and American Herring Gull are related to, eses, which are subject to further testing. eg, Heuglin’s Gull L heuglini and European The analysis suggests that Grey-headed Gulls Herring Gull Largentatus. The latter two species in South America (L cirrocephalus cirrocephalus) were not included in Chu’s study. are not sister to those in Africa (Lc poiocepha- Evidence for Thayer’s Gull’s L thayeri evo- lus); instead they appear more closely related to lutionary relationship to other gulls has been con- Brown-headed Gull L brunnicephalus. Differ- tradictory, with previous studies variously align- ences in the external morphology of the two ing it with (American) Herring Gull, Grey-headed Gulls are not impressive (Lc poio- Glaucous-winged Gull L glaucescens and Iceland cephalus is smaller, has darker grey upperparts Gull L glaucoides. Chu’s study (figure 1) suggests and wings and has more black on the wing-tips that Thayer’s Gull is more closely related to than Lc cirrocephalus). These differences were Glaucous-winged Gull than either is to Iceland

213 Trends in systematics

228 African Grey-headed Gull / Afrikaanse Grijskopmeeuw Larus (cirrocephalus) poiocephalus, Namibia, July 1997 (Peter Scova Righini) 229 Cape Gull / Kaapse Meeuw Larus (dominicanus) vetula, Namibia, July 1997 (Peter Scova Righini)

214 Trends in systematics

Gull. Given the limitations imposed by the speci- unnatural). If one rejects such assemblages as mens that Chu examined, the treatment of species, then none of the above assemblages can Thayer’s Gull as a variant or subspecies of be treated as a single species, at least given the Iceland Gull is not supported. Instead, Thayer’s evidence assembled in Chu’s study. In other Gull is grouped with Glaucous-winged Gull, a words, if the phylogenetic relationships inferred relationship first suggested by Bishop (1944). by Chu are correct, all the aforementioned taxa Another striking result was that Iceland Gulls should be treated as full species. This would from Greenland (ie, Iceland Gull Lg glaucoides) result in the recognition of several additional spe- and Canada (ie, Kumlien’s Gull Lg kumlieni) did cies taxa: African Grey-headed Gull L poiocepha- not emerge as sister-taxa. Lg glaucoides and lus, Red-billed Gull L scopulinus, Cape Gull Glaucous Gull L hyperboreus appear more close- L vetula, and Kumlien’s Gull L kumlieni. Only ly related to each other than either is to Lg kum- Red-billed Gull is sometimes accepted as a dis- lieni (figure 1). The characteristics by which Lg tinct species (del Hoyo et al 1996, Sibley 1996), glaucoides and Lg kumlieni are currently group- whereas recognition of African Grey-headed Gull ed – limited melanism on the primaries in adult and Cape Gull as full species would be novel. To winter plumage, purplish eye-ring in adult sum- my knowledge, Sutton (1968) has been the only mer plumage and relatively small size – are infer- recent author to support species status for red as primitive within the pale-winged gull Kumlien’s Gull. However, given the controversial complex and are thus not informative for group- status, origin and relationships of Kumlien’s Gull, ing (Chu 1998). The grouping of Iceland Gull and the rather small differences beween the Grey- with Glaucous Gull is a consequence of the ad- headed Gull taxa and between Kelp and Cape ditional reduction in primary pigmentation that Gulls, these changes are unlikely to be accepted these species share (Chu 1998). The significance without corroboration by further evidence. of this result is that no hybridization scenario has The evolutionary tree (figure 1) also indicates to be invoked to explain the morphological char- that Mew Gulls L canus in eastern Asia (ie, acters of Kumlien’s Gull. The current classifica- Kamchatka Gull Lc kamtschatschensis) are more tion suggests that Iceland and Glaucous Gulls closely related to those in North America (ie, independently evolved all-white adult plumages Short-billed Gull Lc brachyrhynchus) than either and many ornithologists believe that the plumage is to those in Europe (ie, Common Gull Lc characters of Kumlien’s Gull are the result of past canus). Sibley (1996) treated Short-billed Gull as hybridization of Thayer’s and Iceland Gulls a separate species based on DNA comparisons (Weber 1981, Garner & McGeehan 1998). Chu’s (Zink et al 1995). If Short-billed Gull is regarded study allows a simpler scenario. The common as a separate species, the new findings imply that ancestor of Kumlien’s, Iceland and Glaucous Kamchatka Gull should also be treated as a full Gulls had limited black on the primaries. This species because it is closer to Short-billed Gull black was subsequently lost in the lineage lead- than to Common Gull. Interest in this group is ing to Iceland and Glaucous Gulls but was likely to grow as diagnostic differences in im- retained in the lineage leading to Kumlien’s Gull. mature plumages have recently been document- Put another way, the white primaries of adult ed for Common, Kamchatka and Short-billed Iceland and Glaucous Gulls evolved only once Gulls (Carey & Kennerley 1996; see also Tove and evolved after Kumlien’s Gull branched off. 1993) and because vagrants have been reported Note, however, that Chu’s study does not falsify a on other continents (Kwater 1992, Tove 1993, hybrid origin of Kumlien’s Gull; phylogenetic Carey & Kennerley 1996). analyses are designed to reconstruct a diverging An unexpected result was that Armenian Gull (branching) pattern of relationships and are not L armenicus did not line up with Pontic Gull capable of testing converging patterns of rela- L cachinnans but with the Mew Gull complex tionships such as those of hybrid taxa. The above and Ring-billed Gull L delawarensis. Until the hypothesis should be viewed as a viable alter- mid-1980s, Armenian Gull was not even recog- native to the current hybridization scenario. nized as a valid taxon and was regarded as a Subsequent studies should determine which of synonym of the yellow-legged group of gulls in these ideas provides the best explanation for the the southern part of the Palearctic. Subsequent variation observed in this group. work, both in the field (Dubois 1985, Buzun Chu (1998) noted that in each of the above 1993) and the museum (Cramp & Simmons cases the species name refers to an assemblage 1983), has shown that Armenian Gull is a diag- that is demonstrably para- or polyphyletic (ie, nosable species. The alliance of Armenian Gull

215 Trends in systematics with Mew and Ring-billed Gulls is unconven- ships because the whale and monkey are more tional and needs further corroboration. closely related to each other than either is to the Western Gull L occidentalis and Glaucous- kangaroo. All three characteristics are believed winged Gull form a broad hybrid zone in west- to have been present in the common ancestor of ern North America (Bell 1996, 1997) but did not living mammals and are thus not helpful to infer emerge as sister-taxa in Chu’s analysis. Extensive relationships because all three species belong to hybridization between distantly related taxa the mammals. Such shared primitive characters undercuts the use of hybridization as a basis for are known as symplesiomorphies in systematists’ lumping taxa. Thus, contrary to past practice, jargon. Whales are different from the other two hybridization alone can no longer be cited as groups but these characteristics arose after they evidence that gull taxa are conspecific. branched off from the common ancestor of whales and monkeys. These newly evolved char- Discussion acters are called apomorphies by systematists. Taken at face value, Chu’s (1998) report suggests Apomorphies (such as the unique characters of the need for a thorough taxonomic revision of Ross’s Gull) and symplesiomorphies (such as the the gulls. It remains to be seen whether such a similarities of the two Kelp Gulls, and Kumlien’s revision will become quickly and widely accept- and Iceland Gulls) are invalid characters to ed by mainstream ornithology. A major challenge group taxa; only synapomorphies are evidence of for ornithologists will be to overcome biases a common evolutionary history. about relationships suggested by traditional tax- Though phylogenetic systematics is simple in onomies. For instance, at first glance, the differ- theory, in practice it can be difficult to find ences between adult Ross’s and Little Gulls in enough characters that unambiguously indicate breeding plumage seem considerable, and on relationships. Chu’s study is methodologically this basis it may appear that they are not closely sound and well-executed, yet due to the varia- related. Indeed, the recognition of the genus bility of many characters several parts of his tree Rhodostethia for Ross’s Gull is entirely based on are poorly supported and must be treated with differences from other gulls. However, the basis caution. This need not depress us: systematists for establishing phylogenetic relationships and, are in the business of erecting hypotheses. Chu’s hence, the recognition of genera, is not the exist- study is the first modern hypothesis of the rela- ence of differences but of derived similarities, of tionships among gulls, and others will soon fol- which in the case of Ross’s and Little Gulls there low. Molecular analyses are now under way in at are several (Chu 1998). It is the new discovery, least four laboratories. These will focus on both through phylogenetic analysis, of such derived the basic structure of the tree and the parts that similarities (synapomorphies in systematists’ jar- have attracted special attention such as the ‘large gon) that forms the basis for new ideas of rela- white-headed gull’ complex of which coverage tionships. in the present study has been incomplete. When Given the similarities between dominicanus key taxa, such as Herring Gull, Baltic Gull L fus- and vetula Kelp Gulls and between Kumlien’s cus, Heuglin’s Gull, Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull and Iceland Gulls, what are birders to make of L michahellis atlantis, Mediterranean Yellow-leg- the suggestion that the members of these pairs ged Gull Lm michahellis and Baraba Gull are not closely related? A common theme in L cachinnans barabensis, are added it will be- Chu’s study is that several of the characters that come possible to address issues that so far were previously used by taxonomists are not remained unresolved. For instance, 1 does the indicative of evolutionary relationships because southern Palearctic yellow-legged group of taxa they are primitive. A central tenet of phylo- represent a natural, monophyletic group?; 2 is genetic systematics is that it is not enough for Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull more closely related organisms to share characteristics; two species to Lesser Black-backed Gull L graellsii (as sug- may share a great number of characters and still gested by its head-streaking in winter and its ori- not be considered members of the same group. ginal description as a subspecies of the latter) Consider a kangaroo, a monkey and a whale. than to Mediterranean Yellow-legged Gull?; 3 is The kangaroo and monkey are both terrestrial, Armenian Gull sister to Heuglin’s Gull (as sug- are largely covered by hair and have two fully- gested by Bourne 1993), to Baraba Gull (which developed hind legs, and one might therefore in the Arabian Gulf has been confused with suppose a close relationship. These similarities, Armenian Gull) or to the Mew Gull complex (as however, do not indicate phylogenetic relation- suggested by Chu’s study)?; and 4 is Heuglin’s

216 Trends in systematics

Gull a member of the Baltic Gull-Lesser Black- References backed Gull group, as suggested by some classi- Baker, A J 1991. A review of New Zealand ornithology. fications (Cramp & Simmons 1983)? Curr Ornithol 8: 1-67. Gull systematics now increasingly focuses on Bell, D A 1996. Genetic differentiation, geographic phylogenetic relationships, yet in some cases the variation and hybrization in gulls of the Larus glau- cescens-occidentalis complex. Condor 98: 527-546. taxonomic status of basal taxa has not been Bell, D A 1997. Hybridization and reproductive per- elucidated. For instance, very little attention has formance in gulls of the Larus glaucescens-occiden- been paid to the distinctive New Caledonian form talis complex. Condor 99: 585-594. of Silver Gull Ln forsteri, and to the western sub- Bishop, L B 1944. Ornithological notes from Point species Lp georgii of Pacific Gull. These forms Barrow, Alaska. Field Mus Nat Hist Zool Ser 29: are distinct in plumage and bare parts, respective- 181-190. ly (Higgins & Davies 1996) and deserve further Bock, W J & Farrand, J 1980. The number of species appraisal. The status of Thayer’s Gull and and genera of recent birds: a contribution to com- Kumlien’s Gull, in contrast, has received consider- parative systematics. Am Mus Novit 2703: 1-29. Bourne, W R P 1993. The relationship between the able attention from ornithologists and birders but Armenian and Heuglin’s Gulls. In: Aguilar, J S, so far no consensus has been reached. A funda- Monbailliu, X & Paterson, A M (editors), Status and mental concern is whether Thayer’s Gull, conservation of seabirds, Proc 2nd Mediterr Seabird Kumlien’s Gull and Iceland Gull are discrete taxa Symp, Madrid, pp 57-58. in the first place (Howell 1998). In the past, the Brooke, R K & Cooper, J 1979. The distinctiveness of question of whether Thayer’s Gull, Kumlien’s Gull southern African Larus dominicanus (Aves: Laridae). and Iceland Gull are valid taxa has been confused Durban Mus Novit 12: 27-37. with several other relevant questions, such as: Buzun, V A 1993. [Armenian Gull Larus armenicus 1 what is the evolutionary origin of these taxa, Buturlin, 1934: morpho-biometrical and behavioural distinctions with indication of taxonomic status.] and of Kumlien’s Gull in particular?; 2 how are Russ J Ornithol 2: 471-490. [In Russian.] the three forms phylogenetically related?; Carey, G J & Kennerley, P R 1996. ‘Mew’ Gull: the first 3 should these taxa be ranked as species or as record for Hong Kong and the identification and sys- subspecies?; 4 what are the interactions (if any) of tematics of Common Gull forms in East Asia. Hong Thayer’s Gull, Kumlien’s Gull and Iceland Gull on Kong Bird Rep 1995: 134-149. the breeding grounds?; 5 how can Thayer’s Gull, Chu, P C 1998. A phylogeny of the gulls (Aves: Larinae) Kumlien’s Gull and Iceland Gull be identified in inferred from osteological and integumentary char- the field? Unless these issues are treated separate- acters. Cladistics 14: 1-43. ly, interpretations of the status and relationships of Cramp, S & Simmons, K E L (editors) 1983. The birds of the Western Palearctic 3. Oxford. these forms are likely to remain controversial. Dubois, P J 1985. Considérations sur le Goéland Studies into gull phylogeny and taxonomy pro- d’Arménie Larus armenicus Buturlin en Israël. ceed at full tilt and birders are likely to witness a Alauda 53: 226-228. change in the number of species of gulls as well Garner, M & McGeehan, A 1998. Identification of juve- as changes in the scientific names of some spe- nile and first-winter Thayer’s Gull. Birding World 11: cies. In the meantime, birders should continue to 94-101. closely study little-known plumages and taxa, the Garner, M & Quinn, D 1997. Identification of Yellow- results of which have already produced many legged Gulls in Britain. Br Birds 90: 25-62. important insights (Carey & Kennerley 1996, Higgins, P J & Davies, S J J F (editors) 1996. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic birds 3. Garner & Quinn 1997, Klein & Gruber 1997, Melbourne. Jonsson 1998). Because such descriptions are Howell, S N G 1998. Shades of gray: the catch 22 of likely to be used by systematists, progress in field Thayer’s Gull? Birders J 7: 305-309. identification of gulls will be particularly gratify- del Hoyo, J, Elliot, A & Sargatal, J (editors) 1996. ing to the many gull aficionados who are Handbook of the birds of the World 3. Barcelona. increasingly asking evolutionary questions. Jonsson, L 1998. Baltic Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus fuscus – moult, ageing and identification. Acknowledgements Birding World 11: 295-317. I am grateful to W H (Ted) Hoogendoorn who Klein, R & Gruber, D 1997. Die Bestimmung und taxo- nomische Stellung der in Mitteleuropa auftretenden reviewed the manuscript, offered many sugges- Weißkopfmöwen Larus cachinnans. Limicola 11: 49- tions and provided literature references. His help 75. greatly improved the text. Kwater, E 1992. Pennsylvania’s first Mew Gull, with notes on its racial identification. Pennsylvania Birds 6: 8-9.

217 Trends in systematics

Moynihan, M 1959. A revision of the family Laridae Sutton, G M 1968. [Review of N G Smith (1966), (Aves). Am Mus Novit 1928: 1-42. Evolution of some arctic gulls: an experimental study Ryttman, H & Tegelström, H 1981. Low degree of iso- of isolating mechanisms.] Auk 85: 142-145. zyme variation within and between Herring Gull Tove, M H 1993. Field separation of Ring-billed, Mew, (Larus argentatus), Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus Common, and Kamchatka Gulls. Birding 25: 386- fuscus) and their British and Swedish subspecies. 401. Hereditas 94: 161-164. Verheyen, R 1959. Note sur la systematique de base Ryttman, H, Tegelström, H & Jansson, H 1979. G- and des Lariformes. Bull Inst R Sci Nat Belg 35(9): 1-16. C-banding in four related Larus species (Aves). Voous, K H 1973. List of recent Holarctic bird species. Hereditas 91: 143-148. Non-passerines. Ibis 115: 612-638. Ryttman, H, Tegelström, H & Jansson, H 1980a. Voous, K H 1975. An aberrant Reed Warbler, or: on the Immunoelectrophoretical comparison of sera from inequality of genera in birds. Ardeola 21: 977-985. Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) and Lesser Black- Voous, K H 1977. List of recent Holarctic bird species. backed Gull (Larus fuscus) (Aves). Hereditas 92: 113- London. 116. Voous, K H 1992. Reflections on the genus in ornithol- Ryttman, H, Tegelström, H & Jansson, H 1980b. ogy. Bull Br Ornithol Club Centen Suppl 112A: 261- Isozyme differences in three related Larus species 266. (Aves). Hereditas 92: 117-122. Weber, J W 1981. The Larus gulls of the Pacific North- Sangster G, Hazevoet, C J, van den Berg, A B & west’s interior, with taxonomic comments on several Roselaar, C S 1998. Dutch avifaunal list: species forms (Part 1). Cont Birdlife 2: 1-10. concepts, taxonomic instability, and taxonomic Wink, M, Kahl, U & Heidrich, P 1994. Lassen sich changes in 1998. Dutch Birding 20: 22-32. Silber-, Weißkopf- und Heringsmöwe (Larus argenta- Schnell, G D 1970. A phenetic study of the suborder tus, L. cachinnans, L. fuscus) molekulargenetisch Lari (Aves) II. Phenograms, discussion, and con- unterschieden? J Ornithol 135: 73-80. clusions. Syst Zool 19: 264-302. Wolters, H E 1971. Probleme der Gattungsbegrenzung Sibley, C G 1996. Birds of the world. Version 2.0. in der Ornithologie. Bonn Zool Beitr 22: 210-219. Cincinnati. Wolters, H E 1975-82. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Berlin. Snell, R R 1991. Interspecific allozyme differentiation Zink, R M, Rohwer, S, Andreev, A V & Dittmann, D L among North Atlantic white-headed larid gulls. Auk 1995. Trans-Beringia comparisons of mitochondrial 108: 319-328. DNA differentiation in birds. Condor 97: 639-649.

George Sangster, Nieuwe Rijn 27, 2312 JD Leiden, Netherlands

DBA-nieuws

Uitverkochte nummers van Dutch Birding De inza- Gunter De Smet nieuw redactielid Met ingang van 1 melingsactie van uitverkochte nummers van Dutch juli 1999 is Gunter De Smet uit Gentbrugge, België, als Birding (cf Dutch Birding 20: 242, 299, 1998) is een nieuw lid toegetreden tot de redactie van Dutch groot succes geworden. Inclusief het volgende nummer Birding; voorheen leverde GDS al met enige regelmaat zijn exact 100 nummers van Dutch Birding verschenen bijdragen als lid van de redactieadviesraad. GDS is en tot voor kort stonden 52 daarvan te boek als zijnde voorzitter van het Belgisch Avifaunistisch Homologatie- uitverkocht. Wij zijn erin geslaagd van ieder uitver- Comité (BAHC) en verder bekend als redactielid van kocht nummer exemplaren te bemachtigen en geïnte- Oriolus en als actief vogelaar in België en ver daarbui- resseerden verwijzen wij naar de mededeling en adver- ten. Met deze personele uitbreiding hoopt de redactie tentie in het volgende nummer van Dutch Birding. onder meer de banden met het Belgische vogelen ver- der te versterken. De volledige bezetting van de redac- Out-of-stock back issues of Dutch Birding The request tie is te vinden in het colofon. for out-of-stock back issues (cf Dutch Birding 20: 243, 299, 1998) has been very successful. Including the next Gunter De Smet new editorial member From 1 July issue, exactly 100 issues of Dutch Birding have been 1999, Gunter De Smet from Gentbrugge, Belgium, has published. Of these, 52 were officially out-of-stock, but joined the editorial board of Dutch Birding. GDS is we managed to obtain copies of every one of them. chairman of the Belgian rarities committee (BAHC) and Those interested are referred to the announcement and well-known as an active birder in Belgium and far advertisement which will appear in the next issue of abroad. The complete line-up of the editorial board Dutch Birding. can be found on the inside of the cover.

218 [Dutch Birding 21: 218, 1999] Aankondigingen & verzoeken

BOU Records Committee completes its Taxonomic committee for 12 years. He is editor of Vogelwelt and Sub-committee There was a good response to the serves on the editorial boards of Limicola and Journal recent invitation for applicants to join the Taxonomic für Ornithologie (in 1985, he was also one of Dutch Sub-committee (TSC) of the British Ornithologists’ Birding’s editors). He is a research scientist at the Union Records Committee (BOURC). Two new mem- University of Greifswald and director of Vogelwarte bers have been appointed to bring the TSC up to its Hiddensee. His research interests are in bird migration, increased strength of six members, chaired by Tony orientation and, more recently, molecular phylogeny Marr. The new members are Martin Collinson and population genetics of birds. He has a particular (Scotland) and George Sangster (Netherlands). interest in ornithological systematics, species concepts Martin Collinson is a genetics researcher at the and those complexes of bird species that are at the Medical School of Edinburgh University. He is a keen transition between subspecies and species, such as birdwatcher and amateur ornithologist, well-travelled large gulls, chiffchaffs and some other warblers. He has in the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. He has published many papers on these topics. been a member of the editorial board of British Birds Tony Marr will chair the TSC until December 1999, since June 1998 and recently wrote the lead article when he will hand over the chairmanship to Tony ‘Subspecies – more than meets the eye?’ He will be Prater while continuing as chairman of the BOURC. known to many as a regular and responsible contribu- The TSC now includes all the members of the tor to UKBirdNet (Internet discussion group) debates Taxonomic Sub-committee of the Association of and discussions. European Rarities Committees (AERC), who are George Sangster, one of Dutch Birding’s editors, is Andreas Helbig, Alan Knox, David Parkin and George well known as an active member of the Dutch commit- Sangster. This should help to consolidate and acceler- tee for avian systematics (CSNA) who has prepared ate the work being carried out by AERC in (amongst most of the taxonomic summaries and proposals which others) producing an agreed European list of species. have been published in Dutch Birding since early 1996. The BOURC now has a strong taxonomic team on In that connection, he has documented all relevant lit- board, well equipped and well placed to try to meet erature on species concepts, classifications, taxonomy the expectations of both the scientific and birding com- and population genetics of Western Palearctic birds munities. We will do our best to do so. An Action Plan which will be very helpful to the TSC in its discussions. is being prepared which will be finalized and publish- A keen proponent of the Phylogenetic Species Concept, ed soon after the biennial meeting of the AERC in his contributions to the TSC will undoubtedly lead to September. This will include an agreed species defi- lively and constructive debate and help to build bridges nition; a list of the species on which the new TSC is between the PSC and the Biological Species Concept. working; and when results can be expected. The full membership of the TSC is now Martin For further information please contact: Tony Marr Collinson, Andreas Helbig, Alan Knox, David Parkin, (chairman), BOURC, c/o The Natural History Museum, Tony Prater and George Sangster. Akeman Street, Tring, Hertfordshire HP23 6AP, tele- Andreas Helbig joined the TSC in January 1999 and phone +44-1263741313, fax +44-1442890693, e-mail is well-known as a member of the German rarities [email protected]. Recensies

MARK BEAMAN & STEVE MADGE 1998. The handbook of gingen leiden: Mark Beaman Birdquest en Steve Madge bird identification for Europe and the Western Limosa. Palearctic. Christopher Helm/A&C Black, 35 Bedford Maar in 1997 kon je het bestellen onder de wel zeer Row, Londen WC1R 4JH, UK. 868 pp. ISBN 0-7136- pretentieuze titel Handbook of Bird Identification 3960-1. GBP 65.00. (HBI). De verschijningsdatum werd enige malen uitge- steld, maar eind 1998/begin 1999 kwam het eindelijk Reeds in 1979 hoorde ik van een op stapel staand boek beschikbaar na een vooral in de Britse tijdschriften zeer dat alle soorten van de WP in één deel zou bevatten en groot opgezette reclamecampagne. Vooral in deze tijd- dat de afmetingen zou krijgen van het toen net ver- schriften was de euforie groot, maar tegelijkertijd ver- schenen deel 1 van Birds of the Western Palearctic. schenen er bijvoorbeeld op het ‘Euro Bird Net’ negatie- Jarenlang werd er niets van vernomen, behalve af en ve berichten over grove onvolkomendheden. Na enig toe een aankondiging dat er aan werd gewerkt, en op geblader was ik zelf nogal teleurgesteld en aanvanke- een gegeven moment een bericht dat de beide auteurs lijk wilde ik een recensie schrijven waarbij de pen in ruzie zouden hebben en elk hun eigen vogelreisbureau gif zou zijn gedoopt.

[Dutch Birding 21: 219-223, 1999] 219 Recensies

HBI zou over identificatie gaan en inderdaad wordt ging mogen hebben: ‘As seen through the eyes of the er een 32 pagina’s tellende introductie gegeven over 1980s’ of ‘An historic overview of the years 1800- identificatie maar er is geen diepgang wat betreft moei- 1986’ Voor ingewikkelde identificatievraagstukken blijf lijke identificatievraagstukken, althans niet de diepgang ik vooralsnog vertrouwen op de op pagina 853 van de tegenwoordig bekende tijdschriften die zich genoemde ‘birding journals’. JAN VAN DER LAAN met identificatieproblematiek bezighouden. Een vluchtige blik op de verspreidingskaarten laten veel fouten of onvolkomenheden zien: Kwak Nycti- DICK FORSMAN 1999. The raptors of Europe and the corax nycticorax broedt niet in Denemarken of Middle East: a handbook of field identification. T & AD Zweden; Porseleinhoen Porzana porzana, Kwartel- Poyser Ltd, 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX, UK. koning Crex crex en Grote Karekiet Acrocephalus arun- 589 pp. ISBN 0-85661-098-4. GBP 29.95. dinaceus broeden niet in België; Morinelplevier Chara- drius morinellus zou nog steeds in de Flevopolder The identification of Western Palearctic raptors has broeden; de nooit geverifieerde broedgevallen van received some special attention in recent decades. It Bergfluiter Phylloscopus bonelli eind jaren 1970 op de started off with the then ground-breaking Flight identifi- Zuidwest-Veluwe leven ook hier nog voort; en de vesti- cation of European raptors by R F Porter, Ian Willis, ging van Zwartkopmeeuw Larus melanocephalus in Steen Christensen and Bent P Nielsen (first published Nederland is de auteurs ontgaan. 1974), followed by Raptors of north-western Europe by Naarmate ik meer in het boek las werd me duidelijk Dick Forsman (first published 1980) and Birds of prey dat er iets anders aan de hand was. Een van de redac- of Britain & Europe, North Africa and the Middle East teuren van Dutch Birding vertelde me dat de tekst al in by Benny GensbøI (first published 1984). Dick Forsman de jaren 1980 gereed was en kijkend naar de platen has now crowned his decades-long study of raptors werd dat toen meteen duidelijk. De Engelse Laurel with the publication of a book that makes (or should Tucker overleed in 1986, maar toch is een groot deel make) all previous ones redundant. It covers all 43 rap- van de platen van haar hand. Peter Hayman zou in tor species (with Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus 1986 zijn voorlopige hoogtepunt bereiken met Shore- and Barbary Falcon Falco (peregrinus) pelegrinoides birds, Hilary Burn in 1988 met Wildfowl, gevolgd door receiving separate ‘species’ accounts) regularly breed- Crows & jays in 1994. De tekeningen in HBI lijken dui- ing in the WP. To some, it may be a disappointment delijk een voorstudie te zijn voor bovengenoemde wer- that some species breeding on the verge of the WP or ken, want in HBI komen ze houterig, oppervlakkig en occurring as vagrants only (and therefore of special tweedimensionaal over. De tekeningen van Laurel interest from an identification point of view) are not Tucker (in mijn ogen toch na die van Dan Zetterström treated, such as Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilo- de beste in HBI) zijn een afspiegeling van wat toen rhyncus, Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax, Verreaux’s Eagle bekend was over deze soorten. Ter illustratie: Siberische A verreauxi, Amur Falcon F amurenis, Shikra Accipiter Sprinkhaanzanger Locustella certhiola mist de lichte badius and (other) species from Morocco and the Cape puntjes op de tertials, iets wat wel in de tekst ter sprake Verde Islands. However, Forsman has clearly chosen to komt; het kenmerk werd pas in 1991 gepubliceerd. De present only those species which he has studied him- tekeningen van Martin Elliott lijken van latere datum, self extensively, with Egypt being the only African omdat de recent afgesplitste Siberische Heuglins country covered by this book. He is currently working Meeuw L heuglini als aparte soort aandacht krijgt (wat on a book covering the African raptors (which explains taxonomie betreft volgen de auteurs Beaman’s eigen his regular trips to Ethiopia), which may in time solve Palearctic birds: a checklist of the birds of Europe, the problem partially – and if Asia follows next, there North Africa and Asia north of the foothills of the should in the end be little to complain about for WP Himalayas uit 1994). Echter, de afgebeelde platen én de birders! tekst van de tegenwoordig populaire taxa als L fuscus, Because of these geographical limitations (curiously, L cachinnans en L heuglini zullen niet leiden tot een according to the title page, the Netherlands are not toename van meldingen in bijvoorbeeld Nederland of included!), there is sometimes a lack of reference to Engeland; de tekenaar lijkt met name geïnspireerd te possible extralimital confusion species which may zijn door de veeldelige videoserie van Bob Ross (die cause problems. For instance, when naming possible van die landschappen, vorig jaar nog op TV10 te confusion species of Eurasian Griffon Vulture Gyps ful- zien...) vus, I think it would have been wise to at least mention Daarom maakte mijn teleurstelling en scepsis snel a number of Asian and African species that can look plaats voor een milder oordeel en besloot ik het boek very similar, especially in immature plumage. The maar te nemen zoals het is: een historisch overzicht recent records of Rüppell’s Griffon Vultures G rueppel- van wat halverwege de jaren 1980 bekend was over lii in Spain (from whatever origin) indicate that a herkenning en voorkomen van soorten uit de WP broader scope is sometimes essential to achieve the (ondanks latere toevoegingen zoals bijvoorbeeld correct identification. Aziatische Wespendief Pernis ptilorhyncus). The book covers each species with text and colour Slotconclusie: een mooi boek met redelijke platen photographs. The choice of the 737 (!) photographs en een redelijke tekst, maar 10 jaar te laat verschenen. and their general quality is excellent and each series De titel van het boek zou voor mij dan ook de toevoe- mostly depicts all subsequent plumages from juvenile

220 Recensies to adult. In this way, Forsman stresses the importance came booming ‘business’ and increasing numbers of to always (try to) age a raptor during the process of twitchers focussed on their country lists. By then, only identification. Most photographs are of birds in flight – few ventured far away and Jelle Scharringa recognized which is obviously how most raptors are seen and stud- and promoted the vast potential of the orient for west- ied – but perched birds are illustrated in one or more ern birders. During his trips, he recorded a large num- photographs for every species and in-hand photographs ber of bird sounds and this collection became the start are sometimes added to illustrate finer details. for a new CD-ROM which provides easy access to a Remarkably, there are no flight photographs of Spanish large number of bird sounds and images. Imperial Eagle A adalberti which is illustrated with four This CD-ROM combines 800 sound recordings (477 photographs only (three of immatures in captivity and a species) with 200 photographs (160 species) from the well-known one of two adults on the nest). A few dis- Oriental region, which consists of the Indian subconti- tinctive (sub)species (eg, Yellow-billed Milvus (migrans) nent and South-East Asia (including southern China, aegyptius and Black-eared Kite M (m) lineatus) are also the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia without its east- illustrated. Most photographs were taken in the WP, ernmost islands). Additional information on the place, especially in Israel, but for some species, such as time and background sounds are given for each sepa- Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus and Lammergeier rate recording. Several persons have contributed to the Gypaetus barbatus, the majority comes from outside sounds and images. the WP. Apart from a few sketches illustrating flight While multimedia and the Internet define the world actions or plumage details, there are no plates in the of information technology, paper books and journals, book. supplemented with the occasional video and set of bird This book is a true (photographic) identification sound tapes, dominate the stream of ornithological guide, with limited text covering such aspects as distri- information. Too many birders appear to suffer from a bution, habitat, population and movements and the hidden fear for computer system freezes, crashes, or bulk of the text devoted to species identification, moult failures, and rely on their traditional sources. Few try to and sexing & ageing. As could be expected from become ‘digital’ because most believe it to be useless Forsman, the text is very thorough, complete and writ- ‘in the field’. But, the changes are here. The Internet ten in a rather scholary fashion, with emphasis on has become a serious medium for ornithological data, information and not on entertainment. Combined with newsgroups and the presentation of travel reports, and the rather old-fashioned lay-out (including type face), CD-ROMs like Birds of tropical Asia demonstrate the which takes up some extra space, this makes the book dynamics of combined sounds and images. not ‘easy to swallow’ – but what else would you expect This CD-ROM was tested on a Pentium 200 MMX with a difficult group like this? The only ‘frivolities’ in pc with 64 MB of S-DRAM and 32 speed CD-ROM, the text are the useful colour-marked identification and controlled by Microsoft Windows 98. The sounds were ageing summaries, which allow quick reference, before played on 32 Watt speakers connected to the sound reading the text in full. Personally, I think this lay-out card, as well as on a stereo set through an audio con- somewhat reduces the appeal of the book but this is nection cable with plug and phono jacks. The initial more a matter of taste than of true criticism. installation occurred without problems and operation In all, this is most probably the ultimate guide on went relatively smoothly. Now and then, time delays raptor identification in the WP for many years to come, occurred when sound fragments were activated written by what is without doubt one of the most expert through the mouse click and sometimes sounds authors, if not the most expert, in this field at the suffered from brief interruptions. For my own con- moment. However, raptor-afficionados will eagerly venience, I composed a travel tape from the CD-ROM await the soon-to-be-published Field guide to the rap- by recording important sound fragments on cassette. tors of the Western Palearctic by William S Clark and (Analog players are still the cheapest option and ef- N John Schmitt (which contains 48 colour plates, for a ficient in the tropics. This may change, though.) This difference, and also many colour photographs) to com- approach in transferring sounds from a digital source to pare both and then give their final judgement. ENNO B analog tape proved extremely handy. EBELS At first hearing and sight, the CD-ROM presents a tre- mendously large collection of sounds and images, and listening to the sounds upon clicking the mouse is a fan- JELLE SCHARRINGA 1999. Birds of tropical Asia – sounds tastic learning experience for those trying to become and sights (CD-ROM, Windows 3.1/95/98/NT). Bird familiar with oriental bird sounds. The screen is user Songs International BV, Wierengastraat 42, 9969 PD friendly, allowing the user to browse and select the Westernieland, Netherlands, internet http://ourworld. sounds and images of interest. However, the interface compuserve.com/homepages/bird_songs_international, seems to lack a certain feel of style in an era where e-mail [email protected]. ISBN 90-75838- attractive looks have become a standard. Most users 02-6. EUR 45.00 (c USD 48.00); EU residents add will be primarily interested in the sounds of (song)birds. 17.5% VAT. Therefore, it may be argued that the customer’s interest will be in the recordings and that the images are just a From the early 1980s, the author has explored the bird supplementary feature. For this reason, this review life of the Oriental region. This was when birding be- focuses mainly on the sounds. The quality of the sounds

221 Recensies is generally good, but some could be replaced with bet- There are 1306 sounds of 674 species, which is a ter recordings. Sound fragments generally last 0.5-2 min major achievement for any publication of bird sounds and there seems to be no consistency in their length of South America. These sounds are good for about and loudness. Most birders will be interested in those eight hours playing time, thanks to the use of compres- sounds that are valuable for bird identification. sion techniques and the choice of a rather strong com- Therefore, it seems inappropriate to include three heron pression rate. The latter means some loss of sound and one duck species, as well as six species of raptor, quality, but the author has deliberately chosen for this where there should either be a tendency for complete- and to include as many recordings as possible on one ness or a deliberate choice for the relevant bird families. CD-ROM. Also, for several species he has chosen to In conclusion, this CD-ROM is a valuable tool for include less good field recordings, if no better ones anyone interested in oriental birding. The author has were available. Recording bird sounds in the Neo- made a huge effort to make a large collection of sounds tropics is often far from easy, so you will end up with and images available for a reasonable price. It is a several interesting ones of lower quality. pleasure to play the sounds and watch the images at Not all sound recordings are from Venezuela itself. the click of the mouse. The number of sounds is truly This is clearly indicated for the species concerned, but impressive and representative for the region. The chal- it should be stressed that regional differences in the lenge will be to complete the CD-ROM with sounds of sounds of bird species in South America can be con- the remaining species, including the most sought-after siderable (and sometimes leads to splitting of species). specialities of the region. Hopefully, the customers will In the introduction, the author says that he has tried not make their contribution by making their own record- to include such sounds with regional differences, but ings. J J (HAN) BLANKERT he is not sure about it for all cases. The percentage of recordings from outside Venezuela is stated to be very low, but a random selection of 100 revealed 14 from PETER BOESMAN 1999. Birds of Venezuela / Aves de other countries, mainly Ecuador and Peru. Venezuela (CD-ROM, Windows 3.1/95/98/NT). Bird Like in its predecessor on birds of Bolivia by the Songs International BV, Wierengastraat 42, 9969 PD same publisher, the CD-ROM contains bird species and Westernieland, Netherlands, internet http://ourworld. even families whose sounds have not been published compuserve.com/homepages/bird_songs_international, at all before. The archives of Cornell University e-mail [email protected]. ISBN 90- Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO) and other bioaccous- 75838-03-4. EUR 55.00 (c USD 58.00); EU residents tic laboratories may be filled with many of these spe- add 17.5% VAT. cies, but these are published at a slow rate, often only when a bird family is nearly complete. (This situation Venezuela, for most of us the nearest South American could change drastically when these labs would facili- birding destination, with a great variety of tropical and tate downloading their sound recordings from the Andean habitats, is relatively well served with publica- Internet...) Examples of new material in the Venezuelan tions for birders. It has its own field guide (Meyer de CD-ROM are found in, eg, the large families of antbirds Schauensee & Phelps), there is a nice birdfinding guide and flycatchers, many of which also occur outside of the local Audubon Society, and now we have a CD- Venezuela. So, this CD-ROM is useful as well for other ROM with bird sounds, photographs and distribution countries in South America, even if one possesses the maps. It has been prepared by Peter Boesman from cassettes or CD’s published by CLO and others. To be Belgium who lived in Venezuela for several years, col- true, the combination of the Bolivian and the lecting sounds and distribution data, as well as making Venezuelan CD-ROMs covers a good deal of what you photographs. He wrote papers on new distribution data normally need when birding in the northern half of of several species in Cotinga, the journal of the South America. Personally, on such trips I like to bring Neotropical Bird Club. The field guide of birds of a cassette or nowadays a minidisc with a regional refer- Venezuela dates from 1978 and only gives distribution ence collection of sounds, and with the Venezuelan data in the text. For the songbirds, The birds of South CD-ROM the specific sound files can easily be down- America (Ridgely & Tudor) gives distribution maps on loaded on your computer for further processing. the scale of the whole continent, although on a more Finding an unidentified sound with the help of the detailed scale for regional endemics. CD-ROM is easier than with those lengthy cassettes or On the CD-ROM we have more precise and up-to- even CD’s, but you still have to go through very many date distribution maps for 878 of the Venezuelan bird sound tracks, even if you know roughly that the sound species. Range extensions of species are commonplace should be of an antbird or woodcreeper. Especially in in the South American birding adventure, just like the the Neotropics, often more birds are heard than seen. now almost yearly discovery of new species. So, for the Sonagrams of the sounds would certainly help in iden- distribution maps alone this CD-ROM is worth while, tifying your sound recordings, especially when these eg, when planning a trip or to compare with your trip diagrams are displayed with many others together on list. It is a pity that the maps are only given for the 878 one screen. This may be a suggestion for a next edition species of which also sounds and/or photos are includ- of this publication. The author, in his introduction, says ed. However, the sounds are the prime goal of publish- that he will go on with this project and will work on a ing this CD-ROM. larger collection of sounds and photos, to be published

222 Recensies later with newer techniques of compression or storage. of the birds displayed. So if you like, you can set up He hopes people will send him material for this (like I your own mystery bird competition! happened to do myself with four recordings for the By now it should be clear that, notwithstanding present publication). some critical remarks, this CD-ROM is certainly worth The 700 photographs on the CD-ROM (of 450 spe- while for anybody interested in the birds of South cies) are from various birders, and again this is a stun- America! I am still amazed by the sheer quantity of ning collection. It probably is the largest published col- work that has been put into it. Readers with no interest lection of South American bird photographs so far (that in the birds of South America (is that possible for the is, of birds in the wild; Dunning published a book with ‘bird continent’?) should at least be tempted to have a over 1400 photos of captured birds of South America). look at the user interface. It is really easy, and has some For several species, the CD-ROM will be the first nice features besides the Show. You can get a static readily available publication of a photograph anyway. impression of the user interface by visiting the web site Again, as with the sounds, not all photographs are of of the publisher at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/ premium quality (and again not all are from homepages/bird_songs_international. There too, a spe- Venezuela), but most are impressive enough. A nice cies list of the CD-ROM is given with information of feature of the user interface of this CD-ROM is the what is included (sound and/or photo). JOHN VAN DER ‘Show’, allowing a random display of photos with time WOUDE interval of your choice and with or without the names

Masters of Mystery

Solutions of third round 1999 Long-toed Stint and Least Sandpiper. This is also supported by the bill shape, being rather straight, The solutions of mystery photographs V and VI of but slightly decurved, and smoothly narrowing the third round of the 1999 competition (Dutch towards the fine tip, the very short primary pro- Birding 21: 171, 1999) appear below. jection and the relatively brown winter plumage. The separation of these two is a classic identifica- V The general structure, greyish-brown plumage, tion problem and can be quite difficult in all ages and scapulars and wing-coverts with dark centres and plumages, but here we are faced with the and pale fringes (without notching) of the wader most challenging task: a bird in winter plumage. in this photograph narrow the choice down to the Starting with structural differences, a well- stints or sandpipers of the genus Calidris in winter known difference between the two is that Long- plumage. Of these, there are only five with dis- toed Stint often appears more Tringa-like with tinct greenish legs (although one should beware longer neck and legs than Least Sandpiper. of the occasional black-legged Calidris with green- Although this can be evident in the field, it is of ish or greenish-looking legs): Least Sandpiper less value when judging a single photograph. Of Cminutilla, Long-toed Stint C subminuta, Tem- course, the long-necked and long-legged ap- minck’s Stint C temminckii, Pectoral Sandpiper pearance of Long-toed strongly depends on the C melanotos and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper C acu- bird’s activities and posture and Long-toed can minata. The latter two are easily ruled out since adopt Least’s often more hunched posture. This these species show, for instance, a heavier bill, said, the mystery bird does not show a long neck more pointed scapulars, a less grey winter plum- and looks neither particularly long- nor short-leg- age and completely dark centres to the wing- ged. In the hand, the long tarsi of Long-toed are coverts and scapulars. Temminck’s Stint is much an important difference with Least. In the field more uniform grey in winter plumage, lacking the and especially on photographs, this difference mystery bird’s relatively heavily marked scapulars can be used in relation to the bill length (which and wing-coverts. Temminck’s also has a com- is about equal in the two species), although plete and uniform grey breast-band (unlike the variation in both demands this feature to be used distinctly streaked breast sides of the mystery with care. In Least, the length of the tarsi is about bird) and a typical plain head. So we are left with equal to the bill length (but can be slightly long-

[Dutch Birding 21: 223-226, 1999] 223 Masters of Mystery er), while in Long-toed the tarsi are normally the dark crown reaching the bill in Long-toed is longer than the bill. The tarsi of the mystery bird often very difficult to see when viewed from the are longer than the bill, thus suggestive of Long- side as in the mystery photograph. toed. Long-toed’s extremely long middle toe is of As a rule, Long-toed Stint is the more obvious- no use here since its length can not be judged in ly patterned species of the two, also in winter the photograph. plumage, and this difference is perhaps best Another well-known difference between the illustrated on the upperparts, scapulars and wing- two is the bill colour: Least Sandpiper has an all- coverts. In winter plumage, one of the best ways black bill, while Long-toed Stint normally shows to separate the two is the pattern of the scapu- a pale base to the lower mandible. The bill of the lars. Winter-plumage Long-toed generally has a mystery bird is all-black and this could well be bolder scapular pattern consisting of broader and interpreted as indicative of Least. The pale bill more contrasting blackish feather centres. In base of Long-toed is, however, in fact a feature classic individuals, these dark centres are clear- typical of juvenile and summer plumage (al- cut from the broad pale brown edges. The result- though it may sometimes be fairly incon- ing pattern is usually most noticeable on the spicuous), but not of winter plumage when Long- rearmost scapulars. In contrast, winter-plumage toed often has an all-dark bill like Least. Least Sandpiper normally shows narrow darker Therefore, the mystery bird’s all-dark bill can not centres to these feathers, often confined to just a be used to identify this mystery bird. dark shaft-streak, resulting in a more uniform Differences in head patterns are also important appearance. Some Least, however, can show when separating both species. This is especially rather large darker centres approaching a less true for the crispy juveniles, but generally less so well-marked Long-toed in this respect. Looking for birds in summer and, even less so, winter at the mystery bird, several scapulars can be seen plumage. Nevertheless, differences are normally to have broad clear-cut black centres contrasting still visible in birds in winter plumage. The mys- with pale edges. Although this pattern is not tery bird shows a dark streaked crown which obvious on all scapulars, it is most obvious on gives the bird a rather capped appearance, the upper row of scapulars and those more emphasized by a pale grey nape and a pale towards the tertials (the mystery bird’s rearmost supercilium. This capped appearance combined scapulars are, unfortunately, not visible). This with a paler nape is often seen in winter-plumage scapular pattern is an important indicator of Long-toed Stint, whereas winter-plumage Least Long-toed. Sandpiper normally lacks a distinct and well- Winter-plumage Long-toed Stint tends to be demarcated darker crown and usually shows a slightly stronger streaked on hind neck and slightly duller supercilium as well as just some breast sides, whereas Least Sandpiper is in gener- slight contrast between crown and nape. al more diffusely streaked on these areas. Also, The mystery bird also shows a fairly prominent the flanks of Long-toed are on average a bit more pale spot just above the lores. While both spe- marked than those of Least which often show just cies can show a clear pale supra-loral spot, a few fine streaks. The mystery bird fits Long- Long-toed Stint usually has this spot so promi- toed best in these respects since hind neck and nent that it seems to be pushed into the dark breast sides are conspicuously streaked and there loral stripe, thereby narrowing the centre of the are some broad markings present continuing loral stripe to a thin dark line. The result is a loral down the flanks. stripe that starts broad in front of the eye and None of these features are fully diagnostic on becomes very narrow below the pale spot. This their own, but the combination of the features pattern is also shown by the mystery bird. In mentioned identifies the mystery bird as a Long- Least Sandpiper, the dark loral stripe is more toed Stint, although some of them would suggest evenly broad throughout its length and usually Least Sandpiper rather than Long-toed Stint. In the most prominent mark in the face. particular, the all-black bill and the crown which In Long-toed Stint, the dark crown typically can not be seen to reach the bill made this a runs down to the base of the upper mandible, tricky Long-toed and a difficult mystery bird. It unlike Least Sandpiper which has the supercilia was photographed at Tsim Bei Tsui, Hong Kong, meeting over the bill. In the mystery bird, there is China, on 27 September 1987 by Ray Tipper. no dark visible that runs down from crown to Interestingly, a large majority of the entrants bill-base. This fits Least nicely, but head-on (78%) identified this bird as a Least. There were a views are needed to judge this feature well since few entries mentioning other Calidris sandpipers,

224 Masters of Mystery but just 10 entrants (11%) identified it correctly as a Long-toed.

VI Surely, many entrants will have found them- selves puzzled about this bird’s identity while seeking through their field guides which bird on earth (or in the Western Palearctic) could show the combination of features depicted in the mys- tery photograph. The opinions differed largely about this bird and the proposed solutions included no less than 27 different species. What catches the eye immediately is a con- spicuous yellow throat and this feature attracted 10% of the entrants to Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas. This species is, however, eliminated by, amongst others, its pale flesh- coloured legs, since those of the mystery bird are 230 Lesser Whitethroat / Sylvia curruca, Kibbutz Lotan, black. Several other Nearctic warblers were Israel, March 1999 (René van Rossum) mentioned but the combination of black legs, uniform upperparts, lack of wingbars and yellow just visible: it is a Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia cur- throat does not fit any of the colourful New ruca! Or, as appropriately named by one entrant, World warblers. For a male Red-breasted Fly- a ‘lesser yellowthroat’. It was photographed at catcher Ficedula parva (mentioned by 14% of Kibbutz Lotan, Israel, in March 1999 by René the entrants), the throat should be orange-red van Rossum. Interestingly, Lesser Whitethroat is rather than yellow, while the tail of the mystery known to occasionally ‘drink’ nectar and eat bird lacks the white sides to the base of the tail anthers from flowers. Individuals with partially characteristic of this species (although some yellow or orange heads are observed in Israel readers were wondering if what looks like the tail during spring migration with some regularity, but was really the tail and not part of the tree). It is also more rarely in western Europe, and then also important to notice that not only the throat often cause great confusion about their identity. is yellow, but that there is also some yellow pres- The confusion was also great with this mystery ent on the lores, forehead and central breast. bird since only 19 entrants (20%) solved this Above and just in front of the eye, the yellow mystery correctly. Incorrect answers, besides the forms a hint of a supercilium and this could sug- ones already mentioned, included Melodious gest a Phylloscopus warbler, in particular Com- Warbler Hippolais polyglotta, Wood Warbler mon Chiffchaff P collybita (13%), because of the P sibilatrix, Iberian Chiffchaff P brehmii, Mugi- black legs but the supercilium is too weak and maki Flycatcher F mugimaki, Tennessee Warbler the bill is a bit too stubby for this genus. The very Vermivora peregrina and many others. yellow throat contrasting with the white remain- der of the underparts does not fit Common This round was clearly very difficult and just 94 Chiffchaff either. In fact, there is not a single entries were received, which is significantly less Western Palearctic species matching all the than in the two previous rounds. 29 of them features shown in the mystery photograph... contained one correct identification; no one So there is something wrong here. One of the identified both mystery birds correctly. From features must not be what it seems to be, but these 29 entrants, Chris van Rijswijk was drawn which one? It is indeed the yellow present on as the winner of a copy of The handbook of bird throat, breast and head, which is not of the bird identification by Mark Beaman and Steve Madge, itself but actually caused by pollen from the donated by Christopher Helm (Publishers) Ltd. flowers the bird has been foraging on! Once the After this round, there are 13 entrants in the confusion caused by the yellow is taken away, lead who have each identified five mystery birds the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Cold correctly: Max Berlijn, Jan Bisschop, Johan van ‘t brown upperparts with brown edges to the wing- Bosch, Sander Bot, Jaap Eerdmans, Marc Guyt, coverts, tertials and secondaries, whitish under- Harri Kontkanen, Sander Lagerveld, Arnout parts, black legs, a dark, rather stubby bill, a Linckens, Bert-Jan Luijendijk, Roef Mulder, Gert blue-grey tinge to the head and a pale eye-ring Ottens and Casper Zuyderduyn.

225 Masters of Mystery

Fourth round 1999 Please, study the rules (Dutch Birding 21: 52-53, 1999) carefully and identify the birds in mystery photographs VII and VIII. Solutions can be sent in three different ways: • by postcard to Dutch Birding Association, Postbus 75611, 1070 AP Amsterdam, Netherlands • by e-mail to [email protected] • by Internet via the homepage of the Dutch Birding Association, http://www.dutchbirding.nl Entries for the fourth round have to arrive by 25 October 1999. From those entrants having iden- tified both mystery birds correctly, one person will be drawn who will receive a copy of The handbook of bird identification by Mark Beaman and Steve Madge, donated by Christopher Helm (Publishers) Ltd. Swarovski Benelux will award a pair of the highly acclaimed Swarovski SLC 7x42 B binoculars to the overall winner at the end of the competition (after six rounds).

Diederik Kok, Pelmolenweg 4, 3511 XN Utrecht, Netherlands ([email protected]) Nils van Duivendijk, Guldenhoeve 34, 3451 TG VII Vleuten, Netherlands ([email protected])

VIII

226 WP reports

This review lists rare and interesting birds reported in the Netherlands was a (suppressed) adult staying for a the Western Palearctic mainly in July-August 1999 and few weeks in late May/early June at Kampina, Boxtel, focuses on north-western Europe. The reports are large- Noord-Brabant. A presumed fourth-year Black-browed ly unchecked and their publication here does not imply Albatross Diomedea melanophris was photographed future acceptance by the rarities committee of the rel- 16 km off Looe, Cornwall, England, on 19 June. The evant country. Observers are requested to submit third for Denmark was possibly the same individual records to each country’s rarities committee. Correc- staying for three hours on 20 July behind a fishing ves- tions are welcome and will be published. Sound- sel 17 km north-west of Hanstholm, Nordjylland. In recordings of some of the rarities in the Netherlands south-western Ireland, this season’s first four soft- can be heard on http://www.dutchbirding.nl/sounds. plumaged petrels Pterodroma feae/madeira/mollis were seen on 17 August; on the same day, one was seen in If accepted, an eclipse male Barrow’s Goldeneye Devon, England. In May, the first two breeding colo- Bucephala islandica at Sättunaviken, Östergötland, nies known for Jouanin’s Petrel Bulweria fallax were from 28 July to 19 August will be the first for Sweden. located on Socotra, Yemen. In August, there were c 20 The third Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps for Wilson’s Storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus seen off

231 Fea’s Petrel / Gon-gon Pterodroma feae, between Madeira and Desertas, 6 July 1999 (Gerben van den Berg) 232 Wilson’s Storm-petrel / Wilsons Stormvogeltje Oceanites oceanicus, 51:36:53 N; 05:47:10 W, Wales, 16 August 1999 (Arfon Williams) 233-234 Black-browed Albatross / Wenkbrauwalbatros Diomedea melanophris, immature, 17 km north-west of Hanstholm, Nordjylland, Denmark, 20 July 1999 (Flemming Frøstrup)

[Dutch Birding 21: 227-232, 1999] 227 WP reports the British Isles, including the fourth for Wales photo- alive). The fourth pair occupied a Golden Eagle Aquila graphed off south-west Dyfed on 16 August (a week chrysaetos nest in Vanoise NP, France; however, the later, c 5 were seen here). In the Hortobágy, Hungary, clutch was destroyed by snowfall. This means that, if 100 pairs of Pygmy Cormorant Microcarbo pygmeus the only 1999 young at Haute Savoie survives, there bred in six colonies during June, representing a signifi- are now four individuals in the Alps which were raised cant increase. In July, a Great White Pelican Pelecanus under natural circumstances (ie, not in cages) in the onocrotalus stayed at Sandillon, Loiret, France. In the past three years. In 1997-99, there are also six reports Netherlands, Little Egrets Egretta garzetta bred success- of immatures reaching the Netherlands, two each year fully not only at Braakman, Terneuzen, Zeeland (one in 1997-99 (one of the 1997 birds was also seen in pair), and Quackjeswater, Westvoorne, Zuid-Holland northern Germany); in addition, one was seen at (five pairs; first breeding here in 1994 or 1995), but Skagen, Nordjylland, Denmark, on 12-15 June (cf Rare also on Schiermonnikoog, Friesland, possibly constitut- birds of the Netherlands (1999); Dutch Birding 21: 172, ing the species’ northernmost breeding record. Fossil 1999). The two reports this summer in the Netherlands data have shown that, 4000 years ago, Greater concerned one flying east over De Bol, Texel, Noord- Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus occurred along the Holland, on 25 July and a third-calendar-year flying Dutch North Sea coast (Archaeofauna 2: 67-74, 1993). past Philipsdam, Zeeland, on 21 August. Unlike the June bird at Skagen, the identity of those two as releas- The first three nesting pairs of White-tailed Eagle ed birds could not be determined (the identity of the Haliaeetus albicilla for Austria failed to raise young this second 1998 Dutch bird also remains unsolved). After summer. In Poland, a record 500 breeding pairs were the occurrence of a Eurasian Griffon Vulture Gyps ful- counted. Four re-introduced pairs of Lammergeier vus on 1-3 June in Zeeland, the Netherlands, singles Gypaetus barbatus bred in the Alps during this spring were seen in Germany on 29 June at Bohnenburg, and summer. In Haute Savoie, France, one pair raised Niedersachsen, and near Halberstadt, Sachsen-Anhalt, one young (in 1997 and 1998, one young fledged here, on 1 July. The Dutch bird wore a white ring with black both still being alive). In Stelvio NP, Bormio, Italy, two inscription PE on its left leg (cf Dutch Birding 21: 180, pairs bred this spring; however, both were unsuccessful 184, plate 197, 1999). It appeared to have been ringed with one young dying five weeks after hatching, prob- as chick on 16 April 1998 at Gorges de la Jonte, ably due to an excess of melting snow running into the Cévennes NP, France. The population at Cévennes NP nest (in 1998, one young fledged here, still being now numbers at least 75 breeding pairs which had 61

235 Baillon’s Crake / Kleinst Waterhoen Porzana pusilla, Grove Ferry, Kent, England, July 1999 (Rob Wilson)

228 WP reports chicks in 1999; there are also six pairs of Eurasian Spain was at Silla marshes, Valencia, on 26-27 August. Black Vultures Aegypius monachus of which one pair An adult Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius photo- had a chick in 1999. In north-western France, a Pallid graphed on 5 July at Backamo airstrip, Ljungskile, Harrier Circus macrouros summered at Mardrick, Bohuslän, was the sixth for Sweden. The fourth White- Nord, from 25 June to 27 July. The eighth Long-legged tailed Lapwing V leucurus for Italy was seen in May in Buzzard Buteo rufinus for Sweden was a pale adult at the north-east. On 11 July, the fourth for Hungary was Strömsund, Jämtland, on 11-12 August. The first breed- near Dunatetétlen. The first for Belgium stayed on 14- ing of Golden Eagle for Denmark at Lille Vildmose, 16 July near Zeebrugge, West-Vlaanderen. In Ireland, Aalborg, Nordjylland, was successful. In Northern an adult Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla was Ireland, a pale-morph Booted Eagle Hieraaetus penna- seen at Ballycotton, Cork, on 9-13 July and then at tus relocated on Rathlin Island, Antrim, on 22 August Tacumshin, Wexford, on 21-22 July. On 13-21 August, remained until 24 August. A flock of five Eleonora’s a juvenile stayed at Belfast Harbour, Down, Northern Falcons Falco eleonorae in eastern Rhodope mountains Ireland. The first Least Sandpiper C minutilla for on 10 June was the largest ever recorded for Bulgaria. Sweden was an adult at Gannarveviken, Gotland, on 8 One was seen at Travaillan, Vaucluse, France, on 18 August. Adult White-rumped Sandpipers C fuscicollis July. This summer, a pair of Ospreys Pandion haliaetus stayed at Tacumshin, Wexford, Ireland, on 22 July; in bred for the first time in Luxemburg. The second sin- Dorset, England, from 26 July; near Clauen, Kreis ging Baillon’s Crake Porzana pusilla for Britain in this Peine, Niedersachsen, Germany, on 27-28 July; at Den century remained at Grove Ferry, Kent, England, from 6 Oever, Noord-Holland, on 1-8 August (the sixth for the June to 20 July . In Sweden, one was calling at Hunna, Netherlands); and presumably a juvenile on Røst, Huseby, Småland, from 20 June to 12 July. It was the Nordland, Norway, on 11 August. The fifth Sharp-tailed best summer in decades for Corn Crakes Crex crex in Sandpiper C acuminata for Sweden was an adult sum- Switzerland, where 50 calling males were counted dur- mer at Lund, Skåne, on 19-20 August. Also in Sweden, ing June-July, mostly in the Jura mountains. In Poland, a Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes was seen at Vising- a survey resulted in an estimate of 44 000 males in sö, Småland, on 9 July. An adult stayed near Dundee, May and 38 000 males in June. This summer, Common Angus, Scotland, from 26 July to 2 August. The fifth for Cranes Grus grus built this species’ first nest since at the Netherlands was an adult on 7, 11 and 14 August at least 1800 for the Netherlands at Fochtelooërveen, Lauwersmeer, Groningen (the same locality as the Drenthe (however, no eggs were laid). In Ardeola 46: fourth in July 1998). An adult Wilson’s Phalarope 97-100, 1999, evidence is presented on the last breed- Phalaropus tricolor stayed at Dundalk, Louth, Ireland, ing record for Spain of Demoiselle Crane Anthropoides on 25-26 July. A small influx of Red-necked Phalaropes virgo, in Badajoz in 1923-24. P lobatus occurred from 21 August onwards in the Netherlands, with a maximum of 22 in one day (22 The first twitchable Black-winged Pratincole Glareola August) and a largest flock of seven. In eastern Poland, nordmanni for Denmark since 1987 stayed from 26 a Parasitic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus was reported June to at least 24 July at Bygholm Vejle, Thisted, at Siemianowka on 24 June. A party of 39 was harrying Nordjylland. On 17-27 July, 3-6 August, and again a Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis colony at Pomo- from 29 August, an adult summer was present at Cley, rie, Bulgaria, on 29 July; it also included the second Norfolk, England. On 29 August, one was discovered Long-tailed Jaeger S longicaudus for Bulgaria. At Fanel, at Linden, Cuijk, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. The on 30 May, Slender-billed Gull Larus genei was record- fourth Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii for ed for the eighth time in Switzerland (and for the third Scotland (and the 12th for Britain) was a male photo- consecutive year). On 29 August, for the third consecu- graphed at Belhaven, Lothian, on 6-7 June (Birding tive year, an adult Ring-billed Gull L delawarensis had World 12: 236-237, 1999; Dutch Birding 21: 175, returned to the area near Goes, Zeeland, the Nether- plate 181, 1999). If accepted, a presumed female lands. Also in the Netherlands, this year’s first five juve- Lesser Sand Plover C mongolus at Nieuwpoort and nile Pontic Gulls L cachinnans cachinnans turned up at Bredene, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, on 4-5 August surprisingly early dates from 16 to 28 July in Gronin- will be the first for the Benelux. However, there is still gen, Groningen, and Wijster, Drenthe. The first juvenile debate whether the bird could have been an Anatolian for England was at Southwold, Suffolk, on 24 August. A Sand Plover Cl columbinus. On 7 August, it flew past first-summer Heuglin’s Gull L heuglini was photograph- Dunkerque and landed at Hemmes de Marq, Nord, ed on 14-15 June at Stainkoeln dump in Groningen, France, where it stayed until at least 10 August. From Groningen. At the Hortobágy, Hungary, an adult Great 29 August, this (or another) Lesser Sand Plover stayed Black-backed Gull L marinus was seen on 23 August. at Baie de Seine, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France. One Royal Tern S maxima was near Cape Clear, Cork, From 7 July to 19 August, four Pacific Golden Plovers on 17 July and an adult winter was briefly seen at Pluvialis fulva were reported in Sweden in Söderman- Thorntonloch and Musselburgh, Lothian, on 9 August. land, Uppland, Östergötland and Gotland. There was On Oléron, France, an adult Lesser Crested Tern also an adult American Golden Plover P dominicus on S bengalensis with a hybrid young was found on 8 Öland on 22 July. During 1-16 August, three Pacific August. An Elegant Tern S elegans stayed at Lady’s Golden Plovers were reported in Norway in Vestfold, Island Lake, Wexford, Ireland, on 8-19 July (cf Birding Hordaland and Rogaland. The third-ever Pacific for World 12: 275-280, 1999). The first Roseate Tern

229 WP reports

236 Lesser Yellowlegs / Kleine Geelpootruiter Tringa flavipes, adult, with Marsh Sandpiper / Poelruiter T stagnatilis, adult, and Common Snipe / Watersnip Gallinago gallinago, Lauwersmeer, Groningen, Netherlands, 7 August 1999 (Jan van Holten) 237 Black-winged Pratincole / Steppevorkstaartplevier Pratincola nordmanni, adult summer, Norfolk, England, July 1999 (Rob Wilson) 238 Black-headed Wagtail / Balkankwikstaart Motacilla feldegg, male, Mayland, Essex, England, June 1999 (Rob Wilson) 239 Elegant Tern / Sierlijke Stern Sterna elegans, adult, with Sandwich Terns / Grote Sterns S sandvicensis, Lady Island’s Lake, Wexford, Ireland, July 1999 (Rob Wilson)

S dougallii for the Cape Verde Islands concerned a bird aluco was present at Paphos on 11 August. A singing in exhausted condition that could be caught by hand Hume’s Owl S butleri discovered at Sho’ab, western on the beach at Santa Maria, Sal, on 14 April 1998; it Socotra, on 23 May was c 1000 km south of its known was released after photographs were taken. In England, range. If accepted, a Pacific Swift Apus pacificus at a second-calendar-year Forster’s Tern S forsteri remain- Getterön, Halland, from 13:17 to 13:30 on 6 July will ed from 29 May to at least 22 August at Tollesbury be the first for Sweden; possibly, the same bird was Fleet, Kent. The first Bridled Tern S anaethetus for also seen an hour earlier at Breared, Varberg, Halland. Sweden was an adult at Söskär, Orust, Bohuslän, from The second Pallid Swift A pallidus was seen at 30 June to 4 July and again on 9-10 July. The second Segerstads fyr, Öland, on 24 July. A European Roller for Denmark was an adult at Langli and Herting Lob, Coracias garrulus turned up at Furillen, Gotland, on 11 Esbjerg, Vestjylland, from 28 July to 4 August. (A pre- July. In the Netherlands, a Black Woodpecker Dryo- vious report from Sweden was on 30 June near Göte- copus martius seen on 21 August on Terschelling, borg; in Germany, one or two singles were seen during Friesland, must have crossed at least a 17 km stretch of 1-4 June in northern Niedersachsen and on Helgoland, open Wadden Sea from the Frisian mainland (the Schleswig-Holstein; cf Dutch Birding 21: 176, 1999; nearest regular breeding grounds are c 55 km away). Limicola 13: 141, 1999). In Cyprus, a Tawny Owl Strix

230 WP reports

The second breeding record of Red-rumped Swallow on Hornøya, Vardø, Finnmark. A trapped Eastern Oliv- Hirundo daurica for Sicily, Italy, occurred at Vendicari in aceous Warbler A pallidus elaeicus stayed at Portland late July. In England, a male Black-headed Wagtail Bill, Dorset, on 4-5 July. The first Spectacled Warbler Motacilla feldegg occupied a territory at Mayland, Essex, Sylvia conspicillata for Belgium was a male singing from from 24 May to at least 24 June. The first breeding of mid-June to early August at Maasmechelen, Limburg. It Red-spotted Bluethroat Luscinia svecica svecica for the was trapped, photographed and videoed, and seen by Netherlands concerned a male paired with an unidenti- c 15 birders. In July, two juveniles were seen as well, but fied Bluethroat producing a nest with five eggs (three their identity remains unclear. Fossilized remains of had hatched on 18 July) in a potato field at Zuiderweg, Azure-winged Magpies Cyanopica cyanus from coastal Veendam, Groningen (cf Dutch Birding 21: 177-178, caves in Gibraltar show that this species has been pres- plate 185, 1999). An adult male Red-flanked Bluetail ent in Iberia for at least 44 000 years; this finding contra- Tarsiger cyanurus was found at Åtmyrsjön, Västerbotten, dicts the idea that it had been introduced by the first Sweden, on 15 July. A Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush Monti- spice traders from China (Birdwatch 86 (August 1999): cola saxatilis was reported at Eke, Småland, on 12 24-25). In the Netherlands, the first House Crow Corvus August (this year, there was also one in Småland on 14 splendens for Noord-Holland was an adult at Muiden May). Zitting Cisticolas Cisticola juncidis occurred on 24 August. In northern Norway, no less than four again in the south-west of the Netherlands, where up to single Rose-coloured Starlings Sturnus roseus were seen 10 pairs were present in July-August in Zeeuws- between 25 June and 14 August. For the first time since Vlaanderen, Zeeland, of which eight at Verdronken at least 1965, perhaps even since 1954, Spanish Spar- Land van Saeftinghe; in addition, a single individual was row Passer hispaniolensis has bred in north-eastern present in August at Makkumer Noordwaard, Friesland. Spain; the nest was found in July near Lleida town. In During July-August, one was also singing at the observa- northern Italy, one bird was reportedly seen at Ravenna tion tower of Katinger Watt (near Tönning), Schleswig- on 6 July. If accepted, a Trumpeter Finch Bucanetes Holstein, Germany, probably constituting the northern- githagineus at Rogazce on 15 June will be the first for most record for Europe. In Finland, three singing Bulgaria. Three male Black-headed Buntings Emberiza Lanceolated Warblers Locustella lanceolata were found melanocephala were seen at La Verdière, Var, France, during July. In northern Norway, a Paddyfield Warbler on 1 July. On 10-11 July, a male stayed on Farne Islands, Acrocephalus agricola stayed from 21 July to 3 August Northumberland, England.

240 Lanceolated Warbler / Kleine Sprinkhaanzanger 241 Roseate Tern / Dougalls Stern Sterna dougallii, Locustella lanceolata, Pielavesi, Finland, 18 July 1999 adult, Santa Maria, Sal, Cape Verde Islands, 14 April (Henry Lehto) 1998 (Clifford M Anderson)

231 WP reports

For a number of reports, publications in Birding World, Ricard Gutiérrez, Cornelis Hazevoet, Martin Helin, Birdwatch, British Birds, Limicola, Vår Fågelvärld and Remco Hofland, Klaus Hubatsch, Erling Jirle (Sweden), Winging It were consulted. News from Britain was Martijn de Jonge, Marnix Jonker, Adrian Jordi, Guy kindly supplied by Birdline (0891-700-222 or 0891- Kirwan, Yann Kolbeinsson, Paul Lehman, André van 700-242) and Rare Bird News (0881-888-111). I wish Loon, Pierre Le Maréchal (France), Anthony to thank Luc Bekaert, Rolf Christensen, Tony Clarke McGeehan, Richard Millington, Rudy Offereins, Gerald (Canarian Nature Tours), Anton Conings, Jo Cooper, Oreel, Otto Overdijk, René Pop (Cyprus), Palle Andrea Corso, Eric Dempsey, Gunter De Smet, Jochen Rasmussen, Magnus Robb, Kris de Rouck, Luciano Dierschke (Germany), Gerald Driessens, Hugues Ruggieri, Jaap Schelvis, Bob Scott, Hadoram Shirihai, Dufourny, Marc Duquet, Enno Ebels, Bertrand Eliotout, Peter Symens (Socotra), Ruud Vlek, Arfon Williams and Peter Fraser (UK), Hans Frey, Steve Gantlett, Jeff Ricard Zink for their help in compiling this review. Gordon (Cyprus), Marcello Grussu, Morten Günther,

Arnoud B van den Berg, Duinlustparkweg 98, 2082 EG Santpoort-Zuid, Netherlands ([email protected])

Recente meldingen

Dit overzicht van recente meldingen van zeldzame en op 21 juli langs Katwijk aan Zee, Zuid-Holland; interessante vogels in Nederland en België beslaat Noordse Pijlstormvogels P puffinus op 9 juni twee en voornamelijk de periode juni-juli 1999. De vermelde 21 juli vijf langs Scheveningen; en Vale Pijlstormvogels gevallen zijn merendeels niet geverifieerd en het over- P mauretanicus werden gezien op 20 juni op Texel, zicht is niet volledig. Alle vogelaars die de moeite Noord-Holland, op 28 juni op Vlieland en op 29 juli namen om hun waarnemingen aan ons door te geven bij Camperduin, Noord-Holland. Kuifaalscholvers worden hartelijk bedankt. Stictocarbo aristotelis verbleven op 9 juni bij IJmuiden, Waarnemers van soorten in Nederland die worden Noord-Holland, op 18 juni en 4 juli twee bij de beoordeeld door de Commissie Dwaalgasten Neder- Oosterscheldekering, Zeeland, en op 23 juni bij Den landse Avifauna wordt verzocht hun waarnemingen zo Oever, Noord-Holland. Verrassend was de ontdekking spoedig mogelijk toe te zenden aan: CDNA, Postbus (of herontdekking) van een Dwergaalscholver Micro- 45, 2080 AA Santpoort-Zuid, Nederland. Hiertoe gelie- carbo pygmeus op 12 juni voor de hut De Zeearend in ve men gebruik te maken van CDNA-waarnemingsfor- de Oostvaardersplassen, Flevoland. Indien beschouwd mulieren die eveneens verkrijgbaar zijn bij boven- als een ander dan die van 23-24 januari in Montfoort, staand adres. Utrecht, is dit het tweede geval voor Nederland. De Woudaap Ixobrychus minutus van Uithoorn, Noord- Nederland Holland, bleef daar gezien en gehoord worden tot in juli. Ook onder meer bij Budel-Dorplein bleek dit jaar EENDEN TOT VALKEN Deze komkommertijdrubriek be- een broedpaar aanwezig. Een adulte Kwak Nycticorax gint met een groep van maximaal 21 Casarca’s Tadorna nycticorax werd tot in juli waargenomen bij Alphen ferruginea vanaf 17 juli bij de Steile Bank, Friesland. aan den Rijn, Zuid-Holland. Een onvolwassen vogel Ook elders in Nederland verschenen kleine groepjes. werd waargenomen op 18 juli bij Uithoorn. Op 29 juli Een groep van 17 Krooneenden Netta rufina zwom in vloog een Ralreiger Ardeola ralloides over de juni in het Harderbroek, Flevoland. Een mannetje Wit- Deurnsche Peel, Noord-Brabant. Van de influx van oogeend Aythya nyroca verbleef in juli op het Ringsel- Koereigers Bubulcus ibis bleef weinig over: van 17 tot ven bij Budel-Dorplein, Noord-Brabant. De Konings- 20 juni op Texel, van 10 tot 17 juli bij Meers, Limburg, eider Somateria spectabilis van Vlieland, Friesland, en op 25 juli op het Rammegors, Zeeland. Er werden c werd tot 12 juli gemeld. Er waren dit jaar weer ver- 60 Kleine Zilverreigers Egretta garzetta doorgegeven, schillende broedgevallen van Roodhalsfuut Podiceps waarbij vooral in juli grote concentraties voorkwamen. grisegena, waaronder ten minste drie te Diependal, Zo verbleven er op 24 juli 11 in de Blauwe Kamer, Oranje, Drenthe. Eind mei en/of begin juni verbleef Utrecht, en nog eens twee aan de overkant bij een Dikbekfuut Podilymbus podiceps op de Kampina, Opheusden, Gelderland, en op 27 juli 29 in Zeeland Noord-Brabant. Indien aanvaard is dit het derde geval waarvan alleen al 18 op de Slikken van Bommenede. voor Nederland en tevens het derde opeenvolgende Op Schiermonnikoog, Friesland, kwam dit jaar een jaar dat de soort werd aangetroffen. De karige zeetrek paar tot broeden op de kwelder en bracht drie jongen leverde het volgende op: Grauwe Pijlstormvogels groot. De soort broedde ook in de Braakman, Zeeland, Puffinus griseus op 20 juni langs Scheveningen, Zuid- en in het Quackjeswater, Westvoorne, Zuid-Holland Holland (één), twee op 28 juni langs Vlieland en drie (vijf paren). Grote Zilverreigers Casmerodius albus

232 [Dutch Birding 21: 232-238, 1999] Recente meldingen

242 Grauwe Kiekendief / Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus, mannetje, Flevoland, mei 1999 (Chris Schenk) 243 Koereiger / Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis, adult, Meers, Limburg, 10 juli 1999 (Jeroen Gense) 244 Baardgrasmus / Subalpine Warbler Sylvia cantillans, mannetje, Berkheide, Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland, 18 juli 1999 (René van Rossum)

233 Recente meldingen

245 Kleine Vliegenvanger / Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parva, onvolwassen mannetje, Epen, Limburg, juni 1999 (Karel Lemmens) 246 Bonapartes Strandloper / White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis, adult, Den Oever, Noord-Holland, 5 augustus 1999 (Jan den Hertog) 247 Witwangsterns / Whiskered Terns Chlidonias hybri- dus met jong, Soerendonks Goor, Noord-Brabant, 3 juli 1999 (René van Rossum) 248 Klein Waterhoen / Little Crake Porzana parva, mannetje, Kampina, Noord-Brabant, 14 juni 1999 (Tobi Koppejan) waren er de gehele periode in de Oostvaardersplassen een onvolwassen exemplaar langs De Bol op Texel. De en omgeving (maximaal vier), op 11 juni bij Vale Gier Gyps fulvus die op 1-3 juni werd gezien op Wageningen, Gelderland, op 18 en 19 juni bij Alphen Noord-Beveland, Zeeland, blijkt als nestjong te zijn aan den Rijn, op 27 juni bij Bleskensgraaf, Zuid- geringd op 16 april 1998 in de Cevennen, Frankrijk. Holland, op 4 juli bij Hazerswoude, Zuid-Holland, en De waarneming van een Slangenarend Circaetus galli- op 24 juli bij Gouderak, Zuid-Holland. In totaal wer- cus die op 19 mei werd gemeld bij Goes, Zeeland, is den 19 Zwarte Ooievaars Ciconia nigra waargenomen, door de waarnemer ingetrokken. Naast enkele paren in waarvan het merendeel in juli. De grootste groep de Flevopolders en het Lauwersmeer, Groningen, heb- Ooievaars C ciconia die gemeld werd omvatte 26 ben naar verluidt c 20 paar Grauwe Kiekendieven exemplaren en vloog op 29 juli over Kampen, Over- Circus pygargus in Noordoost-Groningen gebroed. ijssel. Zomerse Zwarte Wouwen Milvus migrans wer- Vanaf 21 juni werden negen Visarenden Pandion halia- den gezien op 3 juni bij Gulpen, Limburg, op 5 juni in etus doorgegeven. Roodpootvalken Falco vespertinus de Marnewaard, Groningen, op 13 juni over de werden nog gemeld op 1 juni op de Strabrechtse Kampina en op 31 juli langs Huisduinen, Noord- Heide, Noord-Brabant, op 3 juni over Terneuzen, Holland. Tot de eerste dagen van juni werden nog Zeeland, op 18 juni in de Kennemerduinen, Noord- enkele Rode Wouwen M milvus vastgesteld en vanaf Holland, en op 19 juni bij De Koog op Texel. Dit jaar eind juni alweer 10. Ook dit jaar liet de Lammergier kende een record van ten minste vijf broedgevallen van Gypaetus barbatus niet verstek gaan; op 25 juli vloog Slechtvalk F peregrinus in alle hoeken van het land.

234 Recente meldingen

RALLEN TOT ALKEN Goed te horen en mooi waar te Brabant. Een Grote Jager S skua vloog op 17 juli langs nemen was het mannetje Klein Waterhoen Porzana Camperduin. Op de vuilnisbelt nabij Groningen, parva dat van 12 juni tot 8 juli op de Kampina verbleef. Groningen, werd op 14 en 15 juni een waarschijnlijke Na de waarneming in mei op Terschelling, Friesland, eerste-zomer Heuglins Meeuw Larus heuglini gefoto- kwam in juni een kleine influx van Kleinste Water- grafeerd. Op 15 en 16 juni werd aldaar ook een onvol- hoenders P pusilla op gang: roepende exemplaren wer- wassen Baltische Mantelmeeuw L fuscus gemeld. den gehoord van 9 tot 13 juni bij Den Nul, Overijssel, Zowel Geelpootmeeuwen L michahellis als ook Ponti- van 12 tot 19 juni bij Opheusden, van 16 tot 19 juni sche Meeuwen L cachinnans cachinnans werden in bij Vianen, Gelderland, op 24 en 25 juni in de Blauwe kleine aantallen gemeld, voornamelijk in juli en met de Kamer, op 27 juni bij Rijssen, Overijssel, en bij Geelpootmeeuw licht in de meerderheid. Vanaf half Rijswijk, Gelderland, en tevens werd bekend dat er in juli werden in Noord-Nederland voor het eerst ook juni drie werden gehoord in het Wormer- en Jisperveld, juveniele Pontische Meeuwen gezien. Na meldingen Noord-Holland. Hetgeen in de vorige rubriek werd op 5 juni van drie langsvliegende bij Huisduinen en op voorspeld over de Kraanvogel Grus grus lijkt te zijn uit- 22 juni één bij Twisk, Noord-Holland, werd vanaf 4 gekomen. Op het Fochtelooërveen, Drenthe, werd een juli een langzaam oplopend aantal Lachsterns Gelo- nest zonder eieren van deze soort gevonden. Ook in de chelidon nilotica waargenomen op de bloembollenvel- Oostvaardersplassen bleef de gehele periode een twee- den bij ‘t Zand, met als maximum 29 (20 adulte en tal aanwezig. Geslaagde broedgevallen van Steltkluut negen juveniele) op 31 juli. Daarnaast waren er mel- Himantopus himantopus werden vastgesteld op en dingen op 9 juli in Groningen, op 26 juli twee bij het rond het Rammegors, bij Cillaarshoek, Zuid-Holland, Balgzand, Noord-Holland, en op 29 juli twee in het en in de Ezumakeeg, Friesland. Eind juli werden Jaap Deensgat in de Lauwersmeer. Reuzensterns Sterna zodoende op het Rammegors 40 exemplaren gezien, caspia werden gezien op 11 en 16 juli bij Den Oever, waaronder enkele juveniele. Bovendien werden er nog op 13 juli in de Ezumakeeg, op 16 juli één en op 31 32 op andere locaties opgemerkt. Een Griel Burhinus juli drie in de Workumerwaard, op 25 juli bij de Steile oedicnemus vloog op 7 juni langs het Kröller-Müller Bank en op 29 juli in het Jaap Deensgat. Het broedge- Museum op de Hoge Veluwe, Gelderland. De aanwe- val van de Witwangsterns Chlidonias hybridus in het zigheid van Vorkstaartplevieren Glareola pratincola in Soerendonks Goor, Noord-Brabant, leverde één of de zomer is de laatste jaren een terugkerend fenomeen. twee jongen op die het helaas maar kort lijken te heb- In deze periode was er één op 15 juni in de ben uitgehouden. Waarschijnlijk hebben zij als snack Ezumakeeg. Deze plek was ook goed voor een Wit- voor een snoek gediend. Verder waren er waarnemin- staartkievit Vanellus leucurus die daar op 7 en 20 juni gen op 1 juni in de Ezumakeeg, op 5 juni in de werd gezien. Vanaf 1 augustus verbleef een Bonapartes Eempolder bij Eemnes, Utrecht, en op 7 juni op de Strandloper Calidris fuscicollis bij Den Oever. De Strabrechtse Heide. Vanaf 4 juli werden maximaal zes enige melding van Gestreepte Strandlopers C melano- Witvleugelsterns C leucopterus gezien bij Den Oever. tos betrof die van twee vogels op 1 juni wederom in de Een juveniele werd op 19 juli opgemerkt bij Lelystad, Ezumakeeg. Na de waarnemingen in mei verbleven Flevoland. Een Papegaaiduiker Fratercula arctica vloog opnieuw Breedbekstrandlopers Limicola falcinellus bij op 18 juni langs Texel. Den Oever: van 9 tot 16 juli, met van 12 tot 14 juli zelfs twee. Hemelsbreed daar niet ver vandaan werd er UILEN TOT GORZEN Ondanks geruchten blijft het voor- op 20 juli één gemeld op het wad bij het Amstelmeer, alsnog onzeker of er een tweede broedgeval (twee jon- Noord-Holland. Een Poelsnip Gallinago media vloog gen) van Oehoe Bubo bubo in Zuid-Limburg heeft op 31 juli op in Berkheide, Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland. plaatsgevonden. Ook deze zomer was er weer een Het is moeilijk voor te stellen dat men in het midden waarneming van een Alpengierzwaluw Apus melba, en van de jaren 1980 nog een reis ondernam om een wel op 5 juni langs de Lek bij Honswijk, Utrecht. Er Poelruiter Tringa stagnatilis te twitchen gezien de vol- waren meldingen van roepende Hoppen Upupa epops gende waslijst: in de Lauwersmeer op 5 juni en 24 juli op 2 juni op het Planken Wambuis, Gelderland, en op aan de Groningse kant en vanaf 19 juni één à twee aan 13 juni bij het Soerendonks Goor. De Noordse Nachte- de Friese kant, in het Rammegors en omgeving vanaf gaal Luscinia luscinia van de Ooypolder, Gelderland, 26 juni maximaal vier, twee op 30 juni én op 30 en 31 werd van 15 mei tot ten minste 5 juni gehoord. Naast juli bij de Starrevaart bij Leidschendam, Zuid-Holland, een kortstondig aanwezige Roodsterblauwborst L sve- op 11 juli bij Zierikzee, Zeeland, van 14 tot 18 juli bij cica svecica op 1 juni bij Spijk, Groningen, verbleef de Wevers Inlaag, Zeeland, op 23 en 29 juli bij de een zingend mannetje vanaf 22 juni bij Veendam, Eemshaven, Groningen, op 25 juli bij het Oostvoornse Groningen, hetgeen resulteerde in een geslaagd broed- Meer, Zuid-Holland, en bij De Bol op Texel en op 28 geval op die plek. De subspecifieke identiteit van de juli langsvliegend bij Camperduin. Grauwe Franje- moeder is vooralsnog onbekend. Beflijsters Turdus tor- poten Phalaropus lobatus werden opgemerkt op 5 juni quatus werden nog gezien op 6 juni bij Katwijk aan bij de Workumerwaard, Friesland, van 2 tot 6 juli op Zee en op 12 juni in de AW-duinen, Noord-Holland. een bloembollenveld bij ‘t Zand, Noord-Holland, en Vanaf 2 juli werden ten minste drie territoria van Gras- op 16 juli in de Ezumakeeg. Een Kleine Jager Sterco- zanger Cisticola juncidis vastgesteld in de omgeving rarius parasiticus werd op 11 juli aangetroffen op de van Paal aan de rand van het Verdronken Land van Kraaijenbergse Plassen bij Linden, Cuijk, Noord- Saeftinghe, Zeeland. Een Krekelzanger Locustella flu-

235 Recente meldingen viatilis zong van 4 tot 6 juli in ontoegankelijk terrein Moeselpeel bij Weert, Limburg; mogelijk gaat het om nabij Den Nul. Van 15 juni tot 8 juli verbleef een Grijskeeldiksnavelmees P alphonsianus. Een mannetje Orpheusspotvogel Hippolais polyglotta in het IJzeren IJsgors Calcarius lapponicus werd gemeld, zingend en Bos bij Susteren, Limburg; enkele kleed- en zangken- wel, op 12 en 16 juni bij Lopik, Utrecht. De Ortolaan merken zouden echter mogelijk wijzen op een hybride Emberiza hortulana was nog maar recent als broedvo- oorsprong. Opmerkelijk is de vangst van een mannetje gel in Nederland uitgestorven verklaard, of de eerste Baardgrasmus Sylvia cantillans op 18 juli in Berkheide, hoopvolle berichten kwamen weer los. Buiten een Wassenaar. Een onvolwassen Kleine Vliegenvanger zangwaarneming half juni bij Wehl, Gelderland, waren Ficedula parva zong van 9 tot 13 juni in het Onderste drie paren aanwezig in Zuidoost-Groningen, tussen Ter Bos bij Epen, Limburg. Leuk voor de escape-twitchers Apel en Sellingen, en nog een vierde paar hier net over is het feit dat er al vier jaar een kleine broedpopulatie de grens in Duitsland. diksnavelmezen Paradoxornis aanwezig is in de

Ruud M van Dongen, Taalstraat 162, 5261 BJ Vught, Nederland Remco Hofland, Koningstraat 23A, 2316 CC Leiden, Nederland ([email protected]) Peter W W de Rouw, Schoolstraat 3-bis, 3581 PM Utrecht, Nederland

België reigers Casmerodius albus over het Kluizendok te Gent. In Vlaanderen werden Zwarte Ooievaars EENDEN TOT VALKEN De ontsnapte, gekleurringde Ciconia nigra waargenomen te Kruishoutem, Oost- Witoogeend Aythya nyroca bleef nog tot ten minste 11 Vlaanderen, op 6 juni; te Paal-Beringen, Limburg, op juli bij Dendermonde, Oost-Vlaanderen. Het mannetje 11 juni; en te Gooreind-Wuustwezel, Antwerpen, op Rosse Stekelstaart Oxyura jamaicensis bleef trouw aan 13 juni; bij Mechelen pleisterde een onvolwassen Blokkersdijk, Antwerpen, tot zeker 31 juli. Zowel in exemplaar op 9 en 10 juli dat later op 10 juli over Sint- juni als in juli werden drie Roodhalsfuten Podiceps gri- Agatha-Rode, Vlaams-Brabant, vloog; over Blokkersdijk segena opgemerkt. Een mannetje Woudaap Ixobrychus vlogen er drie op 18 en één op 20 juli; over Kruibeke minutus riep van 10 tot 13 juni op De Putten te op 21 juli; over Brecht, Antwerpen, op 29 juli; en over Melsen, Oost-Vlaanderen. Uiteraard waren er ook de nodige broedgevallen: 1999 was een goed jaar, met als 249 Kleinst Waterhoen / Baillon’s Crake Porzana pusil- grootste concentratie c 12 territoria te Harchies, Hai- la, adult, Brecht, Antwerpen, juli 1999 (Jef de Ridder) naut. Een adulte en een onvolwassen Kwak Nycticorax nycticorax werden gedurende de gehele periode regel- matig gezien bij Willebroek, Antwerpen, op 14 juni verbleef er één te Lokeren, Oost-Vlaanderen, en op 22 juni één bij Destelbergen, Oost-Vlaanderen. Op 21 juli betrof het waarnemingen van één te Kruibeke, Oost- Vlaanderen, en twee bij Aalter, Oost-Vlaanderen. Op 27 juli vloog er één over Merksem, Antwerpen, en op 28 juli werd er één opgemerkt bij Viersel, Antwerpen. In Het Zwin te Knokke, West-Vlaanderen, kwamen weer twee paren Koereigers Bubulcus ibis tot broeden; vermoedelijk twee van deze vogels verbleven op 12 juni in de Achterhaven van Zeebrugge en één liep op 25 juli bij Damme, West-Vlaanderen. Kleine Zilver- reigers Egretta garzetta werden gezien te Bredene, West-Vlaanderen (18 juli); te Damme (maximaal twee op 18 juni); te Doel, Oost-Vlaanderen (maximaal twee op 12 juli); te Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen (25 juli); te Harelbeke-De Gavers, West-Vlaanderen (drie op 19 juni); te Kallo-Melsele, Oost-Vlaanderen (vier op 1 juni); in Het Zwin te Knokke (vijf broedparen); te Mechelen, Antwerpen (vanaf 7 juli); te Oostkerke, West-Vlaanderen (4 juli); bij Ramskapelle, West- Vlaanderen (8 tot 20 juni); te Schulen, Limburg (22 juni); te Willebroek (4 en 31 juli); in de Uitkerkse Polders, West-Vlaanderen (maximaal zes op 31 juli); en te Zeebrugge-Achterhaven (maximaal 15 op 15 juli). Op 14 juni trok bovendien een groepje van zeven over Blokkersdijk. Op 24 juli trokken twee Grote Zilver-

236 Recente meldingen

250 Witstaartkievit / White-tailed Lapwing Vanellus leu- 251 Slangenarend / Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus, curus, adult, Zeebrugge, West-Vlaanderen, 15 juli 1999 Ben-Ahin, Liège, 2 juli 1999 (Johan Buckens) (Filip De Ruwe)

Harelbeke op 30 juli. Op acht waarnemingsplaatsen pulli geringd. Het kroost kon nog twee weken lang werden in totaal 25 Ooievaars C ciconia geteld, met bekeken worden. Geruchten van acht roepende vogels als maximum zes over Dessel-Retie, Antwerpen, op 26 in de provincie Limburg bleken bij navraag serieus juli. Er waren waarnemingen van Rode Wouwen genomen te worden. Tussen 3 en 24 juni riepen maxi- Milvus milvus te Brecht (1 juni); te Bredene (30 juli); te maal twee Kwartelkoningen Crex crex in de Kuringen-Hasselt, Limburg (31 juli); te Muizen, Achterhaven van Zeebrugge. Van 6 tot 22 juni vertoef- Antwerpen (29 juli); en in de Uitkerkse Polders (31 den hier maximaal twee Steltkluten Himpantopus juli). Op 23 juni vloog een (of de) Slangenarend himantopus en op 8 en 9 juni kwamen er daar twee Circaetus gallicus over het Schietveld te Brecht, op 30 bij. Op 6 juni trokken er twee over De Gavers te juni verbleef hij op het Klein Schietveld te Brasschaat, Harelbeke en op 16 juni pleisterden er twee op de Antwerpen, en op 9 en 10 juli verscheen hij weer kort- Kalmthoutse Heide. Van 5 tot 25 juli waren er twee stondig te Brecht. Verrassend genoeg was in de Steen- aanwezig op het Kluizendok bij Gent. Vanaf 17 juli groeve te Ben-Ahin, Liège, van 6 juni tot 11 juli een pleisterde een groep van vier te Fontenoy, Hainaut, op zeer bleek exemplaar aanwezig dat vaak zeer goed (en 26 juli groeide het aantal eventjes aan tot zeven. Vanaf ook in zit) te zien was. Nog een andere pleisterde ver- 26 juli liep een juveniele te Escanaffles, Hainaut. moedelijk reeds vanaf mei te Helchteren-Meeuwen, Terwijl België nog steeds wacht op zijn eerste echt Limburg, en was daar in elk geval op 11 juli nog pre- twitchbare Steppekievit Vanellus gregarius, kon onver- sent. Op 17 juni werd te Rulles, Luxembourg, een laag wacht de eerste Witstaartkievit V leucurus worden overvliegende, lichte Dwergarend Hieraaetus pennatus bekeken in de Achterhaven van Zeebrugge. Deze adul- waargenomen. Telkens één Visarend Pandion haliaetus te vogel werd ontdekt op 14 juli en de volgende dag na werd gemeld te Belzele, Evergem, Oost-Vlaanderen, op uitgebreid zoeken teruggevonden. Op 16 juli vertrok 5 juni; te Willebroek op 10 juni en 27 juli; over de hij ‘s avonds hoog in noordoostelijke richting. Vanaf 12 Kalkense Meersen, Oost-Vlaanderen, op 15 juni; en te juli werden de eerste Temmincks Strandlopers Calidris Neerpelt, Limburg, op 10 juli. Eerste-zomer mannetjes temminckii voor het najaar opgemerkt. Een IJslandse Roodpootvalk Falco vespertinus vlogen op 1 juni over Grutto Limosa limosa islandica werd gezien te de Kalmthoutse Heide, Antwerpen, op 26 juni over Bredene van 12 tot 14 juli. Op 10 juli vlogen twee Bredene, en op 10 juli over Hensies, Hainaut. Poelruiters Tringa stagnatilis langs het Schietveld te Brecht. Verspreid over de periode werden 11 Geelpoot- RALLEN TOT SPECHTEN Op 30 juli werd een Porselein- meeuwen Larus michahellis opgemerkt. Opvallend was hoen Porzana porzana waargenomen bij Tienen, de toename van zomerwaarnemingen van Pontische Vlaams-Brabant, en de volgende dag één te Lier. Een Meeuwen L cachinnans cachinnans: er waren waarne- vermoedelijk Klein Waterhoen P parva pleisterde op mingen te Gent-Kluizendok op 3 juli; te Gullegem, 27 juni te Boorsem, Limburg. Op 15 juni liep een West-Vlaanderen, op 26 juni; te Bornem-Wintam, Kleinst Waterhoen P pusilla over de weg van het Antwerpen, op 24 juli; en twee in de Voorhaven van Schietveld te Brecht. Nachtelijke bezoeken leverden op Zeebrugge op 21 juli. Op 18 juli verbleef kortstondig 19 juni minimaal drie roepende mannetjes op. De eer- een adult-zomer Lachstern Gelochelidon nilotica in ste vogel werd vrijwel dagelijks op zijn vaste foerageer- Het Zwin te Knokke. Een van de twee Dougalls Sterns ronde waargenomen. Op 3 juli werden voedselvluch- Sterna dougallii, die reeds in mei werden waargeno- ten vastgesteld en op 5 juli werden vier van de zes men, bleek op 3 en 4 juli nog steeds aanwezig te zijn

237 Recente meldingen in de Voorhaven van Zeebrugge. De gekleurringde in de Kleiputten te Heist; zij zouden op 6 juli een hybride Dougalls Stern x Visdief S dougallii x hirundo maximum van zes bereikt hebben. Elders waren er de die in 1995 te Zeebrugge broedde (cf Dutch Birding typische verspreide waarnemingen. Bij Korbeek-Lo, 19: 60-64, 1997) was dit jaar opnieuw gepaard met Vlaams-Brabant, werd op 25 juli een eerstejaars grijs- een Visdief S hirundo. De vogel bebroedde één ei maar en-witte Kleine Karekiet Acrocephalus scirpaceus het broedsucces is niet bekend. Op de Bergelenput te geringd, waarvan men het aanvankelijk mogelijk achtte Gullegem joeg op 17 juni een Witvleugelstern Chli- dat het om een Kaspische Karekiet A fuscus ging. donias leucopterus. Bij Orcq, Hainaut, werd op 10 juni Orpheusspotvogels Hippolais polyglotta zongen van 3 een Vale Gierzwaluw Apus pallidus gedetermineerd, tot 13 juni bij Ronse, Oost-Vlaanderen, op 22 juni te foeragerend in een groep van c 100 Gierzwaluwen Willebringen-Boutersem, Vlaams-Brabant, en op 9 juli A apus. Op 13 juni werd er één geclaimd boven te Knokke. Een zingend mannetje Brilgrasmus Sylvia Brussel-Schaarbeek. Een Alpengierzwaluw A melba conspicillata was vanaf half juni tot ten minste begin vloog in de avond van 4 juni boven het Provinciaal augustus aanwezig te Maasmechelen, Limburg. Op het Domein te Huizingen, Vlaams-Brabant. einde van zijn verblijf werd de vogel gezien in het gezelschap van een vrouwtje Grasmus S communis en PIEPERS TOT GORZEN Een Duinpieper Anthus cam- twee juveniele. Een mannetje Roodmus Carpodacus pestris werd op 18 juli gemeld in de Achterhaven van erythrinus zong op 11 juni in de Zwinbosjes te Knokke; Zeebrugge. Van 16 tot 19 juni was een zingend man- naar verluidt werden er daar op 3 juni reeds twee netje Aziatische Roodborsttapuit Saxicola maura aan- gehoord. wezig te Pommeroeul, Hainaut. Een zingende Gras- zanger Cisticola juncidis verbleef van 8 tot 24 juni te Deze waarnemingslijst kwam tot stand met medewer- Kuringen-Hasselt en op 16 juni was kortstondig een king van Yves Baptiste (Harelbeke), Luc Bekaert (Oost- exemplaar aanwezig bij de Oostdam te Heist, West- Vlaanderen), Peter Collaerts (Vlaams-Brabant), Frank Vlaanderen. De soort bleef het goed doen en er doken De Scheemaeker (Mergus), Hugues Dufourny nog meer zingende vogels op in Het Zwin te Knokke (Hainaut), Koen Leysen (Limburg), Dirk Symens op 18 en 19 juli en bij de Kleiputten te Heist op 23 en (Vlavico), Willy Verschueren (Groenlink) en Didier 24 juli. De Krekelzanger Locustella fluviatilis van Vieuxtemps (Luxembourg). Ook de hulp van al diege- Zoerle-Parwijs, Antwerpen, bezette van 6-26 juni nen die (hun) waarnemingen inspraken op de opnieuw zijn zangpost van het vorige jaar. Vanaf 21 Wielewaal-vogellijn (03-4880194) was hier onontbeer- juni lieten zingende Snorren L luscinioides zich horen lijk.

Gerald Driessens, Pastoriestraat 16, 2500 Lier, België

DB Actueel

Determinatie eerste Mongoolse Plevier voor Benelux tussen Bontbekplevieren C hiaticula op de oevers van zo goed als rond Op 4 augustus 1999 zag Nicolas de IJzer. JB, BFen MF bevestigden dat het om de vogel Selosse in de IJzermonding te Nieuwpoort, West- van Bredene ging. De vóór 18:30 toegesnelde waarne- Vlaanderen, België, gedurende slechts vier seconden mers konden de vogel op iets groter dan gewenste een plevier Charadrius met oranje borstband overvlie- afstand bekijken. Velen van hen hadden gereageerd op gen. De bijzonder korte waarneming en de onmoge- twijfelcodes betreffende de determinatie én op de eer- lijkheid de soort te bepalen deden NS besluiten om de ste zekere code van Mongoolse Plevier C mongolus. waarneming vooralsnog niet bekend te maken. Het ging wel degelijk om een kleine plevier (iets groter Kort voor de middag van 5 augustus zag Johan dan Bontbekplevier) met een zeer kort ‘klompig’ sna- Buckens in het bijzijn van Bram en Miel Ferdinande veltje en een houding die doorgaans als rechtop be- een plevier met oranje borstband, zittend op de opge- stempeld kon worden. Over de pootprojectie werd spoten terreinen van Bredene, West-Vlaanderen. On- weinig gezegd omdat dit uitermate moeilijk was vast te middellijk plaatsten ze de waarneming op de semafoon stellen. Nadat de plevier met enkele Bontbekken boven onder de code van Woestijnplevier C leschenaultii. de IJzer richting binnenland was gevlogen, werd nog Tijdens het piepen was de vogel schijnbaar reeds ver- hevig gedebatteerd over de determinatie. Voor velen dwenen en werd daar de volgende uren, ondanks bleek het knelpunt de grootte te zijn. Sommigen von- intensief zoeken, niet teruggevonden. Doordat de den hem minstens 10% groter dan Bontbekplevier. Als waarneming van Nieuwpoort intussen bekend was men onder grootte in de eerste plaats lichaamslengte geraakt, besloot Ken Lossy de IJzermonding (hemels- verstaat, dan kwam de vogel echter weinig groter over breed 19 km van Bredene) te controleren. Met succes, dan Bontbekplevier. In lichaamsvolume viel het groot- want hij vond de plevier omstreeks 15:00 foeragerend teverschil meer op, bovendien opgeblazen door het

238 [Dutch Birding 21: 238-240, 1999] DB Actueel blekere verenkleed en de hogere poten dan verwacht verenkleedkenmerken en roepjes binnen bepaalde voor Mongoolse Plevier. Het opmeten van de video- taxa/populaties. Zo zou het bijvoorbeeld zeer interes- beelden van Vincent Legrand diezelfde avond bevestig- sant zijn om te weten of de grotere ondersoorten van de de Mongoolse Plevier-structuur van de vogel. Zo Mongoolse Plevier een grotere pootprojectie hebben bedroeg de snavellengte amper 0.7 keer de afstand van dan de kleinere, en of de kleinere Woestijnplevieren de teugelpunt tot de achterrand van het oog en de sna- dat in mindere mate vertonen dan de grotere... velvorm kwam goed overeen met Mongoolse Plevier Nader onderzoek moet uitwijzen of de Belgisch- (onder meer culmen met vrij abrupte neerwaartse knik Franse vogel inderdaad een Mongoolse Plevier is (en nabij snavelpunt). daarmee het eerste geval voor de Benelux betekent) of Christophe Gruwier slaagde erin om de vogel op 7 dat het toch om een Anatolische Woestijnplevier C l augustus langsvliegend te onderscheppen op de pier columbinus, de kleinste en ‘fijnste’ ondersoort van van Dunkerque, Nord, Frankrijk (30 km van Nieuw- Woestijnplevier, kan gaan. GERALD DRIESSENS poort). Sterker nog, enkele uren nadien wist Guy Flohart de vogel opnieuw te lokaliseren tussen enkele SUMMARY A probable Lesser Sand Plover Charadrius 100en Bontbekplevieren op het strand van Hemmes de mongolus was seen at Nieuwpoort, West-Vlaanderen, Marck, bij Calais, Pas-de-Calais, Frankrijk (26 km van Belgium, on 4-5 August and at Dunkerque, Nord, and Dunkerque). Vermoedelijk door de afstand en/of be- Hemmes de Marck, Pas-de-Calais, France, on 7-10 lichting bestempelden zij de vogel als een adult man- August 1999. The separation from Anatolian Sand netje Woestijnplevier, en ‘dus’ een ander dan dat van Plover C leschenaultii columbinus is complicated. If België. Zondag beseften enkele Brusselse vogelaars ter accepted, this would be the first record for the Benelux. plaatse echter dat belichting hier parten had gespeeld; het was wel degelijk de Belgische vogel en ook nu leek Heuglins Meeuw in Groningen: nieuw voor Neder- het volgens hen om een Mongoolse Plevier te gaan. land? Op maandag 14 juni 1999 maakte Theo Bakker Een menigte Belgische twitchers reed met gezwinde een van zijn regelmatige bezoeken aan de vuilstort- spoed naar Marck en de vogel werd langdurig op c 50 plaats Stainkoeln in Groningen, Groningen. Omstreeks m met perfect licht bekeken en gefotografeerd; ook de 13:30 ontdekte hij een eerste-zomer mantelmeeuw die roep werd opgenomen voor verder onderzoek. Op opviel door een van de aanwezige Kleine Mantel- deze locatie bleef de vogel tot 10 augustus aanwezig. meeuwen Larus graellsii afwijkend postuur, de lichte Ondanks de vele publicaties is het opvallend hoe kop- en onderdelen en afwijkend ruipatroon. Met name weinig in de literatuur bekend is over deze materie, het afwijkende ruipatroon (binnenste zes handpennen zeker als het niet om adult-zomer mannetjes gaat. nieuw en buitenste vier oud, geen actieve arm-, hand- Behalve structuur zijn er geen keiharde kenmerken of staartpenrui) deed vermoeden dat het om een moge- bekend en vooral de teksten over vleugelstreep en lijke Heuglins Meeuw L heuglini ging. Omdat de vogel staartpatroon zijn tegenstrijdig. Beide soorten hebben aanvankelijk slechts een enkele maal kort vliegend blijkbaar de tendens om een bepaald kenmerk te verto- werd gezien en het in het veld erg lastig is om het rui- nen maar het grote probleem in de literatuur is dat men patroon precies te beoordelen werd getracht de vogel alle ondersoorten op een hoopje heeft gegooid en geen zo goed mogelijk in vlucht te fotograferen. De volgende verband heeft gelegd tussen de structuurverschillen, ochtend om 11:00 was de vogel opnieuw aanwezig en werden dezelfde kenmerken vastgesteld als de dag 252 Waarschijnlijke Mongoolse Plevier / probable ervoor. Nadat bovendien in de middag het ruipatroon Lesser Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus, Hemmes de goed op de zojuist ontwikkelde dia’s bleek te staan en Marck, Pas-de-Calais, Frankrijk, 8 augustus 1999 de inmiddels opgetrommelde Rik Winters enthousiast (Marnix Vandegehuchte) reageerde, werd het nieuws verspreid en vanaf 17:00 stroomden enkele 10-tallen vogelaars toe, hoofdzakelijk uit de omgeving. De vogel liet zich het merendeel van de tijd goed bekijken vanaf het fietspad of vanaf een pad aan de achterkant van de (niet vrij toegankelijke) vuilstort. Om 21:15 vloog de vogel in noordoostelijke richting weg naar een (onbekende) slaapplaats. Tegen die tijd was hij door c 50 vogelaars gezien, waaronder een beperkt aantal enthousiastelingen van buiten de noordelijke provincies en slechts één vogelaar uit de top 10. De volgende dag werd hij ondanks zoekpogin- gen niet meer teruggevonden. De Heuglins Meeuw viel op door de witte kop en onderdelen, de licht gelige snavel met donkere subter- minale band en iets lichtere punt, licht gelige poten (zelfde kleur als snavelbasis) en lichte, crèmekleurige ondervleugel. Al deze kenmerken en de tekening van de bovendelen passen goed op eerste-zomer Heuglins Meeuw, maar met alleen deze kenmerken is het moei-

239 DB Actueel

253-254 Heuglins Meeuw / Heuglin’s Gull Larus heuglini, eerste-zomer, Groningen, Groningen, 15 juni 1999 (Theo Bakker/Cursorius) lijk om eerste-zomer Kleine Mantelmeeuw of Geel- voor de herkenning van dit taxon en is er een toene- pootmeeuw L michahellis met zekerheid uitsluiten. Het mend aantal meldingen in Nederland, waarvan de hardste kenmerk was het ruipatroon: allemaal nieuwe waarneming in Groningen de best gedocumenteerde armpennen, zes nieuwe binnenste en vier oude buiten- tot nu toe is. De reacties uit Finland, waar veel ervaring ste handpennen en een geheel uit tweede-generatie met Heuglins Meeuw is opgedaan, zijn in ieder geval pennen bestaande staart. De vogel vertoonde boven- zeer positief. Van een uitgebreid determinatieartikel dien geen actieve rui aan de arm-, hand- of staartpen- door Visa Rauste is onlangs het eerste deel gepubli- nen. Deze (zogenaamd versnelde) rui past, voor zover ceerd (Limicola 13: 105-128, 1999), dat naast algeme- bekend, rond half juni alleen op Baltische Mantel- ne kenmerken ingaat op adult en juveniel kleed; de meeuw L fuscus of Heuglins Meeuw. Voor Baltische tussenliggende kleden (zoals van de Groningse vogel) Mantelmeeuw was de vogel onder meer veel te licht komen in het tweede deel aan bod dat dit najaar gepu- op de bovendelen. bliceerd wordt. Volgend jaar wordt een artikel van Het grootste probleem bij de determinatie van deze Lars Jonsson over Heuglins Meeuw in Dutch Birding recent afgesplitste soort is dat er nog nauwelijks goede verwacht. THEO BAKKER determinatieteksten zijn gepubliceerd en dat voor her- kenning grotendeels moet worden vertrouwd op infor- SUMMARY A first-summer Heuglin’s Gull Larus heuglini matie van meeuwenmeetings, lezingen en velderva- was well observed and photographed at Groningen, ring. De beoordeling door de CDNA zal daarom nog Groningen, the Netherlands, on 14-15 June 1999. If wel wat tijd en aandacht vergen; indien aanvaard bete- accepted, this will be the first record for the kent deze waarneming het eerste geval voor Neder- Netherlands. land. Sinds enige jaren is er een stijgende aandacht

240 ISRAEL - EILAT & ARAVA VALLEY Autumn/Winter/Spring: Sept 20 - May 20

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on en is er een toene­ ederland, waarvan de best gedocumenteerde 1nd, waar veel ervaring ,an, zijn in ieder geval eid determinatieartikel ® �t eerste deel gepubli­ }99), dat naast algeme- en juveniel kleed; de 48EYER n de Groningse vogel) ,od dat dit najaar gepu­ r-�WERFSPORT wordt een artikel van Ovtdoov- lm1ovatov-ç -euw in Dutch Birding De avontuurlijkste winkels vol tenten, rugzakken, n's Gull Larus heuglini slaapzakken, bergsportartikelen, fietskampeerspullen, :raphed at Groningen, 1 14-15 June 1999. lf schoenen, buitensportkleding, branders, voedsel, kijkers, first record for the boeken en kaarten en nog veel meer .... • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Den Haag Calandplein 4 • Amsterdam Stadhouderskade 4 • Rotterdam Adm. de Ruyterweg 33 Utrecht Balijelaan 10-12 • Arnhem Utrechtsestraat 3-5 • Haarlem Zijlweg 63 Breda Wilhelminastraat 22 Apeldoorn Stationsstraat 134 • Hilversum Havenstraat 16 Steenwijk Woldmeentherand·11 • Groningen St. Jansstraat 17 Eindhoven Leenderweg 202 • Antwerpen Bredabaan 968

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