Black-faced Bunting: new to Britain and Ireland Peter J. Alker ABSTRACT A first-winter (subsequently moulting to first-summer) male Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala was present at Pennington Flash Country Park, Leigh, Greater Manchester, from 8th March to 24th April 1994. It was found when it was trapped during routine mist-netting operations on 8th March and it was subsequently seen by at least 5,000 birders. It has been accepted by both the British Birds Rarities Committee and the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee as the first record of this east Asian species for Britain & Ireland. On Tuesday 8th March 1994,1 went to work at Pennington Flash Country Park early so that I would have time to do some ringing before starting work. I erected a mist-net at my baited site, by one of the reserve ponds, which I frequently use for ringing during the winter months. The net had been up for about 20 minutes when I peered through the hedge with my binoculars to see if anything had been caught. I could see five birds in the net, but there was something odd-looking about one of them. At first it looked like a Hedge Accentor Prunella modularise but, as it turned slightly, it showed obvious white on its outer tail feathers. Somewhat perplexed and excited, I rushed around to the net. The bird was clearly a bunting, but one quite unfamiliar to me. I made a mental note of some of its features as I extracted it from the net: straight oilmen, pink on the bill and greyish-brown lesser coverts. The only bunting that I could recall having any of these features was Pallas's Reed Bunting Emberiza pallasi. It was obviously going to be a 'description species', so I quickly extracted the other birds and took the net down. As usual, I went to my office nearby to [Brit. Birds 90: 549-561, December 1997] CO British Birds Ltd 1997 549 550 Alker: Black-faced Bunting: new to Britain & Ireland 204-207. First-winter male Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala, Greater Manchester, March/April 1994 (top three, 8th March 1994, Roger Wood; below, April 1994, Steve Young) The inclusion of these photographs in colour has been subsidised by a donation from Carl Zeiss Ltd, sponsor of the British Birds Rarities Committee. British Birds, vol. 90, no. 12, December 1997 551 process the birds and greeted my colleagues, Tony Whittle and Roger Wood, with the news of the bunting. I also quickly phoned my boss, Graham Workman, to tell him that I would be a little late starting work and to suggest that he should come and have a look at this bird. I did not know then that it would be almost seven weeks before normal working would resume for myself and the other staff at Pennington Flash. I dealt with the other four birds first and then briefly looked through the Identification Guide to European Passerines (Svensson 1992), the only passerine reference material that I had with me. I first checked the bird against the details given for Pallas's Reed Bunting: although some features seemed to fit, others obviously excluded that species. Black-faced Bunting E. spodocephala was then considered and seemed to be a likely candidate, but, again, some features did not seem to fit. In particular, the colours of some feather tracts and the pattern of the crown feathers (bearing in mind the bird's wing length, which would make it a male) appeared to be at variance with the details given by Svensson. The bird had no olive/olive-green tones on the head, it lacked a blackish face-mask, there was no yellow tinge to any of the underparts, and the crown feathers were tipped with a long, V-shaped, dark-centred, brown marking. It was, however, mainly my lack of experience of Black-faced Bunting and my inability to visualise the species in any plumage which hampered the identification. I also did not appreciate just how variable the plumages of this species can be, and, because of the time of year, I mainly compared the bird with the details given for spring males. Unable to reach a firm conclusion, I nevertheless then processed the bird, taking a full description that included sketches of various individual feathers. The bird was provisionally aged as a first-winter by the shape and degree of wear of the tail feathers (based on my experience of ageing Reed Buntings E. schoeniclus), but I could not wait for additional reference material to be obtained to help to confirm its identity. The bird was then photographed in the hand by RW (plates 204- 206) and released where it had been trapped. Description in the hand In general, the bird's head strongly recalled Hedge Accentor: a dull grey, with most of the feathers streaked or tipped brown. The most striking feature was a broad, off-white submoustachial stripe, which hooked under the ear-coverts. The mainly pinkish bill and generally dull grey background colour to the head gave it an appearance recalling a junco Junco, with the remainder of the plumage being similar to that of a Reed Bunting. Its plumage was in good condition and was moderately worn. HKAD Crown, nape, ear-coverts and lores dull and undertail-eoverts creamy-white. Hanks grey, tipped brown. Supercilium pale dirty- streaked mainly with two parallel, long, buff, less distinct in front of the eye, more narrow streaks, formed by narrow, obvious above and behind the eye (27 mm blackish-brown feather centres. total length). Thin pale eye crescent below UPPKRPARTS Mantle and back boldly streaked eye. Submoustachial stripe off-white, with black-centred feathers, edged pale becoming broader away from bill and hooking chestnut, then fringed buff. Rump pale under ear-coverts. olive-brown. Uppertail-covcrts as rump, but UNDKRPARTS Chin dull grey/ash-grey (no with darker feather-centres forming faint black). Throat and upperbreast ash-grey, streaks. Lesser coverts greyish-brown. Median dappled off-white. Remainder of breast, belly coverts blackish, with buff tips, slightly more 552 Alker: Black-faced Bunting: new to Britain & Ireland Wing formula (measurements in mm): extensive on outer web. Greater coverts black, left outermost, which was less worn and more edged pale chestnut, fading to buff on tip and rounded, suggesting that it had been replaced along fringe of outer web. Tertials black, with relatively recently. the colours at tip and along fringe of outer BARE PARTS Eye dull dark brown under web similar to those on greater coverts. Black artificial light. Upper mandible blackish, with of tertials indented on outer web, where these small pinkish area at base of cutting edge. feathers overlapped. Alula and primary Lower mandible pink, with blackish tip. coverts blackish-brown; large feather of the Culmen straight, but appeared very slightly alula having very narrow, pale edge along concave just in front of nostrils, where upper outer web. Primaries and secondaries mandible narrowed. Legs pinkish, with darker coloured much as primary coverts, but with areas to scale edges on toes. rusty brown edging to outer web (narrower on MEASUREMENTS Wing 75 mm (max. chord). primaries). Primary projection 9 mm. Bill to feathers 10 TAIL Central pair blackish-brown with pale mm; to skull 11.5 mm. Tail length 66 mm; brown edges; remainder brownish-black, with difference 4 mm (2nd & 3rd outermost extensive white on outer two (see fig. 1). longest and central pair shortest). Tarsus 20 Feathers moderately worn and pointed, except mm. Hind claw 7 mm. Fig. 1. Patterns of brownish-black and Fig. 2. Pattern of central crown feather of white on two outermost feathers from first-winter male Black-faced Bunting right side of tail of first-winter male Emberiza spodocephala, Greater Manchester, Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala, 8th March 1994 (Peter % Alker) Greater Manchester, 8th March 1994 (Peter J. Alker) Subsequent events Upon release, the bird's pale rump was quite noticeable. The bunting flew straight into some dead grass and was lost from view. After a few minutes, it rapidly scurried through the vegetation and then out of sight again. With only brief field views, we were no nearer an identification. We returned to the office to discuss the bird's identity and I also telephoned the Birdline North West Hotline and left a message for Ted Abraham saying that we had a strange bunting at the country park. Later, a few local birders were alerted to look out for the bird while my colleagues and I tried to resume a normal day's work. British Birds, vol. 90, no. 12, December 1997 553 When I arrived home in the evening, I immediately raided my bookshelves and came across an in-the-hand photograph of a Black-faced Bunting in the Hamlyn Photographic Guide to Birds of the World (1991) which resembled the Pennington bird. Later, after a few telephone calls, I was put in touch with Julian Hough by TA. JH referred me to the paper on the identification of Black-faced Bunting by Dr Colin Bradshaw in British Birds (82: 653-665). After reading that paper and, in particular, after comparing the photographs in it with the description of the Pennington bird, I was 100% certain that the bird was a first-winter male Black-faced Bunting, a potential first for Britain and Ireland. I met TA at the country park early the next morning. After a short wait, TA located the bird feeding in the net-ride where it had been trapped the previous day. TA agreed with the identification and, after a brief discussion about viewing arrangements, headed off to the nearest telephone.