Seebohm's Wheatear

Most often considered conspecific with Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, the Moroccan and Algerian race, O. o. seebohmi or Seebohm's Wheatear, is actually a very different looking bird. After dipping at one of their best known breeding grounds, Oukaimeden in the High Atlas, at the start of our trip to Morocco last month (they hadn't arrived), we thought we'd blown our chances of seeing them, but a few days later found a migrant male at a wadi near Tinejdad. It seems we were very lucky to find a bird on passage as according to Thévenot (2003) in The Birds of Morocco, "outside breeding range, [there's] only few records of migrants". For me, this was one of the most interesting birds on the trip.

Seebohm's Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe seebohmi, near Tinejdad, 16 March 2013. The pale grey upperparts and very white
underparts with no orange-buff, creates a distinctive 'cold' look compared to Northern Wheatear. Note the faint peachy-buff wash
to the undertail-coverts and vent - a feature I've not found mentioned in the literature?

I'm a little confused over the age of this bird. Presumably the white edges to the tertials and tips to the primary, greater and medium
coverts age this as a 1st summer male? There are photos on the internet of males with no white edges which are presumably 2cy
birds. The black throat-patch looks very extensive here, reaching the upper breast and almost reaching the carpal.

Fig 1: Notice the weak black 'band' across the nape - a feature noticeable on other photos on the internet but which I've not found
mentioned in the literature. Fig 2: Note the rather narrow black terminal tail-band and white tips to the tail feathers. Fig 3: The black
underwing coverts are diagnostic (cf. Northern Wheatear here).

Seebohm's Wheatear breed in the Rif and Atlas mountains of Morocco and also in northern Algeria, but in contrast to nominate oenanthe are a short distance migrant (so unlikely to make it to Britain, but just imagine one on the patch!), wintering in southwest Mauritania with some only making it as far south as Saharan Morocco.

'Greenland' Wheatears?

A few migrants in evidence at Staines Moor today, although no sense of any real movement going on. Most notable were a Spotted Flycatcher (along the west side, beside the Wraysbury River), 1 Cuckoo, 1 Yellow Wagtail over, 3+ Hobby, 5 Garden Warbler and 7 Northern Wheatear (4m, 3f) in the north-west corner.

Only the wheatears allowed photo opportunities so brace yourself for even more wheatear pics! Most males today were 'Greenland' types (leucorhoa) - large and bulky, long winged (7 primary tips visible on closed wing), well marked, and brightly coloured with extensive orange-buff on the underparts. I'm still not sure whether Greenland birds can be positively identified in the field though (see here)? Also, some more thoughts on Greenland Wheatear ID here.

Greenland Wheatears undertake one of the longest migrations of any passerine. Click here to find out more.

Male 'Greenland' Wheatear? This bird ticks most of the boxes, but the black tail
band looks rather narrow to me?

Male 'Greenland' Wheatear? Same bird as above. Note the bold white supercilium
and the brown ground colour to the wing feathers (compare the later with
this bird photographed on 15 April).

Male 'Greenland' Wheatear? Note the extensive orange-buff on the underparts
reaching the vent.

Female Northern Wheatear? Quite a bright supercilium on this bird, but the
pale grey upperparts suggest oenanthe. Compare with this female photographed
on 15 April.

Male Northern Wheatear taking a break

Also seen were c10 Swallow, 5 Swift, 2-3 Common Buzzard over, 2 Common Tern and 2 Little Egret along the Colne, 5 Redshank (including 1 bird on eggs), several Lapwing and 4 Shelduck over. Linnet numbers are now much reduced. A Reed Warbler heard singing from a hawthorn is also noteworthy. A couple of Banded Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens were also seen.

Stanwell Moor produced 2 more Cuckoo, 4 Garden Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler (H), 3-4 Common Tern, 1 Shelduck over, c10 House Martin and a few Swallow and Swift.

Northerly winds slow migration

Very quiet on the moor today with little evidence of movement in strong north-easterlies. The male Common Redstart found yesterday was still around, ranging widely around the hawthorns and anthills in the north-west corner. Unfortunately it was very flighty and not at all co-operative for photos (as you can see from the cracking shots below).

The male Common Redstart occasionally ventured out onto the anthills in the
north-west corner, but always kept its distance.

The male Common Redstart doing what it does best - flying off.

10+ Northern Wheatears (8 males, including 1 Greenland type, and 2 females including a possible Greenland bird - below) also in the north-west corner were a little more approachable (as you can also see below).

Male Northern Wheatear on it's obligatory anthill.

Above and below: Female Northern Wheatear. This bird is quite dark, rich buff
above and below, and long winged (8 primary tips visible) - oenanthe
or leucorhoa?

2 House Martin over N and a female Common Whitethroat were my first of the year. Best of the rest was 1 Little Owl (patch tick) along the hedgerow in the north-west corner early morning, 1-2 Common Buzzard over, 1 Little Egret along the Colne, large numbers of Linnet and Meadow Pipit and quite a lot of Robins. Also a Red Fox. On Stanwell Moor 1 Swallow, 6 Blackcap (5H), 2 Willow Warbler (1H), 5 Chiffchaff (2H) and 2 Shelduck was about it.

Spring male Northern Wheatears

With reports nationally of an early passage of Greenland Wheatears (Ssp. leucorhoa), I was interested to see if any of the Northern Wheatears passing through Staines Moor over the last couple of weeks could be assigned to this race based on field observations. In his article, Greenland Wheatears (Birdwatch 214: 26-27), Peter Clement points to several features that help separate leucorhoa from the nominate oenanthe in the field: larger size (up to 20%), richer orange-buff underparts extending onto the belly and down the flanks (not restricted to the throat and breast like oenanthe), a broader black tail band, longer wings (by up to 9 mm) and, on males, deeper blue-grey upperparts. However, with variation within our own birds and Icelandic birds showing an intermediate morphology, surely positive identification of birds bound for Greenland would be difficult if not impossible in the field?

At the moor the majority of male birds seen in the last two weeks have showed characteristcs associated with Greenland Wheatear. However, there was a fair bit of variation, and often the structure, posture and colour of a particular bird has appeared to change slightly depending on the light conditions and behaviour.

Click to enlarge

Figs 1 & 2 show fairly classic looking oenanthe birds - a slight, fairly compact structure with the orange-buff largely confined to the throat and upper breast and the rest of the underparts whitish. Note that the bird in fig 2 has a more clearly defined mask and supercilium, appears bulkier due to its posture and is whiter below. In comparison the birds in figs 4 & 5 show a heavier structure, richer orange-buff extending throughout the underparts and perhaps a clearer and bolder black mask and white supercilium. Fig 5 shows the same bird as fig 3 in flight - note the broad black tail band that's over a third, and almost half the length of the tail. Martin Garner suggests an interesting supporting feature for Greenland birds, where their longer wings show between 7-8 primary tips on the closed wing, compared to 6-7 on the nominate race. The bird in fig 6 clearly shows 7 primary tips (click to enlarge), which I guess could place it either camp, but doesn't rule out Greenland. To my eyes, the blue-grey on the upperparts looks pretty much the same on all these birds.

I suspect the identification of actual Greenland Wheatears can only be confirmed with biometrics, but we can at least say a bird 'shows characteristcs of' a bird from Greenland, Iceland or Fenno-Scandinavia, and it was certainly good fun trying to work it out!

More on Greenland Wheatears here:
http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/categories/articleitem.asp?item=692
http://birdingfrontiers.com/2011/04/09/greenland-wheatears/
http://steveblain.blogspot.com/2011/04/leucorhoa.html
http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2011/04/northern-northern-wheatears.html