Desert lesser Whitethroat Filey 8th Nov 2003

[Paul Hackett]

I was very lucky to be at Filey on saturday and even luckier to walk the nets with the ringer and find this bird in the net !!

Identified as a Lesser Whitethroat of the form "Minula" also known as Desert Lesser Whitethroat by Pete Dunn, an experienced ringer at Filey for many years

Full Biometrics were taken and were comfortably within the range, it was a very small bird in terms of size and structure, and measurements were well under the nominate form "curruca"

"Breeds in deserts and steppes of W China between Xinjiang and Ningxia, winters in Pakistan and NW India, poss S Arabia ?"

Taken from @ Sylvia warblers Identification, Taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Sylvia - Helm ID guides 2001

[NJBirdringer]

There is nothing like being in the right place at thye right time !!

Can you remember if it was an adult or juvenile? The tail certainly looks very abraded and would indicate a 1st year bird.

[Paul Hackett]

Nigel

The bird was identified as a 1st year bird

Rgds

Paul

[Paul Hackett]

For all the doubting thomas's !!!!

Pete Dunn has returned from his hols and put a full and conclusive report including full biometrics of the Desert Lesser Whitethroat on -

www.fbog.co.uk

any comments welcomed ?

paul

[Tim Allwood]

not so sure yet Paul....

mean measurements aren't particularly relevant surely - the range of values would be much more useful. The dearth of info about halimodendri needs to be rectified before we can say (if at all possible) what 'species' it is. If halimodendri intergrades into minula what then?

The best info we have at the moment may not be the whole picture

and if it's not id-able in the field can anyone tick it?

There was an excellent summary of the very complicated taxo situation in another recent Lesser throat text by Spud aka Logos

[Tim Allwood]

Hi all

to save you looking for Spud's post here is the relevant stuff
Spud - hope u don't mind me doing this....I've snipped a few short bits that referred to a diff. bird o:)

Birds breeding in Northern Siberia used to be called subspecies blythi and many late autiumn and winter records in W Europe were generally assumed to be this form. However, in the recent Helm monograph on Sylvia warblers the authors chose to consider blythi as synonymous with western curruca. Some birds from Siberia can look slightly different from typical curruca and show, for example, a warm tone on the wings etc

Lying south of the range of 'blythi', and forming a bridge between it and minula (the classic 'Desert' Lesser Whitethroat) is the enigmatic form halimodendri which in the north looks close to 'blythi' and in the south perhaps merges into minula. The Helm guide places halimodendri in with the northern and western curruca group though it might make just as much sense to include it in the minula ('Desert') group - it all depends on whether you're looking at a northern or a southern halimodendri I guess.

...the very pallid and diminutive appearance of a classic minula (a form which actually bears a close passing resemblance to a Desert Warbler and even shares a similar habitat.

Until there is further clarification of both the appearance and vocalisations of halimodendri from various parts of its range and clarification of its relationships with both so-called blythi and minula it's unlikely that much progress can be made...