marklhawkes
Also said:
saw a runt Dunlin just last weekend - very small, with a very small bill. Runts aren't that unusual.
Was it not just an alpina or artica race Dunlin? The variation in the size and measurements for Dunlin is also very extensive. 'Runt' birds are very unusal - and further more, if the Minsmere bird is a 'runt' Curlew (which i doubt), then why does it also show plumage features akin with SBC? is it both 'runt' and aberant? What are the odds? A hybrid, although possible, would surely be rarer than a genuine SBC (ie. NEVER recorded ANYWHERE EVER before).
A theory put forward by Bret Richards (i think) after the Duridge bird, was that as a species becomes rarer and more isolated, the vagrancy potential increases, as these lone individuals 'tag-on' to their nearest kind. The minsmere bird isn't out of proportion for a 1st-winter female SBC (in theory, it fits very well into the known parameters), the problem is, they are both very rare, and hardly anybody in the world has any experience of them. Although the guy with the most experience of them, does feel it is a SBC. If you go and see this bird and are under-whelmed, then maybe it's because its a hard bird to identify, and not that it isn't one!