Thanks Simon
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Iberian Chiffchaff (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Andy Hurley
- Start date
Thanks Simon
Indeed, nice to have them on the dicussion page. Thanks Simon.
John Cantelo
Well-known member
A very useful recent paper on Iberian Chiffchaff can be seen here - https://www.researchgate.net/public...hiffchaffs_During_the_Autumn_Migration_Period
Indeed. In this case it seems, a bird in the hand is not worth two in bush!
John Cantelo
Well-known member
Some largely bibliographical musings on the history of Iberian Chiffchaff on my blog at http://birdingcadizprovince.weebly....ge/a-mysterious-mosquitero-iberian-chiffchaff Interesting to note how much notice was taken in popular guides of tristris whilst ibericus/brehmii was largely ignored - ironic as the former is still classed as a race of Common by most authorities
It is particularly pleasing to highlight the largely forgotten role of Captain Hubert Lynes, who studied them near Gibraltar (The Ibis Vol II 1914 – see http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100092#page/370/mode/1up), in realising the birds were Chiffchaff rather than Willow Warbler. Like those before him Lynes initially mistook the Iberian Chiffchaff's tripartite song as a local dialect, not of Chiffchaff but Willow Warbler but, unlike others, he carefully investigated the situation. On finding a nest and collecting a specimen he realised he'd made an error and that the birds were a kind of chiffchaff. It's worth quoting Lynes' perceptive note more fully: “The only other breeding Phylloscopus (so far as we could find), was by its song, I think anyone would have agreed, a Willow-Warbler; singing males of this species shared the cork-oak glades in about equal proportion as Bonelli's. For a Willow-Warbler, true, the song was unmelodious and disjointed (“tin-potty”, if one may use such an expression), the first two notes jerked out, so that for a moment they might have been put down to an eccentric Chiffchaff, had they not invariably been followed by the four or five notes in descending scale characteristic of the Willow Warbler – in short, if it was a poor Willow-Warbler's song, it was an impossible Chiffchaff's”.*He went on to relate how found a nest and eggs (which more resembled that of a Chiffchaff than a Willow Warbler) and shot the female. On examining the latter and a further six specimens he collected, he found that “with no little surprise” it possessed “all the external characters, dimensions, wing formula, emargination, etc of the typical Chiffchaff” and, although he noted the plumage was largely the same as British birds he observed that “the sulphur yellow axillaries may be a trifle brighter.” Lynes went on to note that, unlike the plumage, “the peculiarity of the song, which is constant, must have some significance” and then discussed whether the birds were resident in the area (as widely assumed) or were, in fact, migrants. Lynes was a very acute observer not afraid of tackling the Cisticolas (one of which is named after him) on which he wrote a groundbreaking paper (all the more impressive given his service in the navy left him 'gun-deaf').
It is particularly pleasing to highlight the largely forgotten role of Captain Hubert Lynes, who studied them near Gibraltar (The Ibis Vol II 1914 – see http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100092#page/370/mode/1up), in realising the birds were Chiffchaff rather than Willow Warbler. Like those before him Lynes initially mistook the Iberian Chiffchaff's tripartite song as a local dialect, not of Chiffchaff but Willow Warbler but, unlike others, he carefully investigated the situation. On finding a nest and collecting a specimen he realised he'd made an error and that the birds were a kind of chiffchaff. It's worth quoting Lynes' perceptive note more fully: “The only other breeding Phylloscopus (so far as we could find), was by its song, I think anyone would have agreed, a Willow-Warbler; singing males of this species shared the cork-oak glades in about equal proportion as Bonelli's. For a Willow-Warbler, true, the song was unmelodious and disjointed (“tin-potty”, if one may use such an expression), the first two notes jerked out, so that for a moment they might have been put down to an eccentric Chiffchaff, had they not invariably been followed by the four or five notes in descending scale characteristic of the Willow Warbler – in short, if it was a poor Willow-Warbler's song, it was an impossible Chiffchaff's”.*He went on to relate how found a nest and eggs (which more resembled that of a Chiffchaff than a Willow Warbler) and shot the female. On examining the latter and a further six specimens he collected, he found that “with no little surprise” it possessed “all the external characters, dimensions, wing formula, emargination, etc of the typical Chiffchaff” and, although he noted the plumage was largely the same as British birds he observed that “the sulphur yellow axillaries may be a trifle brighter.” Lynes went on to note that, unlike the plumage, “the peculiarity of the song, which is constant, must have some significance” and then discussed whether the birds were resident in the area (as widely assumed) or were, in fact, migrants. Lynes was a very acute observer not afraid of tackling the Cisticolas (one of which is named after him) on which he wrote a groundbreaking paper (all the more impressive given his service in the navy left him 'gun-deaf').
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Thanks John, great historical article
John Cantelo
Well-known member
Thanks, Andy - I'm a birder by inclination but an historian by training. I'm also a hopeless linguist, unfortunately, which means I couldn't explore the Spanish/Portuguese literature (such as it is) to see whether anything was written about 'their' chiffchaff. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who might have any other early references I've missed.
John, I've taken the liberty of including your article's link in the references section of the Opus Article for Iberian Chiffchaff. I thought others might like to read your work for some historical context in respect to this species.
Thanks again for this.
Thanks again for this.
John Cantelo
Well-known member
No liberty at all. Thanks for doing so.
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