Dunlin migrants - E. Ireland May 2024 (1 Viewer)

[pianoman]

Hi

I've been observing Dunlin in my local patch in Kilcoole, Wicklow, the last couple of days. They have well defined black bellies, but does anyone know the most likely subspecies to be occurring in this location at this time of year? From what I can gather they would likely be passage migrants rather than late-staying winter birds, it would seem to be Schinzii but I might have interpreted the maps wrongly.

Also do you think it is practically possible to identify the ssp by appearance alone?

Many thanks

Andrew

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

You may find this thread helpful:

Dunlin again - what do centralis really look like?

Its the time of years again where the pathetically billed schinziis and arcticas start to get outnumbered by alpina types. (5000 today) Within those larger brighter birds there are some that stand out as bigger and brighter still (though not as yes the brick red Curlew Sandpiper-sized birds...

www.birdforum.net

I think most will be 'alpina' at this time of year, but subspecific ID can be complicated because of variations and clinal changes.

 

[pianoman]

Thanks Andrew, and it seems I even posted on that thread and then forgot.
I'm still confused mind you, it seems my choices are "Arctica/Schinzi" or "Alpina". I know the picture is quite different between E. Britain and NW Britain (Jane's territory which I'm assuming is not dissimilar to mine just over the pond).

It seems from various migration maps that in winter the race is overwhelmingly Alpina whereas in spring passage it is mainly Arctica/Schinzi that pass through E. Ireland. But I might have got that wrong. And from Jane's posts I think those have shorter bills than Alpina but again could be wrong about that too. I get a kick out of knowing where the birds I'm viewing have come from, hence my interest.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I got interested in one I saw at Girdle Ness last year because it was really massive compared to other Dunlin (see photos). I asked Jane and Martin Gray and they thought it was still alpina. It apparently needs more white at the base of the inner primaries for something more eastern.

 

[pianoman]

Thanks again. I suppose that if the W. European populations are more or less lumped as Alpina then the question goes away, and everything I see here, bar vagrants, would be called Alpina.