Whitethroat in Rajasthan (1 Viewer)

[Valéry Schollaert]

Hi all,

I'd like to have your opinion about this whitethroat taken in March 2024 in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. In bushes on the shore of a lake.

I'm discussing the case with others and we need more input.

Cheers !

 

[Butty]

Some lesser-whitethroat-type.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

I probably misunderstand, but dark legs, no rusty in the wing, and Common Whitethroat is almost 400 times rarer in Rajasthan. eBird's photos show dark bandit masks of varying extent depending on the photo (to the point of being almost nonexistent (?)).

EDIT: I guess it was about subspecies status, then. Sorry (and willing to hear the answers myself)!

It is a taxon of the Curruca curruca complex, but I wish to determine precisely which one if possible, whatever we consider them as species of subspecies.

I believe all of these are possible in Rajasthan : blythi, halimodendri, minula, margelanica, althaea

They can potentially be split into three species : Lesser Whitethroat, Desert Whitethroat and Hume's Whitethroat.

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

It is a taxon of the Curruca curruca complex, but I wish to determine precisely which one if possible, whatever we consider them as species of subspecies.

I believe all of these are possible in Rajasthan : blythi, halimodendri, minula, margelanica, althaea

They can potentially be split into three species : Lesser Whitethroat, Desert Whitethroat and Hume's Whitethroat.

Valery, according to Rasmussen, only halimodendri, minula, althaea and blythi? occur in the region while margelanica apparently migrates W through C Asia (confirmed by sampling) to ?, Crucially, AFAIK, there has been no DNA sampling to date anywhere in S Asia to enable confirmation of which taxa occur in the region. I think one could safely eliminate althaea but beyond that it would be pure guesswork so, Lesser Whitethroat ssp.? IMHO.

Grahame

 

[DMW]

I once spent 2 days in the desert outside Jaisalmer looking at Lesser Whitethroats trying to work out what I was looking at, and basically admitted defeat! There seemed to be an infinite shades of grey variation 😵‍💫

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Valery, according to Rasmussen, only haliodendri, minula, althaea and blythi? occur in the region. Crucially, AFAIK, there has been no DNA sampling to date anywhere in S Asia to enable confirmation of which taxa occur in the region. I think one could safely eliminate althaea but beyond that it would be pure guesswork so, Lesser Whitethroat ssp.? IMHO.

Grahame

Thanks Grahame !

You are right, margelanica is not in the Rajasthan list, but it is likely than it might occur. BOW states "Non-breeding range presumed S Asia.". Obviously, the winter range is not well understood.

According to you, we can't exclude blythii ?

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

Thanks Grahame !

You are right, margelanica is not in the Rajasthan list, but it is likely than it might occur. BOW states "Non-breeding range presumed S Asia.". Obviously, the winter range is not well understood.

According to you, we can't exclude blythii ?

Winter range of margelanica is currently unknown.

Some blythi are inseparable from halimodendri as we have found out to our cost here in the UK. It was only relatively recently, through sampling, halimodendri was confirmed wintering in the Gulf States.

Grahame