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Lesser Whitethroat (1 Viewer)

By the way, in Birding Frontiers Challenge Series, it is stated that minula is a short-distance migrant. Has somebody any idea what source/study that is based on? (That is one of the books with bad literature reference style).
 
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minula

jalid said:
By the way, in Birding Frontiers Challenge Series, it is stated that minula is a short-distance migrant. Has somebody any idea what source/study that is based on?
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Shirihai et al 2001 (Sylvia Warblers) stated that minula (as then understood) "Winters in Pakistan and NW India (S Arabia?)", which would make it a relatively short-distance migrant.

[See also Lesser Whitethroat: Arabia.]

But there are 12 British claims of minula in the BBRC WIP file!
 
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Sorry, I took it too much out of the context. It is said (about European vagrants) "We used to call them 'minula'. With the revelation that minula is a short-distance migrant, breeding only within China (hence 'Chinese Lesser Whitethroat') we have to adjust thinking".
 
halimodendri

Martin Garner, Birding Frontiers, 20 Nov 2014: Desert Lesser Whitethroats.

Btw, still not convinced of the wisdom of reassigning the widely-used name 'Desert Lesser Whitethroat' from minula to halimodendri, with obvious potential for confusion given that many field birders use vernacular rather scientific names. Most mainstream sources (IOC, eBird/Clements, TiF, OSME, BBRC, Porter & Aspinall 2010, Wassink 2014) associate 'Desert (Lesser) Whitethroat' with minula – the palest, and arguably most desertic form.

Although Olsson et al 2013 describe halimodendri, minula and margelanica as 'desert' forms, halimodendri is more specifically discussed in the context of Central Asian steppe/desert.

A quick survey of names currently used for halimodendri...
  • 'Central Asian': OSME, Porter & Aspinall 2010, Eriksen & Victor 2013, Wassink 2014, van den Berg 2014 (DB bird names)
  • 'Steppe': TiF, BBRC
  • 'Desert': Garner 2014, van den Berg 2014 (Checklist of Dutch bird species)
 
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jalid said:
It is said (about European vagrants) "We used to call them 'minula'. With the revelation that minula is a short-distance migrant, breeding only within China (hence 'Chinese Lesser Whitethroat') we have to adjust thinking".
Click to expand...

Commenting on myself...

Name minula is from Punjab, and the holotype was studied by Olsson et al, as well as birds from China. So it seems that the wintering area includes parts of South Asia (as has been stated in the regional books, e.g. Rasmussen & Anderton). The wintering areas of halimodendri are probably more to the west, on average, but their migration distances should be comparable.
 
minula

jalid said:
With the revelation that minula is a short-distance migrant, breeding only within China (hence 'Chinese Lesser Whitethroat')...
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Btw, I don't favour the name 'Chinese' Lesser Whitethroat for minula, given that its breeding range is restricted to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, whilst margelanica is mostly encountered in Gansu and Qinghai (although also marginally(?) occurring north of the Chinese border).

If the widely-used names 'Desert' or 'Small' Lesser Whitethroat are no longer considered appropriate (despite minula still being the most desert-specific and smallest taxon), then Xinjiang (or Tarim?) Lesser Whitethroat would be an accurate, less ambiguous and less politically-sensitive alternative. Several species are named 'Tibetan'. Why not give equivalent respect/recognition to Xinjiang? Using 'Chinese' for minula is rather like using 'British' Crossbill for Loxia scotica. ;)
 
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Richard Klim said:
Btw, I don't favour the name 'Chinese' Lesser Whitethroat for minula, given that its breeding range is restricted to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, whilst margelanica is mostly encountered in Gansu and Qinghai (although also marginally(?) occurring north of the Chinese border).

If the widely-used names 'Desert' or 'Small' Lesser Whitethroat are no longer considered appropriate (despite minula still being the most desert-specific and smallest taxon), then Xinjiang (or Tarim?) Lesser Whitethroat would be an accurate, less ambiguous and less politically-sensitive alternative. Several species are named 'Tibetan'. Why not give equivalent respect/recognition to Xinjiang? Using 'Chinese' for minula is rather like using 'British' Crossbill for Loxia scotica. ;)
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Richard,
Good summary! Just to be clear in my mind, did you mean 'known breeding range is restricted' or the pretty definite ''breeding range is restricted' (my emphasis!)? I'd be interested in any documented survey that had established the breeding distribution limits of any taxon in the vastness of this and adjacent areas (eg for shrikes, warblers, wagtails....)
MJB
 
minula

MJB said:
Just to be clear in my mind, did you mean 'known breeding range is restricted' or the pretty definite ''breeding range is restricted' (my emphasis!)?
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Mike, I should indeed have used the qualifier 'known'. As you suggest, there's clearly still much to learn about the extent of the breeding (and wintering) ranges of the Asian taxa.
 
Richard Klim said:
Mike, I should indeed have used the qualifier 'known'. As you suggest, there's clearly still much to learn about the extent of the breeding (and wintering) ranges of the Asian taxa.
Click to expand...

...and there I was, getting excited because you had just seen some new data that might inform our understanding of bird taxa distributions in that part of the world!;)
MJB
 
Some more speculation about Lesser Whitethroats.The mythical margelanica should also winter somewhere from southern Arabia to northern India. Where else if not there? So it has the longest migration of any "desert forms". And it should also have all chances reaching Europe as a vagrant. We have too few tools for identifying blythi, minula, halimodendri and margelanica in the field, which is proven by the fact that we don't really know about their wintering areas. Calls may give clues. There are Lesser Whitethroats with European style chack - call there and also rattling ones. It would be tempting to think that the first are blythi - at least you do not hear rattling calls in Siberian taiga zone any more often than in Europe. Then there are at least two types of rattling, which may be distinct or not, but at least the difference is easy to hear and see in spectrograms. Spectrogram samples of both are attached. Both were recorded at the breeding sites. A Blue Tit - like rattle by halimodendri and an even rattle by althaea, but I have heard this even rattle also from birds which look like halimodendri/minula in winter in Oman, where halimodendri - type rattle was more common.
 

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margelanica

jalid said:
Some more speculation about Lesser Whitethroats.The mythical margelanica should also winter somewhere from southern Arabia to northern India. Where else if not there?
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Is the migrant originally collected by Stolzmann in Uzbekistan actually still the only fully confirmed record of margelanica outside the breeding range?
 
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Votier et al

Votier, †Aspinall, Bearhop, Bilton, Newton, Alström, Leader, Carey, Furnes & Olsson (in press). Stable isotopes and mtDNA reveal niche segregation but no evidence of intergradation along a habitat gradient in the Lesser Whitethroat complex (Sylvia curruca; Passeriformes; Aves). J Ornithol. [abstract & preview]
 
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