Redstart subspecies or hybrid? Central Lithuania. (1 Viewer)

You might be right Cau. I was looking at phoenicuroides/rufiventris refs a few days ago as I was sent an image that looked suspicious.

This one had a thread a few days or so ago - http://artportalen.se/birds/gallery_imageinfo.asp?imageid=346998
I thought this suggested Common Redstart as the upperparts being so warm generally, others felt it might be a hybrid. I'll see if I can find the thread.

Edit - Here - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=214110

rockfowl said:

This one had a thread a few days or so ago - http://artportalen.se/birds/gallery_imageinfo.asp?imageid=346998
I thought this suggested Common Redstart as the upperparts being so warm generally, others felt it might be a hybrid. I'll see if I can find the thread.

Edit - Here - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=214110

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, I wasn't aware of the other thread. Although separating an eastern Black Redstart from a hybrid is extremely difficult (if not impossible), I believe that the almost simultaneous appearence of three birds to different parts of Sweden in late October would favour eastern origin.

Hi CAU
The Central Asian populations (e.g. phoenicuroides) generally lacks the whitish edges to tertials and secondaries in the post-juvenile, and subsequent, feather generations. I'm not fully certain if this is true also for juvenile feathers, but I would find it highly likely. The thread-bird above shows a rather clean (more so than average gibraltariensis) white panel, and to me this makes phoenicuroides a less likely choice.

/Magnus

Hi Magnus,
you are probably right. Here's a juvenile from Sichuan showing quite pale edges to the tertials and secondaries (the paleness may be enhanced by the light):
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=36&Bird_ID=2596&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1
Here's a bird labeled as adult female:
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=18&Bird_ID=2596&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1
The Lithuanian bird still shows a whiter panel than any of these.

Adult male from Pakistan:
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo216752.htm

Regarding the Swedish male, here are birds from Oman and the UAE, some of which show a pretty extensively white belly:
http://www.birdsoman.com/Birds/130-Thrushes/EasternBlackRedstart/EasternBlackRedstart.htm