ID help: Possible Siberian Stonechat, northern Morocco (1 Viewer)

A

Acrocephalus

Well-known member

• Apr 8, 2016

• #1

Is it a Siberian Stonechat or a maurus-like individual? The bird seen last Monday in northern Morocco.

If confirmed, it would be the first for the country!

 

A

andyb39

Well-known member

• Apr 12, 2016

• #2

Bump! Surprised there hasn't been a response to this one, considering its potential importance.

It looks fairly convincing to me, although I'd like to see some photos from another angle. The black axiliaries would clinch it.

 

Jane Turner

Well-known member

• Apr 12, 2016

• #3

I think that it might be [just] within range for extreme worn examples of Southern European Stonechat and as suggested it the auxilliaries that you would need to see to clinch it.

 

Last edited: Apr 12, 2016

A

andyb39

Well-known member

• Apr 12, 2016

• #4

The article attached to the link above provides some interesting examples of maurus-like individuals, especially the bird in plate 118. The bird in this photo, however, seems to have a pure white rump and the dark tips which might suggest rubicola are only visible some way up the back. However, I would expect a maurus individual in spring to look much smarter and cleaner than this - I know what Jane means when she suggests a worn bird. Are there any other pictures?

 

Maffong

Well-known member

• Apr 12, 2016

• #5

There are a few individuals like this in Germany almost every spring, but none of these holds up to thourough field investigation. So I wouldn't get my hopes too high, eventhough admittedly it looks interesting

Maffong

 

A

Acrocephalus

Well-known member

• May 19, 2016

• #6

Thanks all for your replies. It was indeed a very interesting bird, but after going back to the site we found a few other birds more or less similar to the first bird. The plumage of the birds seen in later days was intermediate, but the birds were breeding so we easily studied there plumage. After reading again the papers mentioned in the blog-post, we saw where the mistakes can be made when a potential maurus bird was not observed and/or photographed very well.