China ID Puzzlers (1 Viewer)

[thrush]

Larks

... the pictures of chinese Lesser on birdnet.cn showed rather dark grey claws but not inkjet black ...

Thanks, Tom. birdnet.cn isn't always reliable; for greatest accuracy, I use Oriental Bird Images.

I'm hoping we can get a consensus on the species of the attached larks. CEB_9369.jpg and CEB_9464.jpg show a single individual. CEB_9343.jpg is a second bird.

All three photos taken at Nuòmùhóng (诺木洪), Qinghai, China, last month. 36 degrees N, 96 degrees E. Elevation: 2700 m.

 

[jalid]

Shore Larks. The adult is a very dull individual, but the face pattern is still visible. Bill length and shape, comparatively long tail and short wings (the outer primaries are still old, so not moulting), and dark legs. The juvenile seems also be a Shore Lark - it is spotted like that species, most other juvenile larks are more scaly.

 

[thrush]

Shore Larks. The adult is a very dull individual, but the face pattern is still visible. Bill length and shape, comparatively long tail and short wings (the outer primaries are still old, so not moulting), and dark legs. The juvenile seems also be a Shore Lark - it is spotted like that species, most other juvenile larks are more scaly.

Shore/Horned Lark was my feeling, too. Thank you.

 

[thrush]

Principles of Short-toed Lark ID

​How does one go about distinguishing a Greater Short-toed ​Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) ​from a Hume's Short-toed Lark (C. acutirostris)? The attached photos show a single individual, taken 17 July at Dōnggěicuònà Hú in east-central Qinghai. Elev.: 3950 m. Which species of Short-toed Lark are we dealing with here? The ssp. of Greater Short-toed expected in Qinghai, dukhensis, is "dark brown and heavily streaked above" (HBW 9). Hume's Lark, ssp. tibetana (expected in Qinghai), is "paler, greyer, and less prominently streaked on upperparts than nominate, also has less marked head pattern, with supercilium generally less distinct, especially in front of eye, dark loral stripe less obvious (can appear to be absent)" (HBW 9). THANK YOU.

 

[James Eaton]

Craig,

Note the unstreaked crown and bright yellow bill base - Hume's Short-toed Lark. Greater would have the combination of a heavier streaked crown and horn-coloured bill base.

James

 

[thrush]

Craig,

Note the unstreaked crown and bright yellow bill base ...
James

Crown-streaking and bill base--good. Got it. Thanks, James.

 

[thrush]

Over at China Birding on Facebook, Gordon Ramel and I are having a discussion about the species of leaf warbler he recently photographed. Leaf-warbler enthusiasts: Can you chip in?

 

[thrush]

What's Your Take on This Leaf Warbler?

Thank you for taking the time to consider a bird that I photographed in June in the Dúlóng Valley, Yunnan. Here's why I'm calling the bird a Lemon-rumped Warbler.

Let's start by setting forth two principles: (1) One of the chief characteristics of the Pallas's Leaf Warbler complex is a well-defined yellow coronal stripe that is equally distinct throughout its length. (2) Within the Pallas's Leaf Warbler complex, four taxa often show an eye-stripe hooking downward at the rear. Of those four taxa, three are in what I'm calling the "Lemon-rumped Warbler subcomplex": They are the two ssp. in Lemon-rumped Warbler (Phylloscopus chloronotus chloronotus and P. c. simlaensis) plus Sichuan Leaf Warbler (P. forresti, formerly described as P. c. forresti). The other leaf warbler with a downward-hooking eye-stripe is Gansu Leaf Warbler (P. kansuensis).

Note the photos of the bird that I'm calling P. c. chloronotus. Panel 2 (reading clockwise from top left) clearly places this individual within the Pallas's Leaf Warbler complex (bold coronal stripe). Panel 3, moreover, places the bird within that group of four taxa characterized by downward-hooking eye-stripes. From those four taxa, I'll immediately eliminate P. kansuensis and P. c. simlaensis, the latter on the basis of geography and plumage (P. c. simlaensis breeds no farther E than Nepal and is known for being brighter and more boldly marked than the individual here), the former on the basis of geography alone (a bit risky, I know, but P. kansuensis is known to breed only in a compact range far to the N). I'm furthermore going to eliminate P. forresti because it is described as having slightly brighter and more clearly defined plumage markings than P. c. chloronotus, and my impression of the bird pictured here is that it was a "dull" type of Pallas's complex warbler. For comparison, please see the accompanying photos of the Sichuan Leaf Warbler, taken 15 days before I took the photos of the Lemon-rumped Warbler (i.e., both birds presumably are showing worn spring plumage). I think the Sichuan Leaf Warbler has slightly better defined plumage than the bird I'm calling a Lemon-rumped Warbler. Please note that I cannot eliminate P. forresti on the basis of geography, as both P. forresti and P. c. chloronotus are described as occurring in E Tibet, and the Dúlóng Valley borders E Tibet. Breeding elevation and habitat choice are also broadly similar for both P. c. chloronotus and P. forresti. I wish I had more photos, but the ones shown here are the best I got. I also have no recordings of the Lemon-rumped pictured here. Note that even though the voices of P. c. chloronotus and P. forresti are very similar, a clear recording probably would have shown discernible differences. What's your opinion? Am I justified in calling the leaf warbler I photographed at Dúlóng a Lemon-rumped Warbler?

 

[jalid]

This is a real challenge...

I do not know much about this, so I have more questions than answers.

Where you got that Sichuan Leaf Warbler has brighter and more clearly defined plumage markers? I checked Ticehurst, Vaurie, HBW and Martens 2010 (A Preliminary review..) and they were considered as almost identical. Ticehurst, after checking 70 skins of forresti, found no differences and synonymised forresti with chloronotus. Martens wrote that the only unambiguous differentiating characters are voice and cyt-b genotyping. And when comparing two individuals you also have to take into account the individual variation.

Is there any new information about the contact area of forresti and chloronotus? Martens wrote that the contact zone has not yet been located. And it has to be remembered that that the nature of contact has to be verified too. For example, when Common and Siberian Chiffchaffs (which are much more distinct vocally and visually, and also possible to separate from cyt-b) come in to contact, there is a mixed singing and hybrid zone which is about 100 km wide at its widest.

 

[thrush]

This is a real challenge...

I do not know much about this, so I have more questions than answers.

Where you got that Sichuan Leaf Warbler has brighter and more clearly defined plumage markers? I checked Ticehurst, Vaurie, HBW and Martens 2010 (A Preliminary review..) and they were considered as almost identical. Ticehurst, after checking 70 skins of forresti, found no differences and synonymised forresti with chloronotus. Martens wrote that the only unambiguous differentiating characters are voice and cyt-b genotyping. And when comparing two individuals you also have to take into account the individual variation.

Is there any new information about the contact area of forresti and chloronotus? Martens wrote that the contact zone has not yet been located. And it has to be remembered that that the nature of contact has to be verified too. For example, when Common and Siberian Chiffchaffs (which are much more distinct vocally and visually, and also possible to separate from cyt-b) come in to contact, there is a mixed singing and hybrid zone which is about 100 km wide at its widest.

Hi jalid--Thank you for this rich response. HBW does indeed note plumage differences between P. forresti and P. chloronotus chloronotus. HBW 11, p. 659 (entry for "Lemon-rumped Leaf-warbler"): "[Ssp.] forresti is very similar to nominate [i.e., P. c. chloronotus], perhaps on average darker above." (In HBW 11, P. forresti is in P. chloronotus; i.e., what HBW is considering are what it calls P. c. forresti and P. c. chloronotus.)

I have no information on the contact zone between P. c. chloronotus and P. forresti. Perhaps no study has ever been done. I have a feeling that the contact zone would be near the Dulong Valley, into which I was among the first birders, Chinese or foreign, ever to set foot. It's rugged, remote country, very close to Tibet, access to which is heavily restricted by the Chinese government. Unless Chinese scientists have managed to carry out a study in those inhospitable regions, I doubt anyone has done the research.

 

[thrush]

Sulphur-bellied Warblers, Qilian Mtns., Gansu, China

In Pane 57 of this thread, I posted photos of a Phylloscopus and asked for your opinion. I now have a conclusive and possibly surprising ID of those birds. In the attached four-panel photo (same individuals as in Pane 57), the birds in panels 1-3 are Sulphur-bellied Warblers (灰柳莺, huī liǔyīng, Phylloscopus griseolus). Below, I offer some of the evidence supporting my ID of these birds as Sulphur-bellied Warblers and not Alpine Leaf Warblers (华西柳莺, huáxī liǔyīng, Phylloscopus occisinensis):

1. Habitat

The birds in panels 1-3 were photographed 24 July ​in the Qilian Mtns. near Sùběi in W Gansu. Elev.: 2520 m. I was traveling with Brian Ivon Jones and Jan-Erik Nilsén. We found these birds in a sparsely vegetated desert ravine. There was no running water anywhere near the site. I've never seen Alpines in habitat quite like the barren place where we encountered our birds. I've seen Alpines only in dwarf juniper and rhododendron habitat. Sulphur-bellieds, by contrast, are well-known for their preference for "stony, bushy slopes" (Birds of India).

2. Behavior

We watched our Sulphur-bellieds for a solid 5 mins. The birds were on the ground the entire time. I'd never seen such a ground-loving leaf warbler. Watching them, I had the immediate impression that I wasn't seeing a typical leaf warbler at all. Although I've seen Alpines on the ground, they are much more likely to be encountered in vegetation. In HBW 11, the VERY FIRST characteristic the authors use to discriminate between Sulphur-bellied and Tickell's/Alpine is the former's "ground-loving habits."

3. Plumage characters

The birds in panels 1-3 (a) are colder above than Alpines, lacking olive hues; (b) show supercilia that are brighter than the throat, unlike Alpines, whose supercilia are similar in coloration to the throat; (c) show greyish-white (Sulphur-bellied), not greenish-olive (Alpine), edges to the remiges. (​​See four-panel photo for more distinctions.)​

The birds are clearly Sulphur-bellieds. In light of this discovery, what lessons can you and I draw?

1. Experts aren't infallible.

Not a single birder to whom I originally circulated these photos thought that they showed Sulphur-bellied Warblers. Almost all said Alpine Leaf Warbler. None mentioned Sulphur-bellied. Even if the birds I photographed had turned out to be Alpines, not mentioning even the possibility of the superficially very similar Sulphur-bellied is ITSELF an oversight. Though usually reliable, even experts make mistakes.​

2. Never stop investigating.

On our July trip to Qinghai and Gansu, Brian kept insisting that the places we were visiting had been little birded and that we should therefore throw many of our assumptions out the window. Few or no experts have a clear idea of what birds are to be expected in the Qilian Mountains, one of the most remote mountain ranges on Earth. With that idea in mind, I kept investigating our Sulphur-bellieds, even after the experts had given their opinion.

3. My work on Phylloscopus is paying off--and yours can, too!​

To make myself a better birder and to write better text for my photo field guide to the birds of China, I've made Phylloscopus ​a pet project. Slowly, the fog is clearing and I'm getting a strong grasp of this tough genus. With hard work, it IS possible to get better at ID-ing leaf warblers!

 

[thrush]

Last Saturday in Yangkou, Jiangsu, China, I saw a snipe in flight. Like a sniper, I aimed my cannon at the bird and shot it--and came up with these photos. I'd like your opinion on the species. I'll go this far: It's pretty clear that the bird is not Gallinago gallinago, Common Snipe. I think it's possible to exclude G. gallinago on the basis of my photographs alone; note in particular the lack of a white trailing edge to the wings. When you factor in also that the bird I photographed didn't zig-zag but rather made a smooth circle around the area before settling back in again, then the case is even clearer that we're probably not dealing with a G. gallinago.

 

[thrush]

The bird shown here has thrown me for a loop. Same image shown twice--one in habitat, the other close-up. Anyone got an idea of the species? Photo taken near Wūěrqíhàn (乌尔旗汗), Hūlúnbèi'ěr (呼伦贝尔), Inner Mongolia, China (49.573318, 121.397499). Elev.: 1406 m. Photo taken 17 Jan. 2015. Sparrow-sized. Stubby bill; black goatee; blackish spot on ear coverts; brown mantle with black streaks; white greater coverts, tertials, and secondaries; tawny flanks; white belly; possibly reddish rump; white undertail coverts and white outer rectrices; and long tail.

 

[KGS]

Long-tailed Rosefinch

 

[rockfowl]

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Agreed

 

[thrush]

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Appreciate your answer. Care to elaborate? How do you explain the goatee?

 

[rockfowl]

How do you explain the goatee?

Craig, I don't think there is sufficient clarity to the image to properly explain this, it could be due to a number of factors. Either way, it is undoubtedly a Long-tailed Rosefinch.