Mourning Wheatear or Pied Wheatear? (1 Viewer)

[Orioluskundoo]

Confused about this bird: Black upper back, Dirty white cap, Black restricted to throat, White belly, seemingly Rusty-buff ventral area all points to Mourning but Mourning has never been recorded this far East (Does not mean it may not). Plus, is the vent area actually this buff color or it just seems that way because of the shadow effect caused by the tail.

Date: 6 November 2022
Location: Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakthunkhwa province, Pakistan
Photographer: M.A.Rajput

 

[igorfest]

Morphologically speaking, it has a rather strong built, thick bill and the undertail coverts strongly tinged with buff, tipical features of Mourning Wheatears (and not good for Pied). Interestingly the easternmost form of Mourning W., subspecies persica (breeding from Iran to the boundary with Afghanistan and wintering in Arabia), is said to show a stronger cinnamon flush to undertail, grey-brown tinged crown and broader tail-band than resident nominate lugens from Levant (features discernible in the photograph, at least the brightly colored vent).
Furthermore this form is described as entirely migratory, leaving breeding grounds from early Sept to overwinter in eastern arabian peninsula, so this individual could have reached northern Pakistan as a "reverse migrant", as the bird migrated in the opposite direction to that expected route (say, flying north-east instead of south-west).

Ciao, Igor Festari, Italy

 

[Orioluskundoo]

Morphologically speaking, it has a rather strong built, thick bill and the undertail coverts strongly tinged with buff, tipical features of Mourning Wheatears (and not good for Pied). Interestingly the easternmost form of Mourning W., subspecies persica (breeding from Iran to the boundary with Afghanistan and wintering in Arabia), is said to show a stronger cinnamon flush to undertail, grey-brown tinged crown and broader tail-band than resident nominate lugens from Levant (features discernible in the photograph, at least the brightly colored vent).
Furthermore this form is described as entirely migratory, leaving breeding grounds from early Sept to overwinter in eastern arabian peninsula, so this individual could have reached northern Pakistan as a "reverse migrant", as the bird migrated in the opposite direction to that expected route (say, flying north-east instead of south-west).

Ciao, Igor Festari, Italy

Thank you Igor for checking this out as well. This is a species I have no experience with and we certainly wanted to check through others for views especially since it has never been recorded before in the Country. Interesting, your hypothesis with regards to this bird's reverse migration. I do not have a lot of knowledge with regards to the phenomena of reverse migrations: do birds just linger around the same sight generally for wintering or figure out the opposite (atypical) route and change their ways? is there any data on this by any chance...

We have received concurring responses from ornithologists from Middle-East who are far mor comfortable with this species. Much appreciated.

 

[igorfest]

is there any data on this by any chance...

If you want to read very good and most complete bibliographical resources about bird migration and vagrancy you can have a look at these two titles:
"Vagrancy in Birds" by Alexander Lees & James Gilroy
"Rare Birds of North America" by Steve NG Howell, Ian Lewington & Will Russell
Here you find deep description of all kinds of migratory phenomena known to exist, able to displace birds out of their normal range and routes!

Reverse migration is the phenomenon thanks to which european birders can regularly see in autumn birds such as Yellow-browed and Hume's Leaf Warbler, Richard's Pipit and other siberian specialties, species that normally migrate south-eastward towards South-East Asia but that have now established (through a long process of south-westward vagrancy) new migration routes and overwintering sites in Western Europe, at the specular and opposite extreme of their actual range.

Ciao, Igor Festari, Italy

 

[Orioluskundoo]

If you want to read very good and most complete bibliographical resources about bird migration and vagrancy you can have a look at these two titles:
"Vagrancy in Birds" by Alexander Lees & James Gilroy
"Rare Birds of North America" by Steve NG Howell, Ian Lewington & Will Russell
Here you find deep description of all kinds of migratory phenomena known to exist, able to displace birds out of their normal range and routes!

Reverse migration is the phenomenon thanks to which european birders can regularly see in autumn birds such as Yellow-browed and Hume's Leaf Warbler, Richard's Pipit and other siberian specialties, species that normally migrate south-eastward towards South-East Asia but that have now established (through a long process of south-westward vagrancy) new migration routes and overwintering sites in Western Europe, at the specular and opposite extreme of their actual range.

Ciao, Igor Festari, Italy

I see, this was a new and very interesting concept for me. Thanks for the share and especially the books, I am on to finding those books!