Mourning Wheatear? (1 Viewer)

[oguenaydin]

Hi ,

I need ID help for this bird.

Foto taken in 23.03.2018 in Mersin / Turkey

Thanks in advance.

Ogün Aydın

Ogün Aydın (@oguenaydin) • Instagram photos and videos

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[andyb39]

It's a male Pied Wheatear, presumably on return passage. Mourning Wheatear doesn't really occur in Turkey and it has a more extensive white crown and yellow-buff undertail-coverts.

 

[oguenaydin]

Than Cyprus Wheatear i think .

 

[Muppit17]

Than Cyprus Wheatear i think .

If I understand correctly this was taken on 18th March on the southern coast.

The pro Cyprus features are location and date.

The pro Pied features are the long primary projection, the lack of dark flecking in the white crown, the lack of Buffy wash to the underparts and the lack of large headed 'feel'.

Separating the two species is very difficult, and really needs the call. Pied tend to migrate a bit later, whist the first Cyprus arrive in early march, Pied move through 2-3 weeks later.


Structurally this appears to be Pied, but the back photos make judging some of the features difficult.

 

[andyb39]

If I understand correctly this was taken on 18th March on the southern coast.

The pro Cyprus features are location and date.

The pro Pied features are the long primary projection, the lack of dark flecking in the white crown, the lack of Buffy wash to the underparts and the lack of large headed 'feel'.

Separating the two species is very difficult, and really needs the call. Pied tend to migrate a bit later, whist the first Cyprus arrive in early march, Pied move through 2-3 weeks later.


Structurally this appears to be Pied, but the back photos make judging some of the features difficult.

Apologies - I think I read 23-8. A classic case of seeing what I wanted to see. I did wonder why it was so smart-looking for an autumn bird!

I did briefly consider Cyprus but as you say, the appearance isn't quite right. It looks like the kind of individual that might move through the Gulf around this time. I"ll have another look later though.

 

[andyb39]

Yes, long primary projection and clean white crown makes Pied more likely.