Northern Wheatear x Common Redstart hybrid (1 Viewer)

[mummymonkey]

Astonishing record from Sweden.

Ob. stenskvätta?

1 ex. rastande Gillberga träbro (Emån), Gillberga, Sm 28 aug 2021 - Media: Bill Andersson

artportalen.se

Via @BirdHybrids on Twitter

 

[KenM]

It’s had a “brush” with a Fox....?😄

 

[Brian J Small]

Is the same hybrid combination what this is? Red-tailed Wheatear Oenanthe xanthoprymna in Rotterdam

Brian

 

[PYRTLE]

What a smart looking thing.

 

[PYRTLE]

Is the same hybrid combination what this is? Red-tailed Wheatear Oenanthe xanthoprymna in Rotterdam

Brian

Not for me, the hybrid has a clearly cleanly cut forked tail whilst the Rotterdam bird tail is much more akin to a Wheatear shape.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Well, the Swedish record seems rather clear,

but to me the Rotterdam bird also does not look like what I would expect from O. xanthoprymna ? (That said, I have no experience with that species ). But the bird seems to have a white rump and rather grey wings ? does that fit?

 

[jogresh]

Well, the Swedish record seems rather clear,

but to me the Rotterdam bird also does not look like what I would expect from O. xanthoprymna ? (That said, I have no experience with that species ). But the bird seems to have a white rump and rather grey wings ? does that fit?

It's a somewhat well-known "stringy" website i'm afraid, ie the sightings are mostly erroneous. There's photos of Slender Billed and Eskimo Curlews in Holland iirc.

 

[Butty]

It's a somewhat well-known "stringy" website

'It' = which of the two??

 

[PYRTLE]

'It' = which of the two??

The Radioactiverobins.com site ( Netherlands ). I think David Icke is an honourary member and former consultant.......

 

[jurek]

A question about the Swedish bird: does it differ in structure from normal Wheatear which would indicate Redstart genes? It might be also abnormally colored Wheatear with too much red pigment (erythrism). I am not a ringer, hopefully somebody more knowledgeable can comment.

 

[KC Foggin]

A great looking Hybrid!

 

[Butty]

the Swedish bird: does it differ in structure from normal Wheatear

Head/bill-structure looks far more redstart than wheatear.

I am not a ringer

They really are not Special People.

 

[Brian J Small]

Not for me, the hybrid has a clearly cleanly cut forked tail whilst the Rotterdam bird tail is much more akin to a Wheatear shape.

No idea what the relevance of the tail shape is regarding a hybrid, but look at the head-on shot. It has the neat little blaze that comes from the lores and up iover the bill (like Redstart); a longer tail than you might expect for N Wheatear (like Redstart); red in the tail (like Redstart).

It looks like a hybrid to me.

Brian

 

[KenM]

Unsure why it is, but with such a superb shot!
I’m finding difficult to reason why there aren’t anymore shots to show?

Cheers

 

[Butty]

There are.

 

[KenM]

There are.

A-h-h-h-so!!! 😮😮😮😮

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I'm struggling to imagine how and in what suitable breeding habitat for both species the mating would have occurred. And what could have attracted the parents to each other, if that's really what the parents are. 🤔

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

well, you could ask a similar question about the Norwegian whinchat x redstart which was proven by DNA.

Intergeneric hybridization between Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus and Whinchat Saxicola rubetra revealed by molecular analyses - Journal of Ornithology

Hybridization between members of different genera is relatively rare in nature. Here, we present the first molecular evidence of an intergeneric hybrid within the avian Muscicapidae family. The suspected hybrid was captured at Lista Bird Observatory, Norway, in September 2013. Molecular analysis...

link.springer.com

Common Redstart x Whinchat

proven Common Redstart x Whinchat hybrid, Lista Bird Observatory (Vest-Agder, Norway), 18th September 2013 - copyright © Jonas Langbråten...

birdhybrids.blogspot.com

In any way such hybrids should be really rare

But I can see where in Smaland (southern Sweden) habitats of wheatear and common redstart can overlap, I have seen both species there. Examples of such habitats on these photos found in the web :
https://d1uoo7xgn4hd1o.cloudfront.net/articles/IKEA-Smaland-Buch-1.jpg

https://www.ferienhaeuser-smaland.de/files49/ferienhaus-smaland-am-meer.jpg

I am still wondering about identification of the Dutch bird - no one to comment on that ?

 

[KenM]

I'm struggling to imagine how and in what suitable breeding habitat for both species the mating would have occurred. And what could have attracted the parents to each other, if that's really what the parents are. 🤔

Really an “echo” of the last post Larry.
Early August found me in the Shropshire hills (Church Stretton) steep fern covered hills holding all our chat species bar Black Redstart.

Where I found several parties of Common Redstart and on occasion the latter perched out in the open atop“island hawthorns”where they flycatched up, in the manner of a Spot fly.

This astonished me somewhat and even more so, when I observed one well above me perched on an open boulder in the manner of a Wheatear.
All my previous experience with the species had been in open and enclosed woodland, thus a learning curve for me, the only “constant” being the presence of ferns for post fledging breeding purposes.

Cheers

 

[johnallcock]

I'm struggling to imagine how and in what suitable breeding habitat for both species the mating would have occurred. And what could have attracted the parents to each other, if that's really what the parents are. 🤔

I wondered about this as well, and wondered how certain it was that the parentage was Common Redstart rather than Black Redstart, which seems more likely to overlap in habitat preference.