Hi Colin
That looks very much like a juv American Oystercatcher. Not sure about the range though. Are they regular vagrants to the Canaries? Others on this site will be more helpful than me.
best wishes
alan
There are no Western Palearctic records of American afaik.
I suppose you have no more photos of this bird? Any in flight or open wing shots, even blurred ones?
Among other features, European has a white back (shows as a white wedge), which is dark on American.
I don't know if Eurasian can show such a contrast with the back
I think perhaps a Siberian longipes ending up on the Canaries would be ...less unlikely than an American and which is what I think the OP looks like but a sharper view if the bill would be useful
http://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/RealData/gallery_show.asp?galleryid=54910
Avibase (oddly?) has both Portugal and Madeira as location for ‘rare/accidental’ records for Siberian so not such a great leap to Canaries?
https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=280BC5B8293D86E6&sec=map
no opinions or feedback on this then?
My interpretation is that nasal grove is more or less exactly half bill length. I don't think it's American on balance of probability but I've not come across a clear character which rules it out. I wasn't able to judge nasal grove on ebird pics of American
Hi ‘Fern’
I’m relieved I’ve not been talking to myself here
However, I have been referring to my belief this could be a sub species/race of Eurasian Oystercatcher called H.o. longipes (one on Scilly a while back) not an American so I think you misunderstood my post?.
This race, if you look at the rarebirdalert link I posted up thread is very like an American Oystercatcher but the latter being extremely unlikely.
A main criteria for separating these 2 races of Eurasian Oystercatcher is the length of the nasal groove. For nominate Eurasian the ratio is 0.5 and under, for Siberian race, it’s 0.5 and over.
I personally would not even consider a first for the Western Palearctic (American Oystercatcher) unless this race of European Oystercatcher could first be ruled out.
No, no misunderstanding. I was just clarifying my view. Given (my perception of) nasal grove length, I can't personally say this is the siberian ssp. Neither can I definitively rule out American (which I've seen many times) although I realise this is less likely. Fwiw, my immediate impression was an unusual eurasian.
someone that does have experience of these Italian and Portugese populations of longipes or of the Eastern populations of this race might offer their input -
What Portuguese populations are you referring to? What's the reference to this? Unless it's something very recent, only the nominal subspecies has been recorded in Portugal.
Took this photo of an Oystercatcher in Tenerife, the back seems a lot greyer, is this because of the sunlight, maybe an immature or a sub-species or even an American Oystercatcher, what do you think?