68 Birdwatch•October 2017 http://www.birdguides.com/birdwatch
EXPERT ADVICE Q&A
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Q
Snow Buntings regularly winter on the German
North Sea coast, and usually these belong to
the nominate subspecies. Inland they are rare and
here in the Weser Hills, in the south of Lower Saxony,
where I photographed this male, they are almost
vagrants. This was the fi rst I’ve seen in more than
40 years in the area! Therefore, the bird deserves
a closer look, in my opinion, as there is some
dispute regarding its age. All the remiges are heavily worn and on
its left wing only the innermost secondary looks intact and is clearly
pointed. Moreover, in the left wing some of the black primaries show
pale edges and must therefore be almost intact, although these also
seem to be pointed, in my opinion. Thus, the bird might be in its fi rst
winter. Then there are those black marks in the inner primaries, outer
secondaries and some white tail feathers. Do these indicate a younger
male in its fi rst winter, too? Volker Konrad, via emailA
Birdwatch Identifi cation Consultant Andy Stoddart replies: this
bird can be readily sexed as a male by the broad black centres to
its scapulars, its wholly white innerwing coverts and the sharp contrast
on the underwing between black primary tips and the rest of the whiteunderwing. It can also be identi ed
as belonging to the nominate
subspecies by virtue of the clear
contrast between the pale, whitish
ground colour to the mantle and
the rufous and black hues in the
scapulars.
However, ageing Snow Buntings
can be quite problematic. The
literature offers a list of features
to check including moult contrast,
tail feather shape and markings,
darkness of the primaries and
alula, strength of ight feather
fringes, secondary markings,
face pattern and the pattern of
the longest primary covert and
outermost greater covert. However,
all these features are subject to
variation and, in some cases, overlap. The task here is complicated
further by the fact that we are trying to interpret these features from
photographs which don’t show many of the relevant feather tracts or,
even where the feather tracts are visible, don’t show the required level
of detail. In the eld it would have been possible to discern much more
detail than is visible in the images.
However, the photographs appear to show very black primary tips
and alula, limited rusty hues in the face, very extensive white in the tail
and perhaps rather rounded tips to the broad-looking tail feathers. As a
consequence I can’t reach a de nitive conclusion from these images. ■- For more on Snow Buntings, see David Callahan’s Species Profi le in
next month’s Birdwatch.
Q
I thought this bird I photographed (below) at Arlington Reservoir,
Sussex, was a juvenile Grey Wagtail but now I’m not sure. I’m
beginning to hate bird identifi cation guides, as they show too many
variations (or is it the birds?) – but that’s half the fun! Is it a female
Yellow Wagtail? Marilyn Dewar, via emailA
David Callahan replies: I’m not sure if it’s your bad or good
fortune, then, to have found a female Yellow Wagtail! The
pale brown upperparts, thin white wingbars and pale lemon yellow
underparts clinch this identi cation. The species is indeed very
variable, with several subspecies, though females are largely
indistinguishable in the eld and this individual is overwhelmingly likely
to be the British breeding subspecies fl avissima. ■Q
I found this feather near my house in Hampshire. Can anyone tell
me to which species it belongs? Sian Cleaver, via TwitterA
David Callahan
replies: this is
indeed a distinctive
feather – in fact, so
distinctive that the
species can be named
straight away as a Jay.
Jay is our most
spectacularly coloured
member of the crow
family, with a pinkish-
brown head and body
and black-and-white
wings, which have
prominent black and blue
barred greater coverts,
of which this is one
feather. This produces a
blue patch on the wing
which is very notable in
ight. ■1710 p68-69 Q and A FIN.indd 68 14/09/2017 17:55:53