Subspecies? I have always assumed that Wheatears seen on the East Coast were of the subspecies leucorhoa which breed in northern Quebec, Labrador, Greenland and Iceland but winter in West Africa. This may be simplistic and we should consider birds originating in Alaska or even Siberia. To my eye, the rich orange/brick-red color of the Smith's Point birds seems to rule out nominate oenanthe as seen in Britain and Continental Europe.
Sex? As expected for the time of year, this individual is in fresh basic-plumage. My initial thoughts were that this is a female, based largely on the realtively weak auricular patch (triangle of feathering behind the eye). Compare the NY birds with this example from Florida photographed in October 1994. Bill Smith informs me that in life this bird was much peachier, less grayish than in the photo and was aged as a 1st year male. I'd appreciate comments from those with experience of the basic plumages of birds from Alaskan/Siberia which I have not seen in the field. Interestingly, all three NY specimens are females. It is also worth bearing in mind that plates and photographs in the European literature likely illustrate the western European examples of the nominate subspecies (oenanthe) rather than the 'Greenland' subspecies. I don't know how asiatic forms of the nominate subspecies compare to their European counterparts but suspect there are differences. Both Leo Boon and Alain Fossé have posted some useful shots of European birds in different plumages. An example of an Alaskan/Siberian bird photographed by Dan Nelson in California in late September is shown on Joe Morlan's site.
Age?Aging of females
(adult versus first-winter) in the field is relatively difficult and will need
more research on my part.
Fig. 1. Front view as it perches on a wire fence marking the western edge of the main parking field. The bird had a rich orange tone ('peachy'), particularly on the breast and upperflanks. Interestingly, I found my perception of the color was very sensitive to angle of the sunlight and the color of the surrounding background. During my stay the wheatear fed constantly; dropping down onto prey items it had spotted in the short cut grass or by extracting insects (moths?) from the base of the fence. In flight, the wheatear showed its characteristic white 'rump' and dark-tipped tail (inverted 'T' shape). Overhead it appeared larger and heavier bodied than a Horned Lark and gave a thin 'wheet' note rather than the harsh 'chack', I'm more familiar with.
Fig. 2. Front-profile. Provides a nice view of the large, strong feet of this ground dwelling chat. The complete off-white eye ring is particularly evident in this view. The off-white supercillia seem to meet over the bill. The cap is a uniform pale brown.
Fig. 3. Dorsal view showing details of the primaries, tertials and scapulars. The ends of the secondaries are just visible under the tertials. One of the scapulars is twisted out of place. The broad buffy fringes of the tertials obscure the dark centers and at a distance, give the wings a pale look. There is only a faint hint of bluish color to the mantle, suggesting a female rather than male. Six black primaries are visible beyond the tertials, each with a narrow buff edging. In this shot, you can just make out the tiny hook at the tip of the bill.
Fig. 4. Side-profile (close-up) showing broad buff edges to the wing coverts and tertials. The snowy white upper and under tail-coverts are also clearly evident. The off-white supercillium is strong and contrasts with the dark eye-stripe. In this view, the supercilium appears to buldge down onto the lores but this is less obvious in other images, notably Figure 2 which shows the same side of the head. The legs are quite long with strong feet.
The wheatear worked its
way up and down the various fence lines surrounding the parking lots, returning
frequently to one or two favoured stretches of fence. Occasionally it would
hop around on the ground before returning to a more elevated position. A couple
of times it perched on a small bush next to the fence. It was attentive
to humans, flushing when joggers went past or when it was approached too closely
by birders. It bobbed infrequently, typically when made nervous by approaching
human or at the sound of a slamming car door.
Peter Wilkinson (Wheathampstead,
England) felt it was a bit ambitious trying to age and sex an autumn
bird that is not an adult male and supplied some appropriate quotes from Svensson
(1992) and Jenni and Winkler (1994):
Svensson in his Identification Guide to European Passerines (4th ed, 1992, British Trust for Ornithology, the Nunnery, Norfolk.) - the European Pyle - says re separation of leucorhoa from oenanthe "Identification of single birds in autumn is rarely possible except by size as some northern birds of the nominate subspecies have rather distinctly rufous-buff plumage." (There is an overlap in wing length, so this is only useful for the biggest birds in the hand.)
Re: ageing in autumn he
says " Ad.: Inside of upper mandible grey-black or black. 1Y.: Inside of upper
mandible partly yellow." You would have to be pretty lucky to see that without
catching it!
Re: sexing in autumn: "Ad male: Lores black, ear-C blackish tipped brown, supercilium
(and forehead in many) white. 1Y male/all females: Lores brown-balck (or paler
brown with indistinct dark stripe), ear-C (dark) brown, supercilium creamy-white
or buffish."
The account in Jenni and
Winkler, Moult and ageing of European Passerines (1994) is rather lengthier
but essentially the same. Sometimes one can make out a moult limit in the greater
coverts which clinches a 1Y bird (but only in about 29 per cent of birds apparently
and then usually in the innermost coverts). They do add that "ad males
can always be recognised by the dark black colour of the whole wing and the
greyish, not yellowish-brown outer fringes of the GC."
These sentiments were echoed by Shai Mitra (Babylon, New York) who was able to study the Smith's Point bird in the field. He comments: "Svensson also implies that, in basic plumage, distingushing adult females from HY [hatching year] males and females requires in-hand criteria like skull, inner mouth color, and molt limits. HY males and females can't be distinguished, even in the hand. I studied the bird in perfect light with my scope from a distance that would reveal molt limits in some species, and I DID NOT discern any. This would imply adult female. Still I would NOT conclude from this type of observation--in an unfamiliar species--that molt limits really were absent, and I would state only that it was not an adult male."
Richard Millington
(Norfolk, England) comments: "I do try to take an interest in the passage wheatear
that I see in
Norfolk. Unfortunately, I have met with limited success with ageing and sexing
autumn wheatears, and you doubtless already know that Svensson offers colour
of the inside of the bill as the only sexing clue... When it comes to racial
ID, not knowing whether particular birds suspected to be Greenlands are actually
so is one problem, of course. All that said, your bird looks typical of what
I would call a female-type Greenland here at this time of year: the rather long-looking
body, the apparently very broad tail band, the wholly peachy-ochre underparts
and the nature of the wing-markings (inc. the broad pale fringes on the w-coverts
and primary coverts) and the upperpart colour (v. brown). Actually, it is birds
like yours that sometimes cause Isabelline scares (eg on Scilly), because of
the overall uniformity and the wing markings, size, and especially the broad
tail band. Obviously they soon get sorted though. Isn't it so that the spring
male Greenlands are often rather female-like at first glance (grey-brown upperparts
and ochreous underparts, ill-defined cheek patch? If so, the corresponding autumn
plumages might reflect this? (making sexing even trickier)."
Bram Aarts (Nijmegen,
The Netherlands) comments: "Based on what I have read, I think your wheatear
is indeed a leucorhoa, on
the basis of the very orange under- and upperparts, and earcoverts. It
is interesting that Svensson warns for large, reddish-colored nominate
wheatears from the far north. I have never read anything about any clinal
variation in wheatears in Asia. On Iceland and the Faroer Islands wheatears
are intermediate between leucorhoa and oenanthe, they were formerly considered
to be a separate race 'kleinschmidti', but this is now invalid and taxonomists
seem to have drawn the line quite subjectively." Bram provides some additional
Wheatear links:
http://www.digi-sight.com/digi-sight.html
http://www.bmarket.freeserve.co.uk/wheatear.htm
http://club300.se/galleri/arkiv02.cfm