Stonechat

[khalifa]

This female stonechat were in JD today one of 3 i saw in the hotel but the white patches are much less than the other female which is the european stonechat.

is it a european or something else?

[ahmed al ali]

i would go for European...

[Oscar]

Hi Khalifa

Your bird looks quite buffy or 'frosted' grey but otherwise looks spot-on for a female European Stonechat; the dark shading coming through on the throat, rather extensive orange underparts and very bland head pattern (lacking a strong, pale super-cilium all support this). The best feature is the rump; although this is obscured under the closed wings, it seems to have an orangey ground colour with strong streaking at least at the bottom and sides (and presumably all over); again this is perfect for European.

Incidentally, it seems to me that the vast majority (if not all!?) of winter (i.e Nov - Feb) stonechats in the UAE are European and not Siberian (at least in recent years). This is my provisional suggestion, based on long conversations with Tommy, Simon and Nick about these over the last few winters. If anyone can help me establish otherwise (by supplying photographs of candidate Siberians taken in winter) I would be very interested to hear about it. Note that is seems that, to be 100% sure of male Stonechat as being Siberian, you need to get the black underwing coverts; a large white rump on its own is not a clincher (as at least some male Europeans show this).

OSCAR

[khalifa]

Thanks Ahmed for the comment.

Oscar
I need good photos for siberian stonechats to Id as the illustrations on the Field guide not enough. It's so confusing to decide if the stonechat is Euro or siberian while the rump of Euro is streaked and the siberian has solid black rump. when i see the photos in the gallery for the siberian, Euro and the common i get lost. I had photos Last April for a stonechat i thought it is siberian as the solid black it shows. i will check the photos later to submit it to compare.

thanks for your comment

[ahmed al ali]

as far as i can tell,


------------------Streak Rump-------Plain Rump---------Rump Color
Siberian ----------------------------------X ---------------Whitish Oranigish
European -------------X -----------------------------------Orangish Brownish
Common --------------X -----------------------------------White


Expert are welcome to correct