Moltoni's Warbler on Heligoland

[Brian S]

Some good photos of the male Moltoni's Warbler on Heligoland can be seen here http://www.oag-helgoland.de/. Identified on call (it would be good to hear a recording), the photos show really fresh, round-tipped primaries, amongst other plumage features.

Brian S

[MichaelF]

Looks like a Woodchat Shrike and a painting two juv Kittiwakes to me - have you added the wrong link?

[Brian S]

If you click on Actuelle Beobachtungen (Recent News) for the recent news (or even try the English version button you might just find how to navigate the site.....).

Brian S

[Marcus]

You can lead a horse to water Brian...

[MichaelF]

I can read German to some extent - but not everyone else can!

If you post a link, please post the right one that leads directly to what you want to discuss; in this case:
http://www.oag-helgoland.de/beob/aktuell.html

[Colin Key]

I can read German to some extent - but not everyone else can!



What annoys me about sites like this is that they give an option for an English version (click on Union Flag), but you then choose "Observations" and select "Recent News" and the page comes up in German!! - Vot is der point?

Colin :err:

[MichaelF]

It's not too bad, it is bilingual and gives the scientific names too

Actually, what's worse, is that the link will only last for a certain period, before the Moltoni's Warbler drops off the end of the page. So anyone coming to this thread at a later time will find the link completely useless.

The one that's even worse is when someone mentions a particular bird and just posts a link to the Surfbirds stop press photo galleries, rather than direct to the photo of the bird - after a while, you have to scroll down through an unknown but large number of pages to get to it, and each page, you have to wait ages for all those wretched flashing adverts to load before you can go on to the next page.

[Brian S]

Anyway, what about the bird???

What do people think of it compared with the bird in Norfolk?

Brian S

[MichaelF]

Looks like a Subalpine Warbler . . . :laugh:

What is it anyway? Neither Collins Bird Guide nor Svensson's Identification Guide to European Passerines makes any mention of a subspecies moltoni. Just nominate cantillans (SW Europe), albistriata (SE Europe), and inornata (NW Africa).

[Colin Key]

What do people think of it compared with the bird in Norfolk?

Brian S


Not being overly sarcastic Brian, but how can you compare very poor images of these two birds under such different lighting conditions?

I would have to agree with Michael that, at a quick glance (which is what one normally gets in the field), this is an adult male Sub-alpine (of which I have seen quite a few in the past couple of weeks).

Colin :err:

[MichaelF]

Been searching a bit - seems moltoni is a recently described Italian - Balearic subspecies of Subalpine, with cantillans now restricted to mainland Iberia (and southern France?). Differs primarily on call notes - making ident from photos even trickier . . .

[Brian S]

Michael

I am sure that this thread will give you some more information on moltonii (or subalpina, as some are now calling it) - http://surfbirds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5301&highlight=moltoni%27s.

In the thread there are some very interesting pdfs linked to by Alex Lees, which are worth a read, as it is now seems that Moltoni's Warbler will be elevated to full species level, as it has by the IOC (World Bird List V2.2, Aug 2009) - see also this thread on BF http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=146131

Brian S

[MichaelF]

Thanks! I'd been trying to track down that 2008 paper that Alex had posted, without success until now!