Soortvorming binnen het Huisgorzen-complex

Het Huisgorzen Emberiza striolata/sahari-complex werd traditioneel beschouwd als één soort, E striolata, met een verspreidingsgebied vanaf India via het Midden-Oosten tot Noordoost-Afrika - zuidelijk tot in Kenia - en vandaar verbrokkeld westwaarts door de Sahara tot Noordwest-Afrika. Negen ondersoorten zijn in het complex beschreven, uiteenvallend in twee groepen: de striolata-groep in Azië en Noordoost-Afrika (striolata, tescicola, dankali, kovacsi, saturiator en jebelmarrae) en de sahari-groep in Noordwest-Afrika (sahari, theresae en sanghae). Voor dit artikel werden balgen bestudeerd van E striolata sensu lato in zoölogische musea in Engeland en Noord-Amerika en werd veldwerk gedaan in het Midden-Oosten en Marokko. Kleedkenmerken, maten en geluidsopnamen vormen een stevige basis voor het onderverdelen van het complex in twee soorten: Gestreepte Gors E striolata (met de ondersoorten striolata en saturiator/jebelmarrae) en de monotypische Huisgors E sahari; alle andere namen vertegenwoordigen synoniemen. Er zijn aanwijzingen dat beide soorten verschillen in gedrag, waarbij Huisgors aanmerkelijk vaker in en bij menselijke nederzettingen voorkomt dan Gestreepte Gors, hoewel er enige overlap in dit gedrag bestaat.

Verschillende vragen kunnen door toekomstig onderzoek worden beantwoord. Zo is het de vraag in hoeverre jebelmarrae een valide taxon is dan wel een synoniem van saturiator; hiervoor is het maken van geluidsopnamen van jebelmarrae gewenst (wanneer de politieke situatie dat toelaat). Tevens dient de vraag rond de status van een aantal \'hybride\' exemplaren die in eerdere literatuur worden genoemd te worden opgehelderd. De auteurs gaan ervan uit dat ten minste enkele van de veronderstelde hybriden goed zijn te identificeren als behorend tot de striolata-groep. Zelfs indien sommige van de overige exemplaren inderdaad intermediair zijn, kunnen hun plaatselijke voorkomen en relatief stabiele kenmerken met evenveel recht beschouwd worden als bewijs voor secondair contact tussen twee soorten die al eerder waren gedivergeerd (zij het waarschijnlijk tamelijk recent).

Guy M Kirwan, 74 Waddington Street, Norwich NR2 4JS, UK
(GMKirwan@aol.com)
Hadoram Shirihai, Ausserdorfstraße 6, 8052 Zürich, Switzerland

Oriental Pratincole near Doniaburen in August 1997

On 1 August 1997, a pratincole Glareola was found at Workumerwaard, Friesland, the Netherlands. The observers did not see a white trailing edge to the secondaries and noticed a short tail without long outer tail-feathers, and therefore considered it to be an Oriental Pratincole G maldivarum. The record was immediately broadcasted and the same evening, and over the next days, it was watched by 100s of birders, mostly at nearby Doniaburen, Friesland. It was last seen in the evening of 5 August.

With the publication of a flight photograph showing a narrow white trailing edge to the secondaries, some doubts arose concerning the identity and, as a result, it was not accepted by the Dutch rarities committee (CDNA) as Oriental Pratincole but as Collared Pratincole G pratincola. The ongoing discussions about the identity of this bird finally resulted in a thorough review of the identification criteria (Driessens & Svensson 2005) and, in 2004-06, the record was again considered by the CDNA. This confirmed the initial thought that it was, indeed, the first Oriental Pratincole for the Netherlands and chronologically the fourth for Europe (the sixth in total), with other birds having been recorded in Cyprus (1), England (3) and Sweden (1).

The bird was aged as a first-summer or older, on basis of the intensity of the red bill-base, throat-patch and tail-pattern. There are four decisive characters which reveal the specific identity (in order of importance): 1 small depth of tail-fork; 2 wing-projection; 3 amount of black on outer tail-feather; and 4 uniformly coloured set of secondaries. Characters with a supplementary value include: 5 tarsus length; 6 colour of upperparts and lack of contrast between upperparts and remiges; and 7 black-and-white pattern on outer tail-feather. The following characters do not contradict the identification: the amount of red on the bill-base, the width of the black-and-white surround of the throat patch, the very narrow whitish trailing edge to the secondaries, the colour of the outer primary shaft and the colour of the lore. A number of characters cannot be assessed safely on photographs and video stills of the bird: the nostril shape, the absence or lack of paler inner webs to the inner primaries, the exact colour of the throat patch, the colour and extent of the wash on the lower breast, and the colour of the hindneck.

Gerald Driessens, Pastoriestraat 16, 2500 Lier, België
(gerald.driessens@natuurpunt.be)
Mark Zekhuis, Stoevelaar 23, 7414 CA Deventer, Nederland
(catbird@home.nl)

Hornemann\'s Redpoll near Huisduinen in October 2003 and its identification, taxonomy and occurrence

On 11-15 October 2003, the first Hornemann\'s Redpoll Carduelis hornemanni hornemanni for the Netherlands was present at Fort Kijkduin, Huisduinen, Den Helder, Noord-Holland. It was first seen on 11 October and rediscovered and identified at the same site four days later. Its discovery date was earlier than any of the 99 Coues\'s Redpolls C h exilipes recorded in the Netherlands. It was regarded as an adult because of the rounded tips of the rather broad central tail-feathers. The pink wash on both the rump and the breast indicated that it was a male. It differed from Coues\'s by its larger sizer with longish tail, larger bill with slightly rounded instead of straight or concave culmen, pale plumage with little streaking on the underparts, uniform frosty-grey streaking on the whitish mantle (which lacked the striking pale centre and brownish edges of most Coues\'s), and \'chamois-leather\' colour on face and throat contrasting with the rest of the plumage. Other supporting characters for Hornemann\'s were the very small red cap, large size of the white rump, limited amount of pink, top-heavy jizz and large and conspicuous white \'trousers\' formed by hanging thigh-feathers. The loud pyuie call was recorded three times and sonagrams differ consistently from those of calls by other redpoll taxa, including pale Icelandic redpolls. As all five currently recognized redpoll taxa have presumably diagnostic characters by which they can be identified in the field, it is suggested to apply the same taxonomic status for each of them. A possible lack of genetic support for species status is not unprecedented in finches, while it remains unclear whether either Coues\'s or Greenland Redpoll C flammea rostrata is Hornemann\'s closest relative. The Dutch record was part of the first influx of Hornemann\'s into north-western Europe, with at least 10 in Shetland, Scotland, and five on Titran, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway, all between 22 September and 18 October 2003. It was the third record away from Britain, Iceland and Norway, after a male trapped in Antwerpen, Belgium, on 10 October 1937 and an adult male trapped on Helgoland, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on 20-27 October 1991.

Arnoud B van den Berg, Duinlustparkweg 98, 2082 EG Santpoort-Zuid, Nederland
(arnoud.vandenberg@planet.nl)
Enno B Ebels, Joseph Haydnlaan 4, 3533 AE Utrecht, Nederland
(ebels@wxs.nl)
Magnus S Robb, Baarsjesweg 237/3, 1058 AA Amsterdam, Nederland
(magnus.robb@xs4all.nl)

Song Sparrow at Kabbelaarsbank in April 2006

On 30 April 2006, a Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia was observed at Kabbelaarsbank, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. The bird stayed in an area closed to the public and, as a result, was seen by only 10 birders. It was identified by the combination of large size (for a bunting/sparrow) with long and rounded tail, streaked upperparts, strong head pattern with prominent grey stripes, streaked breast with concentration of black spots on the centre of the breast and rufous-brown tail. It belonged to one of the eastern subspecies, probably the nominate M m melodia. This is the first for the Netherlands, the third for Europe outside Britain and the 10th for Europe. Previous records (see table 1) are from Belgium (one in September), Britain (seven; one in October, others in April-June) and Norway (one in May).

Pim A Wolf, Batenburg 63, 4385 HG Vlissingen, Nederland
(wolfpf@zeelandnet.nl)
Enno B Ebels, Joseph Haydnlaan 4, 3533 AE Utrecht, Nederland
(ebels@wxs.nl)