Dutch Birding volume 29 (2007) no 1

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.driessensnatuurpunt.be)
Mark Zekhuis, Stoevelaar 23, 7414 CA Deventer, Nederland
(catbirdhome.nl)