Figure 5 - uploaded by Gary Andrew Allport
Content may be subject to copyright.
Steppe Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris, presumed adult male, Maputo Bay, Mozambique, 14 February 2016 (R. Hughes). Note pale lower rump with relatively few thin shaft-streaks and black-andwhite 'laddered' outer tail, with darker central tail feathers. Courlis corlieu Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris, pr?sum? m?le adulte, baie de Maputo, Mozambique, 14 f?vrier 2016 (R. Hughes). Noter le bas du croupion p?le avec assez peu de traits rachials minces, ext?rieur de la queue quadrill?e noir-et-blanc, et rectrices centrales plus sombres.
Source publication
Two Steppe Whimbrels Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris were found at Maputo Bay,
Mozambique, on 10–12 February 2016, the first record in Africa since 1965. They were tentatively sexed
as male and female; the female was resident in the area until 28 February and the male until 24 March.
The taxon is little known and was erroneously declared extinct in...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... Upper rump and lower back clean white, although there was a suggestion of darker centres at the base of the white back feathers in some photographs (Fig. 5). The lower rump showed some narrow dark streak-centred feathers, which varied in visibility, but close Steppe Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris, presumed adult male, Maputo Bay, Mozambique, 14 February 2016 (R. Hughes). Note pale lower rump with relatively few thin shaft-streaks and black-and- white 'laddered' outer tail, with ...
Context 2
... male (Figs. 5-6). The uppertail-coverts were 'laddered' with clean black-and-white bars, and differed from the lower rump feathers (the two have been confused in some texts). The phaeopus showed shaft-streaks on the upper rump and many lanceolate shaft-streaks and chevrons on the lower rump. 3. Outer tail feathers were clean white in the male ( Fig. 5) and greyish white (with a buff wash in some lights) tipped white in the female (Fig. 6); both were 'laddered' with narrow black bars on both webs over their entire length. The tail was very pale but showed contrast between the darker central rectrices (patterned with pale grey and black 'laddering') and paler outer feathers (Fig. 5). ...
Context 3
... in the male ( Fig. 5) and greyish white (with a buff wash in some lights) tipped white in the female (Fig. 6); both were 'laddered' with narrow black bars on both webs over their entire length. The tail was very pale but showed contrast between the darker central rectrices (patterned with pale grey and black 'laddering') and paler outer feathers (Fig. 5). In contrast, most phaeopus had pale to mid-brown tails, barred black and relatively uniform (Figs. 6-7). Some phaeopus had a pale outer web to the basal third of the outermost tail feathers. 4. The outer web of the fifth primary (from the innermost) had five clean pale greyish-brown spots, which reached the outermost edge of the web. ...
Similar publications
The article is dedicated to present status and dynamics (1990−2015) of six crane species in Dauria (steppe area in south-eastern Transbaikalia, Russia, and North-eastern Mongolia). Threats and limiting factors, recommendations for conservation, and brief data about biology of cranes are presented. Special attention is paid to analysis of strong inf...
Large spring staging areas of wetland birds along the Baltic-White Sea flyway are concentrated in
Ladoga area. There are several of them, but the principal one is located in the farmland near the town
of Olonets (Karelia). The main results of studies of Anser and Branta geese, for which this staging
area is the main one before the departure for bre...
The article presents the results of the Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) monitoring in the Republic of Kalmykia in 2013–2015. For 2011–2015 the population of Steppe Eagle in Kalmykia decreased by 23% and is 404–720, at average 527 breeding pairs. In 2015 the average density of occupied breeding territories on the main part of the Steppe Eagle breed...
Citations
... c.217 birds were identifiable to subspecies level in the images and three birds were found to be showing characters of alboaxillaris (Allport & Cohen 2016, Allport 2017). Five images were selected for further analysis each containing a group that was unique, taken as the groups of birds moved off. ...
... The female had a wider home range and remained mostly silent. A full report will be published in the next issue of the Bulletin of the African Bird Club (Allport 2017) and the finer points of the identification are covered in Allport & Cohen (2016) and a post to Birding Frontiers (see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gary_ Allport for links). ...
Understanding the relative contributions of historical and anthropogenic factors to declines in genetic diversity is important for informing conservation action. Using genome-wide DNA of fresh and historic specimens, including that of two species widely thought to be extinct, we investigated fluctuations in genetic diversity and present the first complete phylogenomic tree for all nine species of the threatened shorebird genus Numenius, known as whimbrels and curlews. Most species faced sharp declines in effective population size, a proxy for genetic diversity, soon after the Last Glacial Maximum (around 20,000 years ago). These declines occurred prior to the Anthropocene and in spite of an increase in the breeding area predicted by environmental niche modeling, suggesting that they were not caused by climatic or recent anthropogenic factors. Crucially, these genetic diversity declines coincide with mass extinctions of mammalian megafauna in the Northern Hemisphere. Among other factors, the demise of ecosystem-engineering megafauna which maintained open habitats may have been detrimental for grassland and tundra-breeding Numenius shorebirds. Our work suggests that the impact of historical factors such as megafaunal extinction may have had wider repercussions on present-day population dynamics of open habitat biota than previously appreciated.
Intracontinental biotic divisions across the vast Palaearctic region are not well-characterized. Past research has revealed patterns ranging from a lack of population structure to deep divergences along varied lines of separation. Here we compared biogeographic patterns of two Palaearctic shorebirds with different habitat preferences, Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) and Eurasian curlew (N. arquata). Using genome-wide markers from populations across the Palaearctic, we applied a multitude of population genomic and phylogenomic approaches to elucidate population structure. Most importantly, we tested for isolation by distance and visualized barriers and corridors to gene flow. We found shallow Palaearctic population structure in subpolar bog and tundra-breeding whimbrels, consistent with other species breeding at a similarly high latitude, indicating connectivity across the tundra belt, both presently and during southward shifts in periods of global cooling. In contrast, the temperate grassland-breeding Eurasian curlew emerged in three distinct clades corresponding to glacial refugia. Barriers to gene flow coincided with areas of topographic relief in the central Palaearctic for whimbrels and further east for Eurasian curlews. Our findings highlight the interplay of historic and ecological factors in influencing present-day population structure of Palaearctic biota.
The first records of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata for Mozambique and continental Africa (1-2 adults, 4 February-16 April 2018), and additional records of Pectoral Sandpiper C. melanotos in Mozambique (1-2 birds, 20 February-31 March 2018) are reported, all at Macaneta, Maputo province. Identification features of these two species attaining breeding plumage are detailed and patterns of occurrence in Africa are discussed.
Report on an anecdotal observation of a flock of 40 Whimbrel reacting to the deployment of a recreational drone on the beach in Maputo Bay, Mozambique. The feeding flock responded rapidly on seeing the drone at ca. 20m altitude, taking flight and ‘fleeing’ in a way similar to the response to an aerial predator. Part of the flock then attempted to return to the nearby feeding area, before abandoning the vicinity and all birds retiring to the high tide roost earlier in the tide cycle than normal. Whimbrel in Maputo Bay are used to people, and reacted to the drone by fleeing at a greater distance than would normally be expected if the disturbance was simply from humans.
