Though it had not acquired adult plumage, this second-calendar-year male was singing powerfully and defending territory. Adult-male “ albocoeruleus” have a white supercilium as in cyanurus, and “ albocoeruleus” are said to be closer genetically to cyanurus, but the legs of “ albocoeruleus” are long, as in rufilatus. It is currently recognized neither as a species in its own right nor as a subspecies of Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus or Himalayan Bluetail T. The taxonomy of “Gansu” Bluetail is uncertain. Our record pushes the eastern edge of the range of “ albocoeruleus” from the western side of Beijing to the mountains northeast of the metropolis.

Before our discovery, the easternmost of those mountains was Haituoshan, 140 air-km (87 air-miles) west of Wulingshan. In Beijing, Hebei, and Shanxi, “ albocoeruleus” has now been found on at least six mountains. Until recently, “Gansu” Bluetail was thought to breed only in Qinghai and Gansu, 1200 km (745 miles) to the southwest. Craig Brelsfordįound at Wulingshan, Hebei, on 11 June: “ Gansu” Bluetail Tarsiger ( cyanurus? rufilatus?) “ albocoeruleus.” Our record is the first for the mountain northeast of Beijing, the first for Chengde Prefecture in Hebei, and the easternmost in history for the form. In this post, I report a new eastern record of “Gansu” and discuss the current taxonomic limbo of the form. After a hectic end to her Phd she decided a bit of Nature Therapy was required, Landsort was the perfect place! She leaves today and will spend the next few weeks cycling through the Scottish Isles.Our featured image above shows the bluetails of the world: Himalayan (left panels), Red-flanked (right panels), and in the middle the inscrutable “Gansu” Bluetail. After eating all our food supplies he is now on his way back home (he did leave us a supply of Whiskey and Gin though!).Īnother guest, Chloe, who we met in Madagascar in 2015, has been staying with us for the last two weeks. Talking of migrants, Steve Taggart arrived on our doorstep on Monday! A complete surprise but lovely to see a fellow Manxman. Always a pleasure to see are the Bluethroat and an Ortolan Bunting was another species we hadn't ringed before.Ī lot of Willow Warblers and Lesser Whitethroat which we ringed in previous years have returned to the site, which is always a source of amazement, but that's exactly why we do this! We have also caught a Blackbird which was ringed in Holland, a Robin ringed in Poland, a Chiffcaff from Norway and a Goldcrest from another observatory in southern Sweden. The highlight bird was the Red-flanked Bluetail, we have seen one once before here last Autumn but have never ringed one (only two others have ever been ringed here). Despite that, we have caught plenty of birds and a nice selection of species. The start of the season through April was very good with lots of birds caught and ringed but once May arrived the winds changed and the birds were obviously following a different route North. By the time we reached Landsort the snows had stopped but the lakes and coastal bays on Töro were still thick ice, with the sun shining it made a very beautiful sight. We had an interesting journey here where we encountered quite a heavy fall of snow in Denmark which followed us over 'The Bridge' to Sweden. So another Spring and Autumn monitoring the migration of the birds on Landsort. Although we made the decision last year that that would be our last season, by February this year we were already missing the place. Well, here we are back again on the beautiful island in the Baltic.

Red flanked bluetail song