Nigel Willits comments ; "I thought separation of races in non-breeding plumage was unreliable without measurements in the hand. Nigel".
Duncan Irving responded ; "I would not like to assign a race on the basis of the photographs. It is difficult to assess the size of the bird and the colouration is likely to be an unreliable indicator. You can see the difference in appearance between the wings due the the angle of the incident light and there will also be similar differences in the body feathers for the same reason. Even if you were seeing the bird live in front of you, and not a photograph, the depth of the buff area would be difficult to judge at this time of year. Females, as well as Greenland Race Wheatears, tend have deeper buff on the underparts which can also be misleading when assessing race. In the case of this bird, from the photo where it faces to the left, I would tentatively say that it is a first winter specimen. The centres of the two largest tertials look darker than the smallest one and probably have been replaced during its post-juvenile moult. Adults would have replaced all three by this time of year. It also looks as if it has replaced some greater coverts. These have darker centres than the other un-moulted ones and they also contrast with the un-moulted primary coverts. If this is an accurate assessment, and it is a first winter bird, then this would make a reliable assessment of race very difficult. Best wishes,
Comments
Nigel".
Duncan Irving responded ; "I would not like to assign a race on the basis of the photographs. It is difficult to assess the size of the bird and the colouration is likely to be an unreliable indicator. You can see the difference in appearance between the wings due the the angle of the incident light and there will also be similar differences in the body feathers for the same reason. Even if you were seeing the bird live in front of you, and not a photograph, the depth of the buff area would be difficult to judge at this time of year. Females, as well as Greenland Race Wheatears, tend have deeper buff on the underparts which can also be misleading when assessing race. In the case of this bird, from the photo where it faces to the left, I would tentatively say that it is a first winter specimen. The centres of the two largest tertials look darker than the smallest one and probably have been replaced during its post-juvenile moult. Adults would have replaced all three by this time of year. It also looks as if it has replaced some greater coverts. These have darker centres than the other un-moulted ones and they also contrast with the un-moulted primary coverts. If this is an accurate assessment, and it is a first winter bird, then this would make a reliable assessment of race very difficult.
Best wishes,
Duncan".