This looks very like the bird that I saw at Palm Springs on 4th Feb - no red 'wax' tips (which likely makes it a first winter female) was noted on that bird too.
Have you any photos which show the wing and tail tips, it would be good to check for any evidence of captive origin - with this species this is an issue.
Here are more photos for this bird
Might help all of you to confirm it is escaped or not
[ Last edited by ivantse at 8/02/2011 20:26 ] Author: brendank Time: 8/02/2011 20:36
Maybe others feel differently but it doesn't look like a natural pattern of wear on the tail feathers with the tail feathers broken rather than lost due to molt. Author: fatchun Time: 8/02/2011 20:52
Photos from Raymond and Ivan are a bit different regarding to the tail damage.
Would it be due to the angle of shots? or It does differ from each other?
Would they be two different birds?
Just a few question raised in my mind. Author: EricB Time: 9/02/2011 08:47
Here are a couple of pics from Northumberland , from around Christmas.This is the nominate race 'garrulus'. Males are said to have a broader yellow terminal tail band and a better defined throat patch.Adults have white 'hooks' to the tips of the primaries , which the juveniles lack - I think this holds true for the 'centralasiae' subspecies,which means this is a first winter. Shame about the tail,but look on the bright side,at least it managed to escape from its bars.
The waxy appendages on the secondaries remain of mysterious functional significance -like me; I Hope it finds its way home!
I'm not sure if the tail is damaged or wet in Ivan's photos; an obvious question is whether all Raymond's photos were taken at the time of his original sighting and then Raymond's were taken later.
I'm not sure how significant the fact that the wax tips to the secondaries are irregular (i.e. not the same on both wings)is; but this is something we can check up on. Primaries are worn but perhaps not abnormally so for a first winter bird.
Overall, though, I think that as a single bird with some feather damage it might be difficult to demonstrate that it is definately not ex-captive.
Mike Author: EricB Time: 9/02/2011 20:08
The waxy appendages on the secondaries are not closely related to age or sex.I have seen some literature that suggests that adult males are more likely to have more waxy appendages(>8) than females and young females are likely to gain them earlier than young males.Some have postulated that older birds have more appendages and perhaps are recognised as better mates (like male swallows with deeper tail forks) but the evidence is pretty limited and clearly hampered by the difficulty in ageing and sexing birds in the field.The reason for their presence has been debated since the time of Wilson and Bonoparte!The flock photographed in Northumberland had about 50 birds; my recollection of things was that asymmetry of the appendages was not unusual.
eric
[ Last edited by RUWright at 10/02/2011 18:12 ]
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