Whilst trying to get some good photos of the Whimbrels on the cricket field in Dhahran in the autumn I have noticed of the eight birds present, at least four different birds have markings on P5. I assume all our birds are nominate phaeopus and these photos refer to juvenile birds. From a photograph in Campbell, O, S. Lloyd & G Allport. 2022. A record of juvenile Steppe Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris from the United Arab Emirates. Sandgrouse 44: 389-408. It mentions at Plate 9. Nominate phaeopus is usually unmarked on P5 and critical analysis of flight shots indicated that this feather had four (right wing) and at least three (left wing) tiny white spots on the outer web on the fifth primary (counting outwards, hence innermost primary is the first). These would have been impossible to detect in field views. Based on field work in Mozambique, it appears that all adult alboaxillaris have this feature, but very few nominate birds do (Allport 2017). From my limited sample here, it looks like this point may not be so useful in juvenile birds and it may only really refer to adults? A larger sample is required, however, to draw any firm conclusions. As a result, I sent my findings to Gary Allport the authority on Steppe Whimbrel, and he commented as follows “At the moment no texts mention it as a feature for juvenile phaeopus but I can quite imagine it being more frequent in juvenile birds. Also bear in mind that these features probably cline west-east so if you’re drawing on a population from further east they may show different characters from those in Maputo. The full picture is likely to be quite complicated!”.
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| Marked P5 |
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| Marked P5 |
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| Unmarked P5 |
