Thursday, January 11, 2018

Icelandic Redwing

I was back at Seafield, Quilty on the 8th January where the fields adjacent to the shore were full of Redwings and Song Thrushes, all along the coastline. While I was watching a first-winter Little Gull and some Tree Sparrows in a field where horses were feeding, I noticed this dark Redwing.  Within minutes of viewing it through the bins I was confident that it was an Icelandic Redwing Turdus iliacus coburni. It was only last year that I had a big discussion with fellow ornithologist, that I could not believe we had never fully identified this sub species in the county before.  I am sure that they have turned up here in the past, but this was the first confirmed record of the Icelandic race in the county. Note the overall darkness of the bird the clean white patch on the upper breast and the dark under-tail coverts. Apologies for the poor quality images but the bird was distant and the light poor.
 
Icelandic Redwing at Seafield John N Murphy