1998-4 - Dutch Birding

Nlasters c~f hlystery
quentlv bv Sky. The exact hill-shape of the mystery
hircl also suggests Oriental, as the bill of Sky
is normallv slightly less long and less pointed
than that of Oriental .
This Oriental Lark was photographed at Eilat,
tsrael, on 2 April 1993 by Leo Boon . Plate 137
shows another photograph of the same bird . It is
interesting to compare this bird with the Sky Lark
in plate 1 38, since both birds were photographed
in April and, consequently, hoth hirds show
heavily worn tertials . Note that the primary-projection
of the Sky is much longer than that of the
[)riental . Note also the widely spaced primarytips.
dark spot on the lores and relatively short
and stubby bill of the Sky . Plate 136 shows two
not vet mentioned characters of Oriental : the
whitish chin and throat which lack the dark spottint
; of many Sky and the very thin, pencil-like
streaks on the breast (Sky has on average thicker
breast-streaking on a more huffish ground
colour) . The rusty fringes of the primaries and
secondaries are also better visible in this plate
than in 1he mysterv photograph . Two further character,;
of Oriental not sht .rn-n in either photograph
of this bird are the unstreaked flanks and the pale
sandy outer tail-feathers; in Sky there are usually
some dark streaks present on the flanks and the
outer tail-feathers are pesse white (see plate 138) .
This mystery bird proved extremely difficult to
identif,v and only five entrants managed to iclentify
it ccxreclly. Quite surprisingly, most incorrect
answers were not for Sky Lark {only 9 %) hut for
Dupont's Lark f56°~~~) ; other incorrect answers
included Crested Lark ( 18 "/„) , Raso Lark ( 8%,) and
Richard's Pipit Anthirs richardi (7 11% I .
This round was even more difficult than the previous
one : no one succeeded in identifyin g both
mystery birds correctly, 11 entrants identified one
bird correctly, while all others identitied hoth
hirds incorrectly . The 11 entrants who idc , ntifiecl
either the Common Guillemot or the Oriental
Lark correctfy are Theo Bakker, Sietze Bernardus,
Max Berlijn, Arjan Boele, Hannu Jánnes, Harri
Kontkanen, Jan van der Laan, Timo Marijnissen,
Rients Niks, Gert Ottens and Dave van der Spoel .
They are the winners of this round and from them
Sietze Bernardus, Max Berlijn and Dave van der
Spoel were drawn as those w,ho will receive a
copy of PhotograPhrc handhook of the seahirrJs
of the world hy Jim Enticotl and David Tiplin g ,
donated by New Holland ( Publishers) . Hannu
J a nnes ( Finfand ) and Dave van der S poel
(Netherlands) are now leading the competition
with five correct answers each, closely followed
hv Sietze Bernardus, Jan-Joost Bouwman, Rob
Bouwman, Jan van der Laan, Timo Marijnissen,
Mark Nieuwenhuis and Ge rt Ottens with four
correct answers and 23 entrants with three correct
answers . A more comprehensive overview of
the leadershi p of ihe competition will be given at
http ://www.xs4all .nl/--e€and/dutchbirdint ; .
Diederik Kok, Pelmolenweg 4, 3511 XN Utrecht, Netherlarrris rd .s .kc>kCs'stucierlts.rhem .uu .n11
Ni1s van Duivendrjk, Guldenhoeve 34, 3 457 TG Vleuten, Netherlands (duivendiik@multiwe l) .nJ l
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