I noticed there was a Roller in Aberdeenshire yesterday. I wonder if this is the same bird found near Spurn last month, and it has simply kept flying North. Will it keep going until it eventually runs out of steam or freezes to death at some Northerly latitude. It's something I too have often wondered about. There is also a Black scoter which, if it's the same bird, seems to have been migrating North - South - North, but on the wrong side of the Atlantic for the last couple of years, so some vagrant birds seem to stick around. It must be wondering where the women are by now.

Cheers,

Steve.

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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In short it appears not Dave and certainly well established and distinctive integrades of races such as Black-headed x Blue-headed (for instance) seem not to. I personally believe the true status of thunbergi x flava is seriously clouded by misunderstanding in their 'identification'. One only has to search the Internet for images of thunbergi to encounter photos which clearly display errant features.

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Noticed this a few weeks ago after doing some research into yellow wags; thunbergi especially seems to be often mis-identified.

then; weirdly enough seeing a example turn up at Kingsway last week...

In short it appears not Dave and certainly well established and distinctive integrades of races such as Black-headed x Blue-headed (for instance) seem not to. I personally believe the true status of thunbergi x flava is seriously clouded by misunderstanding in their 'identification'. One only has to search the Internet for images of thunbergi to encounter photos which clearly display errant features.

Excellent summary of the Elton flava Wagtail on the web-site.

Is there any evidence that intergrades of two races, of any particular species, would be more prone to vagrancy than either of the parent races?

Whilst celebrating (in a quiet and dignified way ) seeing a North American passerine, I always wonder how many don't even make land fall. What happens next, has always intreged me too.

Presumably that disorientated Yellow-browed Warbler (or any other "Sibe") you may see in the North West continues to fly west and also meets a 'watery' end.

I'm with Mike on returning migrants though, knowing the first Swallow of the spring has just travelled up from South Africa is pretty humbling.

edited for poor spellong !

-- Edited by Mike Crawley on Sunday 15th of November 2009 12:20:08 PM

Reading this topic, I got to wondering which of our British bird species can best lay claim to be the greatest globetrotter.
I thought that I might decide on the basis that it would by definition be:

1. A migrant

2. A species that might get recorded in the most countries/continents.

3. A relatively abundant species. (Before anyone raises the point, I do recognise that this exercise is skewed in favour of commoner species).

Whilst mindful of the wide distribution of Ospreys and certain Tern/Gull species, I thought that something among the waders offered the best potential.

I scrolled through my own records on "Tickem" for 15 likely wader candidates and came up with two leading contenders, Common Sandpiper and Turnstone (i.e.Ruddy Turnstone, in American parlance).

Although I had recorded Common Sandpiper in several more countries than I had for Turnstone, I plumped for the latter as the proposed champion on the basis that I have never seen a Common Sandpiper anywhere in the Americas, whereas I have multiple records for Turnstone across 6 continents and 3 major oceanic regions.

It's a humbling thing when you see your first migrant of a particular species for a particular year in the spring. I always liken it to seeing an old friend again, and always ponder on where it's wintered and where it might be going on to, especially so with long distance waders like Curlew Sandpipers, on their way to places like N. Siberia etc.
Whilst most of us enjoy seeing a really exceptional lost vagrant like the warbler the other week in South Shields, doff your hat please to unsung heroes like Common Sandpiper when you see your first next spring, and even next week perhaps when you might see some Turnstones pottering about on the nearest coastal tide rack, and ponder on the fact that all across Temperate and Southern Hemisphere coastlines right now, Turnstones are pottering about in millions, going about their business.

For my part, to come across one in Greater Manchester this winter would please me no end.
Good Birding!
Mike P.

That is a really interesting subject indeed. I am sure some birds die and probably get predated but what about those that survive?

I wonder if a satellite transmitter has ever been fitted on one of those vagrants? It would be far more interesting to to know what happen to a trans-atlantic vagrant than for example Ospreys which we know come back and forth every autumn and spring.

The fact that a number of American waders turn up in spring(mainly on the east coast) suggests that some must survive the winter .They probably continue south for the winter(which is the direction they were heading before getting caught up in a hurricane,and ending up over here),and in spring start to migrate north.This is what they would normally do if still in the States,and is possibly why the majority of records have an east coast bias.Some waders are extremely long distance migrants,I have seen Bairds Sands wintering on Tierra Del Fuego in southern South America.These birds have bred on the Canadian tundra thousands of miles away,so long distances aren't a problem to them.Smaller passerines probably have more difficulty in surviving the winter,and that is why there are so few spring records.I remember reading an article recently that suggested that some Ring Billed Gulls actually migrate back to the States every spring to breed,and return here each autumn.Mind boggling aint it.

This is a subject which has cropped up a few times with some of my fellow birders. Where do these birds eventually go to?? Take a Long-Billed Dowitcher or Pectoral Sandpiper as an example. Would these birds go back to the USA after travelling all that way?? Would they realise they are obviously in the wrong place and go back or just keep heading east into Europe?? Once they vanish from the UK, just wondered what they do next as we never really get to find out. The same goes with lots of other rarites too.