rump patch____ pnmary tip secondary panel Main feather tracts Head markings lateralmedian crown-stripecrown-stripe superci lium . lore eve-n ngeye-stripe mediancovert bar greater covert bar primary-base patch ear-coverts nape (hindneck) mantle scapulars back crown ..----/ "'- ........,. lateral throat-stripe forehead chin ,...._ _____throat uppertail-covertstertials tail (rectrices) undertail-coverts secondaries .. pnmanes breast lesser coverts median coverts greater coverts alula (bastard-wing) primary-coverts emargination flanks Upperwing 10 9 primaries __ 7 ..I) pnmanesnum-bered ascendently from outermost' inwards,1- 10 43 'thigh' (tibia) tarsus lesser coverts median covertssecondary coverts greater coverts -ftr- alula (bastard-wing) (reduced) outer primary -:-tkt- primary-coverts 1 JA-,'1--- emargination (narrowing of outer web) 2 Bird Someusefultermsfor main feather tracts and commonplum-age markings when describing a songbird (passerine).Seealso. p.133 for topography of a wader, andp.178 for topography of a gull. KM COLLINS ' SECONDEDITION TEXT&MAPSBYLARSSV.ENSSON I L LU STRATIO N S&CAPT IONSBY 00 KILLIANMULLARNEY&DANZETTERSTROM WITHASIGNIFICANTCONTRIBUTIONBY PETERJ.GRANT TRANSLATEDBYDAVIDCHRISTLE&LARSSVENSSON HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77- 85 Fulham Palace Road LondonW6 8JB www.harpercolli ns.co.uk Collins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Original ly publishedin1999 in Swedish, Fagelguiden.Europas och Medelhavsomradets.faglar i.fiilt, by Bonniers, Stockholm 2nd revised and enlarged edition published in 2009 by BonnierFakta, Stockholm First published inthe UK as a hardback edition in1999 First publishedinthe UK as a paperback edition in 200 I 2ndrevised and enlarged edition 2009 HarperCollins Publishers, London 1999, 2009 Lars Svensson (text and maps), Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstri:im (illustrations and captions) Translation and English adaptation:David A.Christie & Lars Svensson Typography:Lars Svensson Cover: Arctic Tern by Dan Zetterstri:im 091113151412 10 135791086 42 ISBN 978 0 00 726726 2 (Hardback) ISBN 978 0 00 726814 6 (Paperback) The authors hereby assert their moral right to be identified as the authors ofthis work and the publisher undertakes to observe such assertion andto impose the same condition on its licensees. Reproduction: Faith & Hassler, Varnamo, Sweden 2009 Printing: Printer, Trento, Italy 2009 Printed in Italy Contents Preface7 Introduction8 SJ>ecies accounts14---409 SwansCygnus14 GeeseAnser.Brama16 Dabbling ducksAnatini24 Diving ducksSomateria et al.30 Wildfowlhybrids34 SawbillsMe,xusct al.42 GrouseTetraoninae48 Partridges and pheasantsPhasiani11ae52 LoonsGariidae60 GrebesPodinimlidae64 Watching seabirds67 Shearwaters,petrels et al.Procellari((ormes68 GannetsSulidae76 PelicansPelecanidae76 CormorantsPlwlacrocoracidae78 Herons, storks andibisesCiconi(/iJrmes80 FlamingosPlwen icopt er((ormes86 Birds of preyAccipitri(ormes88 VulturesG_lpal'tus,Neoplmm, G_rps et al.89 EaglesAquila.Cirmetus et al.94 Kitcs andharriersMilrus,CircusI02 BuzzardsButm, PemisI 06 HawksAccipiter11 2 FalconsFa/conidae116 Rai ls, crakes and cootsRallidae124 CranesGmidae128 BustarclsOtididae130 WadersClwradri{/(mnes132 Pl overs andlapwingsPlul'ialis,Vane/Ius Sandpipers, stints, curlews, snipes et al. Vagrantwaders162 SkuasStercorariidae174 GullsLaridae178 TernsStemidae198 MarshternsCh/idonias206 AuksAlcidae208 SandgrouscPteroclididae212 Pigeons and dovesCo/umbidae214 138 148 CuckoosCuculidae220 OwlsStrig(/(mne.\'222 Nigh tjarsCaprimu/gidae234 SwiftsApodidae236 Hoopoc, kingfishersUpupa, Alcedinidae238 Bee-eaters, RollerMeropidae.Coracias240 WoodpeckersPicidae242 LarksAlaudidae248 Swallows andmartinsHinmdinidae258 Pipits and wagtailsMotacillidae262 Dipper.Waxwing,Hypocolius272 AccentorsPnmellidae274 ThrushesTtmlidae276 WarblersSyh'iidae302 Crests. WrenRegulus,Tt-ogfnt(rtes336 Flyca tchersMuscicapidae338 TitsParidaeetal.342 NuthatchesSillidae348 WallcreeperTichodromidae350 TreecrcepersCerthiidae350 ShrikesLaniidae352 Bulbuls, sunbirdsPymonotidae,Nectarini-idae358 BabblersTimaliidae360 CrowsCorl'idae360 StarlingsSturnidae368 OriolesOriolidae370 SparrowsPasseridae372 FinchesFringillidae376 Crossbi llsLoxia386 BuntingsEmberi::idae392 orth Americanpasserines404 Vagrants408 Accidentals418 Introduced breeding species and SJ>ecies recorded only as escaJ>es422 References427 Index429 Acknowledgements As with the firgt edition, a book like this cannot be produced withoutthehelpof many, bothbydirectinput andindi-rectly throughnew and work made avail-able to us in the orni thologicall iterature and on the net. Our gratitude to a circle of closefriendsasdetailedin the first edition remains, and readers are referred to this for a full list. Here we wouldlike to mention particularly thosewho have helped us generously while producing the revised edition. L.S.isindebtedto Jose Luis Copete, Andrew Lassey and Hadoram Shirihai, who allthree were not only goodcom-pany onvarious trips but also gavefreelyof their imposing knowledgeand experience.Many thanksalsotoPer Al-strom, Vladimir Arkhipov, Oleg Belyalov,Martin Collinson, Pierre-Andre Crochet, Alan Dean,Pete Dunn, David Erte-rius, Andrew Grieve, Marcel Haas, Magnus Hellstrom, Guy Kirwan,Hans Larsson,NorbertLefranc,KlausMailing Olsen, UrbanOlsson,EugenyPanov, DavidParkin, Mike Pearson,GeorgeSangster,JevgeniShergalinandMike Wilson forhelp, advice and support in various ways. Again, Ri chard Ranft and the British Library Sound Archive gener-ouslyprovidedaccessto recordings of someoftherarer species. The staff at visited museums have always been welco-ming andhelpful , for which I am grateful. K.M.isespeciallygratefultoMark Constantineforhis solid support, invaluable advice and greatfriendship over so many years. Similarly, friends Paul Archer, Arnoud van den Berg, Richard Crossley,Dick Forsman, Hannu Jannes, Lars Jonsson, IanLewington, Pat Lonergan, AidanKelly, Dave McAdams,RichardMillington, ColmMoore,RenePop, Magnus Robb, Cornelia Sakali, Alyn WalshandPim Wolf have helped greatly in a variety of ways, as well as provide the best ofcompany inthe field.Manythanks alsotoPer Al-strom,DerekCharles,JoseLuis Copete, AndreaCorso. MichaelDavis,PaulDoherty,AnnikaForsten,Magnus Hellstrom,Paul Holt,HansLarsson,AnteroLindholm, Bruce Mactavish and Frank Zino fortheir thoughtfulsug-gestions and/or provision of very useful photographic mate-rial.The extraordinarydedicationofa numberofkeen ' larophiles'toelucidatingthecomplexitiesof largegull ageing andidentification forthebenefit ofallhas beenof enormous helpinthepreparationofthenewtreatments presented here. It is impossible, in the space available,to do any real justice to their work but the assistance of Ruud Al -tenburg,ChrisGibbins,HannuKoskinen,Bert-JanLui-jendijk,les Meulmeester,MarsMuusse, Theodoor Muusse. RudyOffere.ins and especially Visa Rauste, is greatlyappreci-ated. D.Z.wants to express his gratitude to Ian Andrews, Stefan Asker, ArnoudvandenBerg, Christer Brostam, JoseLuil> Copete, AndreaCorso, Go ranEkstrom, DavidFisher, An-nika Forsten, Fares Khoury,Markus Lagerqvist, Lars Lars-son, DanMangsbo, BillZetterstromandFrankZinofor their kind support. Last but not least, we thank our severely tried relatives and friends, as weJIas our publishers, for patience and support. L. S. , K. M. , D. Z. Preface The Collins Bird Guide has, to our joy and satisfaction, bad tremendoussuccesssinceit cameout in1999.It hasbeen published in no fewer than131anguages and sold a stagger-ing combined700,000 copies,withnearlya thirdof these soldintheUK alone. lt has been gratifying forusto see it being used so much in the field wherever we travel inEurope, North Africa and the Middle East. The full background and leading principles for the layout of the book can be found in the first edition and willnot be repeated here, but the posi-tive reviews and personal feedbackindicate that the princi-pleswechoseweretherightones,corresponding wellto what birders want from a field guide inthe 21st century. This said,there are no groundsforcomplacency.Shortly after publication of the first edition it was evident that it was already in need of a revision. The reasons for this were two-fold. First, the gestation ofthefirstedition took a long time, andwiththe plan forthe book having beenlaidout inthe early and mid1980s, many things were bound to change or develop in the 15 or so years it took to reach publication, not allof whichcouldbe compensatedforalongthe way.New methodsto separate similar-looking birds arebeing devel-oped all the time, and a good field guide needs to be as up to date aspossible.Some of tllisrequiredmore space than al-located and had to be left for later inclusion. The second reason, which was difficult to foreseewhen we set out to create the book, was that the development of avian taxonomywouldtake a bigleap- after a longperiodof relative stability- just prior to1999, andespecially after. New research and a partly new approach to taxonomic issues involving genetic methods led to a re-evaluation of the taxo-nomic status of manytaxa formerlyregarded as subspecies. Theseadvancesinknowledgehavehadtheeffectthata number of species formerly regarded as polytypic, compris-ing severalrather distinct subspecies,havenowbeensplit into twoor more species. These'new'species are, forvery natural reasons, often quite similar to their closest relatives. Butthey constitute interesting populations withtheir own life histories, andthey deserve their own species accounts in the book,with advice on identification, inbothwords and pictures. To accommodate allnew species and newinformation we have had to increase the number of pages by someI0%, but we feelthat the book is still a lightweight one so that no-one should be temptedto leave it at home when travelling. Onechangewillstrikethereaderfamiliarwiththefirst edition immediately:the new order of families in the begin-ning.publishedgenetic research has shownthat the two oldest groups of birds are the wildfowl Anseriformes and the grouse andtheir relatives Galliformes, these two collec-tively called Galloanserae. Since the arrangement of families in this book is basically the traditional systematic one, with theoldestgroupsplacedfirst,thebooknowstartswith swans,geese andducksfollowedbygrouse,etc. Onlythencomethe loons(divers),grebes,seabuds, etc., formerly placed first. Areasmuch taxonomic change has taken place lately, andwllichhaveaffectedthisrevisededition, arethe wild-fowl ,large gulls, tluushes, warblers, flycatch-ers, shnkes andfinches.Therevisededitiontreatsnoless than 41new species, 33 of which are the result of the taxo-nomicchanges, andseveralmoresubspecieshavereceived better treatment. Tllis has been achieved bythe addition of 24 new spreads, and by a redesign of numerous plates and the incorporation of new illustrations. Obviously,taxonomy isnot a static science.New research constantlyrevealsnewrelationshipsandbetterarrange-ments. Some proposed changes which have been discussed in recent years have not been adopted in this edition because we have decidedtoawaitfurtherresearchandmoreuniversal acceptance.Still, they mightwellbe adoptedin future edi-tions.Tillsisparticularlytrueforthepasserines,where clearlyina possiblefuture editionreaderswillhavetoget usedtoa profoundlychangedsequence.Bythelookof it now, thenatural sequence starting withthe oldest families would beginwith shrikes andorioles, then grouptogether tits, warblers, bulbuls, larks, reedlings and swallows; thrushes andflycatcherswouldcomeclosetogether, whilepipits & wagtailswouldbefittedinbetweensparrowsandfinches. Well, let us not cross that bridge until we come to it! Changeswhichhave beenincorporated areaimedtoim-prove bothtext andplatestofacilitate identification, even when there is no underlying taxonomic change. With contin-uedtravel and through the advances achieved both by others andourselves, we are keento let our book mirrorthe most recentdevelopmentsinidentification.Forsomegroups whichwere a bit crammedinthe previous edition (pigeons & doves, thrushes, warblers, shrikes) we are pleasedto have beengiventhe opportunity toaffordthemmoreadequate treatment. All the maps have been revised. AI though small, our ambi-tion is that they should be accurate and up to date. New at-lases and checklists have been published in recent years, and new references made available, for important countries such as Algeria, theCzech Republic, France, Greece,Morocco, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and for the Ural region, and these have all been usedto full advantage. Ushould be noted that very local, rare or recent breeding records are delibera-tely not always shown on the maps, which aim to show more commonand established patterns ratherthaneveryrecent new breeding site. For several species restricted to a smaller part of the covered range we have introduced maps at a lar-ger scale. Peter J.Grant was deeply involvedinthe planning of and preparations for the first edition. His untimely death preven-ted him fromparticipating fullyin the creation of the finis-hed book. We dedicate the second edition to him as a tribute to his many achievements in the fieldof bird identification, and to his memory. Lars Svensson,Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterstrom August 2009 Introduction Thisbooktreats allbirdspecieswhichbreedorregularly occurinEurope,orthAfricanorthof . and _Israel, Palestine,Jordan,Syria.Turkey.Georgtaand Azerbaijanthatis in a large part of the Mtddle East. includeda;etheCanaryIslands,MadeiraandtheSmat peninsula.(Excluded are the the Cape Verde 1_slands. Iraq and Iran.) Europe is mtheeast by t_he ndgeof the Uralmountains, theUralnvcr andthc_Casptan 713 species are described. inthesect ton. There IS al.so brief mention of 59 occasiOnal vtsttors.Another 32 are treated which arc ei ther probable escapescaptiVIty or originall y introductions to the area and breed ina feralstate wit houthumansupport. An 11 8 very rare stragglers fromother continents are merely ltsted. Taxonomy andnames Withprevailing disagreementbothonbesttaxonomyand on English bird names,resulting inmore than one standard avai lable,the solutionhas beentofoll ow'author'sprefer-ence'. Comparedtothe firstedition a fewchanges have been made to conform bellcr withthe list of recommendedEng-lishnames ini tiated byIOC (Gill & Wright 2006). Standard-izedvernacularnamesarcofcoursepracticalandhelp communication. But just as taxonomy is continuouslyoping, so isnomenclature, and asking fortotal conformity and discipline isunrealistic..... The scientificnameof a speciesiswnttentnLatm(or 111 latinized form) and consists of twowords, the(written with an initial capital leiter) and the spectes(alllowercaseletters);these twowordstogether the speciesname. The scientific name of e.g.the Whtte Wag-tail isthus Motacilla alba. To indicate geographical vari ationwithina species,dis-tinctpopulations- so-call ed subspeciesor races- are des-ignatedwitha thirdword,a subspeciesepithet(e.g. Pied WagtailMotacillaalba yarrellii of NWEurope, as opposed toMotacillaalba alba of therest ofEurope).Inthis book space permits only the most distinct subspecies to be named andtreated.Thereaderinterestedinmore detailshould consult any of the more comprehensive handbooks, such as BWP (Cramp eta/.1977- 94) or Vaurie ( 1959, 1965). English names nowadays exist both in short form for every-day use at home, and in a longer form for international use (wi th added modifiers). A way of conveniently showing both these Englishnames forthe same species is practised: atthe head of each species entry, bold faceisusedforthe ordinary names andnormaltype wit hinbrackets forthe extra modi-fiers; '(Western) Jackdaw' serves as an example. Althoughthesequenceis mainly based ontheso-called natural one, placing the most primitive (old) groups first, we have made a fewminoradjustmentswithingeneraand,at times,families.Thesolepurposeof thesedeviations is to bring together those species which showthe greatest resem-blanceandtherebytofacilitatecomparisons.We arealso aware thatrecentmolecular researchhas castnew light on relationships andbest arrangement, mean thatin possi-blefutureeditions of this bo?k a ratherradtcalchange of sequence willinparts be rcqutrcd. Abundance symbols for easy assessment of whether a certain species com-monly inGreatBritain andIreland, or whether It tSa rarevagrant totheisles,abundancy symbols are gtvento the right of the species name .. If Y?Uhave seen a flock ?f un-knownbirdsinyour garden,ttmtght be a waste ofto readindepthabout species whichdonoteven occur 111the region. The sytnbols are explai ned below. Status inGreat Britain and Ireland rB mB r+mB r(m)B Residentbreeding species. Migratory breeding species.. Breeder some arc residents, others mtgratory. ,.. Breeding species;mainly residentbut a mmonty are migrants. Tothese a qualifier is at/ached: 1Very abundant(estimated>l million 2Abundant(estimated>I00,000 patrs) 3Fairly abundant(estimated>I0,000 pairs) 4Scarce or local(estimated> 100 pairs) 5Rare(estimateds iOOpairs) WWinter visitor (common; many immigrants). PPassage visitor (common). Here,too,a qua/(fiermaybeadded(asunderabove); !l so. estimates rf:lerto number of birds, not patrs. VVagrant. To this, again, a qual(fier is au ached: *Annual vagrant in some numbers. **Only one or a fewrecords a year, or in most. ***Only one or a very fewrecords per decade. [V] ('Three-star rarity.') Norecordconsideredaresultofgenuineand unassistedvagrancy,orallrecordsthoughtto involve escapesfromcaptivity;records which are opento question for other reasons. No recordin GreatBri tain or Ireland. Distribution maps Besidesthe abundancysymbols,distributionmapsarein-cludedformost speciesandshouldhelpestablishquicldy whether it is reasonable or not to expect a certain speciesBreedingrange, abandoned in winter. Present al l year around. inclu-ding when breeding. --+1'"Range where the species can be seen on migration. -=: -:...-:::..... Winter range. Main migration direction (not necessarily exact route}. certain site and a given season. Although it wasnecessary to make the maps small, they should still give a useful summary of the normal occurrence.Unlike in many other books,the maps also show where the birds usually occur during autumn and spring migrations, so far as this is known. As before, an effort has been made to present as up-to-date and clear maps aspossible. Allnational checklists and atlas surveys published in the last decade covering the treated area havebeenconsulted.Still,modernmappingofthebird faunaisstillmissingforsuchimportantareasasBritain. Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland. Libya, Norway and for most of the stateswhichwere formerlya part of the Soviet Union. Size of birds Eachspecies accountopenswiththesizeofthebird, ex-pressed asthe length in centimetres fromtip of bill to tip of tailmeasuredonthestretchedbird(L).Formostspecies which are often seenin flightthe wingspan is added (WS). Toindicatethenormalsizevariationwithinanyone species, a size range is always given instead of a single aver-agefigure.Manybirdwatchers areunawareofthemagni-tude of this normal size variation, andit is alltoo easy then to arrive at the wrong conclusion if an identification is based too heavily on a size evaluation. The lengthmeasurementshavebeentakenlargely from series of well-prepared skins andin somecases fromfreshly killed or live birds. (Hardly any have been obtained fromthe current larger handbooks.) Thewingspans aremeanttoindicatethelargestpossible extentswhich thebirdsthemselvescanachieveinHight. (Slightlylarger values canbereachedif, ona livebird, the wings are stretched tightly by pulling the primaries, but such artificialmeasurements havebeenavoided.)Quite afew measurementsinthecurrentliteraturearemisleading. Those presentedin this book are based to a large extent on originalmeasurements takenonlivebirds. They havebeen supplemented bymeasurements on skins and photographs. Terminology and symbols In order to make the book easily accessible to a large public interested in birds andnaturalhistory,the specialist jargon has been kept to a minimum. Afew technical terms, however, are veryusefulto know and use, such as the precise terms for different plumages and ages, andthese are explained below. It should be notedthat most of the terms relating to feather tracts and body parts,the topography of thebird, are also explained separately onthe inside of the covers. I NTR ODUCTION9 PLUMAGES AND AGES juvenile Uuv. )- young, fledged bird wearing its first set of true feathers (the juvenile plumage), butwhichhas not yet moulted any of thesefeathers. plumages or ages following the juvenile. young- _mprwse term usually referring to juvenile and/or Jst-wmter without distinguishing between these two. immature (ilnm.) - a bird wearing any plumage other than adult, generally corresponding to the word ' young'. I sf-autumn - bird in its first autumn, 2- 5 months old. The term referstothe age, not a particular plumage. 1st-willter (I st- Ill.) - age categoryusuallyreferringtothe plumage followingthatofthe juvenile, usually gained througha partial(insomespecies complete)moultin latesummer/autumnof1stcalendar-year,andworn untilnext moult inthe spring of 2nd calendar-year. 1st-summer(/ st-s.) - age category usually referring to the plumage wornatthe approximate age ofone year and attained inlate winter/spring throughpartial (in some species complete)moultfrom1st-winterplumage, or throughabrasionofthisplumage;wornuntilnext moult, usually in late summer/autumninthe same year, when replaced by 2nd-winter plumage. 2nd-winter (2/1{1-11'.) - age category usually referring to the plumage followingI st-summer, usually gainedthrough a complete(in some species partial) moultinlate sum-mer/autumn of 2nd calendar-year, and worn untilnext moult inthe spring of 3rd calendar-year. 2nd-summer(2nd-s. ) - agecategoryusually referringto the plumage worn atthe approximate age of two years. Itfollowsthe2nd-winterplumage andiswornuntil next moult; see also under lst-summer. subadu!t(subad. ) - nearly adult,notquiteindefinitive plumage;impreciseterm, oftenused whenexact ageis difficult to establish, e.g. among larger gulls or rap tors. adult (ad.) - old, mature birdin definitive plumage. Some specieshavethesameappearanceinboth summerand winter; others haveseparateplumages,adultsummer (ad.sum. or ad. s.) and adult winter (ad.wint. or ad.w.). breeding plumage- usuall y more colourful set offeathers gained by many birds, primarily males, through abrasion or in a spring moult (autumn moult for ducks). 11011-breeding plumage- usually equivalenttoadultwinter plumage,amorecrypticplumageappearingamong species with seasonal plumage changes; the termis often used whenthis plumage is acquired early, even in summer. eclipse plumage- cryptic, female-lil