Splitting of Cory's Shearwater and Scopoli's Shearwater (1 Viewer)

[njlarsen]

Mostly what is going on is clear enough, but I have a few questions.
1) The page for Scopoli has a sound recording. Did I get it right that this is the two-syllable call of this species and not the three-syllable version in Cory's?

2) Images from the gallery, many of which may not be identifiable to species. Group A should be Cory's by range, and I am asking if any of these really are Scopoli's instead?

... Calonectris Diomedea

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Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

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... Cory's Shearwater ...

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2B) this one was uploaded as Scopoli's from an area where Cory's is more common:
Scipoli's Shearwater (1).JPG

2C) A bird uploaded as Cory's with post split scientific name, but from an area where both are quite frequent.

Cory's Shearwater

Pelagic from Chipiona

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2D) Uploaded as Cory's with pre-split scientific name and from an area where most observations have been Scopoli's

Cory's Shearwater

Taken in Mallorca in May, apologies for the delay, seems somehow never got round to uploading any pics at the time :) Taken on a touristy Dolphin watching trip, posted a pic yesterday of a Shearwater which thought was different to 99.99% of the...

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Cory's Shearwater

Taken some weeks back, on an early summer holiday to sunny Mallorca and very hot and sunny it turned out to be! Cory's Shearwater, a small number of these birds were visible from a pleasure cruise type of boat, where some folk jumped off for a...

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Cory's Shearwater

Taken a couple of weeks back, on an early summer holiday to sunny Mallorca and very hot and sunny it turned out to be! Cory's Shearwater, taken from a pleasure boat, the kind some folk jump off for a swim when anchored in a bay, so guess I looked...

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Cory's Shearwater

A quick week in the sun, having a holiday abroad for the first time in years...whilst trying to get a tan...had a camera to hand from time to time. New bird for me, both seeing and picture wise...Cory's Shearwater, not the best of pics, so a...

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Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

www.birdforum.net

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

www.birdforum.net

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

www.birdforum.net

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

www.birdforum.net

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

www.birdforum.net

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

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Cory's Shearwater

It is tricky getting a decent shot of these guys from a moving boat.

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Cory's Silhouette

One of around 2000 shearwaters seen at Malta's largest colony of these beautiful birds. Sadly they could seriously be threatened by the possibility of develpoment on the cliff top!

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Cory's Shearwater

The Cory's Shearwater is a common breeding visitor off the Maltese coasts with thousands of pairs nesting annually on cliff faces. I've had some nice experiences listening to these noisy birds calling somewhat like a baby, at night! This species...

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Cory's Shearwater

A Shearwater, shearing the water off Corsica.

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Thank you in advance to anyone who might be looking!
Niels

 

[Steve Lister]

I would ditch all the 2D 'Cory's' as the breeding birds in the Mediterranean are Scopoli's.

 

[Muppit17]

I would ditch all the 2D 'Cory's' as the breeding birds in the Mediterranean are Scopoli's.

Most of the Eilat Records are actually Cory's and thats what these look like.

I don't know of any fall proof ways of ID Scopoli's except from the underwing pattern- be interested if anyone else can help.

The Hatteras bird looks possibly to be Scopoli's (& perhaps the Florida bird as well) Certainly both taxa have been recorded both areas so needs ID from the photos rather than on range. (Agree numbers are skewed to Cory's)

 

[njlarsen]

Most of the Eilat Records are actually Cory's and thats what these look like.

This is surprising, where from and how do these birds make it there? Very few accepted records of Cory's in Eastern Med, and few of either southeast of Eilat (according to Ebird).
Niels

 

[Muppit17]

This is surprising, where from and how do these birds make it there? Very few accepted records of Cory's in Eastern Med, and few of either southeast of Eilat (according to Ebird).
Niels

Agreed, all very surprising. However consistent if you read the Israeli rarities reports or look at the photos. Apparently there are no records of Mediterranean birds 'jumping' the Negev from the Med to the Red Sea.

 

[THE_FERN]

4,5 perhaps 7 of the first set (birds in us) looks more like scopolis

 

[njlarsen]

Thanks for the answers so far. Luckily, I was still able to edit the first post in the thread. I removed the Eilat images from section 2D. Does anyone else see any of from this section that obviously are Cory's in the narrow sense?
thanks
Niels

 

[Glen Tepke]

4,5 perhaps 7 of the first set (birds in us) looks more like scopolis

Hello - I took photos 5 and 7 in the first set. I agree that #5 (with both wings pointing down) is Scopoli's based on the extensively pale primary undersides and the slender bill, but I am less sure about the other photo (#7). The bill looks a bit thicker than the first one, and the amount of white in the primaries seems to be within the range of variation for Cory's. Harrison's Seabirds (new edition) makes separating Scopoli's and Cory's appear straightforward, with no white in the primary undersides of Cory's, but the Howell and Howell & Zufelt seabird guidebooks show a range of the amount of white in Cory's. Howell & Zufelt (p. 170) has a photo of Cory's labeled "maximum pale for presumed Cory's" that looks pretty similar to my second photo. I lean toward Scopoli's based on the bill, but I'm really not sure.

 

[Glen Tepke]

Hello - I took photos 5 and 7 in the first set. I agree that #5 (with both wings pointing down) is Scopoli's based on the extensively pale primary undersides and the slender bill, but I am less sure about the other photo (#7). The bill looks a bit thicker than the first one, and the amount of white in the primaries seems to be within the range of variation for Cory's. Harrison's Seabirds (new edition) makes separating Scopoli's and Cory's appear straightforward, with no white in the primary undersides of Cory's, but the Howell and Howell & Zufelt seabird guidebooks show a range of the amount of white in Cory's. Howell & Zufelt (p. 170) has a photo of Cory's labeled "maximum pale for presumed Cory's" that looks pretty similar to my second photo. I lean toward Scopoli's based on the bill, but I'm really not sure.

PS - I just noticed that #6 in the first group is also my photo. That one looks good for Cory's with no white tongues in the primaries and a large bill.

 

[THE_FERN]

Hello - I took photos 5 and 7 in the first set. I agree that #5 (with both wings pointing down) is Scopoli's based on the extensively pale primary undersides and the slender bill, but I am less sure about the other photo (#7). The bill looks a bit thicker than the first one, and the amount of white in the primaries seems to be within the range of variation for Cory's. Harrison's Seabirds (new edition) makes separating Scopoli's and Cory's appear straightforward, with no white in the primary undersides of Cory's, but the Howell and Howell & Zufelt seabird guidebooks show a range of the amount of white in Cory's. Howell & Zufelt (p. 170) has a photo of Cory's labeled "maximum pale for presumed Cory's" that looks pretty similar to my second photo. I lean toward Scopoli's based on the bill, but I'm really not sure.

Yes I feel the same. Bill and extent of white point towards Scopoli's in 7. I've not revisited Sound Approach to see what other characters there are...

 

[njlarsen]

I have Howells guide to Tubenoses of North America (from 2012), where he writes that the best feature to separate the two may be the extent of white on p10. No white tongue and only limited white at the very base of p10 should be within the range of variation of Cory's, but he follows that statement with a question-mark as if he feels this still needs more research. His intro says that the primaries are numbered from in to out, so p10 is the outermost in his usage (I feel I have seen the opposite applied to some bird group in the past, but not sure).
Niels

 

[THE_FERN]

I have Howells guide to Tubenoses of North America (from 2012), where he writes that the best feature to separate the two may be the extent of white on p10. No white tongue and only limited white at the very base of p10 should be within the range of variation of Cory's, but he follows that statement with a question-mark as if he feels this still needs more research. His intro says that the primaries are numbered from in to out, so p10 is the outermost in his usage (I feel I have seen the opposite applied to some bird group in the past, but not sure).
Niels

Scopoli’s Shearwater - The Sound Approach

soundapproach.co.uk