With the second winter bird I had on Christmas Eve (see previous post), and the amount of eye catching Common gulls around at the moment, I did wonder if I might see another identifiable heinei. I was however not expecting to see a 1st winter bird; I’ve never seen such a good example of 1st cycle heinei in the UK before.
The combination of all dark brown wing, pure white underparts, white head and bright pink bill base made me jump as soon as I picked this bird up. I see plenty of contrasty canus types and some with very clean head and flanks but never in combination with the dark wing like this – dark winged birds tend to be very streaked and dark elsewhere.
Showing a dark inner primary window above and below, the underwing is very contrastingly patterned and no barring in the auxiliaries, white feather centers with dark fringing contrasting with a solid trailing edge throughout the full length of the wing, I have read that the combination of a coarsely marked underwing with pure white underparts could be unique to 1w heinei.
I also noticed that this bird’s iris is slightly paling – Adult heinei show paler irises, and it is only known in heinei to show a paler iris in other ages (although I’ve never seen that in a 1st cylce before). click on images to zoom.
I’ve always been cautious of first winters without a primary pattern to go by, and am grateful to Peter Adriaens for his comments, helping to confirm today’s bird.
For more images of 1st cycle heinei have a look here.
PERDIX BIRDER 