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First record of the thick-billed Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri) from the Czech Republic

První doklad tlustozobé formy strnada rákosního (Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri) z České republiky

Jiří Mlíkovský

Department of Zoology, National Museum, Václavské náměstí 68, CZ-115 79 Praha 1; e-mail: jiri.mlikovsky@nm.cz

Mlíkovský J. 2009: First record of the thick-billed Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri) from the Czech Republic. Sylvia 45: 242–247.

A specimen of the Reed Bunting collected near Dukovany, southern Moravia on 8 November 1943 and deposited in the Moravian Museum, was identified as belonging to the thick-billed subspecies-group, in particular to Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri. This is the first record of this subspecies from the Czech Republic and Central Europe.

Strnada rákosního, uloveného dne 8. listopadu 1943 u Dukovan na jižní Moravě a uloženého v Moravském zemském muzeu, jsem určil jako zástupce tlustozobé skupiny poddruhů tohoto strnada, konkrétně poddruhu Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri. Jedná se o první doklad výskytu tohoto poddruhu z území České republiky a celé střední Evropy.

Keywords: Czech Republic, Emberiza schoeniclus, Emberizidae, first record, Mediterranean

IntRoduCtIon

Reed Buntings are common breeders in, common migrants through and un-common winter visitors to the Czech Republic (Hudec 1983, Bejček et al. 1995, Šťastný et al. 2006, Musilová 2008). So far, all Reed Buntings recorded in the Czech Republic were assigned to the slender-billed (‘schoeniclus’) subspecies-group sensu C. S. Roselaar (in Cramp & Perrins 1994, Snow & Perrins 1998) accor-ding to few available studies (Jirsík 1951, 1955, Hachler 1952, Hudec 1983, Hudec et al. 1995). The thick-billed (‘pyrrhuloi‑des’) subspecies-group (sensu Roselaar),

which inhabits the southern Palearctic from the Mediterranean to eastern China, is a rare visitor to Central Europe (Bauer & Haffer 1997) and has not yet been re-ported from the Czech Republic. Here I describe the first record of a thick-billed Reed Bunting from the Czech Republic.

MatERIal and MEthods

I studied Reed Buntings in the collecti-ons of the National Museum, Praha, and Moravian Museum, Brno (Budišov de-pository). Wing length (maximum chord – Svensson 1992) was measured to the nearest 1 mm; bill depth (at the limit of

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feathering of the upper and lower man-dibles) was measured using dial caliper to the nearest 0.1 mm. Only males origina-ting from the Czech Republic, southwes-tern Slovakia and northeastern Austria were measured. Age classes were pooled together and no distinction was made between locally breeding and migrating birds for the purposes of this study. Bill length, bill width, tail length and tarsus length are less variable among subspecies (Vaurie 1956, 1958, Matoušek 1968, 1969, 1970, Matoušek & Jablonski 1970, Roselaar in Cramp & Perrins 1994) and were thus not considered in this study. Taxonomy of Reed Buntings follows Dickinson (2003).

thE RECoRd

During a study of Reed Buntings depo-sited in the Moravian Museum (MZMB; Budišov depository) in July 2009, in a material of ca. 130 Central European specimens, I found a conspicuously large-bodied and distinctly thick-billed bird (MZMB 8356), labeled simply as Emberiza schoeniculus [sic!] and without any comment on its subspecific identity. The specimen is an adult (over one year old) male in winter plumage. It was col-lected near Dukovany, southern Moravia (ca. 49.08°N, 16.19°E) on 8 November 1943 by Jaroslav Hála (1905–1978), an

Fig. 1. Lateral view of the Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri (MZMB 8356, collected near Dukovany, southern Moravia on 8 November 1943) in comparison with a juvenile male from the ‘schoeniclus’ subspecies-group (MZMB 5926, collected at Rebešovice, southern Moravia on 20 October 1906).Obr. 1. Boční pohled na strnada rákosního poddruhu Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri (MZMB 8356, uloven 8. listopadu 1943 u Dukovan na jižní Moravě,) ve srovnání s mladým samcem ze skupiny poddruhů ‘schoeniclus’ (MZMB 5926, uloven 20. října 1906 u Rebešovic na jižní Moravě).

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ornithologist and taxidermist then do-miciled in Dukovany (label data; see Sutorová & Hanák 1997 and Hanák 2003 for the collector’s biography).

The Dukovany specimen differs from European slender-billed Reed Buntings in having a much deeper and bulky bill, and in being larger-bodied, although this is not reflected in wing length (Fig. 1). General plumage coloration is dark, although frin-ges on outer primaries are whitish, not rufous or buff. Wing length is 79 mm in the Dukovany bird and 73–86 mm (mean = 79.3 mm, SD = 2.52, n = 91) in slender-billed males from Czechia, southwestern Slovakia and northeastern Austria. Bill depth is 7.8 mm in the Dukovany bird and 4.5–6.1 (mean = 6.29, SD = 0.35, n = 80) in slender-billed males from this region. See Figs. 2–3 for biometrical comparison.

dIsCussIon

Morphological data presented above are sufficient to be able to assign the Dukovany bird to the thick-billed sub-species-group of Reed Buntings (sen-su Roselaar in Cramp & Perrins 1994). However, its closer identification within the latter group is more difficult, since systematics of this group have not yet been resolved and are still under dis-cussion (cf. Hartert 1904, 1921, Zarudnyj 1917, Domaniewski 1918, Portenko 1929, Steinbacher 1930, Hartert & Steinbacher 1932–1933, Spangenberg & Sudilovskaâ 1954, Vaurie 1956, 1958, 1959, Matoušek 1968, Cramp & Perrins 1994, Bauer & Haffer 1997, Byers et al. 1997, Grapputo et al. 1998, Matessi et al. 2001, Meyrom et al., Zink et al. 2008).

Fig. 2. Relation between wing length and bill depth in male ‘schoeniclus’ Reed Buntings from Czechia, southwestern Slovakia and northeastern Austria (; n = 80) and in the Dukovany spe-cimen (n; n = 1).Obr. 2. Vztah mezi délkou křídla a hloubkou zobáku u samců strnada rákosního skupiny ‘schoeniclus’ z Česka, jihozápadního Slovenska a severovýchodního Rakouska (; n = 80) a u jedince z Dukovan (n; n = 1).

8,0

7,5

6,5

6,0

5,5

5,0

4,5

4,072 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88

wing length (mm)délka křídla (mm)

bill

dept

h (m

m)

hlou

bka

zobá

ku (

mm

)

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Nevertheless, the combination of a massive and bulky bill and dark pluma-ge allows me to identify the Dukovany bird as belonging to the subspecies rei‑seri Hartert, 1904. This subspecies, in-habiting the southern Balkans and wes-tern Turkey (Vaurie 1958, 1959, Cramp & Perrins 1994, Roselaar 1995, Kirwan et al. 2008), has a very deep and bulky bill resembling the bills of the Middle Asian (sensu Cowan 2006, 2007) pyrrhuloides Pallas, 1811, but differs from the latter subspecies in being much darker. On the other hand, it differs from dark Reed Buntings of the southwestern Palearctic (intermedia Degland, 1849, s. l.) in ha-ving much deeper and bulky bill (see Vaurie 1958, 1959, C. S. Roselaar in Cramp & Perrins 1994, Bauer & Haffer 1997).

Thick-billed Reed Buntings are chie-fly sedentary (Cramp & Simmons 1994, Snow & Simmons 1998), which may ex-plain their rarity north of their breeding range. In Central Europe, intermedia is a rare but possibly regular winter visitor to the southernmost parts of the region (Bauer & Haffer 1997), however, it has not been recorded in the Czech Republic (Hudec 1983, Hudec et al. 1995). The sub-species tschusii Reiser & Almásy, 1898, from the steppes of southeastern Europe, has a few winter records from Hungary (Debrecen 1934, Szeged 1959 and 1960 – Beretzk 1962, Keve 1984, Bauer & Haffer 1997), and an exceptional record from Germany (island of Helgoland, 54.18°N, 07.88°E, male, collected on 24 April 1879 – Gätke 1891, Stresemann 1925, Bauer &

Fig. 3. Bill depth in male ‘schoeniclus’ Reed Buntings from Czechia, southwestern Slovakia and northeastern Austria (gray columns; n = 80) and in the Dukovany specimen (black column; n = 1).Obr. 3. Hloubka zobáku u samců strnada rákosního skupiny ‘schoeniclus’ z Česka, jihozápad‑ního Slovenska a severovýchodnícho Rakouska (šedé sloupce; n = 80) a u jedince z Dukovan (černý sloupec; n = 1).

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

04,0 4,5 5,0 5,5 6,0 6,5 7,0 7,5 8,0

bill depth (mm)hloubka zobáku (mm)

E. s. schoeniclus group

Dukovany

num

ber

of s

peci

men

spo

čet j

edin

ců

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Haffer 1997). The Dukovany bird thus re-presents the first record of reiseri for the Czech Republic and the whole Central Europe.

aCKnowlEdgEMEnts

I am obliged to Karel Hudec (Brno), Branislav Matoušek (Trnava) and an anonymous referee for comments on the manuscript. I am obliged to Helena Sutorová (MZMB) for permission to study specimens under her care. The preparation of this paper was suppor-ted by grants MK 00002327201 and MK 06P04OMG008 from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

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Došlo 17. srpna 2009, přijato 23. září 2009.Received 17 August 2009; accepted 23 September 2009.Editor: P. Adamík