Three this time

[Jane Turner]

Sorry about the quality... I have no scanner right now and these are from prints. Its all adds to the difficulty factor. To quote a local colloquialism, if anyone gets all these right first time I will show my arse in Woollies window!

The first two are local, the third is in Spain.

Just you wait till I get a scanner... I have hundreds of mystery photos and about 4 good ones!

[Michael W]

Could the third picture be a Collared Pratincole by any chance? I do not have much evidence supporting my guess, but when I first saw the picture, that is what I thought of.

I'll be very surprised if it is one.

Michael

[Bluetail]

Well they say fools rush in where angels fear to tread, so here are my three wild guesses:

1) Icterine Warbler
2) Ring-billed Gull (2nd winter)
3) Common Prat

Jason

[Jane Turner]

How long should I wait before I start giving you an idea of how many are right....once I do logic comes into play!

[Jane Turner]

Here is bird 3 a little sharper.....though no easier!

[Darrell Clegg]

If it's Spain it must be Red-necked Nightjar!!

Darrell

[Jane Turner]

What about the other two?

[Joern Lehmhus]

Second pic I´d go for Ringbilled gull, the third one is cleary something I did not see previously, pratincole maybe?
First one a Hippolais species??

That is what came to my mind sitting at work, having no literature around for confirmation...
But I am really curious to know what they are!!!

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Errrmmmm:

1) Olivaceous Warbler
2) Ring-billed Gull
3) Black-winged Kite

Not confident.

[Jane Turner]

I hav to admit I couldn't ID the third one from the pic...if it wasn't bracketed between two other shots of the same bird. One species has been named correctly by someone and the other two have two lose guesses.

I can post a sharper pic of bird 1 if you like, I just found the slide and have worked out a way of digitising them.

[Jane Turner]

Bird 1 from the slide!

[Darrell Clegg]

The second one is Common Gull - if it was a Ring-billed there would be a huge band on the tail. Come to think of it, there should be some black on it in 2nd year Common Gull!!

The first one I'm still looking at

Darrell

[Jane Turner]

Looks like no one gets to see my arse in Woolies window anyway..... still have CJW and MF to hav a go of course.

Are these fun? I have about 4000 slides, the majority of which are just bad photos like these. Some make great mystery photos, its all they are really good for.

[Joern Lehmhus]

On retrospect I would say Darrell is probably right with Common Gull; another thing that goes in that direction is the shape of the bill, fits better for common gull. I think i was too fast there.

With the third pic, Fifebirder may have hit it; I do not see anything that would rule out Blackshouldered Kite: I was thinking pratincole but the shape of the tail surely fits better with the Kite. Seing the third pic i was thinking of a darker bird but as it is photographed against the sky...

[Jane Turner]

If it helps at all. On the original slide bird three shows paler legs as the only significant contrast on the underside

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Okay for number 3 the breathtakingly wide-of-the-mark response of:

Wilson's Petrel

Stop s******ing at the back there.

[Darrell Clegg]

First one I think is Olivaceous Warbler, if only 'cos of the head shape and lack of any significant yellow tones. Second is Common Gull, and third has me stumped. I know its not Red-necked Nightjar - (V shaped tail!) but I can't assign it to any other family. I had thought of vagrant Common Nighthawk but where are the white patches?

Darrell

[satrow]

Melodious Warbler,
Ring-billed Gull,
Black-winged Pratincole?

Andy,

(wildly guessing)

[Michael Frankis]

In view of the threat in the first post . . .

1. Red-breasted Goose
2. Calliope Hummingbird
3. King Penguin

I just want to be absolutely certain that I don't get them all right first time . . .

Michael

[Jane Turner]

You are safe!

What do you really think!

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Well Jane,

I think Mr Frankis has it cracked there. Which branch of Woolies is it to be then?

[Jane Turner]

Liverpool of course!

Two birds have now been named correctly and one...well someone has got the right Order...but no closer

[Michael Frankis]

OK then . . .

Melodious Warbler
Common Gull
Black Kite (swooping up in 'skydance' display, with wings half-folded to loop the loop)

Michael

[tom mckinney]

Any chance these are manipulated? That gull's tail looks peculiarly pure white and surely that is a Red Kite tail on a pratincole??? Also the eye looks remarkably big and gormless on the "warbler" and up close even has a very strange shape and lifeless quality to it. Actually I've no idea!!!

[Jane Turner]

The pics are not manipulated....just crap to start with :)

[Jasonbirder]

Blimey.....
1. Melodious Warbler
2.Common Gull
3. Some kind of Raptor Red Kite?

[Jane Turner]

Well two people have got two right.

Not saying which two people or which two birds, that would be too easy!

[Jasonbirder]

By the way why am I never quick enough off the mark to get my answers in early...so if i`m right I look really clever and if i`m wrong i don`t look like a complete idiot?

[Jane Turner]

All three species have been named correctly now by at least one person.

[satrow]

Melodious Warbler,
Ring-billed Gull,
Red Kite?

Andy

[tom mckinney]

Everyone is coming around to the first bird being Melodious but what about the leg colour? Wish I had some work to do this is really winding me up now!

[Jane Turner]

Sorry! I could IM you privtely and put you out of your misery, then you could concentrate on work.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Okay:

1) Olivaceous Warbler
2) Common Gull
3) Black Kite

[Jane Turner]

All three are now down to genus correctly, more often than not...

[satrow]

This is like playing that 'old' Mastermind game - but without the black and white markers!

Can I have a private viewing anyway, Jane?

Andy. ;-)

[tom mckinney]

Icterine Warbler, 2W Ring Billed Gull and Black Kite. Now for a bit of work and then a swim to Bardsey...

[Jane Turner]

A private viewing of what Andy?

Tom so very close! But still not 100%

[satrow]

Woolies window! :-)

Andy.

[Jane Turner]

Ok...but only after I have found a Bushchat in my front garden.

[tom mckinney]

Icterine Warbler, 2w Ring Billed Gull and Black Winged/Shouldered Kite.

[CJW]

Melodious Warbler
Ring-billed Gull
Collared pratincole.

[Jane Turner]

Still no one has got more than two correct!

[satrow]

Olivaceous Warbler,
Ring-billed Gull,
Black Kite?
(I don't think that combo has been tried yet!)

Andy.

[CJW]

If that's an Olivaceous Warbler I'll show my a**e in Woollies window alongside Jane.
It's gotta be that dodgy third bird that I got wrong.

[tom mckinney]

Icterine Warbler, 2w Ring Billed Gull and Red Kite.
It has to be please.............

[Jane Turner]

you are back to one right now Tom :)

[Jasonbirder]

Well on the "mastermind principle" (rather than from looking at the photos)

Melodious
Ring-billed
Red Kite

hehehe if i`m right it shows guess work is as much use as knowledge!

[Jane Turner]

Still only two right Jason :)

[tom mckinney]

Melodious (even though I can't cope with the leg colour!), Ring Billed and Black Kite.

[Jasonbirder]

What a fool I am! Was I fooled by a 3W Herring Gull? Surely not

Melodious
Herring Gull
Red Kite

[Jane Turner]

nope..and this really gives it away, you are back to one now :)

[Jane Turner]

I think it is possible by logic alone now.

[Jasonbirder]

One! Only One! Blah ,blah not playing anymore, daft mystery photos, rhubarb, no real indicator of skill, sulk!

Melodious (Confident)
Ring-billed (Fairly Confident)
Black-shouldered Kite (guess)

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Melodious Warbler
Ring-billed Gull
Black Kite

[Jane Turner]

OK... lets finish this...

Melodious Warbler - look at the Yellow on the face. Its hard to prove its not an icky on this pic...with its wings hidden away, but I think the broom-handle bill is a good indicator and why greyish ones like this need to be looked at very hard.

Ring-billed Gull With its head tuned making it look a little more Common-like. It arrived with a partial tail band, but moulted it out. The wing structure, paleness of the grey bits, single primary spot and markings on the nape give it away, but I picked this shot out since it looked most like a Common Gull. Incidentally I think all white tails on 2nd winters aren't too rare. We had another one here a year or so back..that we watched from a 1st winter through to a white-tailed 2nd winter.


Black Kite How on earth did you get that Michael. As I said I couldn't get it from the pic and I knew what it was. I was at Zahara (between Barbate and Tarifa) during the peak Kite passage. A few thousand had already gone over this particular morning. I was photoing them to get the variation in tail shape, since many where in moult. This one wasn't displaying, but it was avoiding the attentions of a Peregrine.

[Jane Turner]

And the winner was.... Fifebirder....fortunately for shoppers in Woolies the first bird was not an Olivaceous Warbler and it wasn't a first attempt.

[tom mckinney]

What time of year was the Melodious Jane?

[Andrew Whitehouse]

That misspent youth playing Mastermind finally has some use.

[Jane Turner]

Hell I missed Tom getting it right in the second page....

[Jane Turner]

It was a September Melodious Tom. To be honest I've never found the leg colour to be that useful...one clear view of the primaries is much more useful.

[tom mckinney]

Brilliant fun Jane. Stick some more shots on like those if you've got any. But only if the boss is away and I've got little to do!

[Jane Turner]

As I said I have about 4000. Game for another threesome? Fnaar Fnnar

[tom mckinney]

Great fun Jane. Stick some more on if you've got any.
I agree with you about the legs infact I find judging and describing bare part colour in general extremely difficult and it can be amazing how a group of birders can have such wildly different descriptions of the same bird at the same time. Whilst watching a Western Bonelli's at Spurn recently me and a friend after 45 mins still couldn't put a colour to the legs as it seemed to change every 15 seconds!

[Jane Turner]

That's where the phrase, non-descript darkish/lightish/mid (delete as neccessary) horn comes in!

[Michael Frankis]

Black Kite How on earth did you get that Michael.
Your saying the only detail visible from below being pale feet was a very good clue - there's not many birds that are uniformly dark below but with paler feet. Then also the comment that 'two right, one named to the correct order' - well obviously the warbler and the gull were already correct to genus, let alone family or order, so that left the third bird - and Black-shouldered Kite had been suggested, this bird had a shallow forked tail, and obviously wasn't a swift, swallow or pratincole. So I was left with Black Kite as the only realistic option that fitted all the above (and also that it was photo'd in Spain), holding its wings at a funny angle such as they do in display (or taking evasive action to avoid mobbing!). Red Kite I didn't think realistic, as the tail fork looked too shallow, and surely its pale primary patch would show, if the pale legs were visible.

Michael