Viv Connett
Well-known member
Melodious
We were among a small crowd who were watching what was originally called as an Icterine until someone noticed that this particular bird had bright orange legs. Not a willow warbler, there was one of them in the bush underneath and it was totally different, smaller and less chunky,different shaped head. We'd never seen Icterine or Melodious before but there were several people in the crowd who had seen both and were adamant it was a Melodious. However we did see another guy who had seen the Icky and he was describing the "blue legs and yellow feet" so clearly there was one of them about, these legs couldn't possibly have been described as blue, grey or anything other than bright orange!!!
So you can decide from that what you will, but the bird I saw certainly was NOT a willow warbler!!
Bit of an error checking the net for bird news before departing for Waxham and the patch. The lure of a Melodious was too much, and my experiences sadly mirror those of the above. Certainly a lot of negative feeling surrounding the sighting from people I spoke with, and I hope for the finder's sake a picture was taken! Seriously though, as James was telling me on site this is a very rare bird for Norfolk, so if someone has found one then hats off to them.
I spent my time at the cross-tracks, picked up some nice common migrants. Chiffchaff, a very yellow Willow Warbler (easy there), Blackcap, Bullfinch and a small flock of Siskin. Plenty of Goldcrests mingling with the Tit flocks. Finished with cracking views of a Barn Owl, but gutted I missed out on the Shortie that Firstreesjohn saw!
Cheers,
Jim.
We were among a small crowd who were watching what was originally called as an Icterine until someone noticed that this particular bird had bright orange legs. Not a willow warbler, there was one of them in the bush underneath and it was totally different, smaller and less chunky,different shaped head. We'd never seen Icterine or Melodious before but there were several people in the crowd who had seen both and were adamant it was a Melodious. However we did see another guy who had seen the Icky and he was describing the "blue legs and yellow feet" so clearly there was one of them about, these legs couldn't possibly have been described as blue, grey or anything other than bright orange!!!
So you can decide from that what you will, but the bird I saw certainly was NOT a willow warbler!!