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Strange Chiffchaff (NE Italy) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Hippolais
- Start date
John Cantelo
Well-known member
To be honest I'm not absolutely sure I could exclude Willow Warbler on this photo alone! The supercilium is very strong not only in front of the eye, but also behind it which seems more suggestive of Willow to me. Colour above looks good too and leg colour this dark is within the possibilities for Willow. However, the cheeks look better for Chiffchaff and my gut feeling is that it's a very brightly marked Chiffchaff rather than a very lost Willow Warbler. In this context an Iberian Chiffchaff must be 'in the frame' but wthout voice description I don't think plumage alone will prove conclusive,
Motmot
Eduardo Amengual
This old thread may prove useful to compare images etc
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=84941
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=84941
John Cantelo
Well-known member
The angle doesn't make it easy to judge wing length at all accurately, but it does look short for Willow Warbler. Interestingly the legs look a lot blacker too. Taken within the range of Iberian it'd be hard to say it wasn't one, but I don't think this is going anywhere without calls,
Brian J Small
Well-known member
On the first image on post 5 can I see four emarginations?
Brian S
Brian S
Simon Wates
Well-known member
The bird looks very good in many ways for Ib. Chiffchaff (not least general colouration) and there lies the problem - they are even tougher from the front.
As an aside - the very first returning Iberian Chiffchaffs should be in song here in southern Portugal in the next week or so. The earliest recorded is the 11th Feb and the only verified winter record was one on 4th Jan 2006.
If it is one I would have imagined it would have been singing or calling frequently.
As an aside - the very first returning Iberian Chiffchaffs should be in song here in southern Portugal in the next week or so. The earliest recorded is the 11th Feb and the only verified winter record was one on 4th Jan 2006.
If it is one I would have imagined it would have been singing or calling frequently.
Jane Turner
Well-known member
It would certainly have my attention!
We tried to find again the bird and the brightest one was this photographed by 3 different people. But I'm not sure that it's the same bird of before... this looks with a yellower supercilium and has a different "face": could it due only to a different position?
Anyway, it came close when I used the playback with the song of Iberian... just a coincidence?
Anyway, it came close when I used the playback with the song of Iberian... just a coincidence?
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Jane Turner
Well-known member
I don't suppose that you have a recording? Its certainly an interesting bird. If I saw that in the UK in spring I'd be hoping that it would sing.
The bill does look long and spikey, the supers bridge, the PPs look long but perhaps not enough). I wonder if any of those photos are sharp enough to be able to get anything useful in terms of wing formula.
The bill does look long and spikey, the supers bridge, the PPs look long but perhaps not enough). I wonder if any of those photos are sharp enough to be able to get anything useful in terms of wing formula.
