ID? Panjin, Liaoning, China (1 Viewer)

With the migration underway and with excellent conditions, today yielded some interesting finds.

We start with #1 the possible new life lister which was a Kestrel being mobbed by a swarm of Red-rumped Swallow at altitude - the question is whether this is indeed the Lesser Kestrel which it appeared to be to me? Through the bins, grey hood and no noticeable moustache. I only was able to view the underside, but the black edges to the wingtips fit with the Lesser. Overall, seemed slighter than the Eurasian Kestrel, which is common here. With the tail the central rectrices protruding are mentioned by Brazil as an identifier.

#2 & 3 is a Warbler puzzling me and I'm probably just being dense. I wrote down Arctic in my field notes and moved on to more interesting things, but after cropping and looking more closely back home, those very distinct wing bars have me puzzled now. Two-barred? But the bars are even more distinct than I have seen on those before.

Owen,

1. Impossible to tell from this image. You may get some useful pointers on Lesser Kestrel ID from this recent thread. http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=349807

2-3 Yellow-browed Warbler Note the dark/black centres to the greater coverts and primary bases.

Grahame

the diluted barring of the flight feathers compared to the underwing coverts is another good pointer towards Lesser but I agree there is nothing sure here

Grahame Walbridge said:

Owen,

1. Impossible to tell from this image. You may get some useful pointers on Lesser Kestrel ID from this recent thread. http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=349807

2-3 Yellow-browed Warbler Note the dark/black centres to the greater coverts and primary bases.

Grahame

Click to expand...

Thanks, Grahame and tconzemi. Yellow-browed, yes, I can go with that. Only rarely seen during migration here and I've never seen them with this distinct of wing bands. For the Kestrel, coupled with it's flight behavior and the general jizz just being slightly off to me, I still lean towards claiming a Lesser. It would be east of the ranges listed but we did have a storm pass through from the west last night so a migrating bird may have been pushed east somewhat.