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Blyth's reed or Sykes's Warbler - India (1 Viewer)

wingsnwilds

Well-known member
Confused between Blyth's reed or Sykes's Warbler because of the supercilium extending beyond the eye and the long beak.
Seen in Pune, India
 

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The emarginations on 3,4, are outside the tertial area.....that doesn't conform to Blyth's Reed wing formula (should be within). Also the tonal contrast between Iris and pupil in the images (not particularly contrasty) is comparable to e.g Sykes when seen close up in reasonable light, as per images shown.

Cheers
 
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I don't think it's the best angle to judge the length of the UTCs. It definitely looks like an Acro - the forehead is very sloping and the bill is too long. Also, Sykes's would show a yellow lower mandible and I wouldn't expect such a long super. The question is which Acro? It has the loral bulge and plain wing of a Blyth's Reed, but the bill is very long and heavy, unless that cobweb (?) is distorting its dimensions. It looks rather long-tailed too.
 
In my first post I assumed it is a small bird like Sykes's. What if it is larger? Besides the long tail the really large feet are strange. I wonder if could be a Clamorous Reed Warbler?
 
In my first post I assumed it is a small bird like Sykes's. What if it is larger? Besides the long tail the really large feet are strange. I wonder if could be a Clamorous Reed Warbler?

My thoughts too!

One or two things still don't add up - Clamorous often has blue-grey legs and I'd expect to see dark-centered tertials and primaries with contrasting pale tips - but structure looks better for it.

Chirag, how big was it?
 
My thoughts too!

One or two things still don't add up - Clamorous often has blue-grey legs and I'd expect to see dark-centered tertials and primaries with contrasting pale tips - but structure looks better for it.

Chirag, how big was it?

Somewhere between 15-20 cms. Let me check if I can find more images of it that can help.
 
Hi all,
really instructive postings. The reason why the tail does not look full and graduated as in Clamorous is because the outer tail feathers are not fully grown as photo #2. Also think you can easily see the big emargination on primary #3 like Ken suggests. Larger reed-warblers especially can also show the club foot, not necessarily an abnormality like a hippolais but for different reasons. Wing formulae and bill width definitely preclude Oriental Reed Warbler IMO but the overall colour and tonality is so close, almost identical.
 
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