[sandrinhalee]

Can someone help me ID these birds?
By the way, the birds in the cage are not mine. The locals trap birds in cages and leave them out in the wild to attract birds of prey to catch them. I don't like this practice, but there's not much I can do about it.

Thanks everyone! Have a great day!

[birdboybowley]

The poor larks in the cage are Short-toeds, and the rest are some sort of Chiffchaff (which to me are as exciting as the large gull complex...sorry so can't be more specific....Caucasian maybe??)
Could always do what we do when we come across this kind of thing in Asia - break the cage open and let them out!!

[jacana]

the lasr bird strikes me as being possibly something other than a Chiffchaff, but without other photos, I can't help

[STS]

Aren't those three Bimaculateds? Not that I've seen one for a while, mind.

Cheers, Thomas

[Motmot]

Originally Posted by STS

Aren't those three Bimaculateds? Not that I've seen one for a while, mind.

Cheers, Thomas

I bet you're right, they certainly look Melanocorypha larks to me too.

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by STS

Aren't those three Bimaculateds? Not that I've seen one for a while, mind.

Cheers, Thomas

I think so too.

The phylloscopus are very difficult from these images, but as Ad's suggests, Chiffchaff types possibly Mountain.

[halftwo]

Originally Posted by sandrinhalee

but there's not much I can do about it.

As BBB says, break open the cage & let them out. Remove the cage so they have to build another to carry on their crimes.

When in foreign countries it is sometimes necessary - traps, snares, nets - get rid of them & destroy what you can. Often they can be relatively expensive for the locals to replace and makes their activities non-viable when removed.

Good luck - and keep your head down!

[birding maniac]

yeah, my first thoughts on those larks was Bimaculateds, but never seen one so not sure. Agree the others are Chiffchaffs of some type

[james holdsworth]

Those suggesting breaking open the cages, note where this is.....

I would suggest the same thing but not when it might get me killed.

[sandrinhalee]

As some of you noted, I could let the birds out, but the people here tend to carry large weapons and get angry quickly. And they are quite passionate about their birds. :) I appreciate the advice though -- if I were in Thailand or somewhere like that, I might do it.

Re: the last picture, sorry, it was the wrong pic I posted. Here's another few better ones of that last bird. Does that help with ID?

[rockfowl]

I'd suggest a 1st year Red-breasted Flycatcher for the last one, but I could be wrong.

[Jan-Paul Charteris]

Originally Posted by birdboybowley

The poor larks in the cage are Short-toeds, and the rest are some sort of Chiffchaff (which to me are as exciting as the large gull complex...sorry so can't be more specific....Caucasian maybe??)
Could always do what we do when we come across this kind of thing in Asia - break the cage open and let them out!!

Same practise can apply to corvid traps over here (apparently law dictates it's a naughty thing to do, so naturally I wasn't suggesting that I have)

Jan

[Jane Turner]

The third Phyllosc on the first batch appears to have quite prominent tertial fringes and a wing bar.

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by Jane Turner

The third Phyllosc on the first batch appears to have quite prominent tertial fringes and a wing bar.

I looked at that Jane, Some worn Chiffchaff, Siberian, Mountain, have much paler fringing at this time giving quite strong impressions of wing bars. I don't think it appears clean enough and the species to rule out here should be Hume's. I cant see any hint of darker lateral crown stripes, the 'bars and tertials don't look defined enough, even for a worn Hume's and in the first image of this bird, the head-on shot looks more like a Chiffy type. Again it's a pity the images aren't better.

[Jane Turner]

I agree - though it was the tertial fringes that i was having more trouble explaining...

and it also assumes that all the warbler photos are the same bird

[phil baber]

Agree on Bimaculated Larks, and my first thoughts were of Flycatcher. Perhaps RB Flicker for those last 2. Not enough to go on. But surely a Flycatcher spp.