Acro - 19Aug23, UK (1 Viewer)

[GMS]

Had this down as Reed Warbler in the field but does look quite bright. Still leaning towards Reed but some input would be most appreciated.

 

[kuzeycem]

Looks like a Marsh contender at first glance - upperparts pale, warm but not 'dingy' brown like Common Reed, underparts just very faintly coloured all the way to the undertail coverts (no strong suffusion to breast sides, flanks, undertail etc.), nice yellowish legs. However, the photos are overexposed a bit so the paleness could be resulting from that. Also the bill looks rather long and narrow, head peaks behind the eye, primary projection maybe a bit short and location of p3 emargination better for Common Reed (falling inside the level of tips of secondaries)... and this is exactly why the identification of 1st-winter Marsh and Common Reed Warblers is an absolute nightmare 🙂.

 

[Bewick]

Could you give the location? Pretty sure a pair bred in the UK this year, somewhere on the Lincolnshire coast I believe.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,

thanks for sharing this bird and thanks Kuzeycem for your detailed and helpful comment.

I cant identify it with confidence (but yes, it might well be a Marsh Warbler for me too), so I hope for comments.

A question: the longest tertial seems clearly longer than the secondaries. How reliable is this as a pro Marsh feature?

Do you have more pictures?

 

[GMS]

Lincolnshire

Bird was in coastal scrub in the SE. I'm sure there will have been a number of breeding attempts this year in the UK after lots of singing birds in spring. We get reed warblers very regularly here on passage and certainly not a standard warmly coloured juvenile bird.

 

[Bewick]

Bird was in coastal scrub in the SE. I'm sure there will have been a number of breeding attempts this year in the UK after lots of singing birds in spring. We get reed warblers very regularly here on passage and certainly not a standard warmly coloured juvenile bird.

Well then its possible, I believe four were successfully raised- unsure if they have moved of or not- if they have then its possible.

 

[GMS]

Some additional pics - not sure if they can add anything

 

[petemorris]

Standard European Reed Warbler for me.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello again,

does this mean that the "tertial is longer then the secondaries" feature isnt (much?) reliable?

Or do I interpret the last picture in post #1 wrong? And its just about perspective (after looking at the pictures at Acro, Norfolk, September again?) Thanks for any input!

 

[Mark Lew1s]

I think it’s quite reliable, but probably not foolproof. It’s a very subtle feature though, and in the picture where the tertial looks obviously longer than the secondaries, it looks too much longer - if that makes sense - so much so that you’d really be looking for another explanation of why it looks like that. You’re really talking a millimetre or so.