Vietnam IDs (1 Viewer)

[dalat]

Going through the photos of this months Vietnam trip, and I will have a couple of ID questions.

The first one is from Dalat and is quite puzzling me. From the colours, can't be much else than a Black Bulbul. But feet are not red, and head and bill does not seem right. I also remember a smaller bird than Bulbul, but could be wrong with that. No idea what else it could be.

 

[andyb39]

A weird-looking bird. The closest I can get is a juvenile Flowerpecker, although the tail looks too big (perhaps because it's fanning it?). With that almost entirely orange bill, juvenile Scarlet-backed seems the best fit. Trouble is, although it is on a checklist I looked at, my Vietnamese guide friend says he's never seen one there.

However, if you compare your second image with the third image on this link, it's a good match:

http://photoku-photokita.blogspot.com/2010/12/scarlet-headed-flowerpecker-dicaeum_19.html

A couple more:

http://www.pbase.com/wongtsushi/image/80461848
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=2178&Bird_Image_ID=30984

The only problem with all of this is that you're not the kind of birder who would mistake a Flowerpecker for a Bulbul......

 

[dalat]

Haha, thanks Andy for the compliment :-O

Problem is, I did not behave like a good birder in this moment and took no proper look through binouclars of this bird. There was a lot of activity at this moment, and I just took a couple of shots of the bird before focussing elsewhere. I only came to wonder about what it is later, when going through the fotos.

But I indeed remember a smallish bird, not a Bulbul. Your sugestion of a flowerpecker fits well. The juv from Borneo you linked is a good match. I will go through more fotos to see.

Scarlet-backed FP is not so common in Dalat, but I think it occurs there (and I believe I saw one on the same trip on Langbian, but not a dark one).

Thanks a lot for getting me started on this. :t:

 

[dalat]

Digging through more pics and my books, I can't still can't come up with a better idea than Andy's suggestion of a juv Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker. I read that there are dark color morphs in Borneo and Peninsiular Malaysia here another pic that is similar as the second one linked by Andy: http://borneobirds.blogspot.com/2010/04/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-and.html. Not sure if that is a possibility in Vietnam? Any opinions

Below a pic of another bird I took in Dalat, this should be the more typical juvenile Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker.

 

[dalat]

Ok, let's leave this flowerpeckery thing, and move to something more straight forward: Citrine or Yellow? Hanoi.

 

[johnallcock]

The first bird is definitely a juvenile flowerpecker and Scarlet-backed seems a good fit. I think it looks dark largely because it is backlit on the photo, but also I think that juvenile Scarlet-backed is often slightly darker than adult females.

I think that the wagtail looks good for Citrine. Do you have any more photos?

 

[dalat]

Hi John, thanks a lot. I have some more photos, but they don't show much more. I could see the bird in the scope briefly, the white boarder around the grey ears was more clear than visible in the photo, but the white line was rather narrow...

 

[dalat]

I've also another bird from the coast near Saigon, this looks more like a Yellow wag I think.

 

[andyb39]

I've also another bird from the coast near Saigon, this looks more like a Yellow wag I think.

Presumably one of the races of Eastern Yellow - not sure which. I think the other bird has a clear enough border around the ear-coverts to be Citrine - there's also a suggestion of a gorget, and the wingbars are distinct.

 

[johnallcock]

Presumably one of the races of Eastern Yellow - not sure which. I think the other bird has a clear enough border around the ear-coverts to be Citrine - there's also a suggestion of a gorget, and the wingbars are distinct.

Forehead is quite pale on 1st bird as well. Overall, it looks better for Citrine than Yellow to me.

2nd bird looks fairly typical for tschutschensis.

 

[dalat]

Many thanks, John and Andy!!!