curlewsandpiper1980
Well-known member
These 3 species are easy to distinguish if singing and in their own usual habitat: a song thrush singing from the top of a tree (that unmistakable song), a skylark singing from an open meadow (another unmistakable song), and a flock of meadow pipits flying up and down in the uplands (usually there aren't many birds up in the mountains, so pipits are easy to ID there).
However I just happened to have two encounters with pipit and thrush-like birds, where I got confused by their identity.
1) First, this morning I watched from my kitchen window a pipit-like bird happily standing on a small bush and seemingly picking berries. It was the size of a starling.
It could have been a meadow or even a tree pipit (I am not bothering about the differences between those two yet). But it might have been a song thrush too, as they occur here too. To complicate thing, skylarks can look like a pipit too (if their crest is not showing up), though I do not think it was a skylark, as the area outside of my kitchen has quite a few trees and skylarks are only found father afield.
Any comments on this one? I didn't manage to take a photo.
2) And yesterday I saw a pair of large birds on top of a tree that I thought initially were mistle thrushes (song thrushes are smaller). They had a speckled belly, dark spots on a creamy yellow belly and a darker back. The tail was dark but with white edges. But then, I remembered that kestrels and merlins can also have a spotted belly, and if I didn't see their bill, so I might mistake a thrush for a merlin. That pair of birds was the size of a dove, and they were also silent on top of the tree.
By the way, I also found smaller falcons like merlin and kestrel hard to identify, as they can also be confused in flight for a pigeon, if a bit away. Unless they are hunting, which then their flight becomes obvious.
Sorry for these easy questions, as I am just a beginner in birding, and getting to grips with these common species.
However I just happened to have two encounters with pipit and thrush-like birds, where I got confused by their identity.
1) First, this morning I watched from my kitchen window a pipit-like bird happily standing on a small bush and seemingly picking berries. It was the size of a starling.
It could have been a meadow or even a tree pipit (I am not bothering about the differences between those two yet). But it might have been a song thrush too, as they occur here too. To complicate thing, skylarks can look like a pipit too (if their crest is not showing up), though I do not think it was a skylark, as the area outside of my kitchen has quite a few trees and skylarks are only found father afield.
Any comments on this one? I didn't manage to take a photo.
2) And yesterday I saw a pair of large birds on top of a tree that I thought initially were mistle thrushes (song thrushes are smaller). They had a speckled belly, dark spots on a creamy yellow belly and a darker back. The tail was dark but with white edges. But then, I remembered that kestrels and merlins can also have a spotted belly, and if I didn't see their bill, so I might mistake a thrush for a merlin. That pair of birds was the size of a dove, and they were also silent on top of the tree.
By the way, I also found smaller falcons like merlin and kestrel hard to identify, as they can also be confused in flight for a pigeon, if a bit away. Unless they are hunting, which then their flight becomes obvious.
Sorry for these easy questions, as I am just a beginner in birding, and getting to grips with these common species.
