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  1. H

    Warbler SW Turkey June

    Eastern Bonelli's Warbler, both song and calls heard in the clip. Very nice!
  2. H

    Gulls from Galapagos

    Are there any flight images of the first two birds? While I agree that the head patterns do seem more like that of a non-breeding Franklin's Gull, there are some features that give me cause for concern, including the lack of pale fringes to the innermost visible primaries at least, the bill...
  3. H

    Which pipit- Istanbul

    I agree with Tote. Note, among other features, the short hind claw, thin flank streaking, ear covert spot and the contrast between a buffish ground colour to the breast and whiter ground colour to the belly and flanks.
  4. H

    Tringa sp. , Sofia area, Bulgaria

    Surely this is a Common Greenshank with yellower legs than usual? Everything else fits.
  5. H

    Ortolan or Cretzschmar's Bunting (Southern Israel - September)

    The tertial pattern excludes Grey-necked. I'd need to check the literature to separate autumn Ortolan and Cretzschmar's, though.
  6. H

    Little Gull?

    Hi Victor, For future reference, note the head and bill shape, and also the lack of a dark trailing edge to the secondaries. Also, when you do see a Little Gull, they are truly tiny! We do get a few in Cork, but your best bet in Ireland is the Wicklow coast during onshore winds, as...
  7. H

    Gull from Roumania!

    Hi Pál, While I can see where Ken is coming from with regard to image number 3, what looks like a very long primary projection is, in fact, due to a sitting gull in the background. The same darker-mantled bird present in the foreground, and in all of the other images, is tricky from these...
  8. H

    Herring Gull or Vega Gull or just an Oly Gull

    I really don't buy this as a Slaty-backed Gull, or any of the other possible vagrant contenders mentioned. I haven't seen an 'Olympic Gull', but the head structure, dark iris etc seem very reminiscent of Glaucous-winged Gull, plus the upperparts and primaries are too dark for that species. My...
  9. H

    Latest IOC diary updates

    A bird now accepted as a mongolus ('Siberian Plover'), at the Don Estuary in 1991, was originally identified as a Greater Sandplover, and accepted as such by BBRC, but the features of this species are more established nowadays. I do seem to recall that maybe an atrifrons was incorrectly...
  10. H

    Great reads for birders!

    When I read Birdwatchingwatching, I had no idea of who Alex Horne was, other than he was a comedian I'd not seen on TV at that stage. Of course, his career took off, deservedly, afterwards. Apparently he still looks at birds, if his Twitter bio is to be believed. Maybe he's even on Birdforum (if...
  11. H

    Campaign to standardise the capitalising of English names of species

    Hi all, This recent gem from a report of a Tundra Bean Goose on an Irish birding website neatly illustrates the perils of lower case, I think: '1 ad. with pink feet in mobile flock between Whitehouse cross and Iveco garage. Flocks mobile and wary. All left area at about 14.00.' Reading it...
  12. H

    Ring-billed gull - Bulgaria

    Hi Peter, Many thanks for your comprehensive analysis. While I have no experience brachyrhynchus or kamtschatschensis, and effectively none of heinei (a handful on range at distance in Kazakhstan and a very distant 1st cycle in Oman), and I don't even see the sheer number of individual...
  13. H

    Gull help needed

    One difference between large gulls and redpolls is that, with a few notable exceptions (the whole Thayer's/Kumlien's/Iceland conundrum, for example), a lot of large gulls breed in areas where lots of ornithologists and field birders live. Thus, even leaving aside instances of hybridisation/gene...
  14. H

    Gull help needed

    Core ranges, yes, but what would stop a vagrant smithsonianus from breeding with a European Herring Gull? On a population level, yes, you are correct that the two species don't 'mix' as in there is no overlap zone where both breed, but gene flow is still possible, of course, at least occasionally.
  15. H

    Ring-billed gull - Bulgaria

    Hi Yordan, For me, this is a 1st-winter Ring-billed Gull, an amazing Bulgarian record, especially these days with the decline in European records. You already gave the reasons why this differs from a Common Gull, regardless of taxon: while Kamchatka Gull can resemble Ring-billed at this age...
  16. H

    Latest IOC diary updates

    ...and nomenclature... (y)
  17. H

    Latest IOC diary updates

    Understandably, as some people will want a British endemic, and not just a species endemic to Britain and Ireland... ;)
  18. H

    Yucatán. Please id

    The tail pattern of the first bird seems to suggest Magnolia Warbler to me, and the 'parula' seems to be a White-eyed Vireo.
  19. H

    Slender-billed gull? Baghdad, Jan 19

    I think that both birds are Slender-billed Gulls, from what can be seen in this one image at least.
  20. H

    Your WORST identifiable photos

    Of the species recorded in Britain, only Blackcap and Garden Warbler are still in the genus Sylvia, the rest are now in Curruca...
  21. H

    Your WORST identifiable photos

    This is an amusing but terrible digiscoped shot of a Caspian Gull that a friend and I found years back, the first for Cork. I did get 'better' ones on the ground.
  22. H

    Corvid ID - Dublin

    Hi Sean, This is a 1st-winter Rook for me, for the reasons pointed out earlier and also note the head shape compared to a Carrion (or Hooded) Crow, with an obvious crown peak. Regards, Harry
  23. H

    Scottish gull - changing from YLG to LBB in Merlin?

    The bird is a graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gull. Even in that initial image, the upperparts are too dark for a Yellow-legged Gull, and please also note the extent of head streaking, more extensive than may be expected in Yellow-legged. Also, Yellow-legged Gull is quite notable in Scotland, not...
  24. H

    Please Id this warbler

    For me, the obvious dark centres and pale fringes to the tertials exclude anything from the Greenish complex as was, and this bird is one of the Yellow-browed/Hume's pairing. I'd lean towards Hume's, as, despite the bird being in fresh plumage, it's not overly yellow toned anywhere, the legs...
  25. H

    Iduna Warbler, Jersey

    I'm glad that someone with your experience and ability has voiced this, and DMW for asking the question initially also, because, while I wasn't necessarily sure enough one way or another to comment, something about the facial pattern and, particularly, the plain tertials brought Sykes's Warbler...
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