Bit of an error checking the net for bird news before departing for Waxham and the patch. The lure of a Melodious was too much, and my experiences sadly mirror those of the above. Certainly a lot of negative feeling surrounding the sighting from people I spoke with, and I hope for the finder's sake a picture was taken! Seriously though, as James was telling me on site this is a very rare bird for Norfolk, so if someone has found one then hats off to them.
I spent my time at the cross-tracks, picked up some nice common migrants. Chiffchaff, a very yellow Willow Warbler (easy there), Blackcap, Bullfinch and a small flock of Siskin. Plenty of Goldcrests mingling with the Tit flocks. Finished with cracking views of a Barn Owl, but gutted I missed out on the Shortie that Firstreesjohn saw!
Cheers,
Jim.
Jim,
There is no photo since I do not carry a camera, however as you will see above I never claimed it as a Melodious - somebody later in the day did that, presumably not looking at the same bird we saw first thing in the morning!
In view of that for my sake I am not in the least concerned.
Ian
Thanks for the update Ian, looks like the bird gave a lot of people the slip then! Could strill be there, far from perfect conditions to leave last night.
Richard "Sam" Hill and I - both from West Sussex - arrived at Lady Anne's Drive just before 7am. Having paid our king's ransom for a three hour stay we intended to walk west to the Burnham Overy dunes.
It was clearly a "hippo" and the only real decision was Icky or Melodious.
We watched the bird for over fifteen minutes feeding vigorously in the pine. It clearly had steel grey legs, but for me it is the agressive look of the bird. I always find that Ickys look evil whereas Melodious have a much more gentle look due to its rounded head.
Having satisfied ourselves that the bird was an Icterine we put out the message to RBA and continued our walk. We returned at 10am to find a number of people searching for the bird, which had clearly not shown since we left it still feeding in the pines at 7.25am
As a final comment, the pictures of the bird attached to this thread is not the bird we watched.
Ian
Hi Ian,
I'm glad you had such a good day. The reason for posting the photos of the "yellow-footed grey-legged warbler" was just to highlight that there was a bit of collective hysteria going on with at least one of the later claims.
Mind you there could be some jealousy involved as I have dipped on every Icterine in this area for the last 2 years. :C
I will still be out in the field for the next one.
Dave
Cheers Paul - glad we've established that... but given your earlier doubt and observation of no pale wing-panel, is it also possible that the bird you saw around 10 o'clock wasn't an Icterine Warbler either?Bird was not a melodious warbler
Yes... or Chiffchaffs?
- (Some reported hippos turn out to be willow warblers.)
- A medium shade of grey legs.
I'm sure I'm just being dim but I fail to see why a bird arching its neck confirms that it's bigger than willow-chiff. What am I missing?
- Bird did arch its neck, to confirm it being bigger than willow-chiff. This to feed on the berries below the right of the two conifers.
Personally I've never made the connection between either Icterine or Melodious Warbler and a small banana, but maybe I've not seen enough of them yet Are you saying you saw something that looked like a small banana?
- I always think of hippo warblers as being like small bananas. not like phylloscs.
the pictures of the bird attached to this thread is not the bird we watched.
Ian
Melodious Warbler- similar experience to the above, I was hoping to see an Icterine and turned up at 10ish to see 3 people, one photographing 'the' bird enthusiastically, it was clearly a yellow juv willow warbler. On the way back to the car a message came through saying that it was showing again, once I got there, there were various mutterings that the bird looked slightly larger than chiff etc, but as soon as all the birders turned up there was no sign. Not accusing anyone of stringing but it seems odd that the bird was present for 6hrs but then disappeared when birders went to see it. It does happen and if this is the case I bet the finder is annoyed, but it looks as if this may be a dodgy record, a photo would nicely prove otherwise though!
A probable icterine is the bird I am commenting on. Kept low so unable to clinch it.
Cheers Paul - glad we've established that... but given your earlier doubt and observation of no pale wing-panel, is it also possible that the bird you saw around 10 o'clock wasn't an Icterine Warbler either?
Yes... or Chiffchaffs?
I'm sure I'm just being dim but I fail to see why a bird arching its neck confirms that it's bigger than willow-chiff. What am I missing?
Personally I've never made the connection between either Icterine or Melodious Warbler and a small banana, but maybe I've not seen enough of them yet Are you saying you saw something that looked like a small banana?
The plot thickens, not the 2 bird theory but maybe the three bird theory ?
........Are you saying you saw something that looked like a small banana?