terrible old photo Id (1 Viewer)

deborah4

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #1

I was having a 'clean up' of lots of old pics on computor and found this. It was taken in woodland, January 2006. I remember taking it but can't remember any details: Just remember at the time, I didn't have good views and wasn't sure what I was looking at: Have some idea and think it's probably something very obvious, but 'January' is confusing me as is poor pic quality! It appears to have a black pointed bill.

 

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IanF

Moderator

• Jan 8, 2007

• #2

Lol! My first thoughts were Dunnock from the bill and body shape and colouring.

If lightened though it appears to have the brown cap of a female Blackcap - but looks a little large for that.

 

J

James Lowther

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #3

I reckon it's a dunnock also

 

deborah4

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #4

I thought Dunnock too, even juv Robin, but perhaps the tail seemed too deeply notched for Dunnock? I do recall the bird being a lot paler than a Dunnock and having being quite streaky but really no other details with reliability - just didn't get onto iding it immediately - took a quick pic, then of course forgot all about it!

 

Last edited: Jan 8, 2007

jason stannage

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #5

HI all
looks like a female blackcap

 

deborah4

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #6

have messed around with it a bit: Now it looks more like a Dunnock! Tail's still quite notched though.

 

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Steve Waite

What you looking at?

• Jan 8, 2007

• #7

Hello,

Dunnock, Hedge Accentor or Hedge Sparrow....which one of the three do you think it is????

110% Dunnock! Probably a 1st-year bird too, I detect a bit of reddish brown in the eye colour!!!

Cheers all,

Steve

 

jason stannage

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #8

hi all
i still think its a female blackcap ok its got a white eye ring pic 1, nice brown cap,whiteish throat,

ok i will go with juv female hedgecap :h?:

 

Last edited: Jan 8, 2007

deborah4

Well-known member

• Jan 8, 2007

• #9

Thanks for your help all: I'm happy with it being a first winter Dunnock now Ive lightened up the pic and increased the saturation slightly - if I recall at the time, it was a young bird I saw briefly (a 'juv/1w') so may well have thrown me in making a fast response Id and had poor/brief views too.

 

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jan 9, 2007

• #10

Although Dunnock was my first impression, can someone say how we conclusively rule out Blackcap? What about the notched tail?

Thanks,
Graham

 

M

Moonshake

Well-known member

• Jan 9, 2007

• #11

Defnitely dunnock for me. Have a look at the tail on this one:
http://www.blueskybirds.co.uk/photos/dunnock250106c.jpg

 

S

Steven Astley

Well-known member

• Jan 9, 2007

• #12

feels like a dunnock for me aswell

 

Steve Waite

What you looking at?

• Jan 9, 2007

• #13

bitterntwisted said:

Although Dunnock was my first impression, can someone say how we conclusively rule out Blackcap? What about the notched tail?

Thanks,
Graham

Click to expand...

Brown streaked rear flanks/undertail coverts and belly, can also see wings are brown.
Brown ear coverts
Dark (not pale) grey neck and breast.

If it was a Blackcap it would look nothing like this, it would be grey-white all over its body, head and wings, all one colour, and it probably wouldn't be sat like this either!

 

dbradnum

Well-known member

• Jan 9, 2007

• #14

deborah4 said:

if I recall at the time, it was a young bird I saw briefly (a 'juv/1w')

Click to expand...

If it was January, and you weren't sure what species it was, how did you know it was a young bird?!

Incidentally, I'm in agreement that it's a Dunnock.

 

deborah4

Well-known member

• Jan 9, 2007

• #15

If you want help identifying adult Dunnocks or many of our other adult common UK woodland birds in the field David, feel free to PM me, they're pretty distinctive and can easily be Id'd on fast jizz . With youngsters, closer views are often required - especially if the bill shape was only captured in that moment by a camera and not looked at until 12 months later!

At the time, I just clocked it very briefly in passing as a streaky brown bird, so just had time to take a pic. I didn't actually observe properly in the field (IMO Bad practice and something I rarely do is take a pic before Iding a bird, this thread proves why it's bad practice!) I did jizz it enough at the time to rule out adult plumage of more easily identifiable and common adult plumages as mentioned and meant to look at the pic later. Forgot all about it, and only just found the picture again.

Thanks for your help everyone - as I said, the pic is poor, so is my memory, but I'm happy to leave it as a 1w Dunnock