• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Phylloscopus sp. (Central Spain) (1 Viewer)

S

SLopezM

Sergio López Martín
Hello everyone. I found these two birds in Henares river (Guadalajara) during April 2018.

I am not sure if they are both Phylloscopus collybita, as they somehow look strange to me. The first image belongs to "Bird no. 1", while the other photos belong to the same "Bird no. 2".
 

Attachments

  • Bird 1.jpg
    Bird 1.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 283
  • Bird 2 (A).jpg
    Bird 2 (A).jpg
    221.3 KB · Views: 144
  • Bird 2 (B).jpg
    Bird 2 (B).jpg
    291.9 KB · Views: 102
Why not willow warbler? Primary spacing between 3-4 and 4-5 should be very similar on Iberian chiff, but 4-5 is much smaller here. Also, it only appears to be emarginated up to p5, which is better for willow.
 
So, what is the final decision? By the way, are these species in the area by the time mentioned above (April)? And, are both birds the same species?

Thanks in advance.
 
SLopezM said:
By the way, are these species in the area by the time mentioned above (April)?
Click to expand...

Common Chiffchaff: most birds gone north by April, leaving mainly through March.

Iberian Chiffchaff: Returning breeders arrive from late Feb to early April (not sure if they breed at/near the location you photographed these birds).

Willow Warbler: Migrants moving through from late March and mainly April/early May. Much fewer birds than in the strong autumn passage.
 
rollingthunder said:
Iberian Chiffchaff from a photo - what have you been smoking mate?!;)

Laurie:t:
Click to expand...

From photos like these its maybe not, with the right photos it certainly is.

The bird in the first photo quite looks like Ib Chiff, the wings being a little too long and the super perhaps - the legs are good for Ib Chiff IMO. Just for clarity, I see a WW.

(if anyone tels me WW can have dark(ish) legs I'll scream :-O
 
Last edited:
try not to scream, simon, :) but if you google a few WW pics you'll readily find some with blackish legs. from my experience especially acredula WW often show dark legs ;)
 
You have made an interesting point - i was just bantering.....

But seriously - ID from photos now we are in the digital age is becoming the norm and if you are prepared to tick birds on traces of their provenance found in a feather or a turd then the World is your Oyster. For myself i am really only happy putting a name to something i can identify visually in the field or in the case of Iberian Chiffchaff from the Spring song of a singing male. Iberian CC’s and wing-formula in the hand excepted.

What i would be interested to know, now that this species has only been recently split, have any British records actually been accepted of a non-singing individual on the evidence of just a photograph?

Just a thought -

Laurie:t:
 
lou salomon said:
try not to scream, simon, :) but if you google a few WW pics you'll readily find some with blackish legs. from my experience especially acredula WW often show dark legs ;)
Click to expand...

;) not screaming, gently humming :-O. Thanks Lou, yes its true - I've seen birds like that in the autumn a couple of times even here (Algarve) - "acredula-like" birds or maybe even the real deal. They also struck me as massive (well in the WW world anyway) and quite stocky and also late in the season.

What is also true, are the majority of western birds have yellow to mushy ochre-yellow brown legs - and then just a few with darkish legs.
 
Does bird n.1 have a tertial missing, contributing to the long primary projection? Subjectively it 'feels' more like a Chiffchaff type than a Willow to me
 
On leg colour, overall colouration and its supercilium (very yellowish in front of the eye but whiter behind), this looks good for Iberian Chiffchaff. However, I have to agree that the primary projection (something I often find hard to judge from photos) looks on the long side which points us towards Willow. Is it so long to rule out an atypical Iberian? I really don't know but what this thread reminds us of and what many forget (or didn't realise) is that there are two confusion species, not just (Common) Chiffchaff, when it comes to identifying Iberian Chiffchaff.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

S
Accipitridae sp. (Central Spain)
Replies
8
Views
792
SLopezM
S
S
Accipitridae sp. (Central Spain)
Replies
4
Views
630
SLopezM
S
S
Alaudidae sp. (Audio ID) (Central Spain)
Replies
3
Views
527
SLopezM
S
S
Accipitridae sp. (Central Spain)
Replies
8
Views
716
SLopezM
S
F
Gull Central Spain ¿LBBG 3cy?
Replies
2
Views
360
fdokykcu
F

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top