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Any Idea? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter GazB
- Start date
Hi Gaz and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.
I've moved your post to the ID forum and subscribed you to the thread so that you can find it easily. You will receive an email with a link to click on which will bring you straight here.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
I've moved your post to the ID forum and subscribed you to the thread so that you can find it easily. You will receive an email with a link to click on which will bring you straight here.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello
welcome to birdforum!
Despite the description, that it looked bigger than a Willow Warbler, I think its a Goldcrest:
sleek, upright posture may be due to "alerted position" in a single picture.
Please note:
-yellow crown borded by black (black area o the forehead burned out in a overexposed picture)
-large eye in relation to head
-small, slender bill end in a "sad looking" downcurved gape-line
-short tail in relation to bird
Conclusion? If I didnt knew that this picture was taken in Britain (Heywood, I presume), than this picture would gave a strange feeling to me, and I didnt comment, but taken location into account, this is a pitfall picture of a Goldcrest to me.
welcome to birdforum!
Despite the description, that it looked bigger than a Willow Warbler, I think its a Goldcrest:
sleek, upright posture may be due to "alerted position" in a single picture.
Please note:
-yellow crown borded by black (black area o the forehead burned out in a overexposed picture)
-large eye in relation to head
-small, slender bill end in a "sad looking" downcurved gape-line
-short tail in relation to bird
Conclusion? If I didnt knew that this picture was taken in Britain (Heywood, I presume), than this picture would gave a strange feeling to me, and I didnt comment, but taken location into account, this is a pitfall picture of a Goldcrest to me.
Rotherbirder
Well-known member
Deb Burhinus
Used to be well known! 😎
Yes, a bright yellow crown bordered with the black lateral head stripe is usually a good pointer 
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Sorry GazB,
I use the term "pitfall picture" to describe, when a bird is difficult to id with one (or more) picture(s), because features visible are appearantly changed due to light conditions, angle of viewing, jpg-artefacts etc.
I will try to explain this with your Goldcrest (I hope this is helpfull, if not, my usual apologies are that I am not a native speaker):
Goldcrest is a tiny, round, restless bird. Your bird in contrast seems to be sleek, slender, "long-necked for a Goldcrest", with a head that is seperated from the body. I assume the reason for this is that your picture only represents a fraction of a second, as opposed to a normal observation represents an impression gained over a longer period (which often lasts for one or two seconds in Goldcrest).
Your Goldcrest seems to have warm buffish, orange-brown tones to the body, with supercilium and belly having a yellowish wash (those are the colours that appear on my screen). I cant remember having seen a Goldcrest with that colouration. More, wouldnt you like a (suspected) Siberian Chiffchaff to show such smooth, warm rusty-buff ear-coverts like your Goldcrest?
In summary, the colours of your bird seemed so unusual to me, including total lack of grey tones to the head, that I assume this is all caused by light conditions and/or camera-settings.
I have done a quick google-search and found a picture with warmer brown ear-coverts: https://www.littlepeckers.co.uk/s/Goldcrest, so time for me to search for my first "Siberian Chiffchaff-ear-coverts Goldcrest"!
Have you ever seen a Goldcrest with fine, sharp streaks to the flanks like your bird? I cant remember seeing this feature in a Goldcrest before. But as the bird looked like a Goldcrest to me, I decided to skip this feature, but I didnt have done that, if I didnt know the presumed location (England).
Its hard to find a Goldcrest where the black borders to the crown doesnt meet on the forehead. This connection bar is sometimes weak (like rubbed away from a pencil painting with an erazer), but it is clearly there (adding to the typical Goldcrest face with a large dark eye enhanced by a pale ring around it and a typically, triangular shaped paler area in the loral area. On first sight, your bird seemed to lack a dark connection bar on the forehead and therefore the head gave an unusual jizz to me. But on a closer second look, it is there, but burned out in an overexposed picture.
Conclusion? I hope, you got a feeling what I wanted to describe with the term "pitfall"-picture. Imagine, there is a species of warbler somewhere in SE-Asia, that I dont know and not aware of. It is similar to an (European) Goldcrest, but has a slender, sleeker, more warbler-like build and has warmer buff and yellow colouration and sharp streaks to the flanks, and a slender spiky bill for an Phylloscopus-warbler ? Its the "Tinkerbell-Warbler" (sorry, couldnt resist that). This is the reason, I normally just write comments here, when I have own experience with a species. And more: thats why I am so gratefull for comments in this area, like for example Nutcracker, who mentioned the existence of an American ssp of Goosander to me. Thanks again for that, Nutcracker!
I use the term "pitfall picture" to describe, when a bird is difficult to id with one (or more) picture(s), because features visible are appearantly changed due to light conditions, angle of viewing, jpg-artefacts etc.
I will try to explain this with your Goldcrest (I hope this is helpfull, if not, my usual apologies are that I am not a native speaker):
Goldcrest is a tiny, round, restless bird. Your bird in contrast seems to be sleek, slender, "long-necked for a Goldcrest", with a head that is seperated from the body. I assume the reason for this is that your picture only represents a fraction of a second, as opposed to a normal observation represents an impression gained over a longer period (which often lasts for one or two seconds in Goldcrest).
Your Goldcrest seems to have warm buffish, orange-brown tones to the body, with supercilium and belly having a yellowish wash (those are the colours that appear on my screen). I cant remember having seen a Goldcrest with that colouration. More, wouldnt you like a (suspected) Siberian Chiffchaff to show such smooth, warm rusty-buff ear-coverts like your Goldcrest?
In summary, the colours of your bird seemed so unusual to me, including total lack of grey tones to the head, that I assume this is all caused by light conditions and/or camera-settings.
I have done a quick google-search and found a picture with warmer brown ear-coverts: https://www.littlepeckers.co.uk/s/Goldcrest, so time for me to search for my first "Siberian Chiffchaff-ear-coverts Goldcrest"!
Have you ever seen a Goldcrest with fine, sharp streaks to the flanks like your bird? I cant remember seeing this feature in a Goldcrest before. But as the bird looked like a Goldcrest to me, I decided to skip this feature, but I didnt have done that, if I didnt know the presumed location (England).
Its hard to find a Goldcrest where the black borders to the crown doesnt meet on the forehead. This connection bar is sometimes weak (like rubbed away from a pencil painting with an erazer), but it is clearly there (adding to the typical Goldcrest face with a large dark eye enhanced by a pale ring around it and a typically, triangular shaped paler area in the loral area. On first sight, your bird seemed to lack a dark connection bar on the forehead and therefore the head gave an unusual jizz to me. But on a closer second look, it is there, but burned out in an overexposed picture.
Conclusion? I hope, you got a feeling what I wanted to describe with the term "pitfall"-picture. Imagine, there is a species of warbler somewhere in SE-Asia, that I dont know and not aware of. It is similar to an (European) Goldcrest, but has a slender, sleeker, more warbler-like build and has warmer buff and yellow colouration and sharp streaks to the flanks, and a slender spiky bill for an Phylloscopus-warbler ? Its the "Tinkerbell-Warbler" (sorry, couldnt resist that). This is the reason, I normally just write comments here, when I have own experience with a species. And more: thats why I am so gratefull for comments in this area, like for example Nutcracker, who mentioned the existence of an American ssp of Goosander to me. Thanks again for that, Nutcracker!
Last edited:
Rotherbirder
Well-known member
As Alexander has said, the tiny size alone is (almost) enough to identify to species in Europe. The fine bill. 'sad', open-faced expression, the dark feathering around the eyes which makes them look overly large and the crown markings are all good pointers. The only real confusion species that you are faced with given a view like this is Firecrest and if you compare them, there really is no comparison!
RB
RB
