Juvenile Wheatear (Queyras, France, August 5th 2020) (1 Viewer)

[Frank-birding]

A year and a half ago I saw this juvenile Wheatear in the French nature reserve Queyras. Altitude ± 1700m/5500ft in lush alpine terrain.
I can't determine if it was a Northern Wheatear of a Black-eared Wheatear (with Northern Wheatear much more likely, I think, a bit too far inland and high-up probably for Bleck-eared?).

Can an ID be made from these images? Only head and breast detail is visible unfortunately (with a small detail of the wing in the first image) as the bird remained partially hidden.

Regards, Frank

 

[Richard Prior]

A year and a half ago I saw this juvenile Wheatear in the French nature reserve Queyras. Altitude ± 1700m/5500ft in lush alpine terrain.
I can't determine if it was a Northern Wheatear of a Black-eared Wheatear (with Northern Wheatear much more likely, I think, a bit too far inland and high-up probably for Bleck-eared?).

Can an ID be made from these images? Only head and breast detail is visible unfortunately as the bird remained partially hidden.

Regards, Frank

Totally hidden for me Frank!!!!

 

[Frank-birding]

Sorry Richard, I had to repost the images as somehow I managed to upload each of them twice.
I hope that the bird will be only partially hidden again after a reload of the page

 

[CARERY]

Wheatears are a difficult group even more so when they are juvenile... your photos don't show the back/wings/tail. To me it is impossible to ID it with any confidence. The rather uniform head (lacking any sign of a supercilium) and the buffish breast weakly contrasting to the lighter belly are perhaps better for Black-eared, but far from sure...

 

[Frank-birding]

Thank you Carery for looking into this!
A pity the bird didn’t show a bit more of itself. Ah well, at least it was there, looking cute, for me to observe and enjoy.
Regards, Frank