Dean Nicholson
Cloacal Protuberant.
Hi,
Would appreciate views on the attached record shots of a mystery sylvia warbler in Lincolnshire last week (Oct 9th) at Crook Bank, Saltfleetby and Theddlethorpe Dunes NNR...
Seen on and off for about 15 minutes in total but its habit of skulking in the long grass and well inside the canopy of any Hawthorns it ventured into made clear views (thus especially photography) nigh impossible... as poor as these are they are actually half decent (for me) under the conditions, and of actually trying to observe the bird at the same time..
Anyway, a very small, almost dumpy and neckless looking pale 1w 'Whitethroat type' with a conspicuous plain orange panel in wing, it was short winged and long tailed and acted quite different to how you expect a Common to act, always staying low, never once coming out onto outer branches to give open views, was always actively feeding and moving about a lot with jerky, quick movements... piecing together brief but frequent(ish) views i concluded it was either a 'plain' 1w Subalpine or more likely (in terms of how it looked but not in terms of likelihood!) a Spectacled... i put news out to this effect on the local WhatsApp group and a few locals started to arrive but only 1 other birder managed to connect (a feat in itself given the amount of cover in the area), albeit briefly and that was a couple of hours later, and a bit further South of original sighting - he also confirmed it appeared very small and short winged to him... after a mass email circulation that night a few others looked for it in the morning in the hope the overnight wind and rain kept it in situ, alas to no avail. Although as stressed previously, it's a huge area to work, with seemingly endless cover, and as i know from previous experience here... it's hard enough locating a bird in the first place, but even harder to actually keep on it when you do, especially if its mobile...
In brief it had a very bright and rather plain looking 'orange' wing panel, very small/thin dark tertial marks, a rather noticable (at times) greyish shawl across the nape (which several 1w Spectacles show on an a brief internet search) and can be seen in at least one of the shots, and very bright yellowy orange legs which were by far the brightest part of the bird. A bit of a concern perhaps (for Spectacled) is the lack of a prominent eye ring but not actually sure how variable this is on young birds?
It called once as it alighted inside a Hawthorn from a short flight and sounded almost identical to Wren to my ears, i knew Moltoni's sounded like Wrens but didn't know at the time that Spectacled's do to... although i just cant comprehend the idea a Moltoni's having such a bright rusty wing panel as obvious that? although i must add i've got zero experience of Moltoni's so may well be wrong on that!
An Eastern Lesser Whitethroat type was initially considered but quickly discounted, as was Common Whitethroat (on size alone)... i think Western/Eastern Subalp can be discounted on call, leaving Spectacled or Moltoni's...
Appreciate any comments
Cheers
Dean
Would appreciate views on the attached record shots of a mystery sylvia warbler in Lincolnshire last week (Oct 9th) at Crook Bank, Saltfleetby and Theddlethorpe Dunes NNR...
Seen on and off for about 15 minutes in total but its habit of skulking in the long grass and well inside the canopy of any Hawthorns it ventured into made clear views (thus especially photography) nigh impossible... as poor as these are they are actually half decent (for me) under the conditions, and of actually trying to observe the bird at the same time..
Anyway, a very small, almost dumpy and neckless looking pale 1w 'Whitethroat type' with a conspicuous plain orange panel in wing, it was short winged and long tailed and acted quite different to how you expect a Common to act, always staying low, never once coming out onto outer branches to give open views, was always actively feeding and moving about a lot with jerky, quick movements... piecing together brief but frequent(ish) views i concluded it was either a 'plain' 1w Subalpine or more likely (in terms of how it looked but not in terms of likelihood!) a Spectacled... i put news out to this effect on the local WhatsApp group and a few locals started to arrive but only 1 other birder managed to connect (a feat in itself given the amount of cover in the area), albeit briefly and that was a couple of hours later, and a bit further South of original sighting - he also confirmed it appeared very small and short winged to him... after a mass email circulation that night a few others looked for it in the morning in the hope the overnight wind and rain kept it in situ, alas to no avail. Although as stressed previously, it's a huge area to work, with seemingly endless cover, and as i know from previous experience here... it's hard enough locating a bird in the first place, but even harder to actually keep on it when you do, especially if its mobile...
In brief it had a very bright and rather plain looking 'orange' wing panel, very small/thin dark tertial marks, a rather noticable (at times) greyish shawl across the nape (which several 1w Spectacles show on an a brief internet search) and can be seen in at least one of the shots, and very bright yellowy orange legs which were by far the brightest part of the bird. A bit of a concern perhaps (for Spectacled) is the lack of a prominent eye ring but not actually sure how variable this is on young birds?
It called once as it alighted inside a Hawthorn from a short flight and sounded almost identical to Wren to my ears, i knew Moltoni's sounded like Wrens but didn't know at the time that Spectacled's do to... although i just cant comprehend the idea a Moltoni's having such a bright rusty wing panel as obvious that? although i must add i've got zero experience of Moltoni's so may well be wrong on that!
An Eastern Lesser Whitethroat type was initially considered but quickly discounted, as was Common Whitethroat (on size alone)... i think Western/Eastern Subalp can be discounted on call, leaving Spectacled or Moltoni's...
Appreciate any comments
Cheers
Dean
