Nepal. Is this pale rockfinch/pale rock sparrow? (1 Viewer)

[mjgrunwell]

Today I was with Shankar Tiwari birding the Manohara river. This seems to be the place for good migrants passing through Kathmandu valley. We had a reasonable morning with at least 6 blyth's pipits and then 3 indian silverbill. We were watching the silverbill when Shankar got a bird flying in that landed about 20m away on a tall reedy plant. He called my attention to it. The two things that hit me straight away were the very odd head shape and the big dark eye. I am quite familiar with pale rock sparrow from my time in Qatar and I immediately called it. Shankar took the attached photos. The bird then flew off showing strong flight and noticeably long wings.
I feel fairly sure this is pale rock but it would be a national first. Very grateful for expert's opininion on this.

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

Today I was with Shankar Tiwari birding the Manohara river. This seems to be the place for good migrants passing through Kathmandu valley. We had a reasonable morning with at least 6 blyth's pipits and then 3 indian silverbill. We were watching the silverbill when Shankar got a bird flying in that landed about 20m away on a tall reedy plant. He called my attention to it. The two things that hit me straight away were the very odd head shape and the big dark eye. I am quite familiar with pale rock sparrow from my time in Qatar and I immediately called it. Shankar took the attached photos. The bird then flew off showing strong flight and noticeably long wings.
I feel fairly sure this is pale rock but it would be a national first. Very grateful for expert's opininion on this.

Michael, its a fem/1st w Black/Red-headed Bunting, will take a closer look later when I have some time.

Grahame

 

[mjgrunwell]

Michael, its a fem/1st w Black/Red-headed Bunting, will take a closer look later when I have some time.

Grahame

Thank you, that was my other thought but the bill and head just did not seem to match. Though the slightly yellow vent could be a pointer?

 

[James Eaton]

Agree with Grahame, it's a Black/Red-headed Bunting - combination of streaked crown and bill shape point to that.

James

 

[mjgrunwell]

Thank you for your comments. At the time, both observers did not consider bunting due to the perceived head/bill/eye combination. This underlines the importance of getting a photo. I have seen some photos of BH bunting in September (presumably juveniles) that are very close, plumage wise, to this bird. I shall put it down as probable BH Bunting.

 

[lou salomon]

more likely Red-headed Bunting, on range.

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

Require better (sharper) images and, in particular, views of the upperparts. In this plumage the pair can be notoriously tricky, any assessment should be based on the full suite of characters, many of which are not visible in these images. Heavy crown streaking is a pro Black-headed feature, yet the facial pattern (lacking sharply defined ear coverts) favour Red-headed, though the I'd say bill is somewhat intermediate. Conclusion therefore, Black/Red-headed. They can be separated on call so a soundfile would be helpful.

Grahame