Phylloscopus Turkey (1 Viewer)

[Valéry Schollaert]

Hi everyone,

I'd like you have your opinion about the species and, if possible, the subspecies of this warbler taken today at 1200m asl in Uzungöl, North-Eastern Turkey. They were at least 3 identical individuals in the same bush.

Thanks !

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Valery,
I think its a Willow Warbler: good head pattern with long and broad supercilium and pale ear-coverts, strong bill with large pale base and the right wing structure. This is all in relation to Common Chiffchaff.
Such pale and greyish Willow Warblers are more common in eastern forms, and I think ssp acredula is common/the default form in NE_Turkey? I dont have personal experience with far eastern ssp yakutensis, but according to literature, only birds with a large pp and lacking any yellow tones to the breast can be identified with confidence. As your bird seems to have a normal/median pp and a yellowish wash to the breast, I think its better to call your bird a "Willow Warbler showing characteristics of ssp acredula".
Dark legs are said to be more common in this ssp

 

[RafaelMatias]

Willow Warbler, besides structure, plumage details and bare parts colour, note the emarginations on PP3-5.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Hello Valery,
I think its a Willow Warbler: good head pattern with long and broad supercilium and pale ear-coverts, strong bill with large pale base and the right wing structure. This is all in relation to Common Chiffchaff.
Such pale and greyish Willow Warblers are more common in eastern forms, and I think ssp acredula is common/the default form in NE_Turkey? I dont have personal experience with far eastern ssp yakutensis, but according to literature, only birds with a large pp and lacking any yellow tones to the breast can be identified with confidence. As your bird seems to have a normal/median pp and a yellowish wash to the breast, I think its better to call your bird a "Willow Warbler showing characteristics of ssp acredula".
Dark legs are said to be more common in this ssp

Great, yes, this what I thought. I've seen more saturated birds (looking like classic trochilus) earlier in the season (I'm in Turkey since 2 months) ; no WW since 3 weeks (while I see Green Warbler and Mountain Chiffy in the area). Seeing 3 or 4 WW together suddenly, all paler than earlier birds, just opened some questions in my head... kind of second wave ? 8-P


Thanks Alexander.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Valery,
interesting observations, thanks for sharing. Please note, that ssp acredula and trochilus have different migration strategies. Interesting links and comments from Jochen Dierschke are here: https://www.club300.de/gallery/idforum_topic.php?id=46419 (in German, I think I posted this here before). And I remember a recent thread, where Tom Conzemius added an aspect of ssp identification, that included different migration strategies taken into account when considering subspecies identification: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=4070316
I think its also helpfull here.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Hello Valery,
interesting observations, thanks for sharing. Please note, that ssp acredula and trochilus have different migration strategies. Interesting links and comments from Jochen Dierschke are here: https://www.club300.de/gallery/idforum_topic.php?id=46419 (in German, I think I posted this here before). And I remember a recent thread, where Tom Conzemius added an aspect of ssp identification, that included different migration strategies taken into account when considering subspecies identification: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=4070316
I think its also helpfull here.

Very interesting, thanks.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Willow Warbler, besides structure, plumage details and bare parts colour, note the emarginations on PP3-5.

Obrigado Rafael