Possible Willow Warbler of subspecies acredula/yakutensis in North Spain (1 Viewer)

[alfredoatthis]

Hello,

I am posting some photos that I took a few years ago in a garden in Irun, north Spain. It is (if I am not mistaken) a Willow Warbler, but the greyish color of the back, the rather white underparts with a grey tone on the breast, the almost total absence of yellow tones in the plumage, its large size and the great primary projection that it presents makes me think about the possibility that it is a specimen of the acredula/yakutensis subspecies. What do you think?

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,

belated: welcome to birdforum!

Yes, I agree with you its a Willow Warbler. And it might well be an acredula (-type).
And like you, I would like to know, if such birds can be identified as such birds ("type") with good faith, and what does this mean.

I have posted this before: Club300 Germany

Similar birds

https://flic.kr/p/2j2mi3r

(Fiener Bruch near Ziesar, NE-Germany,15.05.2020)

https://flic.kr/p/G986c4

(Streudorf, S-Germany, 08.05.2016)

https://www.flickr.com/gp/132272873@N04/0m782v032j

https://flic.kr/p/HkbT8z

(Streudorf, S-Germany, 07.05.2016) same bird?
https://www.flickr.com/gp/132272873@N04/ZN140xuc5m (Angermünde, NE-Germany, 27.05.2015)

Can you give the date, please? thanks!

 

[alfredoatthis]

Thank you for the welcome and for the answer. The observation data is as follows: 4/15/2018 in Irun, Gipuzkoa, Spain. I don't know if there are papers on the identification of these taxa, but if there are, I would appreciate it if someone could help me find them.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Welcome to BirdForum. You might find this thread of interest, concerning a bird I saw in Scotland a couple of years ago:

Warbler, Aberdeen, Scotland

This is a warbler I saw at Girdle Ness, Aberdeen today (at the Battery). It looks like a Willow Warbler, although I'm happy if someone can persuade me otherwise. Obviously it's a pretty freakish looking one though. We quite often get 'brown' looking Willow Warblers breeding around here but I've...

www.birdforum.net

 

[fdokykcu]

I don't know if there are papers on the identification of these taxa, but if there are, I would appreciate it if someone could help me find them.

This paper deals mostly with molecular data, but also includes information about morphometrics and plumage. They didn't found phenotypic traits (nor molecular ones) "providing diagnostic criteria for confidently assigning individual Willow Warblers to a particular subspecies"

Sokolovskis et al, 2018. Phenotypic and genetic characterization of the East Siberian Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus yakutensis Ticehurst, 1935) in relation to the European subspecies. Journal of Ornitology. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Acr-acredula-tro-trochilus-yak-yakutensis_tbl1_331998991

 

[alfredoatthis]

Thank you very much for the info. In conclusion, this specimen could be a migrant of the acredula/yakutensis subspecies (Extremely rare) or a specimen of the nominal subspecies with hardly any yellow tones in the plumage (Also quite rare)

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Thank you very much for the info. In conclusion, this specimen could be a migrant of the acredula/yakutensis subspecies (Extremely rare) or a specimen of the nominal subspecies with hardly any yellow tones in the plumage (Also quite rare)

That's a fair summary, although I suspect it's much more likely acredula. Here in northeast Scotland, birds looking very similar to yours regularly breed, although presumably they're not acredula but nominate birds. Willow Warblers are quite variable.