Two birds from Bulgaria (1 Viewer)

[Nikolai Kolev]

First bird is a kite, second bird is a stonechat, but which species. I have some suspicious about red kite and siberian stonechat(because of the unicolored rump). Pictures taken today at Pomorie lake; Bulgaria.

 

[Vyomkesh]

1 I think looks good for Red Kite (No other Milvus kites occur I think (or black occurs?), anyways giving separation from Black).Black should not have white head.

As for stonechats I will leave them for others as only Siberian, Amur and White-Tailed occur in India (would be interested to know if any other occurs) out of which only Siberian winters here in Gujarat. Amur is notoriously difficult to identify as it was split by eBird (taxonomy which I follow) and occurs in Andaman and Nicobar Is. White Tailed isn't found here and I have no experience/bookish knowledge of.

 

[dwatsonbirder]

I'm unsure about the kite due to the potential artifacts caused by a combination of distance/lack of sharpness/lighting. It does look fairly uniform on the underparts and has a shallow fork, so personally I'd err towards Black kite. The Stonechat is very interesting, as it looks like it has some black feathering around the throat - did you see the underwings? If I was lucky enough to bump into that on the east coast of the UK (one day maybe...!) I'd happily call it a maurus, but perhaps await confirmation from others - @birdboybowley would certainly know!

 

[Nikolai Kolev]

1 I think looks good for Red Kite (No other Milvus kites occur I think (or black occurs?), anyways giving separation from Black).Black should not have white head.

As for stonechats I will leave them for others as only Siberian, Amur and White-Tailed occur in India (would be interested to know if any other occurs) out of which only Siberian winters here in Gujarat. Amur is notoriously difficult to identify as it was split by eBird (taxonomy which I follow) and occurs in Andaman and Nicobar Is. White Tailed isn't found here and I have no experience/bookish knowledge of.

Black kite is common here. Siberian stonechat is a vagrant species with few observations.

 

[Vyomkesh]

Black kite is common here. Siberian stonechat is a vagrant species with few observations.

Ok. By Black you mean lineatus?

 

[Vyomkesh]

I'm unsure about the kite due to the potential artifacts caused by a combination of distance/lack of sharpness/lighting. It does look fairly uniform on the underparts and has a shallow fork, so personally I'd err towards Black kite. The Stonechat is very interesting, as it looks like it has some black feathering around the throat - did you see the underwings? If I was lucky enough to bump into that on the east coast of the UK (one day maybe...!) I'd happily call it a maurus, but perhaps await confirmation from others - @birdboybowley would certainly know!

Now even I am reconsidering my Kite opinion. Thanks!

 

[lou salomon]

a reddish and pale Black Kite (like other birds this autumn along the Black Sea coast), often considered eastern types, but such forms occure in western populations also. and definitely an Eastern Stonechat, can't tell subspecies though (Saxicola maurus ssp.). And as opposed to what Nikolai said above, these days there's almost an "invasion" of Eastern Stonechats along western Black Sea coast with many ringed birds and several observed on a daily basis (e.g. at least 8 birds present at Durankulak reserve on 17.-18.10. (via Pavel Simeonov), so not at all rare at the moment.

 

[Nikolai Kolev]

Ok. By Black you mean lineatus?

No. Milvus migrans

 

[andyb39]

a reddish and pale Black Kite (like other birds this autumn along the Black Sea coast), often considered eastern types, but such forms occure in western populations also. and definitely an Eastern Stonechat, can't tell subspecies though (Saxicola maurus ssp.). And as opposed to what Nikolai said above, these days there's almost an "invasion" of Eastern Stonechats along western Black Sea coast with many ringed birds and several observed on a daily basis (e.g. at least 8 birds present at Durankulak reserve on 17.-18.10. (via Pavel Simeonov), so not at all rare at the moment.

Yes. The question is which subspecies they are. You would think hemprichii is the most likely but there's only been one example. It would be good if Pavel could post some of the images here.

 

[Vyomkesh]

No. Milvus migrans

I meant subspecies.