Willow warbler, chiffchaff or something else? (1 Viewer)

[Pluvius]

I changed it into black and white and increased dark tones and there is definate speckling on the breast. Half of the breast has been completely blown with no chance of rescue. The length of tail compared with body doesn't suggest garden warbler to me. It definately has a forked tail with white outer tail feathers.

So still with Meadow Pipit

 

[BobTag]

Be hard pushed to give a male Chaffinch credit for that let alone a female

Chris

Which is a fair point

 

[ausmar]

The pics rockfowl posted show clearly that garden warblers do have a small notch in the tail exactly like the bird in question.

 

[SteveClifton]

I changed it into black and white and increased dark tones and there is definate speckling on the breast. Half of the breast has been completely blown with no chance of rescue. The length of tail compared with body doesn't suggest garden warbler to me. It definately has a forked tail with white outer tail feathers.

So still with Meadow Pipit

Do all the Meadow Pipits in Ireland look like this? I hear your points about the exposure but with respect the photo looks quite good on my screen, and this bird shows virtually no pro-meadow pipit features. What about the lack of malar and moustachial stripes, streaked breast etc?

Meadow Pipit has to be about as far away from reality as you could get. This bird doesn't have a forked tail, but then again, neither does MP!

Why isn't it just an ordinary picture of a Garden Warbler like most others are suggesting?

 

[Mole1]

It definitely isn't Mipit. As for whether it is GW or Chaffinch, my original reaction was "isn't it a Chaffinch?", but now probably favouring Garden Warbler. Certainly a tricky one not helped by the fact it is looking slightly upward and towards the camera. I am not sure we are going to conclusively agree on this one!

 

[HH75]

Do all the Meadow Pipits in Ireland look like this?

No, they do not, and I don't think that the mystery bird is one either.
It does seem to be good for Garden Warbler, right down to the apparent bill shape and the blue-grey legs. It would be nice to see more pics to be sure, of course.

 

[nickderry]

I'm with garden warbler, can't really see anything on it that would eliminate that.

 

[Steve G]

No disrespect to Steve (Doggerel) but I think the slightly blown highlights on this bird have created artefacts which have given it some facial character!

The major diagnostic feature of Garden Warbler is that it doesn't have one!

I looked out an old pic of Garden Warbler & it does give a hint of a tail notch: http://www.pbase.com/rainbirder/image/98423149

 

[Doggerel]

No disrespect to Steve (Doggerel) but I think the slightly blown highlights on this bird have created artefacts which have given it some facial character!

None taken sir!

I won't be giving this shot pride of place in any album that's for sure. This is the original untouched pic,

With bright sun behind me, 400mm lens and dark background the camera's metering didn't stand much chance.

BTW re M. pipit it was singing from the perch rather than the parachuting song flight I associate with meadow pipit

Cheers for all the interest (I'm sort of pleased that there's been all this discussion, I don't feel a like muppet for not knowing now)

Steve

 

[stuart winter]

One very jizzy feature that helps clinch it as a GW for me is the relationship between the dark lores and the very "beady" eye, creating an open face effect. Female Chaffinches have a "pinched" eye caused by the light areas above and below the very subtle orbital ring. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Jane Turner]

Would be good to hear Jane Turner's view...

Chris

I thought it was a Garden Warbler without reading anything - then was getting nervous when Chaffinch was suggested. But I'm sticking with my first impression

 

[hannu]

this bird has a eye ring (not in female chaffinch),
dark lores (not in female chaffinch),
relatively narrow and whitish supercilium (female chaffinch has clearly wider and buff coloured supercilium),
pale legs (greyish, chaffinch has almost black),
the insect eater's bill (the base should be clearly bulky and also the cutting edges should be darker, if it'd be chaffinch,), etc...

all this fits very well to Garden Warbler

 

[The Analog Kid]

Here is a comparison photo...

 

[rob stoff]

happy to go with the flow and change vote to probably Garden Warbler. Not fully convinced but it seems a reasonable option

Rob

 

[Winterdune]

Never thought I'd have a use for this shot thru my scope but since we are talking about difficult to identify photos of Garden Warbler, was surprised this spring to see this one singing from exposed perch right at top of tree, so tried (and failed) to get a shot of it. There seemed to be loads of them on my patch in Spring mig this year.
Sean

 

[Doggerel]

Thanks for all the reponses, I'm happy to go with garden warbler, went back to the site today to try for another shot but, although it/they were singing they were not going to pose for the camera, all I saw was the occasional flutter of wings from deep in a one gorse bush to the next. Another behavioural point in favour of gw ?

Cheers

Steve

 

[paulwfromtheden]

Thanks for all the reponses, I'm happy to go with garden warbler, went back to the site today to try for another shot but, although it/they were singing they were not going to pose for the camera, all I saw was the occasional flutter of wings from deep in a one gorse bush to the next. Another behavioural point in favour of gw ?

Cheers

Steve

Steve,
If it was singing, that should have clinched a GW?

 

[Patrick_L]

Classic Garden Warb habitat, BTW...

Absolutely - Garden Warbler singing from Gorse? It's hard enough to find them singing where they should be these days.

 

[nickderry]

If you saw them fluttering, the fact you didn't mention striking white wingbars helps eliminate chaffinch, though have to admit, don't often get garden warblers singing from gorse.

 

[Colin Jones]

Whitethroat !