yellow wagtails flavissima - identification criteria (8 Viewers)

[Michał Jaro]

based on two birds: juv. and probably 2 years male, I would like to ask you about the separating criteria of flavissima from flava. Both birds have a yellowish supercillium, the older one has a yellowish top of the head (I don't know if it matters?). What are they missing from flavissim (apart from better photos )

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Michal,
I would like to learn, if this juvenile can be assigned to a ssp

For the adult bird:
difficult bird for me, but this is mainly about picture quality and colour assesment:

The question is: what was the exact colour of the supercilium? Any white or whitish tones there point to an hybrid
Same for the head: any greyish hues there point to an hybrid.

What was your impression of this bird in field regarding these two features? I am not sure with your pictures.

This is a compilation from helpful comments by Martin Gottschling here:

Club300 Germany

Club300 Germany

 

[CARERY]

Are you assuming everyone knows German, Alex? Or is then use of a translation tool standard meanwhile ...

For me the juv is not IDable on ssp. level. As for the adult, it seems to show somewhat more yellow on the crown/super as one would expect but should this really mean there is flavissima influence? I don't know...

 

[THE_FERN]

I admit I didn't really understand the question. However, I suggest the apparent yellowish supercilium in the adult is due to ambient light (compare with the branches in the pictures). I don't think you can accurately judge the colour here...