What is this bird (2) ?

[whiffey]

I asked about this bird a few weeks back

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals_and_Nat ure/Question277160.html

Thanks for your answers. It's not a treecreeper or a nuthatch. Luckily I met a bird-watcher last night, setting up his camera to shoot a nuthatch he had just heard, about 50 yards from where I see mine. He thinks it is either a tree warbler or a chiff-chaff. I've checked on the RPSB website, and I don't think it is. The song/call is not right. I've now got a couple of pictures, they really aren't very good, but I'm on full zoom and it keeps flitting around ! It doesn't creep up trees, but flits around the bushes, the song is a slightly rising tweet every second or so. I'll try for some better pictures and buy some decent field glasses. This one has me intrigued.

It's near an oak wood, lots of low bushes, and water fairly close by, but it's not a water bird.


http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=261cfet

http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=261cfth

[Lonnie]

Hi whiffey, this is the only one I could find thats similarish, not sure about the song though, anyway, have a look and see. http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/lesser_whi tethroat.htm

[burnhal]

Not sure what kind of bird watcher identifies a tree-warbler......... we dont have anything by that name in the UK!! Most warblers are pretty much identical apart from their song. From the first photo I thought whitethroat- though it has a very distinctive song. Your second photo doesnt look like it though. So you are left with wood, willow, garden and a host of less common warblers. Forget the wood warbler- too yellow. Chiff-chaff and willow warbler are pretty much identical though willow warbler tends to come lower down and does have a call described as a weak soft HOOeet. Saw quite a few on Ramsey Island last week when I was playing warden for the week. Garden warbler very similar but tends to stay hidden in dense foliage and does not appear to have the call you mentioned. If you really want to be confused open a bird book at warblers!!!!

[Cetti]

Right whiffey, these are my thoughts about your birdy. Not a Tree warbler, as the only one we have is the very rare Icterine Warbler, and not a Wood Warbler because as burnhal says you would notice the diagnostic yellow colouring. What is left are the other Leaf Warblers which have been designed almost identically - very helpful!!!

Personal traits can be good - the Chiffchaff dips the tail continually while darting about low bushes. The call (forget the song, wrong time of year) is a cheerful single note. Both the Whitethroat calls are a bad tempered clicking sound - so I think they can be eliminated, don't you?

My preference would be on the commonest of warblers - the Willow and they're all on the move south at the moment preparing for migration, although a few like it here and remain for the winter. Now this one is slimmer than the Chiffchaff, dips its tail much less but still flits about in the same way. The call though is different. It's quite a sad mournful amost a two note sound which it utters frequently.
Go on now, tell us it's something totally rare - and we are all wrong :-)

[Jomes]

I'm with Cetti on this (and with a name called Cetti they should know their birds), looks like a Willow, but as with all these warblers, it's a tricky one!

[whiffey]

Thanks everyone, this is so interesting. I took a 1/2 day from work today and spent the afternoon just hanging around listening. I saw a larger bird, sparrow size, with almost the same call, but there was a little more complexity towards the end. Then I saw my little fellow in a hawthorn bush. I got a close look and the streak around the eye is there. I think I'll go with Willow Warbler - common is common. I've taken to carrying a camera everywhere I go.

I've also learned the difference between a call and a song. I haven't heard any song from this bird.

While I'm here, any basic recommendations for binoculars ? I see that with Leicas etc you can go up to hundreds of pounds. I have a pair of Pentax 6x25 wide field 11.0, which I think are opera glasses. The quality is superb, but they are not conventional binoculars. What I would ideally like is binoculars with a built-in camera so I can photograph what I see as I watch it.

Thanks everyone.

[spudqueen]

Hi whiffey - saw just the binoculars you want last year in the states, binoculars with a built in digital camera. I didn't buy them though as I was looking for some light-weight binoculars which I found in the same shop, and they had better vision than the built in camera ones. But they do exist!