Can someone help me find out what this bird is?!

[Barneysloan]

Hi
See 'Unknown Bird' in the Gallery!
I saw 8-10 of these birds in the scrub at the top of the beach at St Cyrus Nature Reserve,near Montrose, East Coast of Scotland. I've looked at various books and i still can't find a bird that looks quite like this one. I wondered if it might be a stonechat, I've looked at a few pics on this site and it does look quite similar but I'm new to bird watching and I'm probably very wrong!!

HELP!!

[Dan Salter]

Female Stonechat.....

i thought it was a juvenile at first but i dont think it is?...anyway its a lot harder to id than the beautifully marked male....well done

[John]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Female Stonechat.....

i thought it was a juvenile at first but i dont think it is?...anyway its a lot harder to id than the beautifully marked male....well done

Sorry Dan I have to disagree. The supercillium is too strong for Stonechat. I would rather go for Whinchat myself.

John

[andy68]

The bird in the photo in the unidentified Gallery is a female Stonechat - it does seem to have a strong supercilium from that angle, but it also has dark markings on the throat, which Whinchat never has in any plumage.

Andy

[John]

Originally Posted by andy68

The bird in the photo in the unidentified Gallery is a female Stonechat - it does seem to have a strong supercilium from that angle, but it also has dark markings on the throat, which Whinchat never has in any plumage.

Andy

I stand corrected Andy. I put too much into the strong supercillium plus the flocking aspect of the bird. I would have thought it unusual for 8 - 10 birds to flock together but having re-read the opening post it may be that those birds that were seen were spread over a distance, not together.

John

[andy68]

I wonder whether the 8 - 10 birds were a couple of family groups, which wouldn't be that unusual for Stonechats at this time of year?

Andy

[John]

I still can't imagine two Stonechat families being that close to each other as I can't recall seeing two Stonechats, with families anywhere near each others territory. It would be nice if Barneysloan would come back onto the thread to answer how he/she saw them. Were they together or spread out.

John

Originally Posted by andy68

I wonder whether the 8 - 10 birds were a couple of family groups, which wouldn't be that unusual for Stonechats at this time of year?

Andy

[Dan Salter]

Ha ha you can argue about supercilliums all day as i have no clue what one is? i just opened my book...saw pic of female stonechat....looked at the pic...was same...bingo.

but im always up for being corrected.

P.s. Do they sell supercilliums in asda?

[Barneysloan]

Re- further information on the number of birds seen together. I did see them together. I saw the same number of group at two different times of day. The first was at around 4pm. I first spotted 1 bird (female) alone on the top of a gorse bush. There were calls going backwards and forwards from one side of the path to bushes on the other side of the path. As I got closer the calls (difficult to describe, almost like a tut tut noise only very coarse sounding) became more frequent then they all flew out of the bush, some looked like they were young and others were darker (males?! 2 of them) and altogether there was at least 8. I saw the same group in the same place at 6am the following morning. The area is a very quiet spot on a nature reserve right at the edge of the beach, the only building nearby, the B&B I was staying at, Woodston Fishing Station. Thanks for all your help.

[Dan Salter]

Would the tut tut have sounded like two stones being hit together? which is where the name stonechat comes from?