Bird Id please ( not a warbler or pipit! :) )

[Polecat]

Hi all,

Dare I ask for another bird Id? lol

......again the photos are poor ( but must be better than nothing )

Taken 1hr ago

What the pics don't show clearly:

Red/scarlety patch right under chin. ( this 100% positive, and is the most striking marking which is preculding me from id'ing it! along with grey head )

Finch-like beak

Goldfinch size though fatter.

Its call was unusual, a bit like 'kick-a-tee'.....more melodic than shrill

....................Bird was with other finches/linnets nearby in a willow clearing of a spruce forest.


I expect I've missed an obvious bird!!
thks

[Beryl]

Looks like a Song Thrush. Can't be sure

[Alan]

Maybe a male Linnet!

[Polecat]

Hi Beryl, thanks but it wasn't a song thrush....much too small .

Alan, the funny thing was that this was a quick sortie to try and get a decent pic of linnets.....I failed but the bird in question was not a linnet....and its call was nowhere like a linnets.

Heres a pic i took just before of a male linnet

[Gill Catton]

no I can see the red under the chin. And like you, that's what is leaving me 100% stumped..... Some kind of deviant juvenille redpoll? Are there any dead keen twitchers around your area that might be releasing wierd stuff to tick???

[Polecat]

good point Gill......but I havn't seen any twitchers in the vicinity, and a 28,000 acre forest wouldn't be a good place to do such a thing ( but maybe it is ), as there has been other unidentifiable ( with BTO etc involved ) finch-like birds I've observed here .

It is that patch right under the beak....I'm not going mad then!! lol....It could almost be a greater redpoll IF the scarlet cap was swapped with the dark bit under its chin!!!

[Ollie]

Ninety percent certain it's a male Linnet. They have grey heads and the red patch on the breast can extend up under the chin. compare it with my image. http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...mage-8670.html
Ollie

[Gill Catton]

thing is, it's upper breast area looks very pale - but then the back does look chestnut in colour.....
I think I'm going to have to come birding in your neck of the woods!!

[Polecat]

Thanks Ollie,
I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I am positive that it wasn't a linnet........Looking at your photo and comparing, this one had no scarlet colouration on the breast whatsoever...its call was also nothing like a linnet....and from my own observations, having linnets in my garden all the time atm I would have been able to id it as such with ease.
I dunno!!

Gill, I have never known such a prolific place for bird species as here....you wouldn't be disappointed on a visit at anytime of the year

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Polecat

Thanks Ollie,
I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I am positive that it wasn't a linnet........Looking at your photo and comparing, this one had no scarlet colouration on the breast whatsoever...its call was also nothing like a linnet....and from my own observations, having linnets in my garden all the time atm I would have been able to id it as such with ease.
I dunno!!

Gill, I have never known such a prolific place for bird species as here....you wouldn't be disappointed on a visit at anytime of the year

whereabouts in the Brecons?

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Polecat

Hi Beryl, thanks but it wasn't a song thrush....much too small .

Alan, the funny thing was that this was a quick sortie to try and get a decent pic of linnets.....I failed but the bird in question was not a linnet....and its call was nowhere like a linnets.

Heres a pic i took just before of a male linnet

Oh. Right.Sorry It's a little difficilt to guess the size in a picture. Hope some finds out what it is

[knobby]

Sorry to jump in on the thread but does anybody know what this is



same size as a hedge sparrow

Gaz

[Alan]

Originally Posted by knobby

Sorry to jump in on the thread but does anybody know what this is



same size as a hedge sparrow

Gaz

Whitethroat

[knobby]

blimey, didn't think we had anything that flash in essex!

Cheers Alan ... thinking about it ... i suppose the birds white throat kind of gives it away :-)

Gaz

ps, well done on the 1000 posts

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

I'd say the bird in the first picture is a Redpol, saw lots during the winter and looks like a redpoll to me

The second bird is without a doubt a Whitethroat, actually very common all over england

[John]

If your convinced it was not a linnet and it had a finch like beak the only other assumption I can make is a form of Redpoll. Take a look at this first link of a LESSER REDPOLL Carduelis cabaret. The link after that is also a Lesser Redpoll.

http://www.arthurgrosset.com/europebirds/redpoll.html
http://www.davidnorman.org.uk/MRG/Lesser%20redpolls.htm

Now take a look at these three links to MEALY REDPOLL Carduelis flammea

http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/rare_...ly_redpoll.htm
http://www.birdguides.com/html/vidli...is_flammea.htm
http://www.nyctea.co.uk/photos/finch...oll_mealy.html

If you are still not convinced I can't offer any other suggestion based on your description.

John

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Lincs Yellowbelly

I'd say the bird in the first picture is a Redpol, saw lots during the winter and looks like a redpoll to me

The second bird is without a doubt a Whitethroat, actually very common all over england

Think you are most probably right about the first bird being a Redpol Lincs Yellowbelly. When I said it was a Linnet, never gave a thought that there may be Redpol's still around. I stand corrected on that one Polecat, and I never thought for one moment you were being ungrateful
Ollie

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Redpoll are resident in much of the country, so i see no reason why it shouldn't be one I saw one around 2 weeks ago in the Lincs wolds

[Polecat]

Apologies for my late reply.....a really busy week/end. And many thanks for all your help.

Redpoll it is then....I am pretty confident you are right lincs yellowbellie, John, ollie & Gill . I got a bit excited with that red colour under the chin, but I think it must be a trick of the light.

I know where they are nesting this year too

[Polecat]

I managed to get a better photo today of the redpoll....though re-sizing has left it a bit wanting.........its a very colourfull example this one, I thought you might like to see