Warbler Quiz

[Chas]

As the weather is so bad here is a bit of indoor bird watching for you. I know which warbler is which by their song when I took the photos, but do you, so have a go.

A

B

[aeshna5]

A Chiffchaff
B Willow Warbler

[Ollie]

I'm going for A as Chiffchaff as it seems to have darker legs.
B as Willow Warbler

Roger

[Chas]

I will let you know at 11 when more have had a go!....good fun isn't it?

[Chas]

Well done you two. You are both spot on and I have to say you have impressed me, I am a cynic and I don't impress easily LOL. Wouldn't have thought you could tell the difference from theses photos to be honest. The Willow was singing his head off for ages and the Chiffchaff had just arrived by the look of him and even though he was singing he looked on his last legs to me! Have a look at that black dot on the Willow, it's a mite.

[Bub-les]

Here's probably a daft question can warblers interbreed? They all look the same to me!
Barbara

[Chas]

I am sure that they can interbreed...hybridise that is, but they will be programmed genetically to respond to the songs and behaviour of their own species which will prevent this from happening. It's a good question though. Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs do look so similar but it may be case of parallel evoloution where two species evolve to live in the same way so they evolve to look the same if that makes sense. On the other hand they could just be almost the same species and perhaps were in the distant past but then diverged and evolved into two different species. Interesting, hope you think so as well.

[Goatboy]

As a fairly recent newcomer to birding I do struggle with warblers. I'm getting ok at recognising some of the more common warbler songs but would struggle identifying otherwise.

Keep the quizzes coming, they're a great help.

[Chas]

A good pair of optics is probably one of the main requirements. As far as song is concerned I make my living as a musician so I have relatively well trained ear and can still be really confused with song after 50 years! The other day I was listening to a Blackcap who had the most amazing song and until I saw him as well I was getting really confused and a bit mad with myself that I couldn't say instantly what species it was.

[ChrisJB]

The short primary projection on the first pic' is nice and clear which helps with I.D, and of course, leg colour is clear on both too.

Regards, Chris