Rare Birds?

[holtender]

Hi,
I am very new to bird watching so please bear with me!
The two photos below were taken last august on holiday (Yorkshire Dales), however I am baffled as to the identity of these birds and I have little idea what they could possibly be.
I have referred to a field guide I have and also scoured the RSPB's bird identifier to no avail, the closest I could get was the top one could possibly be a juvenile blackbird or and twite however the red-ish colouring puts this theory in doubt.
I must apologise for the quality of the images as they are quite heavy crops from my D40, also for the fact that bird number one is not looking at the camera!

hope you can help as I am fascinated to hear what these could be.
thanks.
thomas

[Jonners]

Hi Thomas and welcome to WAB. Birdwatching can be very rewarding and at times quite frustrating, but stick with it. It's something that can interest you for a lifetime. Your top bird is a young Blackbird and the lower one a young Blue Tit.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Jonners

Hi Thomas and welcome to WAB. Birdwatching can be very rewarding and at times quite frustrating, but stick with it. It's something that can interest you for a lifetime. Your top bird is a young Blackbird and the lower one a young Blue Tit.

Agree. Not sure why you thought Twite as this is a small finch + totally different in shape + colour; also a very localised species.

Have fun learning your birds + don't be afraid making mistakes as we all do when we are learning. Even very experienced birders will occasionally make mistakes in the field!

[AshLee]

Hi thomas,

When you start out it's all very confusing. You need to get a feel for birds, and this can take some time.

Birds are not just a collection of coloured feathers in a "bird-shape". You can only learn so much if you concentrate on plumage. There are so many other aspects to ID.

Why not start with watching your local birds. Notice how they move, what they do with their tails, whether they run or hop, or maybe you only see them in trees, what is the shape of their flight pattern etc. Size matters but size is very difficult to judge. Try and estimate this in relation to other birds that they are next to or near and that you already recognise.

Take careful notes of habitat. A Twite is a bird of moorlands and stony areas for example. Just on habitat alone you might have ruled out Twite.

Beak shape is important. There have been many studies into why beaks have certain shapes. These are the shapes of some finch's beaks:



They vary widely and really help with ID. See how such seed-eating birds have a much broader (and often stubbier) beak that those of a bird that eats insects ("insectivorous"). An example of an insectivorous bird is the Robin, and this has a slender beak.

Note as many other things as you can. What time of year is it? What time of day is it? Are the birds in a flock? And anything else that you notice.

And listen carefully too. Write down what calls or songs you hear. Harsh, liquid, sharp, raucous, scratchy, whistling, ending in a trill etc. There are no rules here. As long as when you get back to the internet you can listen to potential calls and confirm or not based on what you heard. It really doesn't matter how you describe them - it's quite a personal thing. Whatever jogs your memory.

I'm taking up the hobby again and I've started to read an old book on the subject from a second-hand shop. Just because it's old (1974) and was very cheap, doesn't mean it isn't useful. A good book on the subject might also help you.

(I personally love reading old natural history books. People were just as enthusiastic for their subject and this translates well through the decades. And the style of writing can be quirky and interesting. But I digress .)

No matter how much experience someone has had, everyone makes mistakes, everyone is learning, as aeshna5 pointed out. And there is so much joy to be found in the journey, even at the very beginning. Anything that is new can be exciting. Don't think to yourself that you don't know much. You are in an enviable position. You have so many "first sightings" to come. How blummin' wonderful!

Ash

[darrenm]

a couple of books well worth getting for anyone with a new found interest for birds are The European Bird Guide by Barthel and Dougalis published by New Holland and the Collins Bird Guide by Mullarney, Svensson, Zetterstrom and Grant. Both have excellent illustrations and cover most of the bird species of Britain and Europe. Both are fairly portable and can be carried in a coat or small pack and are very reasonable in price. Ignore anyone who dismisses you taking them with you into the field and everyone has to start somewhere.

A tip i was given when i first started out in the mid 70's was to get to know the bird species around you and scrutinise fully any and every bird you see and get to know the common species in your area and when out and about. That way it will help you to realise when you have found something different or unusual. Taking field notes, no matter how basic is also a fantastic way of building up your skills base.

If you can get to know an experienced birder in your area who is willing to help you when in the field and act has a mentor and the lessons you can learn from these people will last a life time. Joining the local branch of your RSPB is also a great way of boosting your skills and a lot do field trips to various locations that are rich in birds.

Never be frightened of making a mistake and even top birders do.

Bird watching, Birding or whatever you want to call it is about learning and getting enjoyment from it and everyone no matter their skill level is constantly learning.

[Harold Smith]

Hallo Thomas,

Welcome to WAB and the world of Birding.

I agree with all the comments made by all the respondents. Build yourself a library of different books (you can get many of them from secondhand book stores). There is no one book that fits all and you'll find that useful information can be gleaned from them all.

Never go out without a notebook or a field guide. My favourite field guide is Collins guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe (Heinzel, Fitter and Parslow) which I have had since 1974. Though I have a number of different field guides that one is my favourite despite it being rather worn and dog eared.

Besides my books I find the Birdguides DVD-ROM Guide to British Birds very useful. It has photographs, videos, songs and calls and lots of other useful information.

Here is a link to it DVD-ROM Guide to British Birds Version 9

Good luck with your birding. It's great fun.

Harold.

[Sprout]

we're pretty new to all this birding too, and one of the reasons we enjoy it is the detective work involved in deciding what bird it is we're looking at.
we spent half an hour sitting on a rock on the northumberland coast, poring over our bird book to try and positively identify a small wader. a person walking past saw us looking, glanced across and blithely said it's a whatever, and as newcomers we assumed he knew what he was talking about. in actual fact, it most definately wasn't what he'd said as most of the identifying features didn't fit. the pleasure of taking our time and finally coming up with a positive identification made the whole day worth while .

[holtender]

Thanks for all the help.
Some very useful information you have provided me with which I will most definitely keep these in mind. I intend to stick at it as it is positively addictive!

[Jonners]

Originally Posted by holtender

Thanks for all the help.
Some very useful information you have provided me with which I will most definitely keep these in mind. I intend to stick at it as it is positively addictive!

Well done holtender... And am I to take it from your WAB name that commiserations are in order after yesterday?

[holtender]

Originally Posted by Jonners

Well done holtender... And am I to take it from your WAB name that commiserations are in order after yesterday?

haha, yes, quite right.