Help needed please with bird ID's

[Zim Girl]

I am starting this thread for any bird ID's I am not sure about for my BY.  This could prove to be extensive going forward so I didn't want to clog up my BY thread with corrections.

So please chip in @Dave Williams, @Galana, @TonyQ and anyone else who doesn't mind helping

Many thanks.

 

First up.

I am fairly happy that this is a Greylag Goose but are the pics underneath also variants of Greylags? All taken in local park.

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Now the trickier ones.  I have been leaving these for a bit especially when I started reading about summer and winter plumage and then even worse 1st winter, 2nd winter, 1st & 2nd summer, I mean really??  Then throw a juvenile or two into the mix and everything starts to look the same.

 

So best guesses. All taken in local park again. I have tried to be exact but I will be happy if you just confirm the species for me.

 

Black headed gull - 1st winter

Black headed gull - Winter

 

Herring gull - summer

Herring gull - summer

Herring gull - 1st winter

Same as above - or both could be Lesser Black backed gull 1st winter possibly

Again. not sure between Herring or Lesser Black Backed in 1st winter

I think this may be a Common gull in 1st summer

This looks even more like a Common gull in 1st summer

 

Lesser Black backed gull - summer

Same as above

Lesser Black backed - 2nd summer

[TonyQ]

I agree with Greylag in the first post. In the UK, these were the basis of domestic geese, which were often white. I think (and I do not have the expertise of @Dave Williams or @Galana !) that all of these have some domestic goose in them. It is the same species, but sometimes given as a different sub-species.

 

I find gulls and their stages of development very difficult and confess that usually I give up .

The first two pictures I would be confident of Black- headed Gulls. Very different shape to the bigger gulls.

First two Herring Gulls - yes. Next I don't know

Common Gull - my book says. It never has a red bill spot

Lesser Black- backed adults look like it, not sure about last one

 

 

[Dave Williams]

Nice to be considered an expert but I'm no where near being one!

BH Gulls, yes, the obvious adult LBB is easy to differentiate from GBB as it has yellow legs vs the latter pink legs. It's not as Black either but darker than a Herring Gull. The rest look like Herring Gulls in various plumages but I wouldn't put money on it. LBB migrate for the winter , GBB don't but I'm not sure if they fly back in winter plumage or summer plumage.

Like little brown jobs many people avoid the plumages of Gulls leaving them to be a mystery. 

Hopefully @Galana will put a definitive ID on them for you.

Great to see you are getting really interested!

[Galana]

Like the others I tend to leave Imm gulls alone unless something is really strikingly obvious such as leg colour but the sneaky beggars change that too.

As others, there is no Common Gull in your collection (just a pile of even more "common" ones!

The plumage change pair could well be LBB.

Last adults are LBB with the yellow legs. BHG to start with. Always go for the (mostly) red bill and legs if in doubt.

The middle bunch are Herring G.

Geese. As others you will get variants of Greylags due to their ancestry and occasional hybridisation with Domestic Farmyard Geese. (I am not sure birds of technically the same species can be said to hybridise.)

The last two with white face and black neck are hybrids with Canada. Sadly becoming more and more common following the expanding introduced population.

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Galana
amended text.

[Zim Girl]

@TonyQ, @Dave Williams and @Galana

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at these.  Yes I can see how the last two geese are Canada Goose hybrids, interesting, didn't think of that.

I suppose I was being a bit hopeful that there was a Common gull in amongst that lot, the different stages are really tricky. But I have 3 new species for my BY so all good

There will be more to come at some point!!  (But don't worry, no more gulls).

[Towlersonsafari]

thank you @Zim Girl for being brave enough to show and tell with those pesky gulls! I am glad that others such as @Galana also tend to leave immature gulls alone! as a fairly rubbish but enthusiastic birder, who always lets enthusiasm get the better of me ( I once out loud mistook a female eider duck for a woodcock by the simple act of not thinking something that my wife never lets me forget  nor indeed should she) i look forward to your thread featuring Arctic and common terns, and all those waders! regarding the common gulls, they can be recognized by their kindly expressions, at least one ID book tells me ( I have seen them on Mull)

Good Luck!

[Zim Girl]

You forgot the Warblers @Towlersonsafari, one will be making an appearance soon.

[Zim Girl]

I am pretty sure this is a Willow Warbler as it has a yellowish underbody.  Am I correct?

All pics are the same bird. The horribly out of focus one is there so you can see it's wing and tail feathers better.

 

[Dave Williams]

For me the main difference between a Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler are the legs colours. Chiffchaff much darker grey, WB are pinkish brown.

The Chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff call sound also gives that one away although they don't always sing like that either.

[Galana]

How about something easy like an Ostrich or  Crow?

If I had to choose I would choose Chiff Chaff mainly because of the stronger and clearly marked primaries and rounder head.

[Zim Girl]

15 hours ago, Galana said:

How about something easy like an Ostrich or  Crow?

 

Now where's the fun in that

Ok, Chiff Chaff it is then.  I don't have one so that's good with me. So in future must pay more attention to legs

[Towlersonsafari]

Hello @Zim Girl i think the  best way to try to identify most warblers is with the voice-especially this time of year!  and then when those pesky leaves start getting bigger it is often the only way-or at least helps track them down  and with the chiffchaff and willow warbler even their calls-as opposed to song-are different.With some-such as Cetti's warbler-its often the only way you know its there-and of course you then fruitlessly stand around until it sings out about 100 yards away and you give up!

ps I wonder if chiffchaffs get together with willow warblers and agree to sing each other's songs just to be confusing?

pps is any other bird better named than the chiffchaff?

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Towlersonsafari said:

pps is any other bird better named than the chiffchaff?

Depends on what the name is based on:- Without dashing off at a tangent how about Cuckoo, Peewit or German for Owl for calls and of course self descriptive birds are legion.

[offshorebirder]

Old World Warblers are so drab and alike-looking - much easier to ID New World Warblers in all their colors!

 

 

[Zim Girl]

22 hours ago, Towlersonsafari said:

Hello @Zim Girl i think the  best way to try to identify most warblers is with the voice-especially this time of year!  and then when those pesky leaves start getting bigger it is often the only way-or at least helps track them down  and with the chiffchaff and willow warbler even their calls-as opposed to song-are different.With some-such as Cetti's warbler-its often the only way you know its there-and of course you then fruitlessly stand around until it sings out about 100 yards away and you give up!

ps I wonder if chiffchaffs get together with willow warblers and agree to sing each other's songs just to be confusing?

pps is any other bird better named than the chiffchaff?

 

So not only am I trying to recognise and learn the names of lots of birds I had never even heard of until doing this BY, I now need to learn all their songs as well  -  piece of cake!! 

 

 

[Towlersonsafari]

i ma by no means an expert-quite the reverse @Zim Girl  but it does help-I can recognise a lot of the common omes, and ones that interest me, and if I am going to try to look for a particular bird, or hope that will be part of the day, i try to go online to listen to the song or call-such as  the alarm call of the Greater spotted woodpecker, or kingfisher and you already know the chiff chaff-so learning the common ones in your garden and then noticing any thing that isn't them Also I use  an RSPB app on my phone, and a Sassol one in south Africa-not to attract them, but to try to help figure out what i have just heard 

[Zim Girl]

I totally agree with you @Towlersonsafari, I was being a little bit sarcastic .  We did download a bird call app which is very useful.  But I have made a start I actually know the call of the Blackcap now as it was on it's own in a tree I was walking past and I was able to recognise it (it being another one of these say what you see birds).  Gets a bit tricky when there are a few different ones together, so I have just been waiting for a bit and see what pops out.

[Zim Girl]

So leaving Warblers for the moment and moving on to Pipits (or at least I think they are).

 

Both pictures taken on Saturday in the Trough of Bowland area.  I think they are both probably Meadow Pipits, but the first one does have a slightly bigger white patch above it's eye so not sure, could one of them be a Tree Pipit?

 

 

 

 

[Galana]

I tend to agree that the top one could be a Tree Pipit. white stripe and 'clear' belly.

Did you notice the Display flight of both?

[Zim Girl]

10 minutes ago, Galana said:

I tend to agree that the top one could be a Tree Pipit. white stripe and 'clear' belly.

Did you notice the Display flight of both?

 

Sorry, no, both were static when I saw them and silent.

The top one was seen in an area of open moorland with wooded areas close by.

[Zim Girl]

Also, I have this, found in a hedgerow between a golf course and the coast.

Is it another Common Whitethroat or could it be a Lesser?

 

[Galana]

3 hours ago, Zim Girl said:

Is it another Common Whitethroat or could it be a Lesser?

Yes (and no)

Lesser has grey legs among other field marks.

[Zim Girl]

16 hours ago, Galana said:

Yes (and no)

Lesser has grey legs among other field marks.

 

Thanks for confirming, bit of a long shot as I was thinking it had a smooth head without the slight crest of the common.

Must remember to check the legs!!

[Galana]

29 minutes ago, Zim Girl said:

Must remember to check the legs!!

First thing a chap does!