Help needed please with bird ID's

[Galana]

I'll take a punt and say that all appear to be Meadow Pipits. Have you forgotten @offshorebirder's excellent link from last year already??

[xelas]

@Zim Girl, I will not be of any assistance re. bird ID, but I can give you assurance that in a year or two, being guided by the fellow birders on ST, you will improve so much in your birding skills.! Sometimes the answers are similar to those given in the Apolon temple in Delphi  however there is always an answer in them, and by searching for it you learn a lot. Speaking out of my own experience .

A few guidelines:

- forget about gulls if not accompanied by a pro guide

- legs and eyes - colours are important

- use several sources to compare your bird with; same species comes in surprisingly wide variety

- make a mistake - there will be someone to correct it 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

14 hours ago, Galana said:

I'll take a punt and say that all appear to be Meadow Pipits. Have you forgotten @offshorebirder's excellent link from last year already??

No, I did look at it again - honest!!

But what with eye stripes and finer or heavier streaking and more or less buff on the body etc, etc, oh and one of them has a heavier bill 

In the end I did think they were all meadow but I just wanted to check in case I missed out.

Thanks for looking.

 

3 hours ago, xelas said:

@Zim Girl

- use several sources to compare your bird with; same species comes in surprisingly wide variety

And therein lies the problem with pipits, all the same bird but you can still see slight variations

[Soukous]

I'm struggling to ID this fella.

The closest match i can find is a Rock Pipit, but the bill looks wrong and the legs look very thick and dark

photo taken on the west coast of Scotland

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Soukous

[Soukous]

this is not the same individual, but quite possibly the same species

 

[TonyQ]

As you know, I am not an expert, but I would say they are both Rock Pipits 

Legs dark red-brown or blackish. Broad, blurred streaks coming further down onto stomach than Meadow Pipit.

Water Pipit looks like a Winter visitor only and colouration different.

[Dave Williams]

7 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

As you know, I am not an expert, but I would say they are both Rock Pipits 

Legs dark red-brown or blackish. Broad, blurred streaks coming further down onto stomach than Meadow Pipit.

Water Pipit looks like a Winter visitor only and colouration different.

Agreed 100%!

 

[Soukous]

Thanks you @TonyQand @Dave Williams

 

Whilst it is disappointing that I cannot add another species to my list, it is reassuring to know I am not completely inept at bird ID.

[Soukous]

Another one

 

I'm inclined towards Meadow Pipit, but I'm not sure

[Soukous]

and another one

 

[Soukous]

they just keep on coming

 

This looks to me like a juvenile Yellow Wagtail, but if it is then it is a bit out of its comfort zone.

[michael-ibk]

Juv. Wheatear and Juv. Pied Wagtail I'd say. 

[Galana]

10 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Juv. Wheatear and Juv. Pied Wagtail I'd say. 

I agree.

[Soukous]

Can anyone help me ID this Gull please?

 

The bill appears to be pinkish, behind the black tip and the legs also look pinkish. Photographed on Moray Firth, Scotland

 

[inyathi]

@Soukous Gulls are not my specialty, but a first winter Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) is one possibility I might suggest, another could be an American Herring Gull (Larus argentatus smithsonianus), if you look at different plumages you will find some that have somewhat similar plumage and bills, but I don't know how often this race is seen in Scotland, but it seen over this side of the Pond. I think that the Glaucous is probably more likely, here are some photos which might help 

 

 Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus)

[Galana]

Glaucous are regular visitors to North Britain (seen yearly by me in the Hebrides even in summer) and we get them even here occasionally.  Sorry to gainsay the ID but I fear your bird is a 1st/2nd winter Herring Gull as hyperboreus would not have the dark- blackish wing tips..

[inyathi]

26 minutes ago, Galana said:

I fear your bird is a 1st/2nd winter Herring Gull as hyperboreus would not have the dark- blackish wing tips..

@GalanaVery good point I should have noticed that, because none of the birds in the photos of Glaucous that I linked to have dark wing tips, yet I failed to spot this obvious difference , I just assumed that Glaucous might be more likely because of the photos of Herring Gulls that I looked at, only the American race seemed to match with the bill markings, given what you've said, you have to be right with the ID, as I said gulls are really not my specialty, as I've just demonstrated.   

[Soukous]

thank you @inyathiand @Galana

 

[Galana]

Welcome. I admit to not having looked to closely at Herring Gulls as they are like town pigeons here especially when the bloody woman next door throws out food for them. I am therefore somewhat of an expert on the fall out and maybe we should start another quiz 'What bird did that?" I recall reading a very funny book with that title some years ago. Lent it and never seen again.