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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching
Posted on: July 2, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Pied Wagtail fledgling, Motacilla alba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pied Wagtail fledgling, Motacilla alba, photographed at Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, UK. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Richard Carter, FCD, 13 June 2009 (he also writes here) [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel) at 1/400th second using a Canon EF 75-300mm zoom at the 300mm setting.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
Femslr American Robin
Thrush upright posture, white eye ring
Posted by: Jdy roth | July 2, 2009 12:56 PM
It looks more like a female bluethroat than a female American robin, though rather gray of plumage and red of leg.
I'm basing this on the light patch on the malar that's underlined by a dark marking that runs into the dark marking on the chest. And the slight suggestion of a lighter line above the eye.
No other idea, really. Not my part of the world. (Bluethroats are in my Sibley's for western NA, though.)
Posted by: pk1154 | July 3, 2009 8:20 AM
Haven't a clue ;-)
Posted by: Richard Carter, FCD | July 3, 2009 3:36 PM
Bluethroat is an intriguing idea -- I had figured it for some sort of lark (not my part of the world either). The hind toe and claw don't seem to be long enough for a lark, though.
One thing worth noting, in the larger view it appears to have yellow flanges at the corner of the mouth -- a characteristic common to most fledgling birds. So whatever it is, it appears to be just out of the nest.
Posted by: psweet | July 4, 2009 8:58 AM
Perhaps an immature female bluethroat. Most of the images of bluethroats show a distinct white line above the eye that is missing here.
Posted by: Chris Wells | July 4, 2009 5:33 PM
The tail doesn't look long enough. but that may just be the angle. So I'm going to go for a pied wagtail fledgeling. If there are breeding bluethroats in the UK, I haven't heard of it.
Posted by: Paul King | July 4, 2009 5:53 PM