Picked up song of a spotless Starling on Merlin today in my garden in Dorset....is this unusual?
Must say I've not heard of spotless starling. A quick wiki search says it sounds the same as common starling, only louder, and is a non migratory bird of southern Europe and north Africa, so in all probability Merlin is wrong.... Having said all that... Never say never
I will continue to monitor
Hi-
Merlin is notoriously in need of double checking
S
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Hi, I just got this on my App, I'm in Poole Dorset. 6 days between each other Dorset - I think they must really be here!! Maybe the weather drove them up a bit, not much mind we are the very South of the UK.
Also, should add just been to Devon for Long weekend recorded all sorts of birds there, this one didn't pop-up there and has never popped up where I live before until now...!
As mentiond on this thread and on others, Merlin doesn't recognise which continent it's being used on, and needs sanitising when not in USA. Someone else heard a dark eyed junco in Devon.....according to Merlin. It needs to be used as a guide, not an i.d. confirmer.
Always go with the simplest answer: the software is wrong. Remember Horizon in the Post Office scandal? I can't find anything on the web about records of spotless starling in the UK, which probably tells you something....
Chappers25 also picked the spotless starling on his Merlin app.in Poole just a few miles away from me.
If this bird was moving north due to global warming the the first place it would be heard on the south coast.
I am only 10 miles north of Poole so could it would surely wrong just to summarily dismiss this as an issue with Merlin.
Anything is of course possible, but for extralimital birds better evidence (i.e. good photos) is needed to convince. Otherwise remains a 'possible' IMO.
No. Merlin will identify the same call as the same species as it previously did! If it thinks an A is a B the first time, it will do so the second time too.....it is an App. It is not spotting something moving from one place to another. Besides, how difficult is it to see a starling, spotted or otherwise? It's often harder to hear them before seeing them.