What bird is this?

Question

Could someone help me identify this bird? The picture was taken on Ramsey Island about two weeks ago. 
 Thank you.

seymouraves · Accepted Answer

retepj said: 
 Could someone help me identify this bird? The picture was taken on Ramsey Island about two weeks ago. 
 Thank you. 
 
 
 
 Hi, 
 
 this is a male Northern Wheatear :)) It's the species that breeds here in Britain. Note the upright stance, black mask, dark brown wings and white underparts. The breast has a buffy suffusion that is not always visible on sunny days at a distance :) 
 
 S 
 S

AL · Answer

Hi 
 Thats a wheatear Real nice photo too and thankyou for putting it up. 
 Cheers 
 AL

seymouraves · Answer

nps :)) 
 You can see in the photo that the wheatear is standing upright- you can just see its legs which are not big and thick like those of a shrike. 
 Also there is no white in the wing, that's the most obvious missing field character here :) 
 The black ear coverts are the right shape for those of a wheatear and not those of a GGS. If you zoom in you can see that the bill is too thin for a Shrike. 
 A behavioural character of shrikes is that they hunt from a perch, drop to the ground onto prey then swoop back up. This bird looks happy and content on the ground :) 
 
 S- always happy to do an ID masterclass :)