Hi Seymour
Have you got another 'puzzler' for us? I learn so much from having to think about identification and study detail of birds' features.
No problem if you are very busy.
I hope you are feeling better now.
Cheers
Pipit x
Right. The genus clue actually rules out Cetti's - Sylviidae is the family but Lesser Whitethroat is in genus Sylvia, with much fewer UK candidates :)
Besides that, the angle makes it tricky to see wing and tail length clearly, but Cetti's has a super-short primary projection, and this mystery bird's primary tips are clearly long enough to easily cross over each other (this bird has long wings because it is a long-range migrant, while Cetti's is sedentary). Also Cetti's has a stronger face pattern with a pale supercilium extending a little way behind the eye and, yep, paler legs.
That leaves the mystery bird as a Garden Warbler, with its beady eye in a very plain face and subtle grey neck-sides. So Pipit and Blackbird both got it right :)
I pronouce Cetti's 'CHETT-ies' :)
My blog: http://mazzaswildside.blogspot.co.uk/
My Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/124028194@N04/
Pesky warblers!!
Thanks aiki, quite a challenge
Thankyou aiki
I took the Warbler to be a Garden Warbler and not a Cettis as a Cettis has no grey and Cettis has a tail like a thick shovel
More trival but still an observation - just keeping naming bird parts to sound simple.
Still only heard a Cettis but not seen one as they like to skulk in the bushes a lot. They have a powerful set of lungs though.
As for a Garden Warbler I saw my first one this time last year at Marston Thrift (local to where I stay and I was with a member of Bedford birders at the time - no names mentioned at all but I am sure he remembers too)
Regards
Kathy and Dave