Can anyone ID this? Was in the tree in my garden yesterday eating bugs off the leaves, had a distinctly yellow tinge to it, but only hung around long enough to get these very rushed snaps. Certainly a new one to my garden whatever it was, so an ID would be greatly appreciated:
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Regards, Hazel
"Each kindness shown to birds or men is sure to flutter back again"
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
I thought it was too colourful for a chiff chaff, but seems I am outvoted lol
If anyone else wants to chip in, please do :)
My money would have been on Willow Warbler, mainly from colour, but I remembered something from a BTO course about Willow Warbler having longer primaries. Unfortunately, I can't find where I wrote that down , but my Collins Bird Guide says "primary projection roughly equivalent to tertial length" for Willow Warbler, and "primary projection only a good half of terial length" for Chiffchaff.
So looking at the second photo, I'm now coming down in favour of Chiffchaff, too. (But that's clearly not an expert opinion!)
In reply to Dave - CH:
Dave - CH said:Can anyone pick up and expand on Hazel's comment re the legs?
Not always 100% of the time but Chiffchaffs normally have browner legs whereas Willow Warbler has paler legs. Chiffchaffs often have a bright undereye crescent.
HERE'S A BTO VIDEO which can help with ID although they are often hard birds to tell apart.
In reply to HAZY:
HAZY said:Not always 100% of the time but Chiffchaffs normally have browner legs whereas Willow Warbler has paler legs
Thanks Hazel. And for the video.
I posted Willow Warblers. If we get a "We are particularly interested in your observation of Willow Warblers..." e-mail, I'll send them to you. ;-)
Best regards -
Dave