Marsh Tit or Willow Tit

Hi Alan , no picture has uploaded on either of your posts

To upload a photo follow the instructions below (courtesy of Mike)

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(Pardon the Scottish Accent)

In reply to Linda257:

Sorry about that. Hard to help me out without a picture! I'll try the download again

In reply to AlanP-439978630:

AlanP-439978630 said:

Sorry about that. Hard to help me out without a picture! I'll try the download again

From that one photo, that's a marsh tit IMO. Using the old school and newer i.d. features that are visible, it points to marsh tit. e.g. apparent white spot on bill, two tone cheek, more hint of brown than grey.....

I did have a quick search of the net re location. There was someone who recorded they'd heard and seen a willow warbler at that location last Spring. No idea if that person was accurate. No reason to doubt it, but the photo suggests marsh tits are there too.

In reply to ItisaRobbo:

Thank you for being so thorough. My first instinct was a marsh tit but I could not be so definitive with my reasoning.

Hi

shape is wrong for Willow IMHO

:)

S

For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

Thanks for that. Interesting about the shape. There were at least 2 similar birds amongst a mixed flock of tits. I have another photo from shortly afterwards which I don't think is the same bird but I assumed is the same species.

Marsh

S

For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

I read somewhere that all identification features overlap somewhat between marsh and willow except for the calls. I tried to find that article but I came across this instead which says that even the calls can be misleading. I didn't read the whole thing but near the end there's a table of the different ID features and how reliable they are. Applying that table to the second picture you posted I see ''No contrast between whitish cheek and whitish neck side" (willow) and "Whitish marks on proximal area of upper mandible" (marsh) and these two are high reliability indicators.

I always assume such things are marsh tits because they are commoner and I have yet to hear one make a willow tit call.

Thanks for the information Tom