Your Questions

Send all your birding questions to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk and our experts will give you the answers

Our experts answer your birding questions and ID your mystery pics

Mystery birds Q

I took these photos (above) of a bird I saw at Stubb Mill, Hickling, Norfolk, September 2020. No one seems to know what it is, even the man from the reserve, known as the ‘bird man’ didn’t know. Can you help? Heather Bint, Gosport

A

Both your photos show more than one bird, Heather, but they are all of the same species, as far as we can see. They are Starlings, and more specifically juvenile Starlings moulting out of their drab, grey-brown plumage into their spottier first-winter feathers. The head always seems to be the last part of the body to be moulted, and this has caused confusion to countless readers, judging by the amount of queries we have about young Starlings. Indeed they go together with Dunnocks, ‘ farmyard’ Mallards and Meadow Pipits as probably our most frequent Q& A queries. Note, in particular, the short tailed, long-billed Starling shape, and the dark lores (the stripe between the eye and the bill) contrasting with the paler head.

Weird warbler? Q

Hello, I am 16, and am a BIG bird fan. I really enjoy capturing their lives on camera, but like everyone I have some problems with IDing different species. My weak point is warblers. So, if there’s a slightly scarcer warbler in my viewfinder, nine times out of 10 I have no idea what it is. I am not saying that the images of the birds I have attached are anything special, but I would like them checked, please. They are both very small and if you need any other images, as these are cropped a lot, to help with ID, then please ask. Thanks for your time, look forward to speaking again soon.

Derry Porter

A

In addition to Starlings, Dunnocks, odd ducks and Meadow Pipits, little green coloured warblers make up the bulk of our Q& A queries! You are not alone in finding them challenging. As with most of these queries, your bird also turns out to be a Chiffchaff. It is arguably the drabbest of the smaller warblers, and, though very similar to Willow Warbler, it tends to looks slightly duller and scruffier, especially in autumn (and shorter winged and less elegant in real life), with a less prominent supercilium (‘eyebrow’) and more obvious eye-ring as a consequence.

Once upon a time, Dominic Couzens came up with a way of remembering this difference by saying Willow Warbler was more ‘ high-brow’ [ie eyebrow] and Chiffchaff was ‘riffraff’! Keep up the birding and photography.

Dead bird ID Q

I came across this sad sight on top of an overgrown fence in a residential road in Walton-on-Thames. Could it be a female Pheasant?

Keith Eamer

A

It certainly appears to be a dead female Pheasant, Keith. As has been well documented, tens of millions of Pheasants are reared and released in the UK each year, so it is hardly a surprise that they are the most frequently encountered road-kill birds. In some parts of the country, on certain roads, at the ‘wrong’ time of year, it can be almost impossible not to hit a Pheasant! Even in residential areas, sadly, these birds seem to have as much ‘road sense’ as Hedgehogs.