Your Letters

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

One woman’s encounter with the ‘shooting fraternity’

Q

I would be very grateful if you could identify the bird in the attached photos – shown with Turnstones, and also a closer image (not shown) – taken near Keyhaven, Hants. I first thought it was a Purple Sandpiper, but it lacked the orange beak and feet. Elaine Walkingshaw

A

Hello Elaine, you are right in excluding Purple Sandpiper for your dumpy little wader, based on the bill and leg colour. Your bird is instead a Dunlin in winter plumage ( probably first-winter, judging, for example, by a few blotchy streaks on the breast/belly, which are retained juvenile features). Dunlins are very similar in shape to Purple Sandpipers (though in real life, Purples are bigger and darker).

Goose query Q

I live in Cambridgeshire, and in mid-December heard a skein of nearly 60 grey geese approaching from some distance, heading south-west. They were high, but the calls reminded me of those of Pink-footed Geese, which I am familiar with through visits to Norfolk. But, when I looked up with my binoculars as they flew overheard, I thought I saw black bands on the belly. So, perhaps they were White-fronted Geese after all. What do you think, please? Sorry, I don’t have a photo!

Gareth Donald

AAny skeins of geese in Cambs which aren’t Greylags and Canadas are a great find, Gareth. Without a clear photo it is difficult to be certain about the geese’s identify. However, black banding on the belly is pretty diagnostic of adult White-fronted Goose (Lesser Whitefronts are extremely rare). Unfortunately, distant overhead skeins of White-fronts and Pinkfeet can sound confusingly similar. And, it could be that both species were mixed in a flock. In December, there was a notable influx of White-fronted Geese of the European aka Russian subspecies albifrons, into the UK. But nearly 60 birds would be a very impressive flock of this species. Perhaps, they were a mixed flock including White-fronted Geese, but we will probably never know for certain.

On the feeders

QPlease find attached a photo of a bird on our bird feeders. It fed on peanuts and rested for about 5-10 minutes. My husband and I are not sure what it is. It looks a bit odd.

Sheelagh Still

AYour bird is a female House Sparrow, Sheelagh! Once upon a time, they would have been so familiar to all of us that a sparrow would not get a second glance. Now, they have become the subject of Q& A! Key features include the chunky finch-like shape, and seed-eater’s bill, the grey-brown plumage, streaked in places, and the broad buff supercilium (‘eyebrow’). Note that it is easy to rule out Tree Sparrow, as both males and females look the same; both have a black bib, chestnut crown, and white cheeks with a black spot.