Fat ball feeder

I wonder if you can identify the bird on the fat ball feeder in the attached two photos for me please. The photos were taken on a remote camera strapped to an Elder tree in the garden, at about 7.20am today, 18 April. We live in a rural area about two miles from the village of Beauly on the eastern side of Scotland. My initial thoughts were that it is some kind of warbler. It seems to have a distinct long pale stripe over the eye, a narrow dark line through the eye and a prominent wing bar. I am wondering if it is a Yellow-browed Warbler. Is that possible?

Val Ross, Beauly, Invernesshire

Q

There are two birds on your fat balls in the wider angle photo, Val. The bird on the right is a Tree Sparrow, as evidenced by the obvious black spot on a clean white cheek (and white collar, which is partially obscured ). It is not possible to tell whether it is a male or a female, as Tree Sparrows are not sexually dimorphic. House Sparrows are, however, and the left hand bird with which you are struggling is a female House Sparrow. As you can read in this month’s News In Brief section ( page 19), House Sparrow is once again the commonest bird found in gardens during the Big Garden Birdwatch. But, many people have still difficulty identifying these birds. The long, pale supercilium (ie ‘eyebrow’) and transverse wing-bars are perhaps what got you thinking of the rare Yellow-browed Warbler. But this is an altogether larger, chunkier bird,

A

with grey and brown feathering and a relatively thick, finch-like bill. For most people in the UK, the Tree Sparrow would be the unexpected visitor; you are lucky to have both!

Eloise Marr, age 11

You are not alone in having difficulty identifying this songbird, Eloise. It is probably the most frequent bird in our Q& A mail box. You were right with one of your guesses: this is a singing Dunnock. Dunnocks have a pretty little warble for a song which is somewhat

A

Kevin O’Donoghue, Highworth, Wiltshire