Your Questions

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

Streaked passerines Q

Hi, can you help me please? I saw these two similar looking birds at Carlton Marshes SWT, Suffolk. I initially thought they were something I have seen before, but now I’m not so sure. I managed to get some pictures and quite a good look before they flew off. But I’ve been staring at my guidebooks for two hours and still can’t find something that exactly fits. I’d really appreciate your opinion on it.

The photos are attached, but the main features I saw were: black/dark primary tips; black/ dark tail feathers; relatively fine streaking on brown back and head; a thick wing band that looked goldish; white/cream belly; and black eye and black bill.

I’m going back to Meadow Pipit with less belly streaking, even though I want it to be something rarer... please help.

Matthew Hyde

A

We’re sorry to say your photos are not great, Matthew, so it is impossible to be certain. It really helps that you have tried to make notes, a skill which many birdwatchers neglect, these days, but which can prove very useful if not crucial. As far as we can tell your birds are juvenile Stonechats, presumably not long out of the nest. Check out our page illustrating juvenile chats in this month’s Your Birding Month (this issue, page 14) and you will see that your birds fit the Stonechat pretty well. Most notable are the dark, streaked upperparts and that distinctive white patch in the wing. But you can also see (in your photos) the contrast between the streaked breast and paler, unstreaked belly.

Which whitethroat? Q

My friend took this picture of this little beauty at Hollow Ponds in Leyton. Is it a juvenile Whitethroat or maybe a Lesser, or perhaps something else entirely? The white throat is an obvious ID feature but other elements don’t seem right. Would be really grateful for any help!

Nigel Smith

A

We think your friend’s little beauty falls into the something else entirely category, Nigel. It appears to be a Dunnock, a favourite bird of the Q& A ‘post bag’ (aka email inbox), with an anomalously white throat.

The throat is usually grey, and presumably there is some kind of genetic ‘anomaly’ causing this localised white patch. Incidentally, the reason we think it is a Dunnock is a combination of shape, and overall pattern, with grey underparts (ignoring the throat) with brown flank streaks, brown on the ear coverts (ie area behind the eye) and brown, streaked upperparts. The dark eye and bill and the pale pinkish feet are further pro-Dunnock characters.

Is this a Stonechat? Q

Can you tell me if this is a Stonechat please as the white seems to be wrong?

Heather B

A

We can say with some confidence, that your bird, Heather, is not a Stonechat. Instead, it appears to be one of the whitethroat species. Usually, when you see a whitethroat perching in the open like this, it turns out to be a Whitethroat (aka Common Whitethroat), as Lesser Whitethroats tend to be particularly shy and like to remain buried within large, dense hedges. However, the combination of the shortness of the tail ( Whitethroats are very long tailed for warblers), the cold coloration, lacking any rufous tones in the wing, and the apparently dark (not yellowish-orange) lower mandible, and even what appear to be dark feet (not pale) all point this being a Lesser Whitethroat, being surprisingly bold.