Your Questions
Send all your birding questions to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk and our experts will give you the answers
Mystery garden feathers
QI was wondering if you could tell me which species these feathers are from. I found them in the pages of one of my book, they must have been from our garden last year.
Colin Matthews
AYour feathers, Colin, appear to be from the tail of a Goldfinch (perhaps the victim of a garden Sparrowhawk attack or maybe a cat… ). When we think of Goldfinches we tend to habitually think of the massive golden wing flashes which give them their name, as well as the red and black face and buffy plumage. We don’t necessary think of the bold white spots on the shortish black tail. But that is what your feathers are.
Black Redstart?
QI was wondering if you could help me identify this bird. The photo (above right) was taken at Holme Dunes (Norfolk) on 9 February. The bird was originally facing the other way, showing a uniform grey breast, and was dipping its tail like a chat species. I assumed that it was a female Black Redstart. However, this bird has a faint supercilium, which the Black Redstart female/juveniles pictured in my Collins don’t seem to have.
AYour bird, Philip, is a real Bird Watching Q&A classic: a Stonechat of the female/ first-winter variety, albeit one with quite a bold supercilium (pale ‘eyebrow’). The relatively long legs, relatively large head and short tail (and small overall size) are good indicators that this is a Saxicola chat (ie a stonechat or Whinchat), but Whinchats don’t start appearing in the UK until April. Anyhow, the darkish speckled brown and orangebrown plumage are all classically Stonechat features. Stonechats rival Dunnocks, Meadow Pipits, Chiffchaffs, Starlings and odd domestic-derived ducks as to which is the most frequent confusion species among our readers.