Tuesday 10 June 2014

IN SEARCH OF THE WHITETHROAT FLYCATCHER!!

I was flummoxed today, no really I was!

I spotted an out of the ordinary bird that was dipping and peaking the tops of the weeds and nettles, which had grown high due to the abundant rainfall this Spring 2014.

Now as I state in the first video below these were sizeable birds and I would say larger than a House SParrow, which is listed at 14 or 15cm. I thought they, there was a second one it turned out, SPotted Flycathers? However I had never seen Flycatchers and turned out there size would have been too small to be these.

They were perching in upright and vertical stems of plants which is not done by many species of birds and outside of Warblers, which I think I stated in the film, and Bearded Reedlings, which these were clearly not, not a great many do that.

There was a hen Blackbird nearby and likely a youngster bu these guys looked biggert than that even. However when I got hom and finally looked at the second video, where I actually get one on film briefly, I discover that they are White Throated Warblers?!

This got even stranger when I noticed in my RSPB book that the size given for Whitethroat Warblers was too small for these birds! No white ring around the eye but it is a difficult distance admittedly. In fact outside of the Barred Warbler none of the sizes quoted look like they could come close to these?!

On the description in YouTube I do a rundown of all the Warblers and ruling them out for one reason or another and I am left not really knowing. Exceptionally large Lesser Whitethroat Warblers is the only way I can describe them.

I will have to get my brother Ryan to look at the second video at some point.




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