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Another bird please.

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:08 pm
by eccles
Is this a tree pipit?
Thanks..

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:41 pm
by Neil Hulme
Hi Mike,
Tree Pipit it is.
Neil

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:34 am
by Sooty
Where's the tree?

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 11:16 am
by eccles
Thanks Neil.
@Sooty, the tree is just out of the picture. :)

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:37 pm
by Zonda
Bird ID needed. Seen on Portland Bill today. Size of a blackbird, with conspicuous white rump, as it flew away. Flight a bit jay-like.

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:18 pm
by Denise
That would be a Wheatear Zonda.

Denise

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:14 am
by Zonda
I suppose it must be, and that's what my first thoughts were, Denise, but they both seemed too big, and i have seen wheatears in the past. However i've never noticed the striking white rump as they flew away, and the flight was slow and strange. This is at least the size of a song thrush. :?

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:53 am
by Mikhail
Perhaps the Greenland race of the Wheatear, which are larger.

Misha

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:06 am
by Zonda
You're possibly right. Is the white rump a feature in wheatears? :?

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:15 am
by Denise
The white rump is the definitive ID feature in a blackbird size bird flying away from you.
I agree with Misha, perhaps a Greenland Wheatear, although juvenile (juv) Wheatear sometimes look bigger than their parents too. All that sitting about and being fed :D

Denise

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:36 am
by Zonda
Well, i think we'll call that an id then, thank you both for your input. :D

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:33 am
by Mikhail
A pedant writes: not only is the white rump a defining character, it is also the reason for the bird's name, which comes from the Old English hwit ears=white arse. The old pronunciation has been passed on orally almost unchanged, except for the loss of the s. The modern spelling is an example of folk etymology after the original meaning of the name had been lost sight of.

Misha

Re: Another bird please.

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:55 pm
by Zonda
Now that's interesting. :o