Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring Visitors i Bird ID Photo Guides

Basic Principles Warbler’ is a delightful small warbler of the Mediterranean region, where it typically ‘Subalpine favours scrub interspersed with taller bushes on dry slopes. It is a summer migrant, returning in March and April from its winter quarters in Africa. It has traditionally been treated as a single species, although significant variation in plumage and calls across its range has long been recognised and multiple subspecies have been described. In recent years, these subspecies have come under increasing scrutiny and, assisted by evidence from genetic analysis, their true distinctiveness has been fully revealed. ‘Subalpine Warbler’ was split by the British Ornithologists’ Union’s Records Committed (BOURC) in 2014 into two species: Subalpine Warbler (with four subspecies) and Moltoni’s Warbler (monotypic). Within the former, two western subspecies were generally grouped together…

Basic Principles The species pair of Willow Warbler and Common Chiffchaff is one of the classic identification problems. While many individuals are straightforward to separate with practice, the occasional bird can still perplex even the most experienced birder. And nowadays there is another challenge: Iberian Chiffchaff. Only recently recognised as a full species, it is being found annually in Britain. It combines the appearance of both Willow Warbler and Common Chiffchaff; indeed so similar is it to its siblings that at present acceptance relies on its distinctive song or call. Common Chiffchaff This is a very common species across a very large breeding range which extends from Ireland in the west to Siberia in the east. There are a number of subspecies, but those of most relevance are the nominate…

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Basic Principles Larks are ground-living birds generally associated with grassland habitats, and are well known for their habit of singing in flight. The open landscapes of southern Europe and north Africa are home to a wide variety of lark species, posing considerable identification challenges, but only two species are generally resident in the UK: Eurasian Skylark and Woodlark. Of these two, the former is by far the most abundant and widespread, with an estimated 1.5 million breeding territories, compared to between 2,000 and 3,000 Woodlark territories. During the breeding season, Eurasian Skylark can be found in almost every 10-km square in the UK, while Woodlarks are confined to their core breeding areas, which are open forests or heathlands in East Anglia, the New Forest, the Thames Basin and Devon, with…

Basic Principles There is a select suite of species on the radar of every birder in autumn – regular enough to offer a realistic chance of discovery (weather and location permitting), yet statistically scarce and consequently always a welcome find. Near the top of this migrant hit-list are Icterine and Melodious Warblers, a species pair that breeds on the Continent and occurs in Britain and Ireland in autumn and, to a much lesser extent, spring. Known colloquially as ‘Hippos’, Icterine and Melodious Warblers form the western species pair in the genus Hippolais (the ‘tree warblers’). This genus is now half its former size, with Booted, Sykes’s and Eastern and Western Olivaceous Warblers recently hived off into a separate genus, Iduna, along with three African species. The eastern duo of Olive-tree…

Basic Principles Locustella warblers are among the most secretive and hence most enigmatic birds of all. In spring most of us will come across a Grasshopper Warbler, if only by sound, but there are two other vagrant possibilities to bear in mind: Savi’s and River Warblers. Both are very rare, but have the potential to turn up almost anywhere with suitable habitat. Grasshopper Warbler This species has a large Palearctic breeding range stretching from Ireland in the west to Mongolia in the east. The nominate subspecies breeds in western and central Europe and western Russia, and winters in west sub-Saharan Africa. Two or perhaps three other forms breed from the Caucasus across Asia, and some of them winter in the Indian subcontinent. Grasshopper Warbler is exclusively a summer visitor to…

Basic Principles The species that until recently was known simply as Yellow Wagtail has a remarkable breeding distribution, extending from north-west Africa and westernmost Europe across much of Eurasia to western and northern Alaska, and even into extreme north-west Canada. Unsurprisingly in such a vast range with so many habitats and differences in climate, various populations have evolved different plumages, vocal characteristics and habitat preferences. Some of these distinctions have long been recognised at subspecies level, but more recent research into the genetics of the different forms has led to species-level division into Western and Eastern Yellow Wagtails, a view adopted by the IOC World Bird List and followed by the British Ornithologists’ Union’s Records Committee and the Irish Rare Birds Committee. In contrast, however, Dutch taxonomic authorities divide western…

Basic Principles The identification of the ‘black-and-white flycatchers’ is one of the most troublesome problems around. Pied Flycatcher is the default species in Britain, but Collared Flycatcher is a viable target, albeit a very rare one. Although typical spring males of these two species are normally (though not always!) straightforward to identify, more serious problems are posed by spring females, first-winter birds, hybrids and the outside chance of even rarer forms. Pied Flycatcher This species breeds widely across central and northern Europe (including Scandinavia) and western Russia and winters in central west Africa. April sees the return of British breeders to western woodlands and Continental birds can appear on eastern coasts. In early autumn, Pied Flycatchers are scarce migrants, though large ‘falls’ of European birds can occur on the east…

Basic Principles Of all the warblers, three unstreaked Acrocephalus species – Reed, Marsh and Blyth’s Reed – are the most notorious, seemingly specially designed to confound the birder. They are relatively uniform and featureless in appearance, their plumage hues are ever changing with the light and they are notoriously skulking and difficult to observe. Furthermore, only Reed Warbler is common, so the chances to gain British experience of the other two species are few and far between. No wonder, then, that an encounter with one of these birds can make the heart sink. Reed Warbler This is a common breeding bird of reedbeds throughout England and Wales – and indeed throughout most of Europe apart from the north – where singing birds are easy to find. The species is also…

Basic Principles The Yellow Wagtail complex is notorious for its proliferation of subspecies and its great variety of age, sex and season-related plumages. The situation in Britain is relatively straightforward, with flavissima Yellow Wagtail the regular breeding taxon and nominate flava Blue-headed Wagtail a somewhat scarcer but nonetheless regular and relatively familiar migrant. Complicating matters, however, are scarcer, rare or potentially vagrant subspecies from the Continent. What’s more, intergrades between the recognised subspecies are frequent (they are the dominant type in some areas), while birds with anomalous plumage resembling a distant subspecies can occur seemingly anywhere. It is no wonder that the Yellow Wagtails have long been a minefield for both birders and taxonomists. There is, however, some order and structure within the group, with certain groupings discernible. These may…

Basic Principles There are 10 species of lark on the British list, but only four occur here regularly. With its yellow and black head pattern, Shore Lark is distinctive in its own right, but the other three are all brown and streaky. Of these, by far the commonest and most familiar is Eurasian Skylark. It is a bird of open ground, particularly associated with arable farmland, but it can be found breeding throughout most of rural Britain and Ireland. There is no doubt that, in historical times, Eurasian Skylark increased considerably with the spread of agriculture. In recent years, however, numbers have once again declined, an inevitable result of agricultural intensification. Although considered a resident, there is a general autumn retreat from high ground and some southward withdrawal, when large…