Bird new to me

Graces7

As the birds come in to feed in this new place, am seeing some new to me here.

One I glimpsed once only; colour of a chaffinch but seemed to have a black ring round its neck?

Another came and considerately fed at my feet. I think a dunnock, but darker than the photos online. Dark brown with some darker markings. Robin sized and hopped not ran. Longish tail, v at end.

How wide a variation is there in colour and markings? The only alternative was an immature robin; but his tail was too long.

Thank you

Kess73

Graces7 wrote: »

As the birds come in to feed in this new place, am seeing some new to me here.

One I glimpsed once only; colour of a chaffinch but seemed to have a black ring round its neck?

Another came and considerately fed at my feet. I think a dunnock, but darker than the photos online. Dark brown with some darker markings. Robin sized and hopped not ran. Longish tail, v at end.

How wide a variation is there in colour and markings? The only alternative was an immature robin; but his tail was too long.

Thank you

A young robin would have a speckled front with no red, plus the time of year is wrong for one.

A dunnock is possible as their colours can vary from bird to bird, some are much darker than others and some can be quite light in colour. Another bird that has brown markings with other dark markings would be a male house sparrow, and they will feed near people.

The V at the tail is a puzzle as it is not a Dunnock or sparrow trait to have a very pronounced V.


Could it have been a redpoll? They can vary a lot in size from the lesser redpoll to the Artic redpoll, and can also vary a lot in colouration, from light with reds/pinks, to much darker birds with very little or no red.

It is not a great picture, but below is a redpoll on a feeder of mine. Whilst the picture is poor, it does give an idea of the tail.

[IMG][/img]


And here are a few more redpoll.

[IMG][/img]

Graces7

The tail on the redpoll is right; but this one was much darker and the markings hard to see. Just dark on dark, if that explains it.

No light markings at all.

He ate at my feet for a long time so I observed carefully.. Kind of him! Had he not come so close would not have noticed the markings. Thought at first he was a robin as he is the same size

I am very high up and isolated here. Will see again today maybe!

Thank you....

Kess73

some redpoll can be very dark on their backs and on their sides, sort of a black on brown almost.

We have resident redpoll in this country, but we get a lot of redpoll that migrate here for the winter too, and there can be three and sometimes four different types of redpoll within the one flock/area. They can vary an awful lot in size and in colouration.



The first bird that you saw has me a bit puzzled though.

Graces7

Fascinating; but he was dark all over.. I found a photo of a dunnock with a forked tail... That seems more likely; is the gait any help? Hopping rather than running?

The other one was a bare glimpse. I thought a chaffinch, then saw the dark band.

It has been too cold and snowy to watch much today; the blackbirds and thrushes are hogging the food.

I tend to live in very isolated places so am always learning. Watched a cuckoo all one summer and heard a grasshopper warbler that time also.

Am looking forward to the summer up here.

Kess73 wrote: »

some redpoll can be very dark on their backs and on their sides, sort of a black on brown almost.

We have resident redpoll in this country, but we get a lot of redpoll that migrate here for the winter too, and there can be three and sometimes four different types of redpoll within the one flock/area. They can vary an awful lot in size and in colouration.



The first bird that you saw has me a bit puzzled though.

Kess73

Graces7 wrote: »

Fascinating; but he was dark all over.. I found a photo of a dunnock with a forked tail... That seems more likely; is the gait any help? Hopping rather than running?

The other one was a bare glimpse. I thought a chaffinch, then saw the dark band.

It has been too cold and snowy to watch much today; the blackbirds and thrushes are hogging the food.

I tend to live in very isolated places so am always learning. Watched a cuckoo all one summer and heard a grasshopper warbler that time also.

Am looking forward to the summer up here.

The hopping suggests it is not a dunnock as they generally either use a shuffly gait or walk slowly along the edges of bushes etc looking for food. But They can hop, but normally only do so over very short distances, and would not be very prone to eating as close to a human as you described unless they were very used to that person or people being in their feeding area.

It does sound like the colouration you described matches that of a dunnock though.


A house sparrow will hop along though, in quite a bouncey manner, and a male one would be dark in colour on his back. Plus they can be very cheeky around people.

Graces7

Not a sparrow; I know them well...

And remember it is frozen solid up here; he was clearly very hungry.

We shall see:) Fascinating though; thank you

Kess73 wrote: »

The hopping suggests it is not a dunnock as they generally either use a shuffly gait or walk slowly along the edges of bushes etc looking for food. But They can hop, but normally only do so over very short distances, and would not be very prone to eating as close to a human as you described unless they were very used to that person or people being in their feeding area.

It does sound like the colouration you described matches that of a dunnock though.


A house sparrow will hop along though, in quite a bouncey manner, and a male one would be dark in colour on his back. Plus they can be very cheeky around people.