Bird discussions and identification

Heard a very loud continuous bird song which led to sighting a small yellow bird with bright orange beak sitting on my TV arial. Hunted down my camera and here this little bird is, about the size of a sparrow.

Not a sign of it in my guide to European birds and cannot ID it on the internet.

Anyone have an idea what this bird is please? Yellow with orange beak and loud continuous song. Fast flyer.

No idea, but impressive what you can do with a good camera!

Some kind of Warbler?

Yes a warbler, and I’d guess a juvenile goldcrest or wood warbler.

Just found what this bird might be from the Woodland Trust website. A Willow Warbler maybe? Not sure.

The camera is a Nikon D750 and the lens is 80 to 400 VR Nikkor Zoom (vibration control).

willow warbler

Don’t think it’s a juvenile Goldcrest Jane. Get plenty of Goldcrests at my bird bath. What is clearly distinctive in my warbler (think it must be a warbler) is the bright orange beak. Goldcrests don’t have orange beaks, not in my garden.

As I watched it with the naked eye up high on the TV arial, it was distinctly yellow with brown back and that bright orange beak, as in the second photo.

Bruce I can highly recommend RSPB for bird identification. If you can, record the song and post it to the RSPB website along with your super photos (very envious!). They identified the sound that quail make for me.

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I shall look up the RSPB thank you Sue.

While on the subject of birds I came across 2 videos of starling murmurations - the first really quite dramatic in B&W and the other really quite poetic with wonderful background music ( in my opinion!).

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I saw one for real once, an incredible sight!

Could it be a flycatcher, with that orange beak? Forget what I said, there are about a zillion different birds called flycatcher :pensive::pensive::pensive: I am really rubbish as a twitcher

I’ve seen one, just over a year ago it was spectacular

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Definitely looks warbler-like. The lighter eye patch is also usually a useful indication, but distinct bar through eye doesn’t appear to have developed yet, so maybe juvenile willow warbler. Were the legs pink/orange, as that’s usually a way of distinguishing between chiffchaff (black legs) and willow warbler (orange/pink).

After further investigation/inspection, I would suggest an icterine warbler

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You could well be right Alex. This is an absolutely super video of it singing - does this sound familiar Bruce?
Icterine warbler singing

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@spj re warbler warbling :heart::broken_heart:

Exquisite song, words fail… :pray:

If the warbler comes back to its tv arial perch I’ll endeavour to record its song Sue. The bird in Alex’s video looks similar in appearance but wasn’t aware of a raised ruff around the head when my bird was singing. The beak colour looks similar but the top beak is dark in the video whereas in my photo both halves of the beak appear to be orange, but could be due to the angle of the sun shining through the beak.

I shall keep my smartphone handy and camera telephoto ready for its reappearance!

@Bonzocat Good luck! I have been trying to photo what I think may be a white throat - I have recorded their song, but they are annoyingly coy - just in the topmost branches. I may have to post just the song to the RSPB.

Found the only photo of the warbler showing its legs…pink?..black? The left leg looks a tad pink to me Alex

pink legs

Taken from oiseaux.net
Bruce it’s probably one of these!!!
Family : Phylloscopidae
Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix Pouillot siffleur
Western Bonelli’s Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli Pouillot de Bonelli
Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler Phylloscopus orientalis Pouillot oriental
Hume’s Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus humei Pouillot de Hume
Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus Pouillot à grands sourcils
Pallas’s Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus Pouillot de Pallas
Radde’s Warbler Phylloscopus schwarzi Pouillot de Schwarz
Dusky Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus Pouillot brun
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus Pouillot fitis
Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita Pouillot véloce
Iberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus ibericus Pouillot ibérique
Two-barred Warbler Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus Pouillot à deux barres
Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides Pouillot verdâtre
Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis Pouillot boréal
Family : Acrocephalidae
Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus Rousserolle turdoïde
Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon Lusciniole à moustaches
Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola Phragmite aquatique
Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus Phragmite des joncs
Paddyfield Warbler Acrocephalus agricola Rousserolle isabelle
Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum Rousserolle des buissons
Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus Rousserolle effarvatte
Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris Rousserolle verderolle
Booted Warbler Iduna caligata Hypolaïs bottée
Sykes’s Warbler Iduna rama Hypolaïs rama
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Iduna pallida Hypolaïs pâle
Western Olivaceous Warbler Iduna opaca Hypolaïs obscure
Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta Hypolaïs polyglotte
Icterine Warbler Hippolais icterina Hypolaïs ictérine
Family : Locustellidae
Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler Helopsaltes fasciolatus Locustelle fasciée
Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler Helopsaltes certhiola Locustelle de Pallas
Lanceolated Warbler Locustella lanceolata Locustelle lancéolée
Common Grasshopper Warbler Locustella naevia Locustelle tachetée
River Warbler Locustella fluviatilis Locustelle fluviatile
Savi’s Warbler