An unusual Chiffchaff has been present in Farley wood since at least last Sunday when it was found by Steve Mann. The song is quite unlike that of the familiar Common Chiffchaff and the bird has a number of features which point to its identity as Iberian Chiffchaff, a rare visitor to Britain.
In bright sunlight the bird has white under parts flecked with yellow across the chest and on the flanks. The bill looks long and pointed compared to Common Chiffchaff and the lower mandible is orange fading darker towards the tip.
The legs and feet are dark, looking dark red in bright sunshine.
Silky white underparts flecked with yellow in bright sunlight and orange base to the bill |
When singing the bird has a habit of fluffing its breast feathers and lowering its body on to the branch whilst raising its rump feathers |
The primary projection and spacing is slightly different in the two species but is not clear on the photos I've obtained so far |
It often sits with the rump feathers raised, you may just be able to see the primary tips on this photo |
Primaries 7 and 8 look to have worn tips compared to primaries 1 to 6 |
Unfortunately the song is not typical of Iberian Chiffchaff although the notes that are present look to be typical of the notes used by Iberian Chiffchaff but there are notes missing from its typical song. The sonogram is shown below;
Sonogram for one 4 second phrase |
There are directions and further comments on the bird on Steve Mann's website.
I'm unable to embed the sound file so here is a link to it for now.
I'm happy to conclude that this bird is not Common Chiffchaff and its appearance is consitant with Iberian but I'm not sure about the song. It switches to a more Common Chiffchaff type song regularly although I have read that Iberian may do this.
Hybrids between the two species do occur and that must be a possibility although its appearance looks good for Iberian I think.
It's an interesting bird!
Hopefully the bird will remain for some time and we can confirm its identification.
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