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| Marsh Warbler ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
If you saw the culvert I keep on raving about you'd probably frown and ask "Is that it?" It's just a tiny little stream with bushes growing over it, surrounded by concrete walls. But because of
where it is- Faneromeni - it's a migrant magnet until it dries up. This Year it was full of flycatchers and warblers, and when I photographed this bird on 20th April I didn't realise that it was early for Lesvos. Two days later another birder claimed it as the earliest ever! It stuck around all week so quite a few people saw it which is great. Let's see if my pictures can convince you all...
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
This bird didn't have such bright yellow tarsi as the Tsiknias one but I got enough other features to clinch it. In pale-legged Reeds the claws are still blackish whereas this bird had pale claws. Its eye-ring is also very white, however it doesn't have much of a supercilium which concurs with the recent Couzens & Nurney
I.D.Insights publication which deals with Spring Marsh/Reed and says the super is "less distinct" in Marsh. The Collins guide also says this but adds that the eye-ring is "more prominent" in Marsh also.In my ancient
Birds of Europe (1992), Lars Jonsson says "pale eye-ring predominates over supercilium". Lars also adds that the "best distinction is its more contrasting wing: tertials dark with well-defined pale fringes, primary tips ( 8 visible ) have pale border, usually visible in field." He then goes on about emargination which is where my brain crashed and I needed to break for tea & biscuits to reboot it. Old Lars was quite thorough, wasn't he?
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
These shots show the primaries, which are darker than Reed Warbler and more evenly spaced. The tips ( or fringes ) appear paler and more contrasting than in Reed. The primary projection is long, although the tertials don't look as good as they might but it's not the best photograph. The iris looks paler than I would expect also, but that I put down to the Sun shining on it. Finally, the rump in the above picture looks too rusty! I seem to be talking down my own bird, don't I? Well, I would welcome comments from Acro-experts to clarify these complaints but I'm not giving up on Marsh. The 'kinder' facial expression and pale claws plus long prim.proj. are enough I hope.
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| Marsh Warbler? ( Copyright T D Wright ) |
N.B. If I can find a picture which illustrates this emargination beyond the closed secondaries well I'll post it at a later date. That's enough for today!
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ReplyDeleteHi Tim. Have to say when I saw your pics I thought Marsh, lovely plain pale face, big prims with obvious pale tips. But looking at it closer the wing formula is wrong for Marsh. Although this isn't always a good thing to do with a photo, the emargination on P3 starts inside the tips of the tertials, and although we can't see the tip of P2 it is not in line with P3, more inline with P4. If you click on the link here I have added some red lines on one of your photos (that I have also made horizontal)
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