Dagenham Chase, Essex, UK (1 Viewer)

[Animornith]

A single bird which flew overhead today which has somewhat stumped me, I'm not expecting a definite ID from this but I can't really find any likely options, so any ideas would be really helpful:

Brownish, roughly the size of a skylark, fairly stocky, fairly short tail, bill short as far as I could tell, wings on the long side compared to the average passerine, rounded wingtips

Flight call a harsh, buzzy, fairly low double note on the same pitch, given frequently

While visible it appeared to be flying in a huge circle around a body of water, if that information's at all helpful.

Thanks,

Neil

 

[PYRTLE]

So the flight was both level and undulating?

My initial thought is Corn Bunting, they can whirr their wings before alighting on a bush, wire or similar exposed perch. Buzzing call in flight can be a Lapland Bunting, though that would be a scarce bird for the Chase?

Have a listen to www.xeno-canto.org for bird calls.

 

[Animornith]

So the flight was both level and undulating?

Sorry, I just meant level in the sense of no rocking side to side or acrobatic stuff. Ignore undulating on second thought, that probably wasn't a helpful thing to say here.

I'm still checking for Corn and Lapland Bunting but neither sounds right so far

 

[PJSharp]

Redpoll?

 

[dogfish]

Agree. Call sounds like redpoll. Size often hard to judge if no familiar species nearby for comparison

 

[Animornith]

Redpoll is possible, I'm starting to think I must have been mistaken somewhere with the physical appearance. This is the problem with trying to ID something from just a description of course...

 

[PJSharp]

It's hard to judge the size of a single bird in flight, and the other possibility is the bird you heard was different to the bird you saw ( maybe a Skylark after all). I am hearing a few Redpoll in flight over my house in suburban Kent, migrating birds, and it takes me a moment to recognise the call away from more typical Redpoll habitat. All the best Paul