Sylvia sp. (Central Spain) (2 Viewers)

[SLopezM]

Hello again. I found this bird yesterday in Guadalajara (Spain). The area included crops, a river, flooded areas and poplar trees plantations. What species is it?

 

[lou salomon]

Sylvia communis

 

[SLopezM]

Sylvia communis was an option for me, but Sylvia conspicillata too. What do you think about this?

 

[SLopezM]

Up!

 

[Deb Burhinus]

These are not really ideal images Sergio but It looks too robust and the wrong shape for conspicillata imo.

 

[SLopezM]

I am adding the same pictures but with a "better" light and "more" detail. I have checked the internet and my bird guide (Svensson's one) and I can't find the reason why it is Sylvia communis and not Sylvia conspicillata or Sylvia cantillans. Could you explain it to me taking into account the info (which I know is quite poor) given by these images? Thank you o !

 

[Brian J Small]

I'd be tempted to call this a young Spectacled Warbler.

It seems a small, thin-legged and fine-billed Sylvia. I like the warmth to the forehead and prominent black alula.

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/184903661

Pix are not ideal, but that is what I feel it is.

Brian

 

[Deb Burhinus]

I’m still struggling to see a Spectacled here, the relatively small head/thick necked, long body posture of the second image concern me. The iris colour in the second image looks pale? It’s hard to make much sense of the colour production imo and without seeing the tertial pattern or wing length, I’d not make a definitive ID here personally.I’ve seen f./imm Common Whitethroat with quite strong eye rings in fresh plumage so that doesnt bother me https://www.flickr.com/photos/75356438@N03/6933009382/in/photostream/lightbox/.

However, if Brian says he thinks it’s a Spectacled Warbler, I would take his opinion over mine as that is likely what it would be then (I couldn’t say definitely it is a Common Whitethroat either)

 

[KenM]

I'd be tempted to call this a young Spectacled Warbler.

It seems a small, thin-legged and fine-billed Sylvia. I like the warmth to the forehead and prominent black alula.

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/184903661

Pix are not ideal, but that is what I feel it is.

Brian

I agree, I think you’d be hard pressed to find images of Common Whitethroat with such an outlandish eye-ring!

Cheers

 

[Deb Burhinus]

it’s been uploaded to ebay as a Common Whitethroat https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=grewhi1&regionCode=&mediaType=p

I’m still not convinced this is a Spec (slightly unusually in a tree too)

 

[stuartelsom]

How much do they want for it Deb?

Sorry, couldn't resist that...

Stu

 

[Deb Burhinus]

How much do they want for it Deb?

Sorry, couldn't resist that...

Stu

just seen my typo :-O

(I suppose the value depends on the Spec )

 

[Nutcracker]

How much do they want for it Deb?

Sorry, couldn't resist that...

Stu

just seen my typo :-O

(I suppose the value depends on the Spec )

Can never be too sure - ebay came up as the sponsored link in a search I did a while back; printscreen below :eek!:

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

FWIW, it has the jizz of Spectacled W. to me, and the rufous of the wing seems good for Spec. and too wide for Common.

 

[SLopezM]

Thank you all for your answers. Today I saw my first S. communis and it doesn't completely match with the images I posted here. However, due to the bad quality of these pictures I guess I will keep it just as Sylvia sp. The main reason for this is that it would be my first S. conspicillata and I prefer to cross off my life list those species I am sure of.