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Yellow feathered bird in Lake District, England (1 Viewer)

sf2

Member
Again....not very good photos....but you can see it has yellow feathers. I have tried identifying using the RSPB site but it only suggests a wagtail of sorts. It was definitely bigger than that.
I saw this at Haweswater resevoir in the Lake District, England.

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A sane suggestion could be male Siskin - but it looks more like a bunting in structure!

(cross posted with Steve, so its a Siskin then ;) )
 
When you lighten up the photo it seems to show a black cap, and a black bib more clearly than before.
This adds much weight to the male siskin theory. The yellowhammer would not be like this at all.
 
Thank you :)

Please bear with me...I am new to all this identifying birds :) I am succesfully managing many....but are siskins not quite small? That was why I discounted it. I think this bird was about blackbird size....but I might be wrong because I was some distance away.

I am going to listen to a recording of the noise a siskin makes. It was the noise that attracted me to it. It was a singular, maybe 2 second, high pitched whistle.
 
I have listened to the song of a siskin....it just doesn't sound quite right. It was very high pitched and I was a good distance away.
 
Thank you :)

Please bear with me...I am new to all this identifying birds :) I am succesfully managing many....but are siskins not quite small? That was why I discounted it. I think this bird was about blackbird size....but I might be wrong because I was some distance away.

I am going to listen to a recording of the noise a siskin makes. It was the noise that attracted me to it. It was a singular, maybe 2 second, high pitched whistle.

I'm a newbie too, but a LOT of people that see a bird always think that it must be a 'rarer' bird than it is - I myself have been down this road too ;)

99.9999999999999999999999999% of the time it's going to be a regular bird to a particular place and not something more special.

Guide books, bird websites, Google and - last but not at all least - the members on this forum will steer you in the right direction (as they did here).

You did well taking the photos and especially well remembering its call. A call is a great back up because if you can't determine a bird from photos then a call will usually be the deciding judgement on what it is.

Enjoy your birding - it's a fantastic way to spend your free time.
 
99.9999999999999999999999999% of the time it's going to be a regular bird to a particular place and not something more special.

...I think you missed a nine or two o:)....a well summed up common scenario. Often, when the inexperienced see something common very well for the first time, its such a special and personal experience. One they have never had before - even though they think they have had their eyes open, its just got to be something out of the ordinary, very understandable!

It must be said though, that non-birdy folk famously do find screaming rarities very occaisonally so one must be aware of that too when someone says they saw a new bird,smaller than a sparrow with bright blue on the wings for example - it may not be a Blue Tit.


You did well taking the photos and especially well remembering its call. A call is a great back up because if you can't determine a bird from photos then a call will usually be the deciding judgement on what it is.

Enjoy your birding - it's a fantastic way to spend your free time.

Agree on all counts :t:
 
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Thank you everyone!

seriously....every single bird is special to me. Recently I had decided to sit in my garden as a sort of mindfulness exercise. Just sit there and observe what was going on. It was incredible! I watched a pair of blackbirds chase off a magpie ...and what a noise they made! I watched the sparrows go back and forwards to their nest next door. The pigeons....well, they are just so funny! Ordinary, every day birds....but just worth really watching. As I sat there (lazily!) on my chair, I watched the sparrowhawk circle, hover then swoop! It is so ordinary but how often do we take the time out of our busy days to do this?

I did know a little from my childhood days but never really paid attention.

So, even if it is telling the difference between a blackbird and a starling, it is an absolute buzz to me! It is like entering a new world that has been here all the time.

So, rare birds are good.....but I am just so happy to be able to identify ordinary, common birds with confidence :) You guys are helping me with that!
 
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