An enjoyable morning with plenty of birds flying over and a respectable number of grounded passerines in the bushes. Today there was an increase in Ouzel action with three birds present in Hope Bottom. Overhead, highlights consisted of a Yellowhammer and lots of Reed Buntings, and my first Redpolls of the autumn were cooperative enough to land instead of bombing over like all the other Finches. Jackdaws and Stock Doves dominated very early on but thankfully the Jackdaws subsided in numbers which meant I could hear everything else flying over.
I suppose the highlight was a pale Ficedula Flycatcher that on initial impressions appeared fairly consistent with a Collared Flycatcher, and judging by all the feedback online, Collared Flycatcher was a worthy shout at the time of observation.
Whilst I was walking along the top edge of Hope Bottom, I was honestly thinking to myself how I hadn't seen a Pied Flycatcher this year. At this very moment, I noticed a Ficedula fly past me and land on the barbed wire fence directly in front of me. The rear half of the bird was obscured by a fence post, though it had already given off the impression of being a paler bird then one might expect from your bog-standard autumn Pied Flycatcher. Trying to shuffle to my right only made the bird fly off, but to my delight it gave a strong hint of a pale rump patch. The Flycatcher had only flown maybe 50 yards onto a row of bushes, again partially hidden, but showed off a distinct amount of white on the primaries. Despite a few photos taken, it wasn't until the bird flew on top of a semi-distant hawthorn where I managed to fire off an array of photos. These photos could be critical in working out the bird's identification. Frustratingly a low flying flock of Meadow Pipits either scared or attracted the Flycatcher, and it flew off NW towards South Hill Barn in company with the Pipits. This was my last sighting of the bird despite searching all likely areas.
Some of the features including the hint of a pale collar, paler rump seen well in flight and plenty of white in the primaries led me to believe that this was probably a female-type Collared Flycatcher. Understandably at this time I aired caution on the matter due to this being a less-than straightforward identification and the fact the bird had seemingly buggered off. I had sent a couple of people some boc shots of the bird. With mixed reactions as a result, I felt compelled to stay safe and put the bird out as a Pied Flycatcher among the list of other birds I had seen this morning.
Doubts in my mind were then re-generated as a message from Allan Conlin arrived, basically stating I should re-consider my initial tweet, and throughout the day all of the feedback received was positive to the bird being a female-type Collared Flycatcher. Many thanks Allan for all your help today! It is of course worth mentioning that these female Ficedula Flycatchers are extremely tricky to identify, and reaching a conclusion on the true identity of this bird may never be reached.
Despite the bird having flown off, there is some distance between Seaford Head and the first set of houses and gardens to the north, and therefore the bird could well be in the area with the car park bushes or the eastern edge of the golf course being the likely sites to re-find this monster bird, that if accepted, will be the second record for Sussex.
After Seaford Head, I had a great time in the Cuckmere photographing the confiding Grey Phalarope.
Totals for the morning:
Yellowhammer - 1 E
Reed Bunting - 25 W
Stock Dove - ca. 750 E&W
Woodpigeon - ca. 200 E
Ring Ouzel - 3
Chiffchaff - 20
Goldcrest - 10
Lesser Redpoll - 2 W
Siskin - 5 E
Brambling - 3 W
Collared Flycatcher - 1 probable 08.49-08.51
Marsh Harrier - 1 W
Grey Wagtail - 3 W
This very striking capture of the bird shows the quite obvious paler area on the nape forming the hint of a collar. The thick edges to the tertials is clearly apparent, as are the thick white bases to the primaries.
This image mercifully portrays one of my original fields notes - the paler rump patch. The extensive white edges to the tertials again obvious here.
The above two images are the same, but zoomed in on the lower image to emphasise the extensive bases to the primaries.
Another image emphasising the pale collar. The pattern of the pale area is what I would expect in a male Collared Flycatcher as it expands towards the centre of the nape.....if only it was an adult male.
I suppose the highlight was a pale Ficedula Flycatcher that on initial impressions appeared fairly consistent with a Collared Flycatcher, and judging by all the feedback online, Collared Flycatcher was a worthy shout at the time of observation.
Whilst I was walking along the top edge of Hope Bottom, I was honestly thinking to myself how I hadn't seen a Pied Flycatcher this year. At this very moment, I noticed a Ficedula fly past me and land on the barbed wire fence directly in front of me. The rear half of the bird was obscured by a fence post, though it had already given off the impression of being a paler bird then one might expect from your bog-standard autumn Pied Flycatcher. Trying to shuffle to my right only made the bird fly off, but to my delight it gave a strong hint of a pale rump patch. The Flycatcher had only flown maybe 50 yards onto a row of bushes, again partially hidden, but showed off a distinct amount of white on the primaries. Despite a few photos taken, it wasn't until the bird flew on top of a semi-distant hawthorn where I managed to fire off an array of photos. These photos could be critical in working out the bird's identification. Frustratingly a low flying flock of Meadow Pipits either scared or attracted the Flycatcher, and it flew off NW towards South Hill Barn in company with the Pipits. This was my last sighting of the bird despite searching all likely areas.
Some of the features including the hint of a pale collar, paler rump seen well in flight and plenty of white in the primaries led me to believe that this was probably a female-type Collared Flycatcher. Understandably at this time I aired caution on the matter due to this being a less-than straightforward identification and the fact the bird had seemingly buggered off. I had sent a couple of people some boc shots of the bird. With mixed reactions as a result, I felt compelled to stay safe and put the bird out as a Pied Flycatcher among the list of other birds I had seen this morning.
Doubts in my mind were then re-generated as a message from Allan Conlin arrived, basically stating I should re-consider my initial tweet, and throughout the day all of the feedback received was positive to the bird being a female-type Collared Flycatcher. Many thanks Allan for all your help today! It is of course worth mentioning that these female Ficedula Flycatchers are extremely tricky to identify, and reaching a conclusion on the true identity of this bird may never be reached.
Despite the bird having flown off, there is some distance between Seaford Head and the first set of houses and gardens to the north, and therefore the bird could well be in the area with the car park bushes or the eastern edge of the golf course being the likely sites to re-find this monster bird, that if accepted, will be the second record for Sussex.
After Seaford Head, I had a great time in the Cuckmere photographing the confiding Grey Phalarope.
Totals for the morning:
Yellowhammer - 1 E
Reed Bunting - 25 W
Stock Dove - ca. 750 E&W
Woodpigeon - ca. 200 E
Ring Ouzel - 3
Chiffchaff - 20
Goldcrest - 10
Lesser Redpoll - 2 W
Siskin - 5 E
Brambling - 3 W
Collared Flycatcher - 1 probable 08.49-08.51
Marsh Harrier - 1 W
Grey Wagtail - 3 W
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| Ring Ouzel in Hope Bottom |
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| probable (fem-type) Collared Flycatcher |
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| probable (fem-type) Collared Flycatcher |
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| probable (fem-type) Collared Flycatcher |
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Pied Flycatcher on Seaford Head
in August 2013.
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| Lesser Redpoll at South Hill Barn |
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| Grey Phalarope at Cuckmere Haven |
