Siberian Chiffchaff

While I was doing the usual early morning walk on Portland today, Graham and Duncan Walbridge went down to Radipole to get a look at yesterdays Siberian chiffchaff. The bird wasn't showing as well as it was yesterday and the weather was pretty grotty but Duncan managed to get a few photos of it, which he's kindly allowed me to use here;



This shot shows the 'buffy' supercillium fairly well, and also the buffy-white underparts.

















You can just about see the 'greyish-buff' tone to the crown, nape and ear coverts here. The bright green fringes to the flight feathers are just visible. these are more obvious than on most tristis but well within expected variation.


Of course, the main thing that I can't show here is the call. Graham and Duncan heard the bird calling frequently this morning and agreed that it was bang on for tristis.

You may have noticed that the brief description I wrote on here last night was pretty shit. On seeing the bird I just thought 'oh, thats a Siberian Chiffchaff, how nice' and didnt really think about taking notes. Then, this morning I flicked through this months BB down the Obs and saw the articles about how important it is to take good notes on this species, particularly with regards to colour tone, oops.
Anyway, i'm going into Weymouth later this afternoon to see if the Caspian Gull shows up at Radipole before going off to roost (it was seen in Weymouth Bay this morning). So i'll have another look for the chiffchaff and try and take a few more photos.