Thursday 28 October 2010

Scilly Wednesday 27th October

A couple of quiet days with few new birds were interrupted today with news of a Dusky Warbler at Higher Moors. I have seen a couple of these Siberian rarities but never very well, so I thought I would believe the reports of it 'showing well' when I saw it. It did in fact prove relatively easy to see, calling regularly and hopping about in sallows and willows just over the heads of small crowd of admirers. Photographing it was another story, however as it rarely came to the outer branches and its constant movement confused the auto-focus of even the best cameras. I eventually managed a couple of respectable images manually focusing through small gaps in the vegetation when it paused to eat an insect. The shot above of the bird hopping away reveals the characteristic apricot undertail coverts which were otherwise not always obvious. The brightness of the legs and feet were, however, striking and the call very distinctive. The yellow lower mandible on the fine bill was also noticable.

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