Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat?

Dave Bradbeer · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:58 pm

Unfortunately the bird is in a private garden in the Tetney area and the owner requests total privacy so no access i'm afraid, I have placed a couple of record pics in the discussion section of the album showing the two most salient features of this race, ( halimodendri ), after much googling last night the experts say that any Lesser Whitethroat at this time of year is almost certainly a Central Asian, i'm not saying it is or isn't but the features look good to me, all comments welcome as i have no experience of the different races of the species, the bird has been present for about a month apparently. I was taken to the house this morning by a friend of mine whose relative is the householder and i managed to take a couple of poor record shots, also a short video clip which i will post when i figure out how!, anyone know?.

Anthony Bentley · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:22 pm

Looks good to me. halimodendri is the most likely especially with the white outer tail feathers. Would need to get it in hand to confirm though or pick up a feather

Dave Bradbeer · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:58 pm

A couple of short video clips, first attempt at youtube so fingers crossed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TK-l2LBVSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVp5-VjW4Eo

*Bear in mind the light was very poor and the mantle did look paler in certain light/angles.

Chris Atkin · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2014 7:29 pm

Did you hear it call Dave? The Donna Nook bird in Nov 2011 was believed to probably be a Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat and gave a number of distinctive tit-like rattling calls. I heard a similar brief rattle at the start of one of your clips which may have come from the bird but can't be sure.

Chris

Stephen Routledge · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2014 7:46 pm

Just reiterating what Chris has wrote,the bird which Graham and Neil Drinkall found at Donna Nook in Nov 2011,was heard to give a very distinct call and also had the unusual habit for a Lesser throat of wanting to always feed low down and on the ground while we watched it.See Graham's excellent pics on his blog showing how distinct this bird was.

Steve.

Dave Bradbeer · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:08 pm

Yes i did my homework before i went and was hoping the bird would call, maybe it did but i did'nt hear it as i was concentrating on trying to get a decent photo ( failing miserably! ), interestingly the bird always approached the feeding area low down through a hedge.

Graham Catley · **Joined:** Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:20 pm **Posts:** 1667

no reflection on the difficult circumstances of the video evidence but finer details clearly not visible but from what I can see; ear covert mask looks a bit obvious? - the pale panel in the closed secs and inner prims looks obvious and it does look pretty pale overall on the uppers -- would be nice to have some good stills -- these are the shots of the Donna bird

http://pewit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/des ... hroat.html
http://pewit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/few ... hroat.html
http://pewit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/central-asian.html

The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat?

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