The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Help needed please? 11am saw a Pipit sized bird, very much like a Water Pipit BUT with a pale yellow crown with a dark stripe through the middle? Seen in the far corner opposite the car-park, chased off by some feeding Wigeon. Possible imm Shore Lark maybe?
Also saw 2 Little Auks at see and a number of Red-Breasted-Mergansers.

This is a Shore Lark:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/shorelark/index.aspx

If what you saw IS a Shore Lark, I think I know what I'll be doing tomorrow afternoon!

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Definitely similar, not much of the yellow colouring on the throat though, immature?

May be winter, or non-breeding plumage.... does the yellowness fade in the winter, anyone?

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Not sure what this could be, Shorelarks have a mix of black and yellow around the head (including yellow on the forehead, but not the crown as such)....Little Auk is another rare bird at Freiston Shore, I think all but one record (of probably around eight records in the past 10 years) has been in Oct/Nov.

Cheers,

John

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

The standard discription for the head area of Shore Lark is contrasting pattern of yellow face and throat, black lores and cheeks and a broad black gorget.

However both females and young males have less black, and in both sexes the black is
often obscured after the autumn moult
rendering the head pattern less striking. This is probably what Ron saw!
I noted this in my records from the winter of 1973/4 when we had quite an influx on the east coast together with Snow Buntings which they seemed to readily associate with.
I must say though please keep detailed field notes particularly
when you are less certain. Over many years of birdwatching I have found this
to be an excellent practice to maintain and may go a long way towards getting a rare
record accepted

The description doesn't fit Shorelark, but might be ok for Yellowhammer. Plus they are more common than Shorelark, especially this year which has been pretty bad for them.

Paul, have been birding 25 years now, definitely not a Yellowhammer. I have seen a Shore Lark many years ago near Maxey Pits (Nth P'bro). The unusual thing about this bird was the it's crown, Lemon Yellow, quite bright and broken by a fuzzy blackish central stripe. Upper breast had pale dots and small black patches under the eyes. Flesh coloured legs and a very dark near black tail. Almost sure it was a imm Shore Lark unless somebody knows better, or has seen it?

Immature Shorelark has the same basic pattern to the adult, neither of which have a yellow crown with a dark stripe through it. The whole description is intriguing, but I see no reason to suspect Shorelark from it.

...and Shore Larks have blackish legs, not flesh coloured ones. Perhaps it'll stick around, whatever it is,
Phil