What is this bird?

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What is this bird?

Sunday January 25, 2015 by Fiona H

Is there someone in the village who knows what this bird is, I took poor photos of it 20 mins ago in our garden. Been through the books and struggling to identify it, thought initially it was a wagtail, but the markings are not quite right. It looks most like a Shore Lark, but if it is it must be lost!

Lynn C

Posted in Environment, Ornithology, Photography | 4 Comments

4 Responses

on Sunday January 25, 2015 at 10:46 am | Reply Peter T

Tried photoshopping the photo to help:

Then fed the characteristics into the RSPB bird identifier, but got no matches.

I wonder if it is a juvenile yellow wagtail, though we don’t get many, there are some about? Though, as you say Lynn, the markings are wrong.
on Sunday January 25, 2015 at 10:49 am | Reply Steve J

Hi Lynn

It looks like a juvenile pied (or maybe white) wagtail from what I can see from the photo.
on Sunday January 25, 2015 at 10:59 am | Reply Peter T

Did a search for images of juvenile yellow wagtail, and got this image linked to a discussion forum (see http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=207314 )

Though the image file was named pied wagtail?
on Sunday January 25, 2015 at 11:12 am | Reply Lynn C

Thank you for your help Peter and Steve. I think it must be a Pied Wagtail in its first winter plumage. I found this link and it looks very similar. http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/902/t/33370.aspx
A new species for our garden anyway!