At about 1pm on Tuesday, I was coming down past the Upper School on Po Toi when a redstart flew in front of me on to an overhanging branch at the Lower School. When I looked at it, I could see it was a grey colour, wrong and too dark for a Daurian Redstart, and when it turned around I could see it did not have a white patch on the wing.
I started taking photos following the bird as it went down the steps. In a few minutes it reached the bottom and flew off towards the tall trees around the jetty. I did not see it again.
My first thoughts were Black Redstart but when I looked through the photos later that evening, certain things did not fit and I now think it is possibly a first winter female? Blue-fronted Redstart. Here are the photos in sections, the last photo in each section is a Daurian Redstart for comparison
From this view you can see the different wing pattern, also note the red on the tail of the X Redstart does not reach the end of the tail, a feature of Blue-fronted. The wings of this bird are longer than those of the Daurian, and when held tightly together the red rump is not visible.
Note the grey colour by comparison with Daurian. Also the striking eye-ring, the flecking of orange on the lower belly and the red undertail again does not reach the end of the tail.
Note the slight mottling on the breast, the blue flecking around the head, the upper wing, scapulars and mantle and again the red on the tail does not reach the end.
Some other points to note. I did not see the X Redstart 'shivver' its tail. Also it made a fairly continuous call, 'tic tic' much like a European Robin.
Looking at OrientalBirdImages, this bird looks most like a female Blue-fronted, some of which have the blue flecking around the head, with the mottled breast suggesting a first winter bird? Or maybe it's something else?
Help from the experts gratefully accepted.
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Last edited by wgeoff at 15/12/2009 05:07 ]
