Please can someone help me identify a bird which has just started visiting my garden?

[elin]

I'm really stuck to identify a bird which has regularly started to visit my Cardiff city garden - or should I say my urban jungle. It only fits the description of a nightingale but I know it cant be that ( I dont know much else though!). So please if anyone can put me out of my misery and come up with an answer or contact me fro more details I'd be eternally grateful. Thanks a million in anticipation of some expertise!!!

[Odonate]

Hi Elin

Welcome to the forum. I am guessing that your idea of Nightingale might be based on the fact that the bird has a reddish brown tail and is uniformly coloured apart from that. If so, you might want to look at some pictures of female or 1st winter Black Redstart which would also fit the above description. If so, it is a pretty good find as they are reasonably scarce - the habitat would also be suitable.

[elin]

Thanks so much for your response Odonate. As a result I looked at a picture of a female redstart and my visitor certainly resembles this except that its underbelly is a uniform lightish beige with no hint of red or orange. It's tail is on the longish side without being long and most noticable is a copper coloured area on top of its head.... really attractive. Its closed wings and back are a lightish brown and there are no speckles or spots anywhere on the plumage. It has a dark pointed beak almost as long as its head and a beady eye with a very noticeable yellow ( I think) ring around the outside. It's not easy to spot this bird but it comes everyday to eat from a large fat ball hidden in my city garden hedgerow which is quite dense. It only stays for a few seconds and is then off. I havent seen it in flight. Thanks again.

[Odonate]

Hi elin

From what you say, it is perhaps an escaped cagebird. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that matches your descrption (unless Kentish Plovers have started eating fat balls!). Someone else might have some inspiration though

[Davey]

Hi Elin,

Can I suggest you have a look at a female blackcap in a book or on the internet. I think this might be your mystery bird. They are an uncommon winter visitor from northern Europe and they certainly like feeding on fatballs.

Dave.

[Hirundo]

Good suggestion Davey. Elin, scroll down this page and see the photos with birds with rusty,copper caps are female Blackcaps:
http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?species=blackcap

[elin]

Thanks so much for your replies to my mystery bird - very much appreciated by this novice to the bird world. I've had a good look at the link and also other pics re blackcaps and I'm certain that my visitor is not one of those. It's bigger, slightly bigger than a sparrow, and not as chubby - more of a sleek shape which is one of the reasons I thought it might be a nightingale. I think I might have confused the situation by my description - at first glance it's an all over medium warm brown without any flecs or speckles but looking more closely you can see the underbelly is actually a warmish beige and the copper colour on top of the head is so subtle its almost unnoticeable. It's beady eye with a ring round it is one of the first things you would notice. I'm beginning to think it may well be a female redstart but without the copper colouring on its belly. Pheww such exctiement!

[ROBERT WILSON]

The bird sounds interesting. What colour are the legs and what type of Posture. You describe the bird as Copper toned. What about Veery which has many of the features you describe but would be a extreme mega rarity.

[AndyB]

Hi elin, any chance of a photo? Even poor ones will help.

[elin]

Thanks again for your contacts. I'll try to get a photo but think it's pretty unlikely - will have to take through glass from my bathroom window. I've looked at the veery but my visitor isnt like that. In fact my visitor only fits the description of a nightingale - a description it fits perfectly. The frustration is that even my simple mind knows it cant be! Time and time again I've looked at lots of photos and the RSPB indistinct video of a nightingale and my visitor is exactly the same. Such a conundrum.

[michael23]

have you considered grey cheeked thrush? i may be wrong but worth a look.

[elin]

Thanks Michael23. I''ve had a good look at photos of the grey cheeked thrush as a result of your suggestion but ... it's not the one. My visitor is altogether a warmer brown on its back and wings and is a solid colour with no speckles etc at all, its tail feathers are longer as is its beak in comparison.
I very much appreciate your comments though - an eye opener for me who thought the bird world consisted of sparrows and pigeons! Well almost anyway.

[Simon Wates]

The chances that your bird is a Nightingale in January is about as likely as a major rarity so you should keep your options wide open. As others say a photograph is fundamental - even a very bad one! Also any more details of your bird would help. I must stress though that often these birds just end up to be something rather normal that has not been seen previously by the observer - on the other hand quite a few rarities are found by non-birders, often on feeders in their gardens - so who knows - it could be a wintering Siberian Blue Robin - doubt it would take fat though - or Nightingale for that matter! - but maybe due to lack of insects - who knows?

Simon

[RoyW]

Hi Elin,

It's always difficult to identify a bird based solely on a written description - particularly if the description is given by someone who (by their own admission) is a novice!

I would be interested to know if there is a wetland area near your garden (perhaps a river or stream with plenty of dense scrub or other vegetation growing along it - or even a patch of damp scrubby 'waste ground'), if so I would suggest that your visitor could be a Cetti's Warbler. They don't like to leave cover, and I've never heard of one taking food from a garden before - but they do resemble Nightingales in many ways (and would fit your description quite well).

Take a look at some of the photos here -
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?search=1&mode=search&sp=136021&rty=0&off=172195&v=0

Roy.

PS. My first suggestion would have been to agree with Blackcap - some individuals can be quite brown with indistinct copper colouring on the crown (and they usually look slim). Make sure that you are certain it isn't one of these!

[elin]

Thanks again for more responses which are appreciated. Yes there is an area of wetland near my garden, in fact there is a large city park with a lake and a river flowing through it at the end of the road. The lake is well known for migratory birds etc. Regarding the fat ball which my visitor eats - it's one I bought from a specialist supplier and has insects and fruit in it.
I had a close look at Cetti's warbler - thanks for the pics. I think my visitor is larger and more slimline ( dunnock shaped possibly) without cocked tail feathers. It has a significantly larger pointed beak and I think its legs are dark. Altogether overall it's a warmer shade of brown than Cetti's warbler and has a subtle copper coloured patch on its head and warmish beige belly.
Will really try to get a photo but am very doubtful I can.

[elin]

Thanks to everyone who came up with suggestions to identify a bird visiting my garden. All very much appreciated by this novice. It is in fact .............a female blackcap!!