Jahlfrezi
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hatchling
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Algarve conundrum - 2007/11/05 19:27
I have just returned from a week in the Algarve mostly in an appartment overlooking a lake on the Sao Laurenzo Golf Course which butts onto the Ria Formosa reserve and at this time of the year has 1000s of birds including about 2000 Little Egrets, various ducks and grebes, little bittern, moorhen/coot, purple gallinule, Cetti's warbler, fan-tailed warbler, hoopoe, azure-winged magpie, stonechat, various gulls, crsted lark, spotless starling etc etc.
Anyway I saw a bird as follows:
About starling sized. Feeding on the ground with a group of sparrows. Black head and bib. Small amount of chesnut colour on back of neck below black. Rest of the bird almost totally very bright yellow/orange tone. Very slight streaking in wing. Bill black and finch/bunting like. Did not really see legs and failed to note tail shape and colour although I watched it through binoculars for quite a while! My ancient Heinzel/Fitter/Parslow guide and other Internet queries tell me: definitely NOT Golden Oriole (European) and probably not Northern or Audebon's Oriole (American). Closest I can get is Black-Headed Bunting (should be further east according to guide) but this has no black bib and too much colour on shoulders and wings. Any ideas?
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