ML459098221

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

The bird appeared for the first time on the night of the 8th of June. It was singing the whole night and continued to sing throughout the whole morning as well. This was repeated again on the night of the 9th and the morning, but the bird sang for the last time on the evening of the 9th and then stopped vocalizing altogether. It's been silent ever since, so it most probably moved to another location. The bird's song was nothing like I've ever heard, which paired with the fact it sang throughout the night caught my attention. I made the recording on the night of the 9th, at 0:30 when it was very quiet and nearly windless. When I observed it the following morning (which was the time when I captured the photos), it wasn't shy at all. The bird was singing from the top of a large shrub, showing itself nicely, unlike the potentially similar marsh warbler. The song was very different from that of a marsh warbler, it was quite specific, not as chaotic, slower and there were a lot of repetitions similar to that of a song thrush, but more numerous. It had a distinctively long and pointed beak, a very pronounced supercilium continuing behind the eye, a relatively flat head from the top, darker legs, and shorter wings. Its beak, the lower mandible was also darker on the tip, which is visible in some of the photos. It chose an open, sunny habitat of relatively dry wetland with some thicker undergrowth of herbs and reeds, right next to a fairly busy asphalt road on one side and a field with barley on the other side. The side with the road is lined with two or three bushes of wild damson plum. It also flew sometimes to lower parts of a canopy of high poplar trees lining the road, where it was usually chased away by other birds, especially yellowhammers.

Technical information

Model

iPhone 6s

Lens

iPhone 6s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2

ISO

25

Focal length

4.2 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/2.2

Shutter speed

1/1012 sec

Dimensions

1305 pixels x 1262 pixels

Original file size

727.92 KB