A.W.Birder: Always on the lookout for fine birds...: Scillies 2012 Trip Report - Part 3 St Mary's (Hume's/Mandell's Warbler)

Sunday 28 October 2012

Scillies 2012 Trip Report - Part 3 St Mary's (Hume's/Mandell's Warbler)

The majority of out first two days were spent on Bryher. The rest of our time on Scillies was spent on St Mary's where we walked miles and miles and then some, generally with fairly little reward though we did see some nice birds, and some interesting ones that will require some further investigation (think warblers and gulls!). Met some familiar faces too, which is also one of the things I like about the place and I'll expand on later.

Highlights from our time on St Mary's included an interesting Hume's Warbler. It looked a bit like a Yellow-browed Warbler but didn't sound like one. It didn't look like the 'typical' Hume's Warblers I've seen on the East Coast. The first few days we saw it, it didn't sound like a typical Hume's Warbler, it was giving a call I've not heard before, then on the third day it continued with this call but threw in a few more typical Hume's Warbler calls (and went crazy to Humes tape)! Whilst in the log at the Scillonian Ralph (one of the Scilly birders) brought in some communication he'd had with some contacts in Thailand regarding the potential that this bird may represent Eastern Hume's Warbler Phylloscopus humei mandellii - Mandell's Leaf Warbler. The in-hand pictures from ringing looked very close to 'our' bird and a sound recording of mandellii sounded a lot like the calls I was not familiar with. I think the Sound Approach guys got some sound recording so it will be interesting to see what the outcome of this bird is, but it certainly raises several questions, like can you tick a Yellow-browed Warbler if it doesn't call.... I got the following pictures of the bird. One of the questions was 'could we get Mandell's Warbler over here?' Well I guess after having Pale-legged Leaf Warbler turn up last week there probably is a chance!