I would urge genuine caution if not actual complete disapproval of playing vocalisations to attract birds. Sounds harmless on the face of it but there can be serious detrimental implications of doing so I'm afraid.
If you want to hear and most likely see a Cetti's Warbler, there's one along the Causeway at Leighton Moss at the moment which you can't really miss. First you'll hear it, and then if you keep looking you'll probably see it too. It can help to have a bird call app on your phone or mp3 player to remind you of the call if you're unsure, and if it plays at any volume it will often attract a response from the real bird. I saw one on Monday near the Public Hide on the Causeway and it hung around for quite a while, occasionally flying across the path.
It was lighter than the usual wrens in the area. I saw the bird briefly yesterday and it definitely has got a stump instead of a tail. I'm guessing it's a wren that could have lost it's tail somehow.
No apology is necessary Denzil , it was a perfectly reasonable question.
The identification features I outlined in my post were taken pretty much directly from Vicky's posts on the forum though but to be fair, as many observers will testify to, I do a lot of replies to posts etc privately; I'm still old fashioned that way
I must apologise...........I wasn't aware that you had discussed the bird privately with Vicky,and I was basing my question on the description that I'd read in Vicky's visible Post on the Forum itself. Having now read the more thorough description,I would also be in agreement,that the bird is unlikely to have been a Cetti's.
out of interest even though it does not mention it in our trusty collins i have seen a very very pale Wren this year, i have photos somewhere and even though the bird was most certainly a Wren it was very light in colour and did have me looking confused for a second, im not sure if this is shown in young birds but it certainly shows Wrens can be seen in very pale plumages and not always as we expect them too look, Cheers
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Did you see it? It was small and brown and flew that way.........................
A fair conclusion.................but WHY NOT Cetti's ?
Cheers Denzil
A bird smaller than a Wren (and slimmer) but slightly larger than a Goldcrest.
No tail, just a stump which came to a point at the base of its body.
Upperparts but much paler than a Wren.
Gave a harsh tch tch-tch call.
Looked like a mouse scurrying around at the base of a pile of logs, also seen picking at insects in between bark.
Allowed close approach in the open for at least 30 minutes in the same location (mainly woodland, mentioned reedbed very small indeed).
I have discussed the bird with the observer privately and I hope she won't mind me replying to your post here Denzil and saying that her honest and commendably thorough description really seems to rather accurately fit a Wren but certainly not a Cetti's Warbler as the features above demonstrate (for me at least ).
I'm 99.9% certain the bird I observed yesterday at Etherow Country Park was a Cetti Warbler. I've spent all day researching it's song and distinguishing features. I've watched every You Tube clip there is showing this bird and I'm convinced even more that this is the bird I saw. I don't know if anyone else has seen/heard the bird in this area. It definitely wasn't a wren/dunnock/chiffchaff. I've looked at juvenile/winter plumage/videos/clips on all of the latter and it doesn't fit what I watched yesterday. I watched it for half an hour at the side of the reed bed within 1 meter. It was hard to see and was more like a mouse scurrying to find cover. I wouldn't be 100% convinced unless a more experienced bird watcher was to see it.
Vicky
-- Edited by Vicky Sumner on Thursday 11th of October 2012 11:28:02 PM
, it was a perfectly reasonable question.
I'm going to try and video it and make sense of what it is.