Dark nights and slow birding days, so time to scratch around for something mildly interesting. I ringed an apparent continental Blackbird this morning and the word 'stockamsel' came to mind (see below).
Not only is it a bit of nostalgia but from Clare College, Cambridge some light on the subject. Evidently the expression 'stockamsel' was first coined by Johann Andreas Naumann he of (naumanni) Lesser Kestrel and Dusky Thrush fame. It relates to young males resembling well marked females. This is a dark billed first year male with white fringed flank feathers creating a clearly visible 'scaly' effect.
It was quite a good morning. Lots of birds around and with a single 60' net 24 new birds including 8 blackbirds, 5 Goldcrest and a Redwing with very dark, heavily streaked upper breast (possible Icelandic race?).
No comments:
Post a Comment