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Id:6285
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Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin) [Amager Fælled, Denmark] 6285    3 photos    1 sounds
Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin )
Havesanger ~ Curruca Mosquitera ~ Trädgårdssångare

2025-05-20    Amager Fælled, Denmark

Strandeng-midt.
A strange-singing bird. Very fast raspy notes with a few more melodious tones at the end. It sang in-between Eurasian Blackcaps, and didn't sound like any of the common species I know in Denmark, why I suspected a rare bird. It only sang occassionally, but always the same short sequence starting with the fast raspy notes and then ending with a few melodious ones. I stayed there for more that two hours and the bird only sang like this - never the long continous warble that the species is known for.

It was very difficult to spot as it was moving around within a dense thicket, but when it finally came out, I was lucky to get these photos. My first thought was of a Booted Warbler. Pale grayish, rounded head, and the song seemed to match well with that bird. I've only seen one bird in India 20 years ago, but have no recollection of the experience at all. So my experience with that species was almost zero and with my birding interest slowly being replaced by my interest in dragonflies, I don't keep up with details on rare and potential species any more. All I remembered was, that Booted was split into two species and that was partially based on different habitat preferences. The split-off species Syke's Wabler was a steppe bird, and I couldn't remember what caligata, the continuing Booted Warbler had as habitat preference. So I locked on to thrilling idea of having found a good rarity. Finally. Only that it has never slipped my mind that I made a major mistake a few years ago, and called out a Radde's Warbler that turned out to be a Reed Warbler.

It was tempting not to report anything this time, and just enjoy my find alone. But of course that's a childish idea that doesn't make sense if you're a moral person with the integrity intact. So I had to risk to expose my lack of abilities to keep at the forefront of identification skills. I called TEO.

I told him about the bird and sent him the photos as a mobile version. He promised to swing around in short time. Sharper and with more experience, however, he didn't sound too optimistic after having seen the photos. But the quality wasn't good, so he still decided to come.

The bird had stopped singing for a while, but when he arrived it started again, and Troels agreed that it was a funny sound. But all taking into consideration he was mostly in favor of a Garden Warbler singing an unusual song. Habitat, looks and behavior were all in favor of this species. A Booted would be smaller and prefers a more open environment, and in all the song, as we listened to different recordings, should be more consequent on the nasal raspy side, without the melodious notes.

Troels left, while I stayed back to digest my disappointment. Though, I told him I would try to get better evidence, because the photos are not good enough to really determine the species. But I only stayed a few minutes, knowing that it could only be this: an aberrant Garden Warbler after all. It all made sense. And afterwards, listening to more Garden Warbler songs on xeno-canto a few included similar raspy sequences, and when listening close to normal songs it is not difficult to hear that some of the single notes consequently are raspy.

A defect bird, or a young bird that perhaps never learned to sing well. Or perhaps it wintered close to another bird that inspired it. The rythm and pace of the song did make me think of a Sedge Warbler. Both species winter south of the Sahara...

Also: Common Cuckoo, Common Chiffchaff, Eurasian Blackcap, Hooded Crow, Edible Frog, humans, camera shutter

Aberrant