A fun ID question

[John Chardine]

I am sure there are people somewhere on the planet who keep a life-list of bird species they see on china. I don't but nevertheless, this one has puzzled me.

Some background- I was given a nice present of a tea tray and some cups and plates from good friends from Europe. The motif is "nature, Spring, Paris etc" and there are three birds illustrated (by Dora Papis)- a reasonable European Robin and Great Tit (although the tit on the plates looks more like a Willow or Coal), and this bird. I have looked through every plate of Jonsson's excellent field guide to no avail.

Is this a mythical species or a real one and if the latter, what the heck is it? Perhaps the species is not European.

[Paul Guris]

I'm going to go with a rather faded male Common Redstart. It's definitely one of the Old World redstarts and that comes the closest to anything I can find.

For those not familiar with them, the Old World redstarts are the namesake of our American Redstart even though they are in completely different families. The early European settlers tagged many of the New World species with familiar names based on color. Other examples are Robin, Oriole, Bunting, and Blackbird.

[John Chardine]

Hi Paul- That was the first plate I went to in Jonsson but continued turning the page because of the yellow sides of the "china" bird. I think you are right though, it's just a very poor rendition.

Thanks!

[Paul Guris]

John, my wife and I collect wine bottles with identifiable pictures of birds on the labels. (One of these days I will take my long lens off my camera and teach myself how to photograph these effectively.) Some are great, some "eh", some a bit stylistic, and some are downright field guide worthy. We have an old Duck Pond bottle with a fantastic image of a male Spectacled Eider on it. We also have multiple bottles of Castellare chianti. They change the label every year and we have a Hoopoe, Bluethroat, Skylark, etc. And if you like beer, do an image search for Bell's Best Brown. They have a very nice Boreal Owl on the label, plus the beer is excellent. When we walk into a liquor store, we shop in a very different way than the average consumer.

[John Chardine]

I'll have a look Paul. Pelee Island Winery does some excellent birds on it's bottles, and they make really nice wines too. I'm sure you know where it is but for others, the island is in the extreme sw of Ontario, stuck out in Lake Erie and is farther south than northern California.

https://www.peleeisland.com/winestore/winestore.php

[Paul Guris]

We have a close birding friend who lives in Buffalo. He brings us Pelee Island wines whenever he visits. Such a good friend!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the Pelee wines...and not just because of the beautiful bottle labels!

[P-A. Fortin]

Did not know about this winery. They only have 1 product available in Quebec. Are these available at the LCBO? I'll keep that in mind next time I visit Ottawa

[John Chardine]

Hey let's start a wine appreciation forum on BPN!

We can get a few Pelee Island wines down east so they are obviously producing the necessary volume to export. SAQ has an excellent selection but they tend to ignore Canadian wines.

[Daniel Cadieux]

P-A, the LCBOs here in Ottawa have a full selection...both reds and whites.

[P-A. Fortin]

Hey let's start a wine appreciation forum on BPN!

It ain't just birds!

[Paul Guris]

It ain't just birds!

Correction. "It ain't just birds. [GLUG! HIC!]"

[Bill Nuttall]

Nothing "common" about the Common Redstart

Beautiful birds and interesting to watch

just thought I would post this grab shot to reference against your illustration