Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Chick Time

There’s not much to report today, but a few pictures nonetheless. 

A bright and breezy start at Fluke Hall gave a few warblers i.e. Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and 2 Common Whitethroat. There are a small number of finches in the area with 8+ Goldfinch and 4 Linnets today, with 4 - 6 pairs of Skylark. 

A check of Hi-Fly fields gave 30+ Swallows, 4 Swift and a single Sand Martin, with the pools and sea wall revealing 30+ Lapwing, 8 Oystercatcher, 25+ Redshank and a single Curlew wader-wise. A lone Kestrel from the Fluke Hall pair and on the lookout for an easy meal caused some panic amongst the waders when it flew across the fields, and then stopping to search the ground below. Like me the Kestrel knows there are small chicks about, but they are not easy to find with so many protective parents on watch. 

Kestrel

Redshank

Lapwing

One pair of the 3+ breeding Redshank had just one chick. Thankfully and with it being just a few days old it was a “croucher” rather than a “runner”, nature giving wader chicks well developed legs and feet from an early age, partly to allow them escape from predators. 

Redshank chick

I found just one Lapwing chick today, the wind on the exposed seaward side of the wall making watching extremely difficult. 

Lapwing chick

Not much doing at Lane Ends - 2 Reed Warbler, Long-tailed Tits, with Tufted Duck, Teal and Greylags on the pools. 

Log in soon to Another Bird Blog for a bird’s eye view and more cool chicks.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Impresionantes fotos Phil. Son buenísimas!!
Enhorabuena.
Saludos!!

Jenn Jilks said...

Much fun! We anxiously await the hatching of 5 phoebe eggs! Any day now!)
Cheers from Cottage Country!

Isidro Ortiz said...

Hello Phil,estupendas capturas.Un abrazo

eileeninmd said...

I hope the chicks are safe from the kestrel. They are adorable, cute photos!

Carole M. said...

the Redshank is a lovely looking bird and the chicks beautiful, both species of

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Kestrels certainly engender mixed feelings; lovely little hawk, but I used to kind of hate seeing it in our yard in Oregon (before we sold our house)...it was a frequent visitor...I had a hard time not shooing it away.

All your birds photos are great and you got a lot of them as usual.

Rohrerbot said...

Great shots Phil! I'm loving this time of year. We're able to observe different behaviors on our birds and it has been a lot of fun out in the field. Loving the pics!

Maude Lynn said...

My daughter went wild when she saw the shots of the chicks!

Russell Jenkins said...

Some high-end pictures as usual, Phil. Many chicks about here too but mostly I have seen sparrows. A male kestrel up the river visited his nest box three times in one hour (with what looked like sparrows) when I watched last week so soon I hope we have some baby kestrels visible.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Those little chicks so sweet and I do hope that they have a o=good experience entering the next phase of their lives. Your new header image is absolutely brilliant Phil. I hope you are well. Happy weekend~

Snap said...

Adorable chicks. Great shots (as always). Thanks for sharing your feathered friends. Happy Critter Day.

TexWisGirl said...

adorable chick!

Karen said...

That redshank chick is so sweet!

Unknown said...

The kestrel is a gorgeous bird and the chicks are always cute.

Wally Jones said...

Well, I'm sure you only included photos of the chicks for the predictable "awww" factor.

(I resorted to bunnies......)

Your in-flight photograph of the Lapwing is a stunner!

Enjoyed the report.

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