Saturday, November 5, 2022

A Mixed Bag

We took advantage of Friday's clear but frosty morning with a six-thirty start to the ringing session. Will arrived on site at Pilling from an easterly direction and was lucky enough to see a Barn Owl cross the road in front of his car. By then Andy and I who arrived from the opposite direction were halfway down the access road and missed seeing the owl in our haste to get the nets going. 

It was a shock to the system to discover that a number of the guy ropes we leave on for early speed were solid with a layer of ice. For the first time this autumn/winter we needed gloves to hand. 

More than 20 Little Egrets left the tree roost when the car lights disturbed their sleep and we heard Redwings flying over. We didn’t catch Redwings or Little Egrets and at first it seemed that there weren’t too many birds around in the minus temperatures. 

Things improved as intermittent sun arrived to give us a mixed bag of 21 birds of 8 species - 9 Greenfinch, 3 Linnet, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Wren, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Cetti’s Warbler. 

One of the first birds out was our second Cetti’s Warbler at this site, this latest a male, following the tiny female we caught on October 4th. 

Males are larger than females and some can hold large territories with up to three females. Consequently, the UK population of around 3500 territories is now judged on the number of singing males present rather than “pairs” with the population as a whole thought to be resident rather than migratory. 

The early morning sun enhanced the red/brown tints of the Cetti’s plumage.  

Cetti's Warbler

Although the number of Linnets around was not huge today (70/90 birds) we caught a couple of obvious Scottish types. The first winter female below was especially striking through the dark mantle and its dusky and heavily streaked breast feathers, quite unlike the softer tones of local Linnets. 

"Scottish" Linnet
 
At last there seems to be Reed Buntings around and of the seven or eight we saw, two new ones was an improvement on recent numbers. We think that our provision of winter supplementary food for all will see more Reed Buntings in the weeks to come.  

The Reed Bunting is one of the species that suffers from the "winter hunger gap". This is the time of year when winter is at its harshest and natural food like seeds, berries and insects are scarce or unavailable to farmland birds. Typically, it lasts from December until March. 
 
Reed Bunting

This date in November might be a little late for migratory Goldcrests. It’s a species that is in short supply through the winter months where overnight frosts can quickly kill off a tiny bird that weighs less than six grams. 

Perhaps these late Goldcrests are ones from northern Europe, like the similarly sized Pallas’s Leaf Warbler seen on Thursday just across the water in Fleetwood’s Mount Park? The Pallas’s had travelled over 3,000 miles from the mountain forests of southern Siberia, east to northern Mongolia and China. 

Goldcrest
 
Other birds seen today - Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, 2 Stonechat. Fifteen or twenty Meadow Pipits and several Skylarks. 

The weekend beckons. Back soon with more news, views and photos on Another Bird Blog.  

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

 

14 comments:

Breathtaking said...

Hello Phil :=)

A good catch, and lovely photos. 70-90 linnets seems an awful lot of linnets to me, but then I'm not used to seeing large numbers. The Scottish Linnet's darker marked feathers are most striking. The sun kissed Cetti's Warblers photo is beautiful. I hope the Goldcrest survive the winter, and also the Reed Bunting. It's good to know that supplementary food is provided for them. The little Firecrest keeps coming to my balcony to eat mostly crumbs as insects are in short supply at this time of the year.
All the best.

eileeninmd said...

Hello, Phil

On those icy morning, I would think gloves are necessary. Maybe harder to hold the birds for banding. What a cute group of birds caught, the Cetti's warbler is a sweet bird. The Goldcrest is pretty, I love them all, great photos. Sorry you missed the Barn owl. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

The Goldcrest is very pretty and I know you were happy to be out. But it's COLD already! Take care and keep those gloves handy. Or come to Florida...it's still summer like here. Enjoy your weekend, Diane

RedPat said...

I love that sweet Goldcrest. I find it amazing that you have such cold temps already. It is 20˚C here in Toronto today.

Andree said...

Your posts always amaze me. All the birds are so lovely.

Rhodesia said...

Despite the cold it looks like you had a good catch.
I have only ever seen one Goldcrest here and I am sad as they are such pretty little birds.
Have a good Sunday, cheers Diane

Anni said...

A couple of birds you show us this week are "new" for me (on photo of course). You ringed quite a great number!
I always enjoy your narratives also Phil.

Have a super week ahead, happy birding and thanks for linking in.

Larry said...

Pretty neat to have a tiny bird in your hand! I had chickadees come to my hand for seed a couple of times but that's about it.

Lowcarb team member said...

No ice or frost for us yet, but PLENTY of rain!
At least some of the hose-pipe bans have now been lifted!

Nice photographs of the birds, I especially like the Goldcrest.

Have a good week.

All the best Jan

NCSue said...

I'm still agog at the idea of capturing birds without causing them harm. Kudos to you. And thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2022/11/checking-out-fall-color.html

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

The goldcrest looks tiny.

Yvonne said...

A layer of ice on the guy ropes... that indeed is very cold. Now days I'm an indoor person in that type of weather You had a busy enough day, and starting it out with an owl flying across the road had to be a nice rush of excitement.

Veronica Lee said...

Awww! That Goldcrest is so CUTE!

Still summer here and forever will be!!

Happy Tuesday, Phil!

Wally said...

The total of 21 birds ringed sounds decent to this totally uneducated-about-ringing birder.

The Cetti's Warbler would have made my day! It has an almost wren-like appearance. Interesting information about it's likely non-migratory nature. We have a few species here that are referred to as "short-distance migratory" birds as they move to extreme south Florida for the winter.

Ice not in a glass just doesn't seem right.

All good over here. Not enough time to go everywhere we would like to. We'll keep trying, though!

All the best.

Related Posts with Thumbnails