Half Day Wednesday

A 0730 start is as late as it gets now. Next weekend we turn the clocks back an hour and head into winter. At seven-thirty Thursday it was still pretty dark and we hoped to catch a few early morning Redwings. 

We got the nets up in double quick time with the help of headlamps however the Redwings didn’t arrive and we settled for a couple of migrant Blackbirds. In fact the whole morning’s ringing turned out quiet with just 11 birds caught – 3 Blackbird, 4 Linnet, 3 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch. 

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Our four Linnets proved disappointing when the combined count of a number of flocks totalled over 250 finches, a count that included a number of Goldfinches and Greenfinches, the latter not easy to pick out amongst fast flying gangs of small birds. 

All four Linnets showed features of Scottish birds and as usual all new birds, with a slim chance only of capturing a recent Linnet or a Linnet from elsewhere.

"Scottish" Linnet

  

Goldfinch

Linnet

There was a Sparrowhawk in attendance and then brief views of a “ringtail” Hen Harrier over the nearby marsh. 

 

Hen Harrier

 

Female and juvenile Hen Harriers, are known colloquially as “ringtails”, both look very similar, with brown on top, almost checkerboard brown and beige underwings, a white rump and a bearded tail. However, females are larger than males at 400-600g, compared to 300-400g. They're smaller than buzzards, but larger than crows. 

Storm Babet made little impression here on the west coast, a few windy days and nights but we are rather accustomed to that scenario and take it in our stride.

Keep an eye on the weather folks. And then come back here to Another Bird Blog for the latest news, views and photographs.

Linking today to Eileen;s Saturday blog.

 

 

Harrier News

There’s recent news (November 2016) of the ongoing debate around the similarities and differences between the European Hen Harrier and the North American Harrier. Scientists have confirmed that the Eurasian Hen Harrier and the American Northern Harrier are in fact two distinct species. 

The study, published as the cover article in BioMed Central's Avian Research, led by the Earlham Institute and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, explores the phylogenetic relationship between two forms of Harriers (Circus cyaneus); the Eurasian Hen Harrier (C. c. cyaneus) and the American Northern Harrier (C. c. hudsonius) to distinguish their ancestry and evolution. Already accepted as different species by the British Ornithologists' Union, the American Ornithologists' Union and other avian taxonomic committees are yet to classify the bird of prey as separate species. 

American Northern Harrier - Shravans14, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wiki.

Hen Harrier - Richard Crossley (The Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland)

As the most intensely persecuted bird of prey in the UK, Hen Harriers are under particular threat from being caught up in the crossfire of grouse hunts in upland moors where they feed on Red Grouse. After the number of breeding birds increased after the Second World War, the bird of prey is in trouble again. Ongoing illegal hunting and habitat disruption is forcing the species to edge of extinction in England. To understand the Hen Harrier species' genetic make-up is of extreme importance to its future and will help aid the national conservation efforts such as the RSPB's Hen Harrier LIFE project. 

Lead-author and conservation genomics expert Dr Graham Etherington in the Di Palma Group at EI, said: "Molecular phylogenetics was applied to the Hen Harriers and the Northern Harriers to see if genetics could shed some light on whether the accepted morphological nuances between the species indeed represent a genuine distinction. From a conservation point, the work shows the European Hen Harrier is not the same as the American Northern Harrier and should receive appropriate recognition and protection. 

“Before the advent of sequencing technology, species were categorised by shared and divergent morphological features. However, new technology allows us to quantify the amount of genetic change between populations and identify divergent lineages." 

In his research, Dr Etherington collected tissue samples from museums around the world. Using both DNA sequencing and morphology, along with differences in plumage, breeding biology, vocalisation, habitat, distribution, dispersal and migration it was possible to show the differences between the two species. 

"These genetic indicators distinguish the Hen Harrier and its close relative the Northern Harrier, genetically as well as morphologically, suggesting geographical isolation is enough to form two distinct lineages," added Dr Etherington. 

Further evidence from another study which provided additional data for Dr Etherington's paper also found that Northern Harrier was, in fact, more closely related to the Cinereous Harrier of South America than the Hen Harrier of Eurasia providing further evidence that the forms represent two distinct species. 

Earlham Institute. "Genomics reveals Hen Harrier is two distinct species." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 November 2016. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161123091308.htm.

Apologies for the lack of local news and views on Another Bird Blog this week. The weather has been most unkind with lots of rain, endless grey days and a lack of sunshine.  Things can only get better.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday.