Sunday Scores

There was no time for ringing on Saturday, the visit to Cockerham was to drop a little extra seed in the ringing area only. It was a pity then that views of both a juvenile Marsh Harrier and a male Hen Harrier had been brief but decisive. The Marsh Harrier circled over fields and a maize crop before drifting south while the Hen Harrier followed a line of ditches from which flew a dozen Mallards and 20 or more Teal at the arrival of the predator. 

Hen Harrier

 

Sunday dawned at 7° degrees with a fine mist and a definite autumnal nip to the air. This morning I swopped the baseball cap for a woolly bobble hat when winter felt too close for comfort. 

Misty Sunday

 

As I drove into the ringing site a Buzzard flew out of the trees where it had probably spent the night out of harm’s way. That Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk that unsuccessfully broke up a flock of Linnets were the only raptors seen today during three hours of watching in between tending nets and ringing a few birds. The migrant harriers of Saturday had clearly been the customary “one day wonders” but hopefully a sign of successful breeding from whence they came. 

I keep picking up new Reed Warblers here, with another two today, both birds of the year, lately fledged but already showing signs of moulting body feathers; the one below replacing head feathers. That makes 18 Reed Warblers captured here since July. 

Juvenile Reed Warbler

 

A Whitethroat came as a nice surprise while the main target of Linnets produced 9 more new ones to make 38 Linnets ringed here in August. Thirty two of the Linnets have been juveniles and just 6 adults. 

Whitethroat - first year/juvenile

 

A number of the juvenile Linnets show signs of their partial post-juvenile moult in replacing their median coverts while other individuals showed no signs of yet doing so. 

Linnet - juvenile wing moult

 

Linnet - juvenile no wing moult

Linnet - juvenile/first summer

Eyes peeled for harriers meant that not much was missed on the birding side - I hope. 

So other birds seen equalled 125 Linnet, 30+ Goldfinch, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Robin 2 House Sparrow, 14 Curlew, 40 Greylag, 15 Swallow. 

Back soon. Don't go away.

Rare As Hen's Teeth

As predicted, a weekend of Storm Callum made for several grey, wet and windy days and left no chance of a ringing session. During this time it seemed unlikely that many of our target birds had made it south to Lancashire through such unfavourable weather systems, despite good numbers of Redwings, Bramblings and Fieldfares in the Northern Isles of Scotland, some 6/700 miles away. 

Sunday afternoon was bright and sunny to further heighten expectations for Monday morning, already pencilled in as the first “probable” day for a rush of birds from the North. At 0630 I met Andy at our regular ringing site near Oakenclough, a hamlet that lies on the very edge of the Pennine Hills. 

Before today at this site we’d handled over 620 birds for the year but with luck September and October see a major arrival of many birds into the UK – mostly finches and thrushes, but also buntings and eastern warblers. This is our chance to bump up the totals and gain a few extra species. 

But it wasn't the anticipated Redwings that topped our catch but our old friend the Lesser Redpoll, a species hard to come by this autumn. Total birds caught - 36 of 11 species. 10 Lesser Redpoll, 5 Redwing, 5 Chaffinch, 4 Blue Tit, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Great Tit, 2 Coal Tit , 1 Robin, 1 Song Thrush. 

We can only guess why Lesser Redpoll have been conspicuously absent until today but it was good to see them back on site. We saw a total of about 45 this morning, the numbers made of several small flocks which began to arrive only after about 10 am. Our main theory for the lack of redpolls this year is that the hot summer and warm autumn to the north delayed their departure until now. The next few visits up here to Oakenclough should either confirm this or give yet more food for thought if we fail to catch more. 

Lesser Redpoll 

We counted approximately 70 Redwings this morning, less than we hoped for but still nice to see and examine. In what was a slight north-easterly breeze they arrived in small flocks from various compass points but gave little clue as to their routes of travel. 

Redwing 

The Redwings Turdus iliacus we see here have crossed the North Sea from Scandinavia & Russia and arrived in the UK on a broad front - west, central and east before some found their way into Lancashire via the coast or by travelling overland. Icelandic Redwings Turdus iliacus coburnii arrive about the same time by taking a westerly approach to Britain. This sub-species is darker overall, and marginally larger than the nominate Turdus iliacus. 

The two are hard to distinguish in the field but slightly easier in the hand, especially so with direct and immediate comparisons of several individuals. The five today were or all iliacus specimens confirmed by their “normal” appearance and biometrics. 

As autumn turns to winter, Redwings have largely finished their journeys and settle in the warmer and relatively frost-free areas away from the east coast. Hard weather may force them to migrate further, as Scandinavian/Russian birds continue west to Ireland or south into southern Europe. To some degree, Redwings can be somewhat nomadic, with individuals taking different routes in different years when leaving their breeding areas. 

The birding was pretty sparse this morning, the main components of visible migration being Woodpigeons and Chaffinches. Many Woodpigeons flew in a clear north to south west trajectory in groups of 10-60 individuals and a total count of 800/900 in the five hours of watch. Chaffinches totalled circa 150 individuals with once again a clear north to south movement of between 5 and 20 birds. 

Chaffinch

Other highlights included 4 Fieldfare, 3 Buzzard, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker and a “ringtail” Hen Harrier. 

The Hen Harrier is as rare as hen’s teeth here on the edge of the infamous Bowland with its history of persecuting raptors, not least the Hen Harrier with its reputation of being partial to grouse chicks. 

Hen Harrier 

The harrier appeared from the north, quite high up and over the distant hills where it briefly interacted with a Buzzard. As it got closer but still fairly high we could see that it was a “ringtail”, a female or juvenile, and we watched as it drifted out towards the coast in a south-westerly direction. 

Almost certainly this was an individual from Scotland or the North East involved in visible migration. We were pleased that it chose not to linger in Bowland. 

Linking today with Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Motivation

As a change from local bird news I searched the Internet and also talked to local contacts about what’s going on in the wider world of birds. 

So today and below are just a couple of snippets I found. 

From The Lancashire and Westmoreland Gazette 1st August 2017 – “The Chairman of The British Upland Management Society (BUMS), multi-millionaire, landowner Sir Henry Spindley-Legge welcomed the news that three pairs of Hen Harriers successfully bred in England this year.” 

“My keepers are tremendously proud of their achievement this year in almost maintaining the 2016 total of four pairs of Hen Harriers in the 50,000 square miles of upland England. For their hard and often unappreciated work that led to this wonderful outcome, each will receive a large pay bonus very soon. These men spent night & day and many long hours in the uplands to ensure that all our birds of prey were accounted for. Their newly issued hi-tech night-time goggles and digital equipment allowed them unrivalled views and close inspection of nesting Peregrines, Merlins, Goshawks and Hen Harriers at their overnight roosts and daytime haunts. Unfortunately the early find of the first Red Kite nest in our area could not be followed up due to inclement Spring weather when the kites decided to head back to warmer climes.” 

Gamekeeper

“Sad to say that accidents do happen and whilst patrolling on a particularly cold and windswept dawn when no one else was around, our most experienced keeper Olly Winchester tripped over a large boulder and accidentally discharged his shotgun in the direction of a sitting Peregrine. Needless to say, Olly was distraught and despite his best efforts to revive the bird with chest compression and then placing the expiring creature under a warming clump of thick heather, the poor thing died.” 

“When the RSPB later informed us that the incident had been captured on their CCTV, and despite ours and Olly best efforts to explain, he was in the frame. Nevertheless I explained to Olly that unfortunately we had to quickly find a replacement keeper but that upon Olly’s release from Pentonville his bonus will still be paid and he will have the responsibility of mucking out the dog kennels.” 

Hen Harrier - Graham Catley - Pewit Blogspot

But now from local contacts come reports of a new bird sightings pager company, Speedbird at speedbird.org. Their stirring motto? “Our Message Is Your Motivation”. 

The company, under the direction of its birder-founder Les Vane is offering a package to rival, and in most cases beat, those of established pager companies, but from a more user friendly and acceptable starting point of £99 a year. 

Les claims that his bargain pager service is “the ultimate tool” for birders with live news of over 100,000 sightings per year, updated on a constant 24 hour, 7 day basis by his team of experienced but retired twitchers now looking to augment their somewhat depleted nest eggs. 

Subscribers will have access to the Speedbird web page and Smartphone coverage offering live stream videos of birds and twitches as they happen. Les says “In this way birders can not only check up on the bird in real time but also on the birders who are there, or more importantly, birders who are not there.” 

Speedbird pager

There will be a large Photo Gallery to share photos, but as Les explains, “This will be restricted to 50 photos per rarity per person and just 1000 pictures per rarity overall, as our systems may be unable to cope with so much digidata”. He adds mischievously, “and in any case when you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all”. 

Les described how a “Previous Records fully searchable database” will include all accepted rarities in Britain and Ireland, with colour maps, stats, photos, and an important novel feature, the highly important name(s) of those credited with the find. 

He also claimed his pager to be “unhackable” to ensure there will be no false records from rival twitchers posting messages that send birders in the wrong direction to often far flung places in search of birds that don’t exist. A valuable feature Les. 

Twitchers

There are worthwhile links from Speedbird.org. Users can click onto Car Hire firms, a list of B&Bs located all over the UK, and even private hire boats and planes based at local ports and airports. In addition to these special offers Les has also signed up many petrol stations to give discounts to Speedbirders.

Another Bird Blog normally steers clear of recommending products and services to its readers but in this case I will make an exception. Les is offering a free 6 month trial to the first one hundred subscribers so come on folks, give Les a go. 

After all, another pager service must be a good thing and we can never have too much news of rare birds can we? 

Remember, Remember. The Fifth Of November.

After an uncommonly warm October the weather is back with a November vengeance. The cold northerly wind dictated no ringing at exposed sites so I opted for a spot of early birding over Pilling and Cockerham way. 

The moss road was quiet in the half-light where the Barn Owls of late summer are but a distant memory. I’ve not seen a Barn Owl for a number of weeks except for a single one flying over my headlights during a pitch black journey towards the hills and an early morning ringing session at Oakenclough. 

Viewing Rawcliffe Moss from the roadside I discovered where the Whooper Swans fly to in the morning from their roost on Pilling Sands. I counted 200 or more partly hidden by a fence with mainly their heads poking above the margins of marshy hollow. A couple of farming types had crossed the field on heavy machinery and caused the swans to break off from their feeding to look around for an escape route. Some swans flew off to east and above my head but mostly they stayed put when the vehicles approached no further. 

Whooper Swans

At Braides Farm I just scratched the surface of birds on the small flood and the rough grass fields with minima of 250 Golden Plover, 200 Lapwing, 60 Curlew, 40 Wigeon, 4 Black-tailed Godwit and 6 Redshank. I‘ve had two recent and reliable reports of a Hen Harrier in this area but seeing it for myself is proving difficult and potentially very time consuming. This really is a problematic spot to view via the distant gateway but clearly much safer than stopping on the fast and twisting road where another fatal accident took place just weeks ago when a car drove into the rear of a large farm vehicle. 

Hen Harrier courtesy of USFWS

An hour at the pool and creeks of Conder Green produced a selection of wildfowl but not so many passerines; 139 Teal, 26 Wigeon, 10 Little Grebe, 4 Goosander, 1 Shelduck, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 4 Goldfinch. Waders: 28 Redshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 10 Snipe, 1 Black-tailed Godwit and 34 Curlew. 

A lot of the Curlews that inhabit our fields and shores at the moment are immigrants from other parts of Europe, spending the winter in temperate Britain to escape the extreme cold of the far north and east. In turn many of our UK Curlews fly south and west to Ireland or the coasts of France and Spain and return here in the spring. 

Curlew

Curlew distribution

Curlews use their extraordinary long bills to the full by feeding deep into mud or very soft ground, searching for worms and other invertebrates. They also take crabs and similar items in shore and estuary environments. 

 

That’s all for now folks. It’s Bonfire Night and I need to go and light my sparklers. Either that or blow up the Houses of Parliament. See you soon.

Linking today to Anni's Birding.

Blog Tour - Crossley Raptors UK - Free Book Draw

Yes this is it folks, and if you reached here today via Princeton University Press Blog or Birdfreak.com you will know what this is all about. For regular readers of Another Bird Blog today’s post is a little different in the form of a whistle-stop on a transatlantic blog circuit organised by Princeton University Press, a tour of Internet birding and featuring Richard Crossley’s new book The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors. 

Readers will remember Richard’s Crossley’s innovative and highly successful book The Crossley Guide:Eastern Birds, reviewed here on 27th January 2011. The post became the most visited page on Another Bird Blog with more than 1200 hits to date. The book became a huge success and Richard is now following it up by joining forces with Brian Sullivan and Jerry Liguori to co-author this new volume which takes a detailed look at North American raptors.

The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors

As part of Another Bird Blog’s contribution to this circuit and further down the page there is a draw whereby two lucky people will each receive a copy of The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors. All you have to do to be in with a chance is answer a simple question. So read on but don’t skip the middle bits which may give a clue as to the answer to my question. 

This new book may be produced in the US but let’s not forget the UK and the US share not only chunks of our history and culture but also a number of birds of prey and occasional transatlantic passerine and wader vagrants.  There’s a healthy interchange of bird watchers too, with US birders heading to Europe as well as many UK birders visiting US raptor watching stations and bird observatories or taking birding holidays.

I looked through the The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors to find the species common to both nations, the familiar birds which UK birders might see over in the US, and the regular species a US birder might well see in the UK. We share species, but we often like to name them slightly differently, a whimsy of our respective ornithological systems, so I will list the species and include both name versions where appropriate, US version first followed by the UK name and then finishing with the Latin name:

• Merlin Falco columbarius
• Northern Harrier/Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus
• Rough-legged Hawk/Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus
• Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus                         
• Gyr Falcon Falco rusticolus 
• Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis 
• Osprey Pandion haliaetus 
• Golden Eagle Aquila chrysatos 

There may be several thousand miles of ocean separating the US and the UK, but there are subtle variations as well as the obvious similarities, with just a few of those detailed below.

In the tiny landmass of the UK our Merlin is the singular species of Falco columbarius. In the vast continent of the US with its huge variety of habitats the Merlin has evolved into three sub-species differentiated mainly by the darkness of their plumage. There is a dark form, the so called “black” Merlin of the Pacific Northwest, a pale “prairie” Merlin of the northern Great Plains, and the intermediate “taiga” Merlin of open forest. It’s the latter type which is equal to our familiar UK Merlin.

Merlin - from The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors

Following a number of variable plumages seen in the UK autumn time, there’s been discussion here about the possibility of Northern Harrier/Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus being two species, a North American one and a slighly different European/UK type. The jury, in this case the International Ornithological Committee, examined the evidence and decided not to split as the genetic differences between the two are very low in comparison to many other Eurasia/North America disjunctions. 

Northern Harrier/Hen Harrier - from The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors

Happily both of our Peregrine populations are in a healthier state since the ban on DDT of the early 1970s which led to a recovery in numbers. This has been supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and a reintroduction programme in the many parts of the US. In both our countries the Peregrine has reoccupied former haunts and they now breed on human artefacts in our city centres. There are three subspecies of Peregrine Falcon in the US, tundrius of the north, anatum found mainly in the Rocky Mountains, and pealei which is found in the Pacific Northwest. Peregrines introduced into the eastern and other states are of mixed races. Here in the UK our Peregrine Falcons are from the nominate (first named) race Falco peregrinus peregrinus.  

Rough-legged Hawk/Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus is but a very irregular winter visitor to the British Isles, spreading here from continental Europe, generally during times of intense cold weather and/or shortage of their lemming/mammal prey. This situation rather simplifies separating out our everyday UK Common Buzzard Buteo buteo, unlike the US landmasses where 10 species of Buteo occur, all of which feature in The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors.

Rough-legged Hawk/Rough-legged Buzzard - from The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors

The Gyr Falcon is incredibly hard to see in the UK, and just like the Rough-legged Hawk the pale Arctic falcon is a very irregular visitor to the UK mainland. As Crossley has described its status in the US, “a loner with a huge territory”, an accurate portrayal for a bird which spends much of its time hunting across the northern oceans.

In the US the Northern Goshawk is a widespread but scarce breeder of forested areas. It's a status replicated over here in the UK, whereby spotting a Goshawk makes for something of a birding Red Letter Day.

Northern Goshawk - from The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors

Ospreys are a common sight in in many parts of the United States, whereas in the United Kingdom the species is confined mainly to Scotland with just a small number of pairs breeding in the more remote parts of Wales and northern England. In the English counties Ospreys are a regular sight on migration during both spring and autumn periods.  

Last but not least on my list is the magnificent Golden Eagle, a species which in both the UK and the United States breeds only in the more remote northern forests and mountains. Here in the UK our Golden Eagles are confined to the inaccessible parts of Scotland and rarely venture south across the border into England. 

And now without further ado the prize draw - at last you say. There is a small, colourful  raptor featured in The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors which has occurred in the UK on less than a handful of occasions, in fact just two accepted records, so few that while it belongs on the Britsh List of birds as maintained by The British Ornithologist's Union's Records Committee (BOURC), I didn't include it in my summary of shared species above. The last occasion this raptor appeared in the UK as a vagrant was during the late 1970s, over 35 years ago. What is the species? Please post your answer as a  comment to this post before 27th March 2013. Two winners will be chosen at random, and due to logisitcs, one from the US and one from the UK. The winners will announced on Another Bird Blog on 28th March and requested to send me (in confidence) their postal address. In due course each winner will receive a copy of The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors courtesy of Princeton University Press.

As part of this two-week blog tour raptor enthusiasts are invited to join in a live Shindig video chat event on Friday 22nd March - "Raptor ID Happy Hour" from 6pm to 7pm EST at  Shindig's Raptor Event. Two of the participants are the authors themselves, Richard Crossley and Brian Sullivan - sounds like a good place to be on a Friday evening with a glass of beer close to hand.

Next stop on today's blog circuit is a trip to Radd Icenoggle in Montana USA where Radd's Blog is looking back at the Montana State recovery programme which rescued the Peregrine Falcon from the verge of extinction in that region. Following on from Radd the Magnificent Frigate Bird web site will feature Barred Owl and Cooper's Hawk and there's another chance to win copies of The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors.

Visit the Blog Tour Schedule

Finally and before you head off to Montana with Radd, don't forget to enter today's prize draw on Another Bird Blog and then come back soon to find out the winners of the fabulous prizes.

Snowy Scene

What a strange day for birding. There was a bitterly cold easterly wind as the BBC said there would be, but one minute I’m out in the sunshine enjoying a good bit of birding, and then two minutes later scurrying for the car to escape horizontal snow showers. Listening to the radio and waiting for the shower to stop it seems the maritime Fylde is surrounded by snow to the north, east and south once again. 

Sunny Showers

It's On The Way

Snow Shower - Out Rawcliffe

I was out on the moss again topping up the finches with niger and their regular seed mix, and not before time after being unable to get there yesterday. The birds are becoming quite astute, disappearing as soon as I approach the dropping point, and then by the time I stand there filling the feeders the place is devoid of birds. A stranger to the site would quickly abandon any birding there on the assumption there were no birds to see. After a while the finches return allowing a count of sorts as 10 Brambling, 15 Chaffinch, 6 Reed Bunting, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Yellowhammer, 4 Blackbirds and a Song Thrush. 

The Robin often waits near the car hoping for seed spill when the car stops and a gust of wind blows spilled seed from the open hatchback.

Robin

More interesting today was the number of birds on nearby stubble, most of them visible only when a Hen Harrier motored in from the west in fly-fast surprise rather than slow-quartering pounce mode. As it flew rapidly over the fields the harrier dislodged 120+ Skylark, 35 Corn Bunting, 18 Fieldfare, 60+ Woodpigeon and 90+ Starling from just one field as pandemonium took hold. With so much food in the offing and snow still blanketing the hills, no wonder the harrier is staying put for now. 

Hen Harrier

Snow in Bowland

The car window was down and as I drove further down the farm a female Sparrowhawk came off the roadside and then flew in and then out of the adjacent wood to escape attention. The hawk wasn’t unnoticed by the resident Tawny Owl though, the owl giving out a couple of territorial hoots to see off the Sparrowhawk. That  ploy worked well enough on the hawk but made me head into the wood instead. I found the Tawny in what looked like a well-used roosting spot of a low, ivy covered stump of a tree. No sign of its mate which could well be sat on eggs by now and keeping those snowflakes at bay. 

Tawny Owl

Other bits and bobs today - 1 Grey Heron, 1 Mistle Thrush, 30+ Tree Sparrow, 1 Kestrel, 1 Buzzard, 1 Little Owl. 

Little Owl

More soon from Another Bird Blog, but just for a change of scene and a hint of what’s on the menu here next week, try Princeton University Press Blog .

In the meantime today I'm linking up with Stewart's photo gallery.

What A Circus

There’s nothing more annoying and frustrating than having to take nets down because of wind or rain very soon after you’ve spent time and effort putting them up. 

That’s what happened this morning after I’d gone to Rawcliffe at 7am on the strength of the BBC’s forecast for an 8-10mph wind all day. By 0855 I was taking the nets down because the wind had suddenly increased to 15-18mph making catching impossible. By then I had caught just 8 birds, 4 Reed Bunting, 3 Chaffinch and a Blackbird. 

Numbers of the target species around my feeding spots were down on recent days, with just 2 Brambling, 15 Chaffinch, 15 Reed Bunting, 20 Goldfinch, 2 Yellowhammer, 20+ Woodpigeon and 55 Fieldfare/180 Starlings in an adjacent field. 

At this time of the year and on an initial glance some male Chaffinches can have the superficial appearance of adults. There’s one below but a closer look at the wing and tail feathers tells a different story - pale and worn tertial feathers and last year’s badly holed and fault lined tail. 

Chaffinch - second calendar year male

Chaffinch - second calendar year male

Chaffinch - second calendar year male

Today’s 4 Reed Buntings takes the February tally here to 16 new ones and something of an early spring movement of the species I think. 

Reed Bunting

Soon after dawn there were the usual unsatisfying views of the male Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus as it arrived from the west, did a fast and distant circuit of the stubble, all the time pursued by a crow, before then hurrying off towards Lancaster Lane again. One of these days….. 

Carrion Crow and Hen Harrier

In such a short visit there’s not much more to relate except for 2 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 14 Corn Bunting and 1 Little Owl. 

Not the most productive or satisfying two hours I have ever spent out on the moss. As Calamity Clegg or Disastrous Dave might say of Eastleigh around midnight of Thursday next - “Things can only get better”. 

Log in soon to see if Another Bird Blog’s next performance is any better.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

From inside the house the coating on the car looked like frost. Once outside there was a light flurry of snow together with a thin film of the white stuff on the roof and bonnet. Although dawn was half an hour way there were breaks in the cloud above so I set off in an easterly direction hoping for a repeat run of Friday’s catch at my finch feed site on the moss.

At the farm the snow had stopped so I set a couple of nets,and after a couple of hours the field sheet showed a good selection of species and a reasonable total of 18 birds, including a few more of the carrot coloured Fringilla montifringilla: New - 5 Chaffinch, 3 Brambling, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Reed Bunting and 1 Woodpigeon. Recaptures - 3 Chaffinch and 1 Brambling, all from recent days. 

In contrast to Friday the Bramblings were much less obvious this morning with probably less than 10 seen or heard, with Chaffinches equally hard to detect and maybe less than 20 about. Reed Buntings continue to come and go with the three new birds caught but a constant 20 or so utilising the woodland edge of the ringing site.

Goldfinches seemed to return to the niger feeders today so here's hoping their numbers will increase soon when birds head back in a northerly direction from the south of England and the near Continent. With more than 20 around catching three is still an improvement on recent tallies. Below is an adult male Goldfinch caught today displaying a stunning spring plumage and having a wing length of 85mm, the longest I’ve ever encountered on any Goldfinch.

Goldfinch

Goldfinch - adult male

I caught a very heavy adult Woodpigeon, looking innocent enough but a species also known hereabouts as the Greater Seed Hoovering Dove. When I released the monster it laboured off, weighted down with best quality bird seed. 

Woodpigeon

A picture of this morning’s adult male Brambling followed by a portrait of one of the second calendar year females caught today.Why do the males attract lots of attention from birders when the females are equally attractive but in a much less obvious way?

Brambling -  Fringilla montifringilla

Brambling - Fringilla montifringilla

The morning’s birding was pretty quiet too although a female Merlin chasing Skylarks enlivened a few moments before the falcon sped off towards Pilling. It made me look over that way to see other birds scattering too in the wake of or anticipation of the Merlin's arrival - mainly 110 Fieldfare, 200 Starling in the next field, but in the still wet field beyond, 12 Golden Plover, 10 Black-tailed Godwit and 150+ Lapwing. 

Earlier I’d seen the Hen Harrier over that way too, heading north and west towards Skitham Lane and Bradshaw Lane. There was no chance of yet another bad photo by me, especially at that distance, so here’s a sample plate of several Hen Harriers/Northern Harriers from a soon to be released book The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors.  JPEG courtesy of Jessica and Caroline at Princeton University Press.

Northern Harrier/Hen Harrier - The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors

And watch this space in the next few weeks when Another Bird Blog takes a deeper look at The Crossley Guide:Raptors in time for the April launch .

Log into Another Bird Blog soon for more news, views and a fruitful journey.  

Down On The Farm

I did get to the farm today but not the usual one, just Old Holly Farm at Cabus for a day out with our two granddaughters Olivia and Isabella. Apart from a few Pied Wagtails and domestic chickens we didn’t see many birds, only pigs, cows, goats, rabbits, horses and newly born lambs. Everyone say Aaah! 

Meanwhile back at the real farm and from last summer there’s a report of a Sedge Warbler recaptured in France. First ringed on 1st August 2010 it was captured by French ringers in Donges, Loire Atlantique on 27 August 2012, an elapsed time of 757 days and a distance of 730 kms, not counting the distance travelled in the intervening year, or the many miles this bird travelled once it reached Africa in both 2010 and 2011. We did not recapture this bird at Out Rawcliffe during the summers of 2011 or 2012 so it is safe to assume it originated further north of Out Rawcliffe.

Sedge Warbler - Out Rawcliffe to Loire Atlantique

Sedge Warbler

I did my top up of the feed yesterday and in the process clocked up much of the customary birds with a few extra goodies like a Short-eared Owl, a Merlin and the Hen Harrier making its way over to Pilling again. The harrier scattered a flock of Wood Pigeons although I don’t think it was actually hunting them, just passing through. It’s another distant shot; this bird does not like us humans, our vehicles or our buildings. 

Hen Harrier and Wood Pigeons

Short-eared Owl

The usual fare consisted of 1 Brambling on a niger feeder, 6 Chaffinch, 22 Goldfinch, 2 Snipe 15 Reed Bunting, 3 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 160 Woodpigeon and 14 Corn Bunting. 

Tomorrow its MOT day - the car not me. So with luck both of us will be out on Thursday. Stay tuned to see if we both get a pass.

Yesterday And More Record Shots

On Monday I joined other ringers in helping Morecambe Bay Wader Ringing Group at Fleetwood where we hoped for a mixed bag of waders. The catch wasn’t as good as expected, the birds failing to come near the nets in the anticipated numbers. But a good day was had by all in the bracing sea air with lots of time to look closely at the 2 Turnstone, 3 Ringed Plovers and 5 Sanderlings caught. 

 Ringed Plover

 Turnstone

Sanderling

The “more record shots” of the blog title are of the local Hen Harrier seen briefly when I crossed Lancaster Lane, Pilling on my way to Out Rawcliffe this morning. As usual the bird was very distant and I hadn’t time to stop more than a minute, and then just point, shoot and hope for the best. Any day now the bird should be on its way back to the uplands where Hen Harriers and other raptors  should breed in some numbers, a place where they are supposed to be a protected rather than persecuted. Maybe this striking male would be safer staying out Pilling way where it is coming to no harm other than being a subject of attention from bird watchers. 

Hen Harrier

When I reached the farm there was a flock of 30 Corn Bunting, 4 Yellowhammer and 30+ Chaffinch waiting for me; unfortunately the birds were half a mile from the feeding station. Along the track to the feeding station a Stoat ran across ahead of the car then disappeared from view, just as Stoats are forever meant to do. 

The main birds at the feeding station were the regular Reed Buntings, all 15 or more doing well to avoid my nets again, with just a couple of Goldfinch and another 10 or so Chaffinch. An adult female I caught had a wing length of 87mm, as long as they get and possibly a bird heading back to the continent. 

Chaffinch - female

A couple of average size males caught and today, wings no longer than the large female above. Today I heard my first Chaffinch of the year in song. 

Chaffinch - male

Things were pretty quiet otherwise except for the occasional rush of wings from the 500+ Woodpigeon, a Mistle Thrush in song, the croak of a passing Grey Heron, a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, and a single Skylark in song. 

Grey Heron

The morning was a little cool and cloudy for Buzzards to be active and just one heard today, together with the usual sightings of both a Kestrel and a Little Owl. 

Today Another Bird Blog blog is linking with Stewart at his gallery http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/. 

Log in here soon for more record shots or better.