Rain Day

With the UK under severe lockdown there is no bird ringing allowed unless in one's own garden.  With vehicle travel limited to “essential” and “local journeys” only, it's unlikely I will be able to do much birding or even to get out with a camera.  Add to that 24 hours of rain with more to come today and I'm indoors for a while.

But, keep logging in for news and views. I'll do my best to find news and views to share. 

Meanwhile here's a post to link up with my friend Rain Frances over in New Brunswick and her Thursday Art theme of  Birds and the Sky -  http://www.rainfrances.com/2021/01/thursday-art-date-birds-and-sky.html  

I thought this might prove a difficult one because although the sky is there in many of my bird photos, it is there mostly as a backdrop to the bird or birds. 

So I looked through my photo archive for photos to find some that would satisfy the criteria of Birds and the Sky. Here we go Rain and readers - hope you like my selection of Birds and the Sky, sometimes combined.  I didn't realise there were so many until searching the hard drive. 

Blue, grey, white, cloudy, dark, light, red, and black from all around the world. Some with birds some not.  In no particular order. For best results click on the picture.

Swallows against the morning Sky - Glasson, Lancashire

Sepia Sky - Pilling,Lancashire

Rain on the way Sky - Fleetwood, Lancashire

Goose Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Morning Sky trails - Rawcliffe, Lancashire

Bee Eater Sky - Menorca, Spain

Black Sky at night - Lanzarote, Spain

Cattle Egret - White on Blue Sky

Blue Sky over Sand - Fuerteventura, Spain 

Pintail ducks - Action Sky

Red Sky - Menorca, Spain

Grey Sky, Grey Day- Menorca, Spain

Tourists in the Sky - Greece

Cloudy Sky - Lanzarote

Rainbow Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Lapwing Sky

Coloured Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Big Sky - Lanzarote, Spain

Orange Sky - Knott End, Lancashire

Moody Sky - Rawcliffe, Lancashire

Hitchcock Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Egyptian Sky - Makadi Bay, Egypt

Another Big Sky,  Lanzarote, Spain

Northern Shovelers Sky

Photos via Canon, Sigma and Sony. 

Now if I just had £17,000 I could update my gear to the latest Sony A7R 1V camera with a Sony FE 600mm F/4 Lens and a Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 Lens. 

How did I do with the post Rain?

Linking on Saturday 16 January to Viewing Nature With Eileen and also birding in Texas with Anni I'd Rather Be Birding.

 

Still the weather stops me from birding so I'm hitting the memory trail from the warmer, drier days of Lanzarote and January 2015.

Remember to click the pics for bigger and better views of Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

We drove north and west heading for the coast at Famara hoping to find Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser, Stone Curlew and other bits & bobs along the way. After breakfast we said goodbye to the hotel’s Collared Doves and Spanish Sparrows, the two species which dominate the grounds and where the few Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs stay mostly hidden amongst the greenery. Passing Kestrels may take a brief look at what’s on offer. 

Collared Dove

Kestrel

The male Spanish Sparrow is a rather handsome chap who inevitably bears the brunt of camera clicks while the less photogenic females look on. 

Spanish Sparrow

Spanish Sparrow

We took the road via La Geria, the wine growing area with its traditional methods of cultivation. Single vines are planted in pits 4–5 m wide and 2–3 m deep, with small stone walls around each pit. This agricultural technique is designed to harvest rainfall and overnight dew and to protect the plants from prevailing winds. The vineyards are part of the World Heritage Site as well as other sites on the island. This landscape is pretty much devoid of birds although the ubiquitous Berthelot’s Pipit or a patrolling Kestrel are often encountered. 

Lanzarote

La Geria, Lanzarote

Berthelot's Pipit

We passed through farmland near the centre of the island Teguise and drove north towards the spectacular cliffs of Famara, stopping or diverting the Corsa across rough tracks to look for speciality birds of Lanzarote. Near Teguise a Stone Curlew flew across the road and landed in an uncultivated patch of land near to a half-grown chick - a nice find indeed. The chick crouched in an attempt to become invisible while the adult walked off and tried to distract me from its offspring.

Stone Curlew

Stone Curlew

Stone Curlew chick

Johnny Cash fans will know of the Boy Named Sue. In Lanzarote there is also a place named Soo, not far away from the Riscos de Famara and it’s a good area in which to look for Houbara Bustards. With just a small population in the Canary Islands, this species is mainly found in mainland North Africa west of the Nile and in the western part of the Sahara desert region in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. 

A Town Named Soo, Lanzarote

Houbara Bustard

Near Famara, Lanzarote

Looking for bustards, Lanzarote

As you might expect from a species historically hunted in large numbers the Houbara Bustard is very shy and will either hide or run from a vehicle. The cryptic plumage gives a bird the chance of escaping detection. 

Houbara Bustard

Houbara Bustard

We stopped at the windy Wild West town of Famara to survey the rugged cliffs and sandy dunes where we found Yellow-legged Gulls and a single Little Egret along the rocky shore near the jetty. We followed up with a light lunch before hitting the road back south taking detours along the many dusty trails in search of more birds. 

Little Egret

Sand dunes at Famara, Lanzarote

Lanzarote lunch

The Desert Grey Shrike was a lucky find, the bird diving into a grey, thorny bush that upon inspection held a newly built, lined nest ready for eggs, and which from the female’s behaviour were the eggs surely imminent. I took a number of shots and left the bird to her domestic duties. 

Desert Grey Shrike

Desert Grey Shrike

It had been a great day of exploration and discovery but time to head back to Peurto Calero and a well-earned rest. 

The LZ2 road Lanzarote, 2015

There’s more news, views and photos soon from Another Bird Blog. 

Elephant Bird

Another week of rain and wind goes by with no birding or ringing. We’ve had something like 150% of the expected October rain, but still it comes. 

With few birders venturing out even WhatsApp news is devoid of bird sightings except for recent day “pings” about Cattle Egrets from three local apps - Lancaster, North West, and Fylde.  Just a day ago came news of a local record number of 16 Cattle Egrets together at Freckleton, Fylde, plus a sighting of two more in the Cockerham, Lancaster area on the same day. 

Although I have seen Cattle Egrets all over the world, it was only in 2017 that I saw my first one in the UK, early December 2017 at Cockerham a few miles from home, quickly followed by a second in the spring of 2018. 

The Cattle Egret is now following the example of two other egrets, Little Egret and Great Egret, of  expanding to the north and west of Britain. But it must be said that the Cattle Egrets that plod around muddy cattle fields in mid-winter England rarely look as striking or exotic as the ones seen on the bright sunny days of Egypt, India, Menorca or West Africa. 

Cattle Egret - Cockerham, Lancashire

Cattle Egret - Cockerham, Lancashire

Cattle Egrets - Menorca

 

Cattle Egret - Egypt

Cattle Egret - Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Strictly speaking, the Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis is not an egret, despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta. It is a member of the heron (Ardea) family, the single example of the monotypic genus Bubulcus. Some authorities regard two of its subspecies as full species, the Western Cattle Egret and the Eastern Cattle Egret. Although similarly and mostly white, where there are hints of orange and yellow the eastern version is more strikingly colourful than the western.

Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the Cattle Egret has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the rest of the world in the last century. This is probably due in large part to due to its relationship with humans and their domesticated animals and where it acquired colloquial names such as cow crane, cow bird, cow heron, elephant bird, and even rhinoceros egret. 

Cattle Egret - Egypt

Cattle Egret - Menorca

Cattle Egret - India

Originally adapted to a relationship with large grazing and browsing animals, the Cattle Egret was easily able to switch to domesticated cattle and horses. As the keeping of livestock spread throughout the world, the Cattle Egret began began to occupy otherwise empty niches. 

Many populations of Cattle Egrets are highly migratory and dispersive, a trait that helped the species' range expansion. The Cattle Egret may be one of the few species to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the “wrong” direction by first arriving in North America in 1941, those early sightings were originally dismissed as escapees. The species bred in Florida in 1953 and spread rapidly, breeding for the first time in Canada in 1962. Cattle Egrets were first sighted in the Americas on the boundary of Guiana and Suriname in 1877, having apparently flown across the Atlantic Ocean. Cattle Egrets are now widely distributed across Brazil and other parts of South America. 

Breeding in the UK was recorded for the first time in 2008 only a year after an influx seen in the previous year. A pair bred again in 2017, and in 2008 Cattle Egrets were reported in Ireland for the first time. 

The Cattle Egret now has a niche in Britain, where it does not directly compete with other species and from where it will soon establish a viable breeding population. Unlike most herons the Cattle Egret is typically found in fields and dry grassy habitats, reflecting a greater dietary reliance on terrestrial insects and other quarry like earthworms rather than aquatic prey. With its perceived role as a bio-control of cattle parasites such as ticks and flies, the Cattle Egret should be seen as a welcome and permanent addition to British birdlife. 

Cattle Egret - Cockerham, Lancashire

Cattle Egret - Menorca

A glance at the latest local weather forecasts predicts yet more day of rain with perhaps an improvement by the middle of next week. I hope so. 

Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog or your WhatsApp birding news.    

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.