Long Time No See

My April Fool of Sunday evening produced mixed results. Many readers failed to notice, even remarking that Birdchase seemed a great idea. The blog stats reveal that just one canny lady from Canada spotted the obvious clues, while several others didn't and then followed the link to read about “God’s Gift to April Fool's Jokes”. I heard that one or two readers took umbrage as they failed to appreciate the jest. Many birders take their pastime far too seriously. 

Enough of the jokes, the weather has turned cold again with arctic winds bringing cold mornings when we should be bathed in April sunshine. Just the other day there was a 15 car pile-up when a mini-blizzard of snow and hail hit the M55 near Kirkham, Preston. 

It was cold and misty on Saturday when Andy and I met up to a reasonable enough forecast that promised a morning’s ringing around the targeting of spring arriving Meadow Pipits. Mist hung around for more than 3 hours and only cleared when a biting northerly sprung up. We caught less than 10 birds with the highlight being 4 Meadow Pipits, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Greenfinch, the latter now something of a rarity in our mist nets. 

Meadow Pipit

Greenfinch 

It’s always interesting to catch a Reed Bunting or two. Except in autumn when all juveniles look alike, it is rare that two same sex Reed Buntings are similarly attired. The timing and extent of their moults can vary so much that an individual can look completely different to the next bird caught at the very same time. The handsome male below is a second calendar year – born 2018. 

Reed Bunting 

If a Greenfinch is now an occasional treat a real rarity appeared by way of not one, but two Long-eared Owls roosting in the lee of the wind in amongst the lower branches of nearby trees. 

There has been one owl and sometimes two for some weeks now, but into April time for Long-eared Owls suggests a breeding pair with a nearby nest containing eggs or small young.  Suitable evenings soon will see us listening out for the “squeaky gate” calls of owlets at a number of likely trees that have old crow’s nests. 

Long-eared Owls 

In this part of Lancashire the Long-eared Owl is very scarce, perhaps even rare, a species that goes unnoticed because of its highly nocturnal habits. They are more commonly seen in winter when individuals may congregate in daytime roosts which are probably comprised of wholly migratory owls from Northern Europe rather than the mainly sedentary British population. 

The owls’ night-time habits do not lend them to easy survey during spring and summer with most bird watchers experience of the species confined to seeing them in winter roosts. These owl gatherings inevitably lead to the birds’ location becoming common knowledge through digital media followed by daily and merciless targeting by twitchers and toggers. Eventually the owls abandon even these traditional sites and seek out quieter less well known spots to spend their daylight hours. 

Hence our location is secret but highly unlikely to be the only Long-eared Owls around should any enquiring bird watcher decide to look for their own owl some rather than await a message on Whatsapp or Birdchase.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday.

Birders Cock-Up?

Never let it be said that Another Bird Blog doesn’t offer a variety of stories. We continue the rule of thumb today with a story about Modern Art in the Serbian town of Kikinda,  a samll town that is home to the planet's largest roosting population of Long-eared Owls. Between early November and mid-March, hundreds roost each day in the town square. 

Long-eared Owl - LEOs of Poland.

Reuters - November 2018 - “Phallic owl statue in Serbian town of Kikinda sparks complaints.” 

“A statue designed to brand Kikinda in Serbia as the city of owls is attracting attention for a different reason: its "phallic" shape. Critics of the recently erected 2.4 metre statue have called for its removal, claiming it is obscene. 

"This doesn't look like an owl. God save me, whoever approved this has no eyes," one person wrote on a Facebook post announcing the terra-cotta statue's unveiling. 

"Freud could say something about this statue, it looks so much like a phallus," another said. 

"Now everyone will ridicule Kikinda," another Facebook post read. 

"This statue represents something very masculine, but not an owl," said a post on Twitter. 

The statue did please some, however. "Come on people, I love art and I think the statue is really nice," one Facebook user said. 

Local sculptor Jovan Blat, who made the statue told Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti that he had intended to create a "stylized sculpture" with an "elongated, tubular body. It is clear that everyone does not understand contemporary art." 

Given the reaction to the statue, however, Blat said he would be prepared to make a replacement statue. 

However, Zeljiko Bodrozic, editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, said the existing owl statue should stay. "With all the hype swirling around it... in a way it also becomes a symbol of our city."  Local authorities declined to comment. 

Dragan Simic, a keen bird watcher, also has no issue with the statue. "Kikinda is now famous for its owls... across Europe, even around the world... the bird watchers are very active, numerous and loyal tourists." 

Kikinda - Serbia

Me? I couldn't possibly comment. But Dear Reader, feel free to add your point of view below.

Linking this post to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Timely Advice

Migrants are trickling north in ones and two without any signs of a major arrival to enliven a morning’s birding. Ringing is on hold while cold north westerlies predominate and this week I’ve been busy with half-term duties. 

I’m hoping to go birding Friday and/or Saturday, but in the meantime this week came timely reminders on the reporting of rare breeding birds from Mark Holling of the UK’s Rare Breeding Birds Panel and Mark Thomas of RSPB Investigations,  here.

They suggest a long list of species where news blackouts should apply in circumstances suggestive of breeding or potential breeding unless public viewing has been arranged:

Capercaillie 

Black-throated Diver 

Little Bittern 

Cattle Egret 

Great White Egret 

Purple Heron 

Eurasian Spoonbill 

Red-necked Grebe 

Slavonian Grebe 

Black-necked Grebe 

Honey Buzzard 

White-tailed Eagle 

Peregrine Falcon 

Montagu's Harrier 

Osprey 

Baillon's Crake 

Common Crane 

Black-winged Stilt 

Ruff 

Temminck's Stint 

Purple Sandpiper 

Green Sandpiper 

Wood Sandpiper 

Red-necked Phalarope 

Snowy Owl 

Long-eared Owl 

European Bee-eater 

Wryneck 

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 

Golden Oriole 

Red-backed Shrike 

Penduline Tit 

Savi's Warbler

Marsh Warbler

Bluethroat 

Peregrine Falcon

Long-eared Owl

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker - Crossley ID Guide Britain & Ireland 

"By nature of their rarity, rare breeding birds are vulnerable to disturbance, but to do so deliberately is against the law. Although some species, particularly raptors, are still persecuted by game managers in some areas, there has been an increasing incidence of disturbance by birdwatchers and especially by bird photographers. Although such disturbance may be accidental, inconsiderate or careless behaviour can lead to birds deserting their nests or losing their eggs or young to predators.” 

The list includes species that are now beginning to make their mark in the UK as new colonisers but also one or two like Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Long-eared Owl, Peregrine and even the once common Ruff, all subject to relentless chasing around pressure in this area should they appear either in or out of the breeding season. 

If only all bird watchers, including local ones, had taken note of the sensible advice and guidance above, we may have avoided the recent deliberate shooting dead of a Peregrine Falcon at St Anne’s-on-Sea, 15 miles from here and where the birds were subjected to almost daily visits and reportage on Internet social media.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog.

 

Six Of The Best

Mist netting is a little quiet at the moment whilst birds sit tight brooding eggs or young and the males stay on their territory without straying through new parts of the ringing site where the nets might catch them. But there is nest checking and ringing of the nestlings to follow up and that’s what I did this morning when I checked out 9 Swallow nests at Hambleton and Out Rawcliffe. At the first nest I had thought last week there were five young but when I actually took them out for ringing, there were six, all desperate for a feed as the morning’s cleaning out of dogs, horses and chickens kept the parent Swallows from visiting the nest as often as they wanted. When the cockerels finished squaring up there would be more feathers for the Swallows.

Swallow Chicks
Swallow
Swallow
Squaring Up
Of the remaining nests one had not moved on from last week’s lining stage, five nests remain at egg stage of either four or five eggs but I suspect one had been abandoned. A new nest containing two eggs has appeared in an old door-less garage and this may be the pair from the deserted nest. I now go weekly to keep tabs on any changes and ascertain exactly how advanced are the nests with eggs.

At Rawcliffe I ringed four young from a nest where they were at the same stage as the Hambleton birds, with wing feathers still “in pin”, not yet merging from the wing sheaths, or “IP” as the Integrated Population Monitoring and Recording (IPMR) Nest Record code dictates. Another pair on 4 eggs I will check in seven days.

Other birds I saw out here included singing Yellowhammer, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Goldfinch and a daytime calling Little Owl from a location I know.

Little Owl
Yellowhammer
On the subject of owls, it seems that several people have been told “in confidence” about a recent breeding pair of Long-eared Owl. Some of the individuals trusted with this information are about the least discreet people imaginable so we can be sure that the secret is now well and truly in the public domain. The nesting Long-eared Owls have had their cover blown at Marton where for the last several weeks they remained undisturbed by the curious, the listers, the pager devotees, the unscrupulous photographers or the simply ignorant, all of whom would target the birds. Perhaps it’s best that one site becomes known in order to spare other locations from endless lines of people gouging paths through the vegetation in order to needlessly gawp. You see, if there’s one pair there are others out there, honest.

Long-eared Owl