Hobby Times Two

The Hobby is still something of a scarcity in this part of coastal Lancashire known as The Fylde. The sighting of a Hobby adds more than a smidgeon of excitement to an often mundane day. Even better when a single sighting of the will o’ the wisp raptor becomes a double whammy. 

The Hobby, a Schedule One Species, breeds inland not too many miles away, just a car ride away, a location already subject to  interest from too many bird listers.  It would be easy to add to the database  of visitors and potentially draw attention to a breeding locality but how much better is it to meet and to enjoy a Hobby or two in the course of a normal day's birding?  

  

My latest encounter of this pacy raptor came about today while Andy and I were out bird ringing over Pilling way, catching the bits and pieces of a normal day.  A quiet spell had us sitting in the sun watching Meadow Pipits surveying a walk-in trap placed about 40 yards away on the farm track. We’d had some success with eight Meadow Pipits caught but frustrated by the sight of two Yellow Wagtails not finding their way into the metal maze while pipits had no such problems.

From the north and east came two Hobby (is that Hobbys or Hobbies?) in close unison, playing in the breeze like the juveniles they were as they drifted over the nearby sea wall and continued their leisurely way west. It was yesterday evening when the farmer Richard told me of his sighting while tending livestock of a “large swift” - “going like the clappers”, one of those sightings that goes into the memory hole to often resurface another day. 

Hobby

 

We caught other species in a single, slightly blowy mist net and ended up with 14 ringed – 8 Meadow Pipit, 3 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

Meadow Pipit

Reed Warbler

Whitethroat

Pied Wagtail

Birds that got away or didn’t come near the nets included 70 or more Swallows,40 Meadow Pipits, 4 Wheatear, 25 Pied Wagtail, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 8 Goldfinch, several Linnets, Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper. 

Linnet

Wheatear

Wheatear

Goldfinch

Yellow Wagtail

Swallow

Swallow

Yes, it was a very young Wheatear that has quickly joined in the action, already setting off  on the long journey to Africa. 

While the sun shines I’m making hay too.

Weekend is not looking good but two more days of bright weather means more news, views and photos on Another Bird Blog. Don't miss it folks.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog.

 

More Of The Same

I was back home by 1030 this morning, rained off. Prior to the rain a couple of cool but cloudy hours at Pilling allowed a return walk along the sea wall before I retreated back home to blog. 

A Barn Swallow greeted me at Lane Ends, my second of the year but the only one I saw on this overcast and quite breezy morning. There was a Chiffchaff in song, a Reed Bunting too plus a Long-tailed Tit working its way through the trees. Four Little Egrets decorated the pool margins again as a Little Grebe trilled unseen from the mostly hidden pool. 

Chiffchaff

Towards Pilling Water I disturbed a Sparrowhawk from the base of the sea wall, a big female which glided out to the marsh where it disappeared into a ditch and out of sight. If the hawk was hanging about in a wait for passerines there weren’t many; 4 Skylark, 1 White Wagtail, a couple of overflying Linnet and a single Wheatear melting into the rocks. The Wheatear looked fairly bright but I wasn’t sure if it was a “Greenland” type like those of Thursday. 

After a while the Wheatear succumbed to a mealworm even though the tiny things barely wriggled in the cold morning wind. This second year male Wheatear turned out to be a typical Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, and at 95mm wing and 23.1 grams, not approaching anything like the weight or measurements of Thursday’s “Greenland” beast. There is an overlap at this time of the year when different races of Wheatears pass through North West England but heading to a variety of destinations. 

Northern Wheatear

Northern Wheatear- Oeananthe oenanthe

The Green Sandpiper was still at the wildfowler’s pools, flying off to hide in the ditches at my approach. Still 15/20 Teal and several partly obscured Shovelers. There was a Stock Dove on the marsh briefly, and overhead a local Buzzard. 

Spots of rain began and in the absence of much doing I made my way back to Lane Ends and thence to Braides Farm where lazy birders can bird from a car. Here were lots of Golden Plovers, 350 and more, distant on the muddy field. 

There are no Lapwing flocks now, just patrolling males and every so often a partial and motionless head, a female Lapwing sat tight on a probable full clutch of eggs. I noted several Oystercatchers feeding but didn’t spot any sat tight just yet; normally their nests are a week or two later than Lapwings. There were several Skylarks in song despite the gloomy morning. 

Lapwing

 

Oystercatcher

It was a slightly disappointing morning with frustrating weather resulting in little visible migration but nice to connect with another Wheatear. 

More soon from Another Bird Blog, linking today to Camera Critters and Anni's Birding Blog.

Greenland Bound

I wasn’t too sure about this morning’s first Wheatear, a second year male with lots of last year’s brown juvenile feathers on the crown and ear coverts. At first it both felt and looked rather bulky, but its weight was in line with ones caught recently, the wing measurement longer at 105mm. The weight of 26 grams was slightly above those of last week although upon closer examination there wasn’t a hint of excess fat; in fact the poor thing seemed a little on the skinny side. There are no midnight snacks or raiding the fridge during a Wheatear’s overnight journey. 

Northern Wheatear

Northern Wheatear

The second bird was a “Greenland” before I even took it from the trap. Big and bright this adult male easily met the biometric parameters for Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa, the large and colourful so called “Greenland” race of Northern Wheatear. Its wing measurement of 116mm was equal to that of a Redwing or a Song Thrush, it had a smidgen of migratory fat in the furculum and weighed in at 29.8 grams. What a cracker of a bird! 

Northern Wheatear - "Greenland" type - Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa 

Northern Wheatear - "Greenland" type - Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa

Wiki's summary is superb. 

"The Northern Wheatear makes one of the longest journeys of any small bird, crossing ocean, ice, and desert. It migrates from Sub-Saharan Africa in Spring over a vast area of the northern hemisphere that includes northern and central Asia, Europe, Greenland, Alaska, and parts of Canada. 

Birds of the large, bright Greenland race, leucorhoa, makes one of the longest transoceanic crossings of any passerine. In spring most migrate along a route (commonly used by waders and waterfowl) from Africa via continental Europe, the British Isles, and Iceland to Greenland. However, autumn sightings from ships suggest that some birds cross the North Atlantic directly from Canada and Greenland to southwest Europe, a distance of up to 2500 km). 

Birds breeding in eastern Canada are thought to fly from Baffin Island and Newfoundland via Greenland, Ireland, and Portugal to the Azores (crossing 3500 km of the North Atlantic) before flying onwards to Africa. Other populations from western Canada and Alaska migrate by flying over much of Eurasia to Africa. 

Miniature tracking devices have recently shown that the Northern Wheatear has one of the longest migratory flights known - 30,000 km from sub-Saharan Africa to their Arctic breeding grounds."

A blogging pal in Ontario offered to swap a few Blue Jays and Cardinals for a Northern Wheatear. David, I sent two Wheatears in your direction this morning, last seen heading quickly North and West and so coming your way soon. I’ll settle for an autumn warbler thanks and on the blue theme, a Cerulean would be rather nice. 

Northern Wheatear

Things were quiet along the sea wall this morning, the overcast conditions not conducive to migration even though the 7 or 8 Wheatears I saw obviously found a way through the gloom. 

At Lane Ends I heard and saw my first Willow Warbler of the Spring with the now regular Chiffchaff in good voice. A Lesser Redpoll, a few Meadow Pipits and Linnets flew east, and apart from 4 Skylarks that was it. 

On the wildfowler’s pools are reasonable numbers of Teal, 19 or 20 birds which fly out to the salt marsh when disturbed, while the group of 9 Shoveler circle for a while before returning to the pools. 

 Shoveler

There are more birds and bird pictures soon from Another Bird Blog. Log in tomorrow and see "what's about".

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.