News And A Scops

I got to Pilling this morning for a few hours, and here’s a summary of birds noted: Pairs of Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Reed Bunting and Kestrel, the latter at Damside where I noted a Buzzard thermalling over the village. Lane Ends plantation: singing Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Reed Warbler plus 2 villainous Jays doing the rounds.

At Pilling Water/Fluke Hall I struggled to make headway with the 8/10 Skylark pairs, the only ones feeding young were in a rather dense silage crop which the farmer won’t thank me for flattening. Two pairs of Redshank with unseen young, likewise one pair of Oystercatcher and a few unringed Lapwing chicks on the too-public wildfowler’s pool. Otherwise, 1 Greenfinch, 5 Linnet, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Grey Heron.

That’s not too much reward as spring disappears into June, and it’s nearly time to hang up the bins for a couple of months - just joking.

So to fill out the remainder of the post here’s a few pictures of Scops Owl from this year’s Menorca.

Just like in previous years a pair of resident Scops Owls visited the grounds of our hotel to hunt for moths and insects every evening. Some evenings the owls were more visible than others, but always announced they were due to arrive by soft calling about 9pm from their roost site in trees across the road. Louder calling indicated the pair warming up for a feed and were on their way, with the first bird usually landing by the room balcony or in a nearby palm tree about 2130. One evening as I sat with camera ready one of the pair landed so close I couldn’t get a full frame shot and by the time I slid the chair backwards the owl had flown to another vantage point.

Scops Owl

Scops Owls are widespread across Europe with most of the population migratory, however those on the Balearic Islands including Menorca are thought to be mainly non-migratory. The Balearic race Otus scops mallorcae is also said to be slightly smaller than other races, with less bulk and a smaller wing length, the latter probably as a result of becoming less migratory over many, many years: mallorcae is also said to show less colour variation than the more widespread nominate race. Without direct comparison this is difficult to judge from the pictures here, more so as the photographs were taken under different light conditions then later subjected to removing red-eye and other alteration through Photoshop.

Scops Owl

Some evenings and in between flitting between various hunting perches, the pair mated at the top of the garden canopies. At other times they flew back and forth to their nest site, but all the time their calling to each other was constant and often a means of telling how far away they had moved to hunt. Scops Owls have a very direct, fast unwavering flight, quite unlike the undulating flight of the 10% larger Little Owl. 

Scops Owl

On one or two evenings there were three birds, and while the pair could by early May have bred successfully, I thought it more likely an intruder was about. I was getting stupendous views of the owls so never even looked for their daytime roost somewhere in the grounds of holiday villas nearby. I didn’t hear this pair call in the daytime but occasionally when out walking in Menorca it is possible to hear a Scops calling from a piece of dense woodland. Best not to worry, just set the alarm clock for 9pm every evening, camera in one hand glass of wine in the other. Now that's what I call birding.

Back To Normal

Following a couple of weeks of relaxation and a bit of Med birding today was “goodbye” sunny Menorca of 24⁰ at 11am then “hello” rainy Manchester, 12⁰ at 2pm; from the sublime to the ridiculous.

After sorting through the pile of doorstep mail an early task was switching on the computer, paying online a few urgent bills like my BT Internet, checking emails and then downloading the many photographs I took in Menorca, most not as good as I hoped, for but some passable after a little help from Dr Photoshop.

So until I can get back to normal and catch up with fellow bloggers and followers, here’s a small selection from the last two weeks.

The Bee Eaters are always there, in the same spot, but for such a gregarious species, it is so reluctant to be captured by camera. We saw or heard Bee Eaters every day we went out, small groups mostly, often feeding high overhead in the clear sunny days.

Bee Eater

Menorca had enjoyed an early and hot spring, the wild orchids of April completely finished by early May with seemingly many birds feeding young. We saw many Thekla Larks taking food to young, found Sardinian Warbler nests, watched the House Martins at Galdana collecting mud from the only pool of water, and then in the evenings watched the local pair of Scops Owls mating on several nights.

Sardinian Warbler
Sardinian Warbler
House Martin
Thekla Lark

The Thekla picture didn’t turn out too bad considering I accidentally left the ISO at 3200 after trying for Scops pictures the night before, but my limited skills with Dr Photoshop don’t extend to completely eliminating the obligatory red-eye of close-up owls. Having said that, the owls themselves were absolutely stunning this year, so obliging, regular and predictable that we planned our evenings about their regular 2100 hours timetable and sound show that lasted until 4am.

Scops Owl

So it’s an early night for me too with no photography of nocturnal owls, no wandering the isle of Menorca for bird exotica and instead very much back to the regular UK birds soon; but watch this space for Red-footed Falcon, Audouin’s Gull, Egyptian Vulture, Red Kite etc eventually.

In Menorca Again

If anyone wondered where I am and why no blog post, the answer is that I am in Menorca, Santo Tomas again. So this is a quick message and a couple of pictures until I get back to the UK with new pictures.

Santo Tomas is just a small, quiet place on the south coast of the unspoilt Balearic island of Menorca where it doesn’t take long to see a few exotic birds at the height of migration time in early May.

The very first evening we saw the resident pair of Scops Owls again from our room balcony when both came into the hotel grounds on the lookout for ground beetles and moths to eat.

Scops Owl

The next morning our first coffee in the Malibu bar overlooking the Mediterranean Sea gave unsurpassed views of Audouin’s Gull and binocular views of many shearwaters, both Cory’s and Yelkouan, skimming over then resting out on the water. Whilst looking back to the hotel we could see the resident Hoopoe on the grass between the sunbeds and knew we were back.

Audouin’s Gull
Hoopoe

Our first walk took us through the pines es pins then over the cliff top towards Son Bou where we saw Tawny Pipits, Wheatears, Stonechats, Nightingales galore, Woodchat Shrikes, Corn Buntings, Common Sandpipers and more shearwaters. Raptors along here included Egyptian Vultures, Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Kestrel and a Hobby in pursuit of the many Swifts still heading north to the UK.

Tawny Pipit
Woodchat Shrike

We called into a spot for Golden Orioles and picked up 2 birds feeding in the canopy as a hidden male sang a litttle subsong. Just across the road we saw our first Red Kite of the trip. Tomorrow we head to the north of the island, taking in a colony of Bee Eaters, the marshes of Tirant and the headland of Punta Nati.

Look Back Not In Anger

What with the festive season and the impact of ice bound Britain it looks like I may not get out birding for a day or two. So until then and in order to keep Another Bird Blog simmering I have picked some highlights of 2010, dug out pictures old and new, mainly of warmer days and relived a few memorable moments, the odd notable day, with a few personal favourites. I scanned through photographs that I keep in folders in alpha order; Animals, Buntings, Chats, Ducks etc - you get the idea. The problem was I found so many to share that I may have to do this in two or more stages.

The year kicked off with a windy spell and an Eider that got blown onto Knott End foreshore but recovered well enough for a photo shoot on release as it sailed majestically for the safety of the open sea. What a gorgeous duck!

Eider
Knott End

2011 had its share of cold weather too, and being into birds isn’t just about our feathered friends but also an appreciation of all animals and the natural environment. Stoats are such magical little wild creatures that when a photographic opportunity presents itself it becomes a privilege to capture their image.

Stoat

I seemed to spend most of the spring, summer and autumn getting up at silly times to go ringing on Rawcliffe Moss where our ringing efforts contributed to a record finch year for the Ringing Group of Redpolls, Siskins, Chaffinches, Goldfinches and Greenfinches, then later in the season, Reed Buntings.

Dawn - Out Rawcliffe
Roe Deer at dawn
A Ringer’s Work Is Never Done
Siskin
Lesser Redpoll
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Reed Bunting

A spring break in Menorca was a chance to photograph a few local specialities with a Turtle Dove posing, puffed up on a cool Mediterranean morning, or a Scops Owl surprised by a flasher in the darkness.

Turtle Dove
Scops Owl
Menorca
Back home it was already the breeding season and time to ring a nestling or two.

Little Owl
Curlew

Before we knew it a busy autumn arrived, birding bonanza time when waders, warblers, pipits and chats abound and when I enjoyed a few memorable photography sessions in wonderful light with Swallows, Wheatears, Meadow Pipits and others.

Sedge Warbler
Little Egret
Wheatear
Swallow
Meadow Pipit

That’s all for now and it is a small selection, but if anyone has any favourite species for the next or indeed any time, I am open to requests.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who contributed to the success of my blog this year – critics, supporters, contributors and commentators. I hope that everyone who joined in so gained as much interest and enjoyment as I did from simply keeping the blog alive.

To end here is a sad but true tale - I spoke to a bloke the other week who recently retired from work and is bored, doesn’t know what to do, just follows his wife around like a lost puppy and thinks he might look for a job; I offered to take a couple of days a week off his hands.

PS, I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year, but remember................

Happy New Year

Scops Owls, Help!

I finished sorting through the last of my photographs from holiday, perplexed over how best to remove the “red-eye” from my Scops Owl photographs. The red eye certainly made them look fierce but obviously it wasn’t entirely accurate in depicting them. Eventually after a bit of trial and error I found that IrfanView did the job best.

A pair of Scops Owls roosted opposite our Menorca hotel in trees in the grounds of some large villas and houses; not the best place to go wandering about with a large telephoto lens and binoculars on an island where bird watchers are largely an unknown species. So we just waited for the owls to come to us as they did every night. The hotel grounds were well lit at night by ambient brightness from the building itself but also from guest’s balconies, sources of light that allowed the owls to hunt for e.g. large beetles, moths and centipedes. After dinner and sat with a sun downer each on the room balcony we set our watches by the owls, calling at 9pm from the distant trees, then between 920pm and 945pm one or the other or both would fly calling into the nearest palm tree before landing at the top of the trunk just below the fronds, from where they surveyed the immediate ground. After a minute or two they would go off to hunt, either dropping to the ground, flying to other palms or watching the ground from the top of the daytime sun canopies, a convenient perch.

Getting the pictures was a bit hit and miss, as in the darkness the camera autofocus couldn’t work leaving me to try manual focus through the dark tube of the telephoto. So I set the ISO at 3200, and using the inbuilt flash, crossed my fingers at f5.6.

Scops Owl
Scops Owl
Scops Owl
”Red Eyed” Scops Owl
A dozen or so pairs of House Martins nest in the hotel’s rear entrance, and one night there was an almighty din when one of the owls may have gone into the roosting birds to try and take a sleeping bird. This caused all the martins to panic and fly around the grounds calling, until they either went elsewhere or settled back to rest. Scops Owls are known to take small birds, possibly up to Redwing size.

House Martin
One night we were watching the Scops when a Barn Owl flew into the hotel grounds and landed in a palm tree. It was a bit far away but in the ambient light also clearly visible as it went off briefly to hunt then return to the same spot to eat its prey. I think that Barn Owl is a pretty good species to see in Menorca and it certainly made that night memorable for two other hotel guests who joined us on our grandstand balcony to see the Scops Owls.

In the daytime the canopies the owls favoured were also utilized by the hotel’s resident Kestrel, a convenient stopping off place between its vantage points of the hotel roof and balconies and thence to the ground. If it couldn’t find morsels of its own the Kestrel was not averse to robbing the efficient Hoopoe of its large insect prey.

Kestrel
Kestrel
Kestrel
Hoope
Who ever said that holiday hotels are dull?

Oh,I think I might use one of the Scops as a header picture but can't decide which one. Help!