Nesting And A Tortoise Tale

More rain and wind this morning delayed my start but the wind at least pushed the clouds east and left a couple of hours to check out for the first time in almost three weeks our ringing spot at Out Rawcliffe. After the car scattered several Tree Sparrows from the roadside the next bird I saw was a rather late in the spring Wheatear, surely in now the latter half of May heading to Iceland or Greenland and perhaps one of the many we saw in Menorca in the first week of our recent holiday? Today’s female Wheatear posed nicely for a few shots as the strong wind blew its feathers awry.

Wheatear

The strong wind didn’t make the best conditions for trying to follow birds through swaying branches and fluttering leaves but I found my first Whitethroat nest of the year containing a full clutch of five eggs. Other birds scolded me from the top of vegetation as I tried to suss out their territories.

Whitethroat Nest
Whitethroat

There were lots of territorial Willow Warblers including a regular capture we call “Mottle Head” in its usual spot near the feeders but it wasn’t giving much away today, and neither were any of the other Willow or Sedge Warblers. A sunny, calm day is definitely the best for finding nests but despite the wind I heard the soft calls of Sparrowhawks and found the beginnings of their nest.

Willow Warbler

Another Bird Blog sometimes features mammals but here’s one with a difference, a tortoise that breeds freely in the wild on the island of Menorca. We came across this fine specimen of Hermann’s Tortoise on the coastal path from Sant Tomas to Son Bou where it shared its habitat with amongst others, migrant Wheatears, House Sparrows, Tawny Pipits, Stonechats, Linnets and Goldfinches.

Hermann’s Tortoise

Hermann’s Tortoise Testudo hermanni can be found throughout southern Europe. The western population hermanni is found in eastern Spain, southern France, the Balearics, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, south and central Italy (Tuscany).

Early in the morning, the animals leave their nightly shelters, which are usually hollows protected by thick bushes or hedges, to bask in the sun and warm their bodies. They then roam about the Mediterranean meadows of their habitat in search of food. They determine which plants to eat by the sense of smell. In addition to leaves and flowers, the animals eat fruits as supplementary nutrition. Around midday, the sun becomes too hot for the tortoises, so they return to their hiding places. They have a good sense of direction to enable them to return. Experiments have shown that they also possess a good sense of time, the position of the sun, the magnetic lines of the earth, and for landmarks. In the late afternoon, they leave their shelters again and return to feeding.

As well know Tortoises are particularly long-lived animals, as long as 70–100 years.

A Bit Of News and A Bit Of Cr..

Slowly catching up after the few weeks away I checked out a few nest sites today without too much luck. Two hoped for Little Owl nests produced blanks when a nest box contained old nest material but no Little Owls, and a second natural site in a tree cavity saw an adult fly off ahead of my approach with no eggs or hatched young in sight. I suspect the owls are nesting deep down in the cavity, out of arm or indeed harms reach.

Little Owl

Weeks ago Will had seen Stock Doves at the entrance of an apparently ideal tree hole, a location where several doves were in evidence from early in the new year, but when I checked the tree out today there was no evidence of any nest, Stock Doves or otherwise.

Afterwards I visited my regular Swallow site at Hambleton where I found quite a bit of Swallow activity with 4 on-going nests, two with eggs, a full clutch of 5 and a second one containing one newly laid egg, then 2 further nests at the lining stage.

Swallow
Swallow

Tomorrow I have some Tree Sparrow boxes to check and I hope I am not too late after their seemingly good start to the year.

Missing a few early nests is the price paid for heading off to Menorca in Spring. Of course the best thing about Menorca is that there are seemingly no other birders there, so the task each day becomes to go out and find birds to enjoy at leisure without the crutch of local bird pagers or grapevines.

So to fill today’s blog gaps here are a few common birds found and enjoyed two weeks ago in Menorca; a Red-footed Falcon that I discovered hunting insects amongst a pack of 15/20 Kestrels, followed by a rather distant shot of a shy but stunning Roller I came across at Tirant.

Red-footed Falcon
Kestrel
European Roller

Then there is an Egyptian Vulture near Son Bou, a species which is common and seen daily in Menorca but declining in large parts of its range, often severely. In Europe and most of the Middle East, it is half as plentiful as it was about twenty years ago, and the populations in India and south-western Africa have greatly declined. Now here’s something not commonly known about Egyptian Vultures; they feed on a range of food including mammal faeces especially human where it is commonly left on the ground e.g Africa and India, also insects in dung, carrion as well as vegetable matter and sometimes small live prey. Studies suggest that feeding on mammalian faeces helps in obtaining carotenoid pigments responsible for the bright yellow and orange facial skin.

Egyptian Vulture

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.

Menorca 2

As promised here is another quick update from Menorca as I grab an hour on the hotel’s Internet connection.

We set off after breakfast and headed north through the town of Es Mercadal, on the way clocking more Booted Eagles and Kestrels, and with the car window wound down took in the ubiquitous songs of Nightingales and Cetti’s Warblers, both species more common here than in the UK our humble Blackbird.

First stop Tirant and the roadside Bee Eaters near Son Moscard where you’re lucky if someone hasn’t taken the single stopping place in the only gateway to watch the dozens of performing Bee Eaters.

Bee Eater

A short drive took us to the marsh at Tirant, a place to walk slowly and look thoroughly in early May. From the hill that overlooks distant pools we could see Little and Great White Egrets, a couple of Black Terns, Redshank and Black-winged Stlits. It was great today to see 3 Red-footed Falcons and 4 Hobby all arial feeding, and whilst the Hobby were too fast for a photograph, I think I got one or two redfoot shots. Everywhere along the roadside were Stonechats and Wheatears, and in the grass and marsh beyond, more Nightingales, fizzing Cisticolas and chattering Cettis.

Stonechat

In the wetter marsh we saw lots of herons, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Grey Heron, Little Egret and Cattle Egret.

Purple Heron
Squacco Heron

Two more highlights were Alpine Swifts and Stone Curlews today. We saw more Egyptian Vultures, Marsh Harriers, Red Kites and Booted Eagles, with a more distant Montague’s Harrier heading up to the north of the island and Cap De Cavalerria.

The spring seems early here with Thekla Larks, Sardinan Warblers and Willow Warblers all with newly fledged young.

It’s just a glimpse of Menorca but it’s not all birding. Next I have to drive Sue up to the beautiful old city of Ciutadella where there are lots of shops, and for me thousands of screaming Swifts, town dwelling Kestrels, and down in the quaint café-lined harbour, Yellow-legged and Audouin’s Gulls.

Yellow-legged Gull
Audouin’s Gull

Apologies to all my fellow bloggers that I am unable to catch up with you all until a few days time.

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.

Alternative Agenda

It was just as well we didn’t arrange a ringing session on the strength of last night’s weather forecast because there was a stiff easterly breeze. I heard say that a television programme might keep people indoors today, and hoping that both the roads and the shore at Rossall Point might be quiet I set off over the normally grid-locked Amounderness Way (or The Poulton to Thornton Car Park as it’s known about here) towards Fleetwood and the 10am tide and a few hours watching the real world.

As soon as I got to the shore I noted more than 15 Gannets going east into the wind, with upwards of 12 Eiders and 8 Red-breasted Mergansers making their way out of the estuary.

Eider

There are a lot of Dunlin moving north at the moment, with smaller numbers of Ringed Plover and Sanderlings. A count along the shore came to 900 Dunlin, 60 Sanderling and 210 Ringed Plover, and as usual the flocks were almost constantly moved around the shore and stopped from either roosting or feeding by walkers on the beach.

Ringed Plover and Dunlin
mainly Dunlin
Dunlin
Sanderling and Dunlin
Sanderling
Ringed Plover

In between taking photographs I noted a number of Swallows heading low over the shore then east and north, mostly single birds but 30+ in total. Small groups of Linnets were also noticeable, with upwards of 20 flying off in the same direction as the Swallows. By concentrating on photographs I think I had probably missed many Arctic Terns flying far out, but close in to the shore at least 55 birds went north and east in just a few minutes of watching, then distantly an Arctic Skua and a couple more Gannets.

Sanderling


Sanderling
Gannet

The forecast shows more easterly winds tomorrow that prevent any ringing, so it’s a spot of birding in the morning. Later it’s packing for Menorca and The Med on Sunday where I might just find a few birds waiting to come here – Swifts, Whinchats and Spotted Flycatchers to name a few of this week’s non-arrivals.

Familiar Territory

It was another strange sort of day today; cool this morning with the same persistent north easterly wind so I decided to wait until lunch time to go out birding. The sun came out as promised and the temperature climbed to 22⁰ but now with a breeze from the east.

I checked out Lane Ends, Pilling with a sea wall walk to Pilling Water, followed by the Ridge Farm and the Fluke Hall circuit.

Lane Ends started quite well with three singing Willow Warblers, a Reed Bunting, a Reed Warbler in the patch of reeds next to the road and the frantic song of a Garden Warbler below the car park, but I wondered about all of their chances when I spotted one of the two now resident Jays searching about the undergrowth. Make no mistake about it, Jays may be attractive beasts but just like other crows they are fully paid up members of the bad guy’s brigade, and will take eggs, nestlings and even the adults of other bird species. A study in the south of England in 2005-2006 (Bird Study 2008/55, 179–187) found that woodland Jays were major predators of the nests of the red-listed Spotted Flycatcher.

Willow Warbler
Jay

I set off to walk to Pilling Water just as 12 Whimbrel flew over, fast and silent without their normal seven whistles but heading north across Morecambe Bay. My walk to Pilling Water produced almost zilch apart from a couple of Linnets, with no Meadow Pipits, no Skylarks, no Wheatears and no Wagtails, all birds that should be around in profusion by late April. The meagre highlight was a procession of Swallows heading across the bay, Heysham bound. As I sat on the stile the silence was remarkable, more like a mid-summer day with just the occasional local Redshank, Oystercatcher or Lapwing announcing their territorial presence from the maize stubble of the wildfowler’s pools, or the resident Shelduck pair taking to the skies. A Greenshank put in a brief appearance, calling and circling before dropping back into the deep dykes; my third siting here this spring but all different birds I think.

Greenshank
Lapwing

The Hi-fly tractor was busy ploughing in the few early Lapwing nests next to Fluke Hall, and added to the lack of rain on the already baked ground, it seems odds-on for zero young Lapwings in Pilling again this year.

On the other hand, I suppose Hi-fly would claim credit for all the Linnets, Tree Sparrows and Whitethroats that inhabit the hundreds of now healthy hawthorns planted along Fluke Hall Lane some years ago. A few days ago I counted 18 Whitethroats between Pilling village and Ridge Farm; today was similar with the difference being there are now females to double the score, with the emphasis less on the male’s incessant song flights but more on the churring calls that accompany nest building. To advertise their presence male Whitethroats often build up to 3 or 4 so called “cock nests” in readiness for the later arriving females, allowing one to choose a nest that suits her. After choosing one she strips it of his unsuitable, mediocre, DIY decorations and finishes the nest herself to a better specification before taking up residence and laying eggs. It all sounds a bit familiar chaps!

Whitethroat

Fluke Hall held lots of Blackcaps, several Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff, resident Tree Sparrows and softly calling Sparrowhawks at a nest.

It’s still only April but for most of this week’s unsuitable migration weather it has felt like spring is over, as we desperately await warm southerly winds to bring in the remaining migrants.