Surprise, Surprise

When Will and I found the Oystercatcher nest near our ringing location a while ago we obviously misjudged how long the adults had been at it, because their behaviour took me by surprise today when it quickly became obvious they had young in tow. I spent what seemed ages seeking out the chicks scattered across the furrowed, short, grassy field, but eventually there was no doubt, just one chick three or four days old at most. Like all wader chicks, those of Oystercatchers are nidifugous i.e. they are born with their eyes open and leave the nest shortly after hatching when they are also capable of walking and able to feed themselves. (The word nidifugous derives from Latin, nidus for "nest" and fugere meaning "to flee).

Many wader parents do not feed their chicks, but Oystercatchers do, and today I watched one of the adults do so. As both adults tended the young, one flew off and returned about fitfeen minutes later with a small item of food between the tips of its mandibles, calling as it landed near the youngster. With bill pointed down the adult waited for the chick’s approach before it dropped the morsel in front of the youngster for it to find, which it duly did. A little disappointing to ring just one Oystercatcher and it always leaves a question mark as to what happened to the other two or three eggs.

Oystercatcher chick
Oystercatcher

I’d gone to the plantation to have a mosey round and to put up the newly cleaned niger feeders in preparation for the arrival of hungry autumn finches. So whilst I watched the oyks, wandered about a bit, and found suitable branches for the feeders I found a sheltered spot for a net, but caught little save for a 3J Coal Tit, and a couple of Whitethroats and Willow Warblers.

Coal Tit

Another unexpected was a male Willow Warbler well into its main moult on so early a date, 21st June only. This was a new, un-ringed Willow Warbler for the site so had probably arrived from elsewhere to moult, possibly a failed or non-breeding bird.

Willow Warbler – main moult
Willow Warbler
Whitethroat

My searching about didn’t reveal much else, Jay, Buzzard, Blackcap, several Goldfinches, a Skylark, and a sunny day but distant Little Owl

Little Owl

It's Just June

I don’t have much to report today, except perhaps the beginnings of autumn returns, but there are a few new photographs and by special request, the song of a Skylark.

I started well at Pilling with an early Barn Owl at that hunted the ditches and fields east of Lane Ends before it disappeared in the customary direction of Damside, but the owl seemed well aware of my presence and kept out of camera range. Like most owls it hunts a regular beat and if I’m early and patient enough I might try sitting in the car hide one morning.

Lane Ends held 2 singing Reed Warblers this morning, plus the now regular Blackcap and the single somewhat elusive Jay; on the pools, 4 Tufted Duck, 6 Little Grebe and 40+ Greylag.

There was a flight of Curlew this morning, more than 30 coming from the east and joining the 20 or so birds already out on the marsh, and just like the Lapwings the Curlews are starting to flock in readiness for autumn; so not only does spring come earlier nowadays, so does autumn. Lapwings numbered more than 90 this morning, mostly in a loose flock out on the marsh, but other late breeding birds clearly had young close by judging from their overhead warnings. I also saw my first Redshank chick of the year, with parents and a long way out on the marsh, but at that distance I would guess there were one or two more, especially as the one I saw was tiny. Otherwise Redshanks totalled 40+ birds, more than my recent counts.

Lapwing

I lingered at Pilling Water to count 4 Meadow Pipits, 22 Linnet, 5 Swift, 4 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 2 Pied Wagtail and 2 Grey Heron.

Meadow Pipit

The regular Shelduck numbered 45 but I saw my first Teal of the autumn with 4 birds flying together into the wildfowler’s pools. It was here I found my first returning Common Sandpiper, one of the first waders to reappear once breeding is done, closely followed by Spotted Redshank, Green Sandpiper and Greenshank, not nesessarily in that order, but almost always during the latter half of June.

Common Sandpiper

I think the Skylarks are used to me wandering through their territories lately. Like many species they don’t like being interrupted so will often allow a human to get a little closer, but only whilst singing, as soon as the song stops so does the co-operation and off they fly. Click on the "xeno-canto" button to enjoy the Skylark's song.

Skylark
Skylark

Maybe mist netting tomorrow if the wind doesn’t spring up, but failing that there are a few Swallows to ring.

Getting eggcited

Keeping tabs on breeding birds needs a tidy and accurate notebook, good planning skills, a fairly good idea of how long these eggy and birdy things take to come to fruition, together with an awareness of how the weather and similarly unpredictable events can impact breeding success.

So I set out early to first check the Swallows at Hambleton this morning where I found 2 nests with youngsters the ideal size to ring and then a third nest with tiny young. A fourth nest used last year but not so far this year had a new feather lining ready for the adult to lay; a final nest in Molly the Border Collie’s stable contained eggs in the process of hatching with the adult sat tight, squeezed in the gap between roof and nest. A nest full of youngsters I ringed last week was pretty much bursting at the seams with young Swallows on the verge of fledging.

I ringed nine young with two nests to go back for on separate days next week, followed by a look at already used but now empty nests, and then a check for the second wave of eggs.

Swallow
Swallow
Swallow
Dunnock

A little drive and I was at Out Rawcliffe and checking Tree Sparrow boxes, perhaps the species with one of the untidiest nests of all birds. I put several new boxes up last week and already one of those boxes had an almost complete nest but no eggs yet, so I reckoned the pair of sparrows must have watched me load the ladders back on my car and then immediately set to with nest building. Unfortunately from the other boxes there was only one nest with any mini dinosaurs sizeable enough to ring, and then only one chick in a nest containing 4 un-hatched eggs; the large size of the single youngster told me that the remaining eggs could not hatch out now. It’s easy to speculate if the inclement weather of recent weeks is the cause of such failure but we simply don’t know for sure.

Tree Sparrow nest
Tree Sparrow chick

All the time I climbed and checked the boxes I heard the Curlews calling excitedly from the field beyond. It wasn’t so much calls of display, but rather cries of warning to youngsters hidden in the long grass close by. As I went to investigate, both adults went absolutely bananas at me, as only parent Curlews do, circling overhead and calling incessantly, all the while trying to lead me away from the chicks.

Curlew
Curlew

There wasn’t much point in looking to ring the youngsters as once the adults landed in the field I could barely see them, never mind pinpoint small chicks. Another visit next week should hopefully produce more young Tree Sparrows, and if the farmer has cut the field I may just catch up with more young Curlews like these from last year.

Curlew chicks

Recoveries

The BTO sent a series of recoveries for Fylde Ringing Group, several from Rossall where Seumus and Ian ring plus two from Out Rawcliffe where Will and I spend most of our spring, summer and autumn. Another record involves one of my local Swallows from Hambleton near Poulton-le-Fylde.

The first concerns a second calendar year Lesser Redpoll (L583607) caught and ringed by Will and I at Out Rawcliffe on 27 March 2011. The bird was recaptured at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory on 16 April 2011, 20 days later. The Calf of Man is 130km and in a slight North West direction of Out Rawcliffe, Lancashire.

The winter of 2011 was memorable for the large numbers of Lesser Redpoll in the UK, amounts reflected in our own region of Lancashire in the North West. Equally, there was a noticeable, huge northerly movement of the species in March/April and it could be this bird was caught up in that directional movement during its return to the Isle of Man where Lesser Redpoll is common, Scotland where the species is numerous or possibly to Ireland where Lesser Redpoll is also common.

Lesser Redpoll
Out Rawcliffe to Calf of Man

The second recovery from Out Rawcliffe involves a Sedge Warbler (V971554) ringed by young Craig in the plantation as a fresh juvenile on 11th July 2009. It was later recaptured by French ringers at Treogat, Finistere, France on 10 August 2009, just 30 days later. The distance involved is 673 km and the location of Finistere is almost exactly due south from Out Rawcliffe and on a direct route to the Sahel region of Africa where most British Sedge Warblers spend the winter.

Sedge Warbler
Out Rawcliffe to Finistere, France

It took 21 months to receive details of this Sedge Warbler. In the meantime we know from our IPMR database that after its stay in France the bird made it safely back to Africa and returned to Out Rawcliffe in 2010, staying there between at least 22nd June and 28th July 2010. During this period it was captured by Will and I on four occasions and identified as a breeding male each time. So far in 2011 we have not recaptured V971554 and therefore it is perhaps likely it is dead because Sedge Warblers are very site faithful; following successful migration and wintering in 2010/2011 it would surely have returned once more to Out Rawcliffe.

I also got to hear about one of my Hambleton Swallows X515371, ringed as a nestling from a brood of 6 birds on 5th June 2010. The same bird was found dead in a Longridge, Lancashire garage on 20th May 2011, just 349 days later and 20 miles from Hambleton. Lots of Swallows return to exactly the same place to breed and whilst this bird may have been still on migration it could well have entered a building new to it in search of a place to nest then later found it could not escape. This sad end came despite the bird’s success in making the journey to Southern Africa and back to the UK at the first attempt during 2010/2011.

Swallow

Sea Wall Sortie

Skylark Sign

June 16th, so a Pilling embankment walk is well out of the "no-go" lambing period the sign advises, not that all folk respect the well-reasoned rule and polite request. After the token early morning showers the clouds parted to let the sun shine out as I hit the trail, east to west then back again for the incoming midday high tide.

The Skylark wasn’t going to sit on the sign long and certainly not let me approach any closer, but when they’re not warbling from on high Skylarks often serenade from a lookout post or even from the ground where they merge into the background of the summer marsh.

Skylark

I counted at least 13 Skylarks this morning, and then checking the nest from where I ringed 4 young last week, the lining was well trodden but otherwise undisturbed, the standard test for a successful outcome. Other passerine quantities were in the low digits expected in June; 3 Greenfinch, 4 Goldfinch, 4 Linnet, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 House Sparrow, 2 Meadow Pipit and 2 Reed Bunting. I took a few pictures of an obvious 3J Reed Bunting close to Pilling Water where there have been singing males all spring. The Meadow Pipits were my first of the “autumn”, as for the first year in many, I have not seen or heard singing Meadow Pipits along this stretch of coast in the spring and summer of 2011.

Reed Bunting

The warmth of the morning brought out the hirundines and swifts, with 12+ House Martins and 20+ Swallows and my best count this year of Common Swift with more than 30 hawking insects over the marsh and sea wall.

I hoped the incoming tide might reveal a few Redshank and Oystercatcher chicks previously hidden in the ditches, but as I have suspected in recent walks here, there are no youngsters of either species. I confirmed a single Oystercatcher nest on the inland side of the wall and let the male bird escort me a distance along the wall until he thought me less of a danger to the nest.

Oystercatcher

Other counts here: 45 Shelduck, 28 Curlew, 37 Lapwing, 15 Redshank and 4 Grey Heron.

Grey Heron

Back towards Lane Ends I came across a single hovering Kestrel that took off inland in the direction of the nest box near Damside. Lane Ends held the usual Blackcap, Reed Warbler and a dozen or so Blackbirds, some of the latter newly fledged youngsters, and on the pools 4 Tufted Duck, 2 adult Little Grebe with 5 chicks - well done you grebes!

Regular readers of Another Bird Blog will know I’m not a major weed and creepy crawly enthusiast, but even I couldn’t help but notice several flowers that from my pitiful knowledge I identified as Early Marsh Orchids, some of them in absolutely stunning purple colours and shapely order.

Marsh Orchid

Just Checking

Between the bouts of drizzly rain I did a spot of nest inspection today, both Tree Sparrows and Swallows. I finished up not ringing any chicks when I found the Tree Sparrow boxes were still at egg stage and the Swallows nests at the point of either egg, or tiny too small for ringing. The end of the week should see several nests ready for ringing, but my Swallows are definitely late this year, almost certainly because of the cold, windy month of May we experienced here “Up North”. Similarly while Tree Sparrows experienced good weather in April and early May for their first broods, they seem to have fallen behind with second broods in the latter part of May and early June.

Tree Sparrow
Swallow
Swallow

Local bird watchers have done much to help the red-listed Tree Sparrow in recent years, erecting nest boxes to make more nest sites available and also employing winter feeding stations that help the sparrows (and other species) through the winter. But as I look around our local area, I can’t help but think that it is now House Sparrows that need help with some House Sparrow “terrace” communal nest boxes.

Tree Sparrow
House Sparrow
House Sparrow - Communal Nest Box

House Sparrow populations have fluctuated greatly over the centuries, with a gradual decline over the last 100 years. Change from horse-drawn vehicles to motorised ones caused the population in many cities to drop by two thirds, with the removal of an important food supply - the cereal fed to horses. Recent declines have been caused by a combination of reduced plant food in winter, reduced insect availability for chicks, and reduction in available nest sites. On farmland, these are due to changes in agricultural practices; housing of livestock in inaccessible buildings, mechanisation of grain harvest and more effective storage of grain and animal feeds all reduced sparrows access to food. Recent cereal hygiene regulations mean that farm buildings are sealed, and therefore offer fewer nesting sites. In the 1950s, the UK House Sparrow population was estimated at 9.5 million. The population increased to 12 million by the early 1970s, then declined, and crashed again during the 1990s. Over 25 years the population has declined by 62%. Because of this decline in numbers, the House Sparrow is now also red-listed, alongside Tree Sparrow as a species of high conservation concern.

After my checks I detoured to Out Rawcliffe where I found this year’s regular flock of c40 House Sparrows, down a quiet rural lane but close to a couple of older, lofty houses that have gaps in the eaves of the roof and gardens with tall, thick hedgerows where the spodgers can hide.

Close by the houses a Yellowhammer sang out with a second one along the lane towards our ringing site. I explored the usual spots and found both Blackcap and Garden Warbler, 4 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 6 Mistle Thrush, 15+ Whitethroat, 2 Skylark, several Willow Warbler and 12+ Tree Sparrow. Across the large, newly sown grassy field and in a small dip of the distant earth I could just make out the single Oystercatcher head, sat motionless on its now week old nest and nearby 20 or so Lapwings, long since finished their breeding season.

As I entered the copse one of the Buzzards flew silently from its nest in a tall conifer, the crown too dense with greenery and too high to see the age the youngsters might be; through the trees I glimpsed the adult flying off to the next wood to wait for my departure. Back along the track a Stoat ran ahead of me then dived back into the plantation, not good news if a family of the villains find low down Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler nests.

There were plenty of Goldfinch zipping about the area, including a few family groups, which reminded me I had to collect the Nyger feeders, take them home and then clean them up in readiness for autumn feeding soon.

Goldfinch

Review - The Birds of New Jersey

The rain batted down against the bedroom window once more this morning. Add to this the seemingly ever present gusts from the west and it seemed a good time to postpone checking Barn Swallow nests until tomorrow but instead delve into a book recently received for review by Another Bird Blog.

The Birds of New Jersey

Readers from North America especially those that bird on the East Coast, will be pleased to hear that the book is the awaited “The Birds of New Jersey – Status and Distribution” by William J Boyle Jr, a birder of 40+ years and author of "A Guide to Bird Finding in New Jersey".

Of course I know where New Jersey is and I recognise it includes the birding sites of Sandy Hook and Turkey Point and the celebrated migration hot-spot of Cape May, where both US and UK birders/banders make pilgrimages. But until I looked in “Wiki” I didn’t realise the state of New Jersey in only about 70 miles wide and 170 miles from top to bottom; all the more reason to rejoice in the 450 + species recorded here in such a relatively small state. A major reason for the huge number and variety of species here is that as far as a bird is concerned New Jersey has a wide variety of habitats in a geographically ideal location whether they reside permanently, seasonally, or just make stop-over visits during migration time.

So this book is not simply another field guide to add to the many already out there, it is firstly a guide to the status and distribution of the more than 450 bird species recorded in the state of New Jersey in the last 200 years. Until now there has been no single, comprehensive and readily available guide out there for birders and naturalists, so as well as the 200 year history, this book draws from the many publications and bird journals of more recent years. Naturally enough in this the age of the Internet, Boyle’s book includes records from online reporting services like eBird, New Jersey Rare Bird Alert and the Cape May Birding Hotline, so it is bang up to date.

I am hugely impressed by this book. It is very well written, clear and concise, nicely laid out and thorough in presentation. By the time I had studied it well I realised that it was as the back cover blurb had claimed, “authoritative”. The 300 pages contain species accounts that describe the preferred habitat and relative abundance of each species as well as detailed, colour coded and very precise maps, interspersed with some really excellent and varied photographs that break the text into readable chunks. Shame about a distant and blurred but the actual Northern Lapwing photograph, the second ever record of Vanellus vanellus in New Jersey, and if only William had asked I would have emailed him a few pics of Lapwings from Pilling!

The Birds of New Jersey
The Birds of New Jersey

I found the terminology used for Status and Distribution especially effective and useful, with a couple of extra terms I had not seen before in this type of book. Those two are “Irregular” - species whose occurrence is unpredictable, and “Local” - typically found only in specific habitats and areas within a particular region. If only field guides could include such fine detail it would surely help birders unfamiliar with a particular place to find birds, or indeed help new birders to sort out the likelihood of the bird’s occurrence in the first place? This led me to think that anyone who birds regularly in New Jersey or neighbouring states should not only study this book in depth but also keep it side by side with their standard field guide to Eastern North America.

The Birds of New Jersey

The final 13 pages of the book contain a helpful and extensive bibliography for readers interested in pursuing and learning more about the birds and natural history of New Jersey.

To sum up, “The Birds of New Jersey” is an object lesson in how to produce a book of this type. It is well researched, succinct but detailed, easily accessible and extremely logical in the arrangement of the information. The book also lives up to the quality of print, colour and paper that we expect of a Princeton product.

Finally, another few facts about New Jersey: Its per-capita income is the third highest in the United States and New Jersey also has the highest percentage of millionaire households. So there are a few people who don’t have to worry about the cost of this splendid book, not that anyone should at the bargain price of $24.95 or £16.95 from Princeton University Press.