Trying Hard

I wasn't too hopeful about birding this morning as early and mid-June can be hard going. It's when  when migration stops, breeding adults stay glued to nests and generally keep a low profile until their nestlings emerge. In the end the morning proved quite productive by way of a few new pics and another Lapwing chick to add to the tally of recent weeks. 

Conder Green was first stop and where a good selection wildfowl awaited in the shapes of 2 Pochard, 2 Wigeon, 2 Teal, 16 Tufted Duck and a single Great-crested Grebe. Waders were the expected ones of Oystercatchers and Redshanks, with no sign of Little Ringed Plovers, an omission which doesn't mean they are not around but simply out of sight and keeping quiet, the latter if true an unusual occurrence for LRPs. 

Pochard

Passerines were sparse here with a singing Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Buntings and a Song Thrush also in song with flyover Linnet and Goldfinch in ones and twos. There seemed to be good numbers of House Martins zipping around River Winds, with a fly-through of a Sand Martin perhaps from the tiny colony at Cockerham. More worrying is the lack of Swallows I count at the moment; following a couple of poor breeding seasons, their normal losses in wintering quarters and then on migration I fear their population is on the low side for now. Such are the risks of their strategy of summering in the Northern Hemisphere.

It was Pilling next for the compulsory walk to Fluke and back, accompanied by the cries of Lapwings, Redshanks and Oystercatchers. Yes, the Oystercatchers definitely have young now, but hidden away in a sileage field, the adults providing a running commentary and all the time trying to lead me in the opposite direction to their chicks. 

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

There was yet another single Lapwing chick with a pair of adults, and from the size of it I thought it could be one and the same bird from Friday. But no, when I went to where the chick crouched it turned out to be a new one with the flight feathers half-grown. 

Lapwing

Lapwing chick

 

Five Grey Herons today as breeding birds and new young leave their inland haunts for the coast. Two Little Egrets was more difficult to explain unless they too have completed their breeding season. A single Greenshank again today out towards the tideline. 

Carrion Crows have hatched and fledged young on Hi-Fly's set-aside area - now there is a surprise. The young crow won't remain so approachable for long and will surely learn to flee the sound of gunfire.

 Carrion Crow

Otherwise things were quiet although a dashing Peregrine gave a brief but brilliant flying display while attempting but failing to catch a feral pigeon. A good try - hard luck Peg, but thanks for ending my morning in such spectacular fashion.

Linking today to  Stewart's Photo Gallery.

I Can See Clearly Now

I just had to go birding today when a parcel arrived by courier post and I welcomed the return of a pair of old friends I hadn't seen for more than two weeks. The good people at Zeiss returned my binoculars after I sent them for repair. The poor old bins led a neglected existence for many years - out in all weathers, sand and salt blown, thrown into the car or a shoulder bag and without complaint trailed through the hotspots of Europe and coldspots of the Fylde. Finally although the optics were perfect the body needed some expert attention and a spot of TLC so I packed them off to Zeiss hoping the trusty bins were not beyond rescue and that Zeiss wouldn't castigate me for treating their products so abysmally. In the meantime I was forced to use a spare pair of newer but cheaper and therefore inferior binoculars, wishing all the time I could have my old 10x42s back, and now I have. 

Thank you Zeiss for doing a brilliant job. In this day and age it is refreshing to receive such wonderful old-fashioned customer service. 

Zeiss Bins

And so armed with a new pair of eyes I set off for Pilling shore. Driving with the window down this sunny week I've noted a few Lesser Whitethroats around, their scratchy warm up and rattling song standing out from the usual hedgerow melodies of Dunnock, Whitethroat and Chaffinch. This morning there were two male lessers singing at Fluke Hall, one at the Wheel Lane junction and a second one at the hall itself. Click on the xeno-canto button to hear the Lesser Whitethroat sing.

Lesser Whitethroat - courtesy of Alpo Roikola 

Also here at Fluke, a singing Blackcap, a Common Whitethroat, 2 Greenfinch and 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers. Greenfinches are now so scarce that I make a note whenever I see or hear them.  

Greenfinch

Still 2 Reed Warblers singing at Lane Ends together with the less vocal and intermittent Sedge Warbler. Lane Ends to Pilling Water produced 1 Stock Dove, 1 Corn Bunting, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Linnet, 4 Goldfinch, 45 Shelduck, 40 Lapwing and out towards the tide line, a Greenshank and a male Eider duck. It's hard to say whether the Greenshank could be a late spring migrant or a June returnee.

There was also another “croucher”, a good sized Lapwing chick. But there was but no sign of any Oystercatcher young and the tide too low to bring Redshank young scampering from the ditches and towards the shore.

"Spot The Lapwing"

Lapwing

Lapwing

Please visit Another Bird Blog soon for more bird news and often visionary stuff. In the meantime take a look at Anni's blog or   Camera Critters for more birds.

Coasting

Three sunny mornings on the trot and weather-wise things are looking up. Knott End was first stop this morning where I sat at the jetty watching 3 Sandwich Terns fishing the incoming tide when a stranger engaged me in conversation. It transpired that my new found acquaintance was familiar with Sandwich Terns as he lives in Dover, Kent. Dover is just along the coast from the town of Sandwich where the Sandwich Tern was first described in 1787 by the ornithologist John Latham. 

The gent explained he was up here in Lancashire in support for his wife who was engaged in walking the green coastal paths of England. Here was his good lady at 8 a.m. not only raring to go on the next leg of the journey by walking from Pilling to Glasson Dock a journey of some 12 miles, but absolutely enthused and overwhelmed about the beauty of our UK coastline, and this stretch of Morecambe Bay in particular. I declined the invitation to join in by explaining about a previous bird watching appointment at Pilling later that morning, but the encounter left me reinvigorated.

Knott End

 

Sandwich Tern

Glasson Dock

As my new found friends set off on their journey I found more birds here at Knott End by way of 40+ Oystercatchers on the tideline along with 30+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin and 1 Ringed Plover. 

Dunlin

Just a handful of wildfowl today - 3 Shelduck, 2 drake Eider and 4 Mallard. 

There was also my old friend the Pied Wagtail, the same footless bird of 2012 which still belongs about the jetty and the sea wall, his one gammy foot now reduced to a tiny stub, the other leg seemingly not much better. To cap it all the poor creature seems to have lost all tail feathers, perhaps as a result of the lower centre of gravity causing his trailing feathers to wear out more quickly than they otherwise would? Certainly he looked and behaved in remarkably good condition as he flew about the sea wall in pursuit of the next meal. 

Pied Wagtail

A walk up river and alonsidse the golf course produced a singing Whitethroat plus overflying Goldfinch, Linnet, 4 Swift and several Swallows. 

Reaching Lane Ends I turned my attention to Lapwings and Redshanks again, this time finding another good sized Lapwing chick. If the chick had run instead of crouching it would for sure have outpaced me, the size of the bird almost certainly ensuring it sticks around to adulthood. As in recent years the number of chicks reaching this stage of development in 2013 is low. This gives no spare capacity for the Lapwings to increase their local population but more likely they will struggle to even maintain it at low levels.

Lapwing chick

Lapwing chick

Towards Fluke Hall I noted the first post-breeding flock of Lapwings, 35 of them flying in unison across the marsh – how soon is the breeding season over for Lapwings. Otherwise quiet except for a Grey Heron, now 2 Corn Buntings and a single Buzzard leaving the wood pursued by crows.  

The lady was exactly right, our coast is wonderful, and although we know that it's fantastic in so many ways, maybe we sometimes take it for granted? 

Monday Meanderings

The Buzzards were calling and circling high in the blue when I arrived on the moss. The dry weather and resulting farming activity had probably caused the birds to investigate the disturbance from a safe distance. Our local Buzzards are not ones to stay put and so pinpoint the nest if there are potential villains around, but many farmers about here don’t notice Buzzards and have better things to do than go out of their way to harm the birds. Rough shooters might, the danger being that many of them can’t tell arse from elbow, their knowledge of birds other than their precious “game” being infinitesimal. 

I think the weather of the last six months has also caused problems for Buzzards just as it has for many other resident species. This has resulted in low populations for the start of the breeding season, with just two pairs in an area I know well compared to 4 pairs in recent years. The nests are at the top of the tallest conifers in each wood, the shy adults departing the wood via the back door long before an intruder nears the livestock-proof ditch and fence. I found evidence of a recent meal, the Buzzards having left tufts of fur from a bunny or a hare on a plucking post. I couldn’t find proof that the raptors might have brought game birds here and they’d struggle to bring in a native Grey Partridge as that species is almost certainly locally extinct, competing as it must with thousands of released pheasants and red-legs for four months of the year. 

Buzzard

Buzzard plucking post - bunny fur

The woods proved quite productive in other ways, the other species tolerating the Buzzards’ presence. There was a Blackbird nest in a tree hole, a calling Nuthatch, a Great-spotted Woodpecker feeding a noisy family hidden away in a holy tree, singing Blackcap and singing Garden Warbler. I checked a Carrion Crow nest and found 3 healthy young, so torn between being conservationist or ringer I slapped rings on each then wished them luck for the winter shoots. Boy that chick is ugly but I’m sure his mum loves him. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

"Woodpeckered" Tree

Carrion Crow chick

The plantation was full of singing birds - 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 6 Whitethroat, 1 Reed Bunting and 2 Blackcap. On a recently seeded field were 12 Stock Dove and a couple of Lapwings plus 2 singing Corn Bunting along the margin. And Yellowhammers were in full song today, their “little bits of bread and cheese” going a good way in the calm conditions. 

At the barn Pied Wagtails were feeding young, the nest in a pile of cut and stacked wood, and from the size of the meals the chicks were receiving I reckoned they wouldn’t be too far from fledging. A Little Owl was hanging about the building, the wagtails not entering until the owl was safely in the roof spaces.

Pied Wagtail

My cue to head home for a bite to eat too. More news and views soon from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's Photo Gallery .

Flaming June

Following the coldest spring for 50 years today is June 1st, the start of the “flaming” month - we’ll see. June is traditionally the time when many birders hang up their bins for a while, get out the paint brushes and garden tools to catch up on the jobs they promised to do months ago but for which they never quite found the time. I got another stay of execution when Sue went off to Manchester shopping, so with it being a bit too windy for painting or mowing the lawn I headed off birding, hoping for a few bits and bobs. 

The morning started fairly well at Lane Ends with a pulli Lapwing, one of two I saw a couple of days ago but then too far into the field alongside a busy road. This morning the now single chick was yards away from the previous spot but now just the other side of a handily situated and easily vaulted gate. The chick was a good deal bigger and more mature than ones I ringed earlier in the week, so with luck should survive to flying stage. Between here and Fluke Hall there have probably been 15 breeding pairs, with I’m told by a fellow birder, about 15 pairs up at Braides. There’s nothing much in between except for many hundreds of sheep munching the fields to bowling green height or more grass to feed even more animals through the winter. 

Lapwing chick

Things look fairly grim again for the iconic Lapwing, the adopted symbol of many local organisations keen to promote their green credentials. A peek online at the BTO ringing totals for Lancashire showed that only 49 Lapwings were ringed in the county in 2012, a pretty miserable total given how common and widespread the species was not too many years ago when it was easy to find many, many Lapwings. 

There’s a pair of Chaffinch nesting in the roadside hawthorns at Lane Ends, the male not wanting to give the game away but sitting stubbornly on the fence as the bright morning light frustrated any chance of a good exposure. 

Chaffinch

At Lane Ends several Wood Pigeons were feeding alongside the plantation and two Stock Doves on the marsh, all clattering off at my approach. In the clumps of phragmites 2 Reed Warblers could be heard above the rush of the wind through the trees, while along the sea wall the Corn Bunting’s song resonated from the barbed-wire fence. There doesn’t seem to be a female, the male feeding amongst the grasses on the sea wall until disturbed when it flies to the fence and begins to sing. 

Woodpigeon

There weren’t too many birds towards Fluke Hall but apart from the same nagging westerly it was an outstanding morning for a walk in the sun. A small number of Linnets and Goldfinches flew over while the Skylarks continue their mysterious comings and goings. Turning back towards Lane Ends I could see the Kestrel again flying over the marsh and sending the Lapwings and Redshanks into a frenzy of anxiety for their youngsters below. 

Redshank

The Kestrel got nothing again but rather like a birder, a ringer or someone with a camera he’ll be back later hoping for better luck. 

Visit Another Bird Blog soon to see photographs of a newly painted shed and a freshly cut lawn. You’d better believe it.

I'm linking tis post to http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.co.uk/.

Chick Time

There’s not much to report today, but a few pictures nonetheless. 

A bright and breezy start at Fluke Hall gave a few warblers i.e. Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and 2 Common Whitethroat. There are a small number of finches in the area with 8+ Goldfinch and 4 Linnets today, with 4 - 6 pairs of Skylark. 

A check of Hi-Fly fields gave 30+ Swallows, 4 Swift and a single Sand Martin, with the pools and sea wall revealing 30+ Lapwing, 8 Oystercatcher, 25+ Redshank and a single Curlew wader-wise. A lone Kestrel from the Fluke Hall pair and on the lookout for an easy meal caused some panic amongst the waders when it flew across the fields, and then stopping to search the ground below. Like me the Kestrel knows there are small chicks about, but they are not easy to find with so many protective parents on watch. 

Kestrel

Redshank

Lapwing

One pair of the 3+ breeding Redshank had just one chick. Thankfully and with it being just a few days old it was a “croucher” rather than a “runner”, nature giving wader chicks well developed legs and feet from an early age, partly to allow them escape from predators. 

Redshank chick

I found just one Lapwing chick today, the wind on the exposed seaward side of the wall making watching extremely difficult. 

Lapwing chick

Not much doing at Lane Ends - 2 Reed Warbler, Long-tailed Tits, with Tufted Duck, Teal and Greylags on the pools. 

Log in soon to Another Bird Blog for a bird’s eye view and more cool chicks.

What IS That Warbler? - Book Review

Identifying North American warblers was never an easy task. My first trip to Long Point Bird Observatory Canada to coincide with spring migration proved an eye opener in every sense. Luckily I’d spent weeks beforehand swotting the Peterson Guide so had a reasonable handle on species I might encounter as a volunteer bander and field worker. But as a UK birder used to seeing, hearing and instantly recognising the dozen or two warblers of a typical UK Springtime, nothing quite prepares for the diversity of colours, plumages and often similar calls of the warblers of the USA and Canada. 

So when a new guide to the continent’s warblers promises to be “groundbreaking” and make warbler identification “easier than ever before”, with the undertaking to help the reader to “effectively learn songs and calls”, I had to take a look. The book in question is “The Warbler Guide”, by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle. The book is not on general release until July 2013 but was kindly sent to me by Princeton University Press in advance and for review on Another Bird Blog. 

The Warbler Guide

My first impression was that although The Warbler Guide covers just 56 species it is a hefty book of 550+ pages and at 7 x 9 inches and 2 inches thick would fit more easily in a handy bag or rucksack rather than a jacket pocket. As in the style of many guides nowadays, the aides to identification in The Warbler Guide are based upon photographs, in this case more than 1000 coloured pictures of US and Canadian warblers. The photographs are in the main excellent, many are quite outstanding given the challenges in photographing such an intensively active family of birds. 

If someone is looking to open the pages of The Warbler Guide and begin birding, they may be initially disappointed as it is page 138 before the species accounts begin. Any early frustration should be quickly dispelled because while those initial pages add to the bulk of the book, they contain a number of useful innovations which should be studied in depth before using the species accounts. This is especially true for less experienced or starting-out birders who could well find themselves overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task they face in IDing warblers at any time of the year, more so in the fall when less easily identified youngsters appear with moulting adults. This book will be invaluable to that learning curve but will also prove a useful assistant to the more experienced birder who twice a year has to tackle the Everest of warbler ID. 

The early part of The Warbler Guide includes sections entitled “What to notice on a warbler”, with illustrative photographs highlighting characteristics like size, shape, behaviour, the face, the body and the undertail. There is a short summary of general ageing and sexing techniques which includes advice on how to use the age/sex codes at the species account pages. 

The Warbler Guide - What to notice on a warbler

There follows a lengthy, 38 page section devoted to helping readers ID warblers by listening to them. The authors explain about sonograms, how to listen to warbler songs and also how to learn chip and flight calls. As one who struggles with sonograms I am somewhat biased in thinking that there is no substitute for the old-fashioned way of learning bird calls and song by experience in the field. However I applaud the authors for their very detailed charts and explanations and their willingness to share the latest understanding of this element of birding. Luckily for me and probably for many others, the authors will make a library of warbler songs and sounds available via their web site in time for the book’s publication in July. Furthermore a Smartphone App and an enhanced ebook will follow in spring 2014. The fact that Smartphones Apps are now almost universal raises the question in my mind of whether this section of the book and the two-page sonograms placed at the species accounts will be redundant sooner rather than later, and that reducing the number of pages devoted to this subject could usefully condense the book and achieve a more portable size? 

An innovative “Quick Finder” section contains valuable sections on face portraits, side views of the whole bird, 45 degree views, under views, and also separate pages of Eastern and Western undertails. In addition there is a “quick finder” for the geographical East in springtime or the autumn/fall periods, together with a “quick finder” for the West based upon spring only birds. This “Quick Finder” section contains another 20 plus pages devoted to identifying a species through highly descriptive and comparative sonograms of similar sounding species. 

Faces - The Warbler Guide

Undertails - The Warbler Guide

The actual species accounts are designed to help a reader narrow down the possibilities, including as they do views from above, the side or below, but also additional photos and “distinctive” views. Where applicable a species is shown in both ”bright” and “drab” versions with bullet pointed features of note, together with additional photographs depicting a comparison of colouration, brightness or hue via a set of skins or a set of partial views. The latter is an often incomplete picture a birder knows only too well. Variations in colour or brightness occur all too often so the direct comparisons offered here are highly useful and extremely valid additions to the information. Another innovation is the use of a set of icons which indicate basic colouration patterns, silhouettes, ranges, and where you're most likely to see the species. 

Wilson's Warbler - The Warbler Guide

Here it is worth mentioning how the authors have included colour-coded maps at each ageing and sexing account, the map detailing where a species takes a different migration route in spring and fall/autumn. Each map has a migration-span chart alongside illustrating how Early, Middle and Late waves of warblers can occur in locations during each season. This small but important feature shows a great deal of thought by the authors in helping readers to understand how adult birds, but more especially inexperienced juveniles, can turn up out of place and/or out of time, thus pointing out why a birder should always expect the unexpected. 

Cape May Warbler - The Warbler Guide

The alpha-order species accounts take up pages 138 to 525. These pages also include pictures and descriptions of non-warbler species which nonethelesss share shape and size characteristics, ID traps for the unwary which occur with warbler flocks, e.g. bird families like kinglets, verdins, gnatcatchers, vireos and even sparrows. 

At the end of the book a set of picture quizzes with answers allow readers the opportunity to test out their new found skills, while more pages illustrate and describe the warblers in flight. For those of a scientific bent there is a taxonomic and evolutionary chart compiled from the latest DNA research and analysis, plus a table of weights and measurements. 

North American Warbler Taxonomy - The Warbler Guide

In summary The Warbler Guide is a fine book crammed with photographs, tips, expert advice, innovation and information designed to help identify a unique and beautiful set of birds. As noted at the start of this review my only caveat is that because the book is so comprehensive and chockfull of guidance the actual physical aspect of it may make it rather unwieldy when used in the field. 

There is a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WarblerGuide with more information and the book is available to order now at Princeton Press priced at $29.95 or £19.95.