Canadian Nostalgia

A blogging pal of mine David Gascoigne who lives in Ontario recently posted A Day at Long Point,  words and pictures of a visit he made to Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO), 130 kms south of his home. He kindly mentioned Another Bird Blog in his post, knowing that I visited Long Point some years back (1989 and 1990) when I spent 7 weeks as a bird banding volunteer. 

Since 1960, Long Point Bird Observatory LPBO has operated a research station at the eastern tip of Long Point where scientists study migration (bird, bat and insect) and other aspects of natural history. The observatory opens some of its accommodations to visitors interested in joining in the research, education, and training programs. The point itself is the longest (about 40 km) freshwater sand spit in the world and is the most remote wilderness location in southern Ontario and a Globally Important Bird Area of 400 + species. 

 Long Point, Canada - courtesy of Birds Canada

For David, and as a bout of pure nostalgia on my own behalf I am posting a number of pictures from the two visits. The years 1989 and 1990 were pre-digital cameras and the pictures posted here were taken with slide film and a 35mm Pentax Me Super. After being stored in a cardboard box for many years the slides were eventually transposed via a not very good slide copier into digital images, hence the very poor pictures for which I apologise. However the species encountered and pictured here together with the memories they invoke more than make up for the poor images, although none would pass muster for a present day blog other than this self-indulgent post. 

The pictures were taken at two LPBO field stations, Breakwater and Old Cut. Breakwater is an hour or more boat journey across Lake Erie and about 8km from the observatory base station of Old Cut. The Breakwater station was, and I believe still is, a very small cabin with bunks and mattresses for up to 4 people in one tiny communal bedroom. In April and May it was very cold, even with four bodies crammed into the miniscule space, the occupants sleeping in daytime clothes to ward off the icy nights. We bathed in the great outdoors where the outside toilet overlooking Lake Erie marshes provided a unique place from which to engender a somewhat original bird list. 

Banding at Long Point

Breakwater cabin - Long Point

The working base of Long Point, the Old Cut Research, Education and Training Centre now includes a comfortable house with all the amenities, research laboratories and specimen collection, visitor centre and even the LPBO Shoppe (not in my day). There is a small library, living room, office space, laboratory and 5 bedrooms with bunks. The odds are that visitors will share a bedroom with members of the opposite sex at any of the three field stations. Many a good friendship blossomed at LPBO. 

Below are just some of the species encountered at Long Point, Canada. 

Cardinal

Cerulean Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Wilson's Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Whip-poor-will

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Wood Thrush

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Black and White Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

Red-eyed Vireo

Tennessee Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Indigo Bunting

Blackpoll Warbler

Great-horned Owl

pellet - Great-horned Owl

Thanks for jogging my memory David. Should you revisit LPBO again soon I hope you can join in banding that wonderful array of spring warblers. Better still, make sure you get to handle lots of Cardinals and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. 

The flag of Canada

Most of all, please pass on best wishes to my Canadian friends and to Canada. 

Fat Is Good

In amongst the 60+ Siskins caught since Christmas at Oakenclough have been a number with visible fat reserves. Ringers regularly check the birds they handle for visible fat, especially during the winter or at times of migration when high scores can indicate that an individual is in the process of migrating or building up reserves during a bad spell of cold weather. One memorable Siskin of 31st March 2016 tipped the scales at 16.2 grams - Another Bird Blog.

It’s not often there are Siskins in my garden, even in a “Siskin Winter”, a year when the species becomes especially numerous in the early months of the year. If it was going to happen again then 2016 would be likely as good numbers have been reported in many parts of the UK, more so in recent days as large numbers of migratory Siskins head north. 

Today I caught another fat Siskin, a second year female, this time in the garden. This lovely lady weighed a stupendous 16.8 grams, amazing when you think a tiny Siskin normally weighs between 11 and 12 grams. It becomes more remarkable when considering that the bird probably accumulated this amount of extra fat in just a couple of days of short refuelling stops and increased her weight by 30 - 40%. For migrating birds ... it pays to be fat! 

Siskin - second year female at 16.8 gms

Siskin - second year female

Research has shown the strategy allows them to reach their breeding grounds faster and claim the best nesting sites. Small migratory birds sometimes need to take a break to replenish their fat reserves, especially after crossing vast oceans or deserts. Factors known to influence the length of these stopovers are the weather, food availability and internal factors such as a genetically programmed urge to continue the journey. 

The last time I witnessed the build-up of Siskin fat reserves was in the early part of 2011, the last "Siskin Winter" when Will and I caught good numbers in a Garstang garden. Garstang is just a few miles from the current ringing site of Oakenclough, one of the reasons that we chose to re-establish a ringing site here when Will moved from the old location.

In early 2011 we caught 258 new Siskins - 53 in January, 71 in February and 134 in March.  During March it was noticeable that the Siskins were heavier than in previous months and that many carried visible fat for migration purposes.

Average monthly weights:
• January 12.4 grams
• February 12.5 grams
• March 12.9 grams

The ranges in weights were:
• January 10.9 - 15 grams
• February10.9 - 14.9 grams
• March 10.6 - 15.7 grams.

In the garden at home this past weekend the normally ever present Goldfinches have mostly moved out, replaced by small numbers of Siskins and Lesser Redpolls, although both species moved quickly on after devouring quantities of Niger seed. 

Siskin

Goldfinch

Last week’s Nuthatches seems not to have stayed and I fear that something happened to the female when the male continued singing loudly into the third day but nest box activity ceased. It was good while it lasted.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday.

Village Scenes

The last five days week we’ve had the lot - spells of sunshine, hail stones, rain and blustery wind, then finishing off the week with fog. I set off early thinking the rising sun would burn off the fog quickly but it didn’t. As I drove through Pilling village there was a Barn Owl ghosting through the damp air. With the non-stop traffic rushing for work and Lancaster City I dare not stop. 

I parked up at Lane Ends and debated whether to continue driving or to go for a walk. Woodpigeons had decided to sit it out and not go anywhere for a while. There was a male Pied Wagtail on duty at the entrance to the car park.

Woodpigeon

Pied Wagtail

At Wrampool there were Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit, and from their demeanour, both on territory. 

The visibility at Conder Green was really bad although lots of the usual stuff was reasonably close and visible. I picked up on a Common Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, a dozen or more Redshank, 12 Oystercatcher, 4 Shelduck, a single Snipe and 2 Goosander. In the “small“ category came 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Reed Bunting, 4 Goldfinch, 3 Chaffinch and 2 Greenfinch. There was a Barn Owl here too, this one doing as the earlier one by appearing out of the murk and then vanishing out over the mist laden marsh. 

I was getting nowhere fast so I drove back towards Knott End village where the coast was clearer but cold. I parked the new Ferrari in a quiet spot where it couldn’t get damaged and then sat on the sea wall. It was from here and as the tide rolled in that I counted 290 Oystercatcher, 12 Redshank, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Eider and 3 Cormorant. Somewhere was a Sandwich Tern calling, so possibly more than one but I couldn’t find the bird(s). 

Ferrari

A walk up river produced a Chiffchaff alongside the golf course, 2 Pied Wagtails, a Wheatear close to the old cottages and a single Meadow Pipit on the tidal defences. Across the river and at Fleetwood I could see a male Peregrine way up on the old RoRo terminal where it sheltered from the cold wind while retaining a view of the whole estuary. A wise bird. 

Wheatear

Meadow Pipit

Peregrine Falcon

Regular readers will know that I occasionally picture the village of Knott End just a mile or two from my home. The village is situated at the mouth of the Wyre Estuary at the extreme south and west of Morecambe Bay and just across the water from the historic fishing port of Fleetwood. Below is a video of the journey we sometimes make across the water where gulls, a variety of waders and seabirds like Cormorant, Eider, Little Egret and Grey Heron can be seen. Watch closely, there’s a Little Egret near the start of the video.

 

Back home. It's two-thirty and the sun is out. I just counted 7 Buzzards high over Stalmine village where I live, where a few Buzzards breed and where folk stop to say “hello”.

That’s village life for you.

Linking today to Anni's Birding and  Eileen's Saturday.

Nut Case

Nuthatches are fairly uncommon close to where I live but unexpectedly I have previously caught a couple when ringing everyday garden birds like Goldfinch, Dunnock and Blackbird. 

Nuthatch

On Tuesday there was a very vocal Nuthatch in the big sycamore in a neighbour’s garden, calling, whistling and generally shouting “this is my territory”. I thought no more about it until sat in the afternoon April sunshine when a bird flew from the said sycamore and landed in an ancient damson tree at the bottom of our unremarkable garden. Yes, the damson tree which hosts a beat up old nest box that is rarely occupied from one year to the next.

So to cut a long story short, I now have two Nuthatches nest building at the bottom of my garden, a very welcome first. Wednesday, and watching from the conservatory the two are still at it but in a less active manner during what is a cold and showery day.

Nuthatch - Photo: Sergey Yeliseev via Foter.com/CC BY-NC-ND 

To put this record into a local context the Nuthatch is far from common in this part of coastal Fylde, where there is a lack of suitable mature woodland, an absence which limits the species’ ability to increase its local population. Although Nuthatches are resident all year round they have a somewhat patchy breeding distribution related to their habitat requirements. 

If all goes according to a normal timetable I should BE ringing the youngsters by early to mid-May.

There's more nut case birding very soon. Be sure not to miss it.

Good Stuff Birding

After being delayed by early morning rain I drove across Stalmine Moss towards Pilling and really didn’t expect to see a Barn Owl, especially not at 0920. Things have quietened down on the Barn Owl front just lately. After many reports of daylight owls through January, February and March lesser numbers are now being reported on local blogs and web pages. Maybe the local voles have produced early season young from one of the several litters they have each year and after a lean winter provide much needed raptor food? 

The owl gave a good start to the morning’s birding but I was keen to get moving and see what else was about. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Weeks have passed since I stopped at Wrampool and as expected the local Linnet flock has dispersed to leave just 10 individuals. Lapwings were displaying in the next field with singing Skylarks above and a Reed Bunting alongside the overgrown ditch. 

Linnet

Linnet

More Lapwings displayed at Braides Farm where a flock of about 800 Golden Plovers were very vocal as well as colourful, the majority in at least partial summer plumage. When I returned this way a couple of hours later the plovers were down to less than a hundred and I suspect than many had already set off to continue their journey north. 

At Conder Green Sand Martins were on the move with 20+ heading noticeably north plus a single Swallow stopping off to feed briefly over the pool. There appeared to be at least 6 pairs of Oystercatchers on scattered territories around the pool but apparently no Lapwings. A single Canada Goose, 4 Tufted Duck, 15 Teal, 30 Curlew,  2 Shelduck, 1 Wigeon, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron completed the pool count. 

More Teal were in the creeks together with 10 Redshank and singles of Snipe and Spotted Redshank, the latter now beginning to acquire a hint of its summer plumage. A Chiffchaff sang from the hedgerow and a Meadow Pipit from the marsh. 

Meadow Pipit

I’d promised to call and see farmer Chris and count his returning Sand Martins. A Buzzard soared over the quarry while on the ground two pairs of Oystercatchers displayed. A count of 50+ Sand Martins followed with some of them already visiting last year’s nest holes. Not all will stay as Sand Martins are drawn to visit known colonies during their migrations.

Chris had forewarned me that the soggy winter had taken its toll by producing a couple or more landslides down the quarry face. He was right. Many of last year’s nest tunnels had gone. The martins need to get busy with major excavations soon if they want to produce youngsters. 

Sand Martin

Chris is keen to have nest boxes for both Barn Owl and Kestrel as well to expand his Tree Sparrow colony. Looks like more work for Andy when he’s back from ringing in Gibraltar. 

Tree Sparrows were active at Fluke Hall with much chattering and heads poking from nest boxes. 

Tree Sparrow

There was a Chiffchaff in song and as I stopped to search I heard Siskins then saw three or more in the tree tops. I then watched a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming out a beat on a dead branch. Fifteen Shelduck in the wet field with 6+ Blackbirds, 2 Pied Wagtails, 2 Stock Dove, following which my morning was done. Good stuff. 

There’s more Good Stuff son with Another Bird Blog. Don’t miss it.

Linking today to Run-a-Round Ranch and World Bird Wednesday.

Finches Again

The weather is staying cool with the lack of summer/spring birds unsurprising despite in recent years our becoming accustomed to many species appearing somewhat early. But then we are still in March with the weather and winds less than ideal to help birds travelling many miles to get here to North West England. In some years nothing much happens until April and it looks like 2016 is shaping up to be one of those. 

With rain forecast for both early and late week Thursday was pencilled in as the possible day for a ringing session. The prediction was spot on when at 0545 the sky was clear with a hint of frost in the air. I switched on the heated seat and set off for another 0630 start up at Oakenclough. 

Andy and I met up in the car park and then we set to with a couple of nets. The morning was mainly slow and steady with a sudden rush of Siskins after 1030 which boosted our catch to 32 birds of a mixed 8 species, dominated once again by finches: 13 Siskin, 10 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Blackbird, 1 Wren and 1 Dunnock. 

Including today and to date in 2016 we have ringed 60 Siskins and 55 Lesser Redpoll here at Oakenclough. One of today’s Lesser Redpolls, a second year female, wore a ring beginning S109, a number sequence not of our own but a “control” – a bird ringed by other ringers on a previous occasion. This is the second “control” Lesser Redpoll of the spring here, details of which we will be notified to us and the original ringer once the BTO database records are matched. 

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

Upon examination a number of Siskins displayed accumulated fat in three areas; the furculum (the so-called wishbone), the wingpits and the abdomen. One individual weighed in at a magnificent 16.2 grams. This almost equalled the weight of the morning’s Chaffinches and exceeded the weight of both Goldfinches. 

Visible Fat

Siskin

Siskin

Siskin

A reader was intrigued by a picture of two Siskins in last week’s post which showed the plumage differences between second year and adult male Siskins. As a broad rule that applies to most passerine species, second year birds can be separated from an adult, especially at this time of year. This isn’t always strikingly obvious but can be found by looking closely at the flight feathers of the wing and tail. First year birds will retain into their second year many of the feathers they were born with because their autumn moult is partial only. In general, adult birds have a complete moult of their flight feathers once they have finished breeding. At the present time of year and in comparing adults and second years side by side, an adult will have some newer, brighter and fresher feathers than a second year bird that still sports much of last year’s juvenile plumage. 

Siskins - second year and adult

We don’t catch many Wrens or Blackbirds at this location. 

Wren

Blackbird

Siskins dominated the visible migration this morning with small parties of up to 6 or 7 birds passing overhead south to north most of the morning whereby Lesser Redpolls were less evident. We looked and listened hard for Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler or an early Blackcap, Sand Martin or Swallow but none appeared. 

We made do with resident Buzzards, Oystercatchers, Pied Wagtails and Great Crested Grebe until the highlight of a single Common Crossbill “chup, chupping” overhead. Crossbills breed not too far away but are just occasional visitors to the site even though there are extensive pines in the immediate area. 

Common/Red Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra by "Wiki".

Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog and more birds soon. Linking today to Anni's Birding and Eileen's Saturday.

A Siskin Sheet

I hope regular readers are up for more news of the bird ringing at Oakenclough? It seems the best place to be at the moment with good numbers of finches continuing to pass through. Down at the coast the news from birders is that the lasting high pressure system is holding back migration. Early migrants like Chiffchaffs, Sand Martins and Wheatears seem hard to come by whereas winter birds like Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Goose are noticeable by their continued presence in good numbers.

I met Andy at the ringing station at 0630. We were later joined by Will who called in to trade birding gossip and to ring a few birds.

On a grey, cold morning we caught steadily for about three hours as both Siskins and Lesser Redpolls arrived from the south, some stopping briefly, others flying determinedly north and west. This was especially true for Siskin as their vibrant calls rang out from close to the feeders but also overhead as small parties flew over. Lesser Redpolls were not so numerous, as reflected in the ringing totals below. There was also a movement of Chaffinches with at one point ten or more in the tops of a couple of nearby trees.

Chaffinch

Following a catch of 22 Goldfinches last Friday the species’ status as a sometime migrant was confirmed by today’s catch of a single new bird and two recaptures. Suddenly at 1030 the feeders went quiet and overhead birds dried up. By 1130 we had decided to pack up and go home.

We totalled 31 birds today – 22 new and 9 recaptures. New birds: 12 Siskin, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Wren, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Robin. Recaptures; 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Great Tit.

The Reed Bunting proved to be a second year male.

Reed Bunting

Two male Siskins. The adult Siskin is on the right, the second year on the left.

Siskins

Lesser Redpoll

At each ringing session all the captured birds are entered onto a field sheet. The Information is later transferred to a database, Integrated Population Monitoring and Recording (IPMR) and each month a file of captured birds e-mailed to the BTO for inclusion on their master database.

Field Sheet - 23/03/2016

In the left hand column of the field sheet “N” indicates a new bird while “R” signifies a recapture. The system uses a five letter code for each species. Age “5” means a second year bird while “6” indicates an adult bird. We collect wing length as in many species this can be used to separate males and females where both sexes are similar. Weight at the corresponding time of capture is recorded as an indicator of general condition. At 14 grams one of today’s Siskins had a weight somewhat over the an average. Upon checking the amount of visible fat in the furculum, “little fork” or wishbone, the Siskin was found to have a fat score of 30, pointing to an individual in active migration.

Birding today - singles of Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush.

The month of March is proving to be very productive for our ringing but with the weather due to change tonight there may be a lull in proceedings. Not to worry, there will be more news and pictures very soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday, Anni's Blog and Viewing Nature With Eileen.