Early Pipit Late Owl

A 6 am start beckoned and I met Andy at Oakenclough in near perfect conditions - a light southerly, and compared to recent weeks, a temperature that felt quite agreeable. 

Once again newly in birds were rather limited so we struggled to reach double figures with just 10 birds ringed but the emphasis on quality rather than quantity: 5 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Goldfinch and 1 Tree Pipit. 

In most years April 1st is around the normal date for the arrival of the first Willow Warblers so the two males caught today are approximately ten days “late”. Maybe they picked a good time to arrive with predicted temperatures of up to 64°F and fine days for next week. In so many recent years Willow Warblers have arrived into cool and wet weather that continued throughout May and had a detrimental effect upon their breeding success. 

Willow Warbler 

Lesser Redpoll 

Today’s Tree Pipit, our first of the year, was aged as a second year bird (born in 2017). April 14th is bang on the expected date of the first Tree Pipits arriving from Africa. 

Tree Pipit 

A Tree Pipit resembles the slightly smaller Meadow Pipit. Both are at first glance unexceptional looking LBJs, streaked brown above and with black markings on a white belly and buff breast below. 

The Tree Pipit is distinguished from the slightly smaller Meadow Pipit by its heavier bill, stronger more yellowish, heavier streaking and greater contrast with the white belly. The former also has pink legs rather than the flesh-coloured legs of Meadow Pipit. As the name suggests, Tree Pipits spend more time in trees than ground dwelling Meadow Pipits.  Tree Pipits breed across most of Europe and temperate western and central Asia. It is a long-distance migrant and spends our winter in Africa and southern Asia. 

The song flight is unmistakable. The bird rises a short distance up from a tree, and then parachutes down on stiff wings, the loud song becoming more drawn out towards the end.  It is many years since I heard the song here at Oakenclough where it used to breed in the open woodland and scrub of the late 70’s and early 80’s.  The habitat is still suitable now but unless the Tree Pipit regains its former population level it is unlikely to return. 

The Tree Pipit's flight and contact call is a buzzing "dzzz" sound, heard mostly during migration. It’s a high-frequency call that becomes harder to hear for us older generation birders. Luckily we can catch them, take a closer look and confirm that the label of “Little Brown Job” is far from the truth. 

The morning proved quiet in the way of birding except for the usual five or six Buzzards in the air as the morning warmed. Two Red-breasted Mergansers “over” and a smattering of redpolls proved to be as good as it got with little sign of visible migration. "Otherwise" local birds included a handful of Chaffinches, 1 Jay and 2 Mistle Thrush. 

The journey home was quite interesting by way of a Barn Owl hunting across farmland at 11.20am. Many Barn Owls are sat on eggs by now, a scenario that requires the non-sitting bird to spend extra hours in search of food. 

Barn Owl

Nearby I noted a single Kestrel and also a pair of Buzzards at a nest. The female was clearly visible in the huge pile of sticks close to the top of a tall, uncropped hawthorn hedgerow. Let's hope the conspicuous nest will not become a target for vandals and/or those who would harm the mostly harmless Buzzard.

Buzzards 

Log in soon for more birds from Another Bird Blog. In the meantime, linking to World Bird Wednesday and Anni's Birding.

Out At Last

What with half-term, car service & MOT and pretty poor weather, I’d been out of birding action for a week. 

Thursday morning and as is often the case I wasn’t sure where to go on my local patch while allowing sufficient time to spend at each. There’s nothing more annoying than birding at one place and seeing not very much to then hear later of birds seen in the same spot soon after. It’s a form of Sod’s Law that applies to birders and probably other obsessives. 

Through Pilling village was the first Chiffchaff singing from an annual location but as I drove past I spotted a hunting Barn Owl ahead. The owl was on a fast, large circuit that took it over fields, behind tall hedgerows and through farmyards so I quickly lost sight. 

Barn Owl 

I drove up to Conder Pool, the first time for a couple of weeks. Very evident here was that the water level here is tremendously high after the autumn and winter rains with very little in way of margins for waders. I counted 8 Shelduck, 6 Tufted Duck, 22 Teal, 2 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron and a good number of Mute Swans. There was a single Kestrel knocking around. Waders consisted of 2 Avocet and 8 Oystercatchers. 

Two Avocets have taken up territory on one of the far islands in exactly the same spot as last year. 

Avocet 

Having bred successfully both adults and offspring Avocets are faithful to a site in subsequent years. And with an average life span of 10-15 years there’s a more than a reasonable chance that either or even both of these birds were here last year. But more’s the pity as Avocets are not the friendliest towards other species. 

It’s not like me to be controversial but I'm far from certain we should be encouraging too many Avocets on Conder Pool, a piece of real estate that for many years was home to more common species. I would much rather see several pairs of species that co-exist rather than pairs of aggressive Avocets that allow no other birds on “their” patch. 

Surely several pairs of declining Redshank, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and maybe one or two Little Ringed Plover would be preferable? There now, naughty me, I've gone and upset the whole of the RSPB and the band of birders who judge a species by rarity value rather than taking a holistic view. 

A tour of the Jeremy Lane and Cockersands found a good selection of species but little in the way of migrants. Even the many hares I saw appeared lethargic, mainly sitting around and uninterested in the fact that it was April 12th and their mating season. 

Brown Hare 

There was a huge Peregrine hunting the marsh where it made several passes but caught nothing. Lapwings are mostly all paired up now with much dashing display, frantic calling and chasing off the crows so I suspect some are on eggs. Not so the Golden Plover, wintering birds only with a loose flock of 180+ birds, but many resplendent in their black& gold summer plumage. It is mostly impossible to get close to this species and as I've mentioned here before, to the UK’s eternal shame that this species is allowed to be shot by hunters. 

Golden Plover 

On the fields here – 40+ off passage Meadow Pipits searching the soggy fields, 8-10 Skylark and 20+ Linnet still flocking. 30+ Sand Martins at our ringing quarry looks promising and where with luck we’ll begin ringing after the first fledglings are on the wing. 

Meadow Pipit 

I was out birding all morning but still didn't see or hear many migrants. A handful of Swallows and two singing Chiffchaffs was the sum total of my summer birds. 

We’re promised warmer weather soon. Not soon enough where migration so far has consisted of a small flurry of early birds while everyone waits for the big fall that hardly ever takes place. 

Saturday looks promising for ringing with a light southerly of 5 mph and no rain. Believe it when we see it!

Linking today to Eileen's Blog.

Boring? Never.

I’d met up with Andy for another ringing session at Oakenclough and where surely we would find a few fresh migrants on this the Fifth of April? The wind was in the North-West and at 0630 and 0.5° it wasn't especially warm. 

A glance at the weather map portrayed a stream of warm air partly headed our way from Iberia with maybe an outside chance of a few new birds although few migrants had yet reached the North West. 

Thursday 5th April 

Our catch was on-par for recent weeks. In other words not so good with just 12 birds caught and still zero warblers - 3 Siskin, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Great Tit, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Dunnock. 

Siskin 

Lesser Redpoll 

We don’t catch many Dunnocks at Oakenclough but today’s bird proved to be a female in early breeding condition.

Dunnock

The name Dunnock comes from the old English words dunnakos/dunoke or donek, meaning ‘little brown one'. Dun = dingy brown, dark-coloured. Ock = diminutive. Its scientific name Prunella modularis translates as ‘little brown singer'.

It has other English and Irish names such as the wren's brother, mother-in-law, field sparrow, black wren, grey robin and hedge warbler. In Scotland one of its common names is blue-dykie - more of that later.

The Dunnock is the persona non grata of the bird world - mostly uninteresting to birders, ignored, unloved and unwanted; especially so when out it pops from the hedgerow where a rare LBJ is rumoured to be. The Dunnock deserves few mentions on bird blogs, barely a frame on You Tube and never a photo on Bird Guides’ Best. And wait in vain for a pager message or urgent tweet about the dismal, drab and dowdy Dunnock.

A Dunnock spends its days lurking mostly unseen in dark corners of suburban gardens or feeding surreptitiously under bird feeders when the glamorous birds have left the feast.  Its song is unhurried and unremarkable; a warble which to the inexperienced or hard-of-hearing can be confused with the Wren, Robin or Common Whitethroat but one which lacks the Wren's intensity, the Robin's sweetness or the scratchy tones of the Whitethroat.

But fear not dear reader. The lacklustre Dunnock does have a trick or two up its feathered trouser legs, as many a ringer will relate. The identical male and female Dunnock are to all intents and purposes monomorphic - identical when even simple biometrics prove unhelpful in separating one sex from the other. Until that is the breeding season when the male displays its most obvious attributes that go toward the legendary sex life of the dreary old Dunnock. Multiple mating systems including monogamy, polyandry and polygyny - you name it, they do it.

You see, there’s more to a boring Dunnock than meets the unwelcoming eye. I do think that Mr Dunnock would agree.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Birding and Eileen's Saturday.

Trying

I missed two ringing sessions. Tuesday was half-term duties and then on Wednesday I had to wait in for the heating engineer. 

Andy was out on both days when he caught the first Chiffchaff of spring, several Meadow Pipits, half a dozen each of both Siskin and Lesser Redpoll and the usual bits & bobs of Dunnocks, Robins and Blue Tits. 

Wednesday was a chance to catch up with spring and the example set by Andy. We met up at 0630 to a gentle south-easterly and hopeful vibes, but 2° with an ice warning on the dashboard said otherwise. And so it was, with just 7 birds caught in more than three hours - 3 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Meadow Pipit and 1 Goldcrest. The latter was our first of the spring and now some two weeks later than normal.

Meadow Pipit 

Goldcrest 

Siskin

The tiny and quite stunning Siskin is a species that ringers like to catch. 

It is also one of the bird success stories of recent years. Since the 1950s the maturation of new conifer plantations has aided the spread of breeding Siskins throughout the UK from their previous stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. 

The Siskins' habit of using garden feeders, especially in late winter, has developed since the 1960s and despite many winter birds in gardens migrating to the Baltic region to breed, may also have helped boost the UK breeding population. 

 The 1988-91 Breeding Atlas identified a major expansion of the breeding range into southern Britain and subsequently there have been further considerable range gains, especially in the south and west. The 1970s and 1980s saw more Common Bird Census plots occupied but samples were insufficient for annual monitoring until Breeding Bird Survey began in 1994. 

Results since then show parallel fluctuations of populations both in England and Scotland. To some extent this probably reflects the occasional large continental influxes affecting spring numbers on a broad UK scale. 

As might be expected from the figures above, this morning’s visible migration was nil. But all was not lost. On the way home and at 11 am I spotted a day hunting Barn Owl across distant fields. I spent twenty minutes or more watching as the owl ranged far and wide, high and low in search of a meal before it seemed to head back home. 

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

It wasn’t the most successful morning but nice to finish on a Barn Owl high. More soon – stay tuned. 

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Birding Blog and Eileen's Blog.

Mars And Venus

Saturday morning and at 5am the alarm buzzed in my ear. Fifteen minutes later I was washed, dressed and had made a flask of coffee for the 40 minute journey to meet Andy at Oakenclough. 

By six there was zero wind and a few spots of rain. The rain was nothing to worry about as it quickly petered out and left perfect conditions for ringing. Once gain the ringing was very subdued with nothing in the way of migrants as the weather south of here continues to block migration. 

We ringed just 14 birds of 4 species - 8 Goldfinch, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Robin. For this time of year it is quite unusual that we caught zero Lesser Redpoll or Siskin today. Even the two Siskins we saw were probably fairly local wintering birds. 

The male symbol ♂ is the astrological symbol for Mars and the female symbol ♀ is the astrological symbol for Venus. Of the three small finches it’s the Goldfinch that is the harder to sex. While male and female Redpolls and male and female Siskins are quite different in their respective looks, the distinction between boy and girl Goldfinches is less obvious. 

To decide ♂ or ♀ Goldfinch we use the amount and shape of the patch of red feathering above and behind the eye combined with the colour of the nasal hairs. Wing length is an additional aid to sexing with a boy wing mostly longer than the girl equivalent, despite some mid-range overlap. The often slightly larger overall dimensions of a male can carry over to the bill whereby the bill of a larger male can be strikingly long. 

None of the above methods are of much use in the field and certainly not in the autumn with moulting adults or brown juveniles that lack any head colouration. 

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Goldfinch 

A local person we saw this morning today told of two regular Siskins on his own garden feeders. He knows of a nearby bird enthusiast and a garden well stocked with feeders that holds many more Siskins, Chaffinches and even a handful of Bramblings. The latter species has been very scarce during this Lancashire winter. 

Siskin 

Brambling 

Apart from the ubiquitous Goldfinch The best I can do in my own garden at the moment is a couple of wary Tree Sparrows that come to snatch a few grains of millet and an equally shy Stock Dove.   

Tree Sparrow

Goldfinch

“Otherwise Birding” today consisted of watching a pair of Sparrowhawks in display, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush 1 Raven and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Linking today to Stewart's World Birds and Anni's Birding.

Truncated Morning

Tuesday and the wind had changed direction from the recent Siberian blast to an almost balmy north-easterly of 8 mph. Even the temperature picked up to 0.5° at 0630 but the wind chill made it feel more like minus 15°. 

I’d met up with Andy at Oakenclough for a ringing session. Andy still sported a tan from his week in Abu Dhabi but there was no tee shirt or shorts to be seen. 

On our last visit here on 7th March, Another Bird Blog, we caught the first handful of Siskins and Lesser Redpolls of 2018, so we hoped to improve on this. However it was not to be as the wind soon picked up to 15 mph to truncate the already quiet session. 

We ringed just 11 birds – 3 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Siskin, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Goldfinch. 

Siskin 

Lesser Redpoll 

Chaffinch 

Other than the finches, there was little evidence of migration with “other” birds seen limited to local inhabitants; 6 Oystercatcher, 2 Buzzard, 3 Pied Wagtail, 3 Mistle Thrush, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Raven, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

The early finish allowed a leisurely drive back over the moss roads where I came across 6 circling Buzzard and 1 Kestrel. Skitham Lane saw 16+ Ruff on a still flooded field some 500 yards from the road but in an isolated and unapproachable field. 

I stopped at Gulf Lane, Cockerham to see how many of our wintering Linnets are still around to find just thirty plus, a figure that suggests there may be no more ringing opportunities. Hopefully the 237 Linnets ringed this winter will provide information on their whereabouts at later dates. 

Thanks to one of my readers I discovered that today March 20th 2018 is World Sparrow Day celebrating the relationship between humans and sparrows. There are over 40 species of sparrow in the world. 

You can join in World Sparrow Day at World Sparrow Day 

Read all about sparrows of the world at wikipedia.

Tree Sparrow 

House Sparrow

More soon, maybe even sparrows at Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Something For The Weekend

Spring has yet to arrive. In fact the weather at the moment here in Lancashire is still like winter with low temperatures, biting easterly winds and even snow predicted for the weekend. 

Something For the Weekend 

With little prospect of birding or ringing I dipped into the archive for the sunny days of Egypt in 2011. 

The post from February 2011 seems especially relevant now as we in the UK await Chiffchaffs fresh from the wintering grounds, one of the first spring migrants. 

Chiffchaff 

Ringers know that early Chiffchaffs often carry pollen residues on their bills. This pollen was deposited by the feeding strategy known as nectarivory, birds indulging in sipping nectar from flowering plants during which flowering pollen is left on the bird itself, mainly around the base of the bill, the part of the bird most closely in contact with the flower. Nectarivory is also known to occur in some species of bats. 

Chiffchaff 

During the 2011 holiday to Egypt I saw countless Chiffchaffs and also saw nectarivory in action. The number of Chiffchaffs was not entirely surprising as unlike the closely related Willow Warbler which winters mainly in West Africa south of the Sahara, Chiffchaffs also cross the Sahara and concentrate in Senegal, while others remain in the Mediterranean North Africa of Egypt. 

At least 3 often inseparable races breed in the Middle East, collybita (includes brevirostris), menzbieri and probably abietinus and at least two others visit. So at any time, and especially during winter, spring and autumn the origins of Chiffchaffs and race of each individual in Egypt is hard to determine. The latest scientific and perhaps unremarkable opinion is that races of Chiffchaff interbreed freely, thus  making racial definition and identification in the field difficult if not impossible.  

There is no doubt that in Egypt I heard and saw our familiar UK collybita, with both the typical “hweet” call and occasional snatches of “chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff”. I also heard the “squeaky chicken” call frequently and on a couple of occasions, snatches of the fast, melodious song of Siberian Chiffchaff tristis, totally unlike the Chiffchaff song I know but more like a demented Dunnock. 

In Hurghada I witnessed many Chiffchaffs taking nectar, at times the liquid being visibly sipped as birds stuck their heads deep into the flowers, and upon the bird withdrawing from the flower, drops of the nectar spilling from their bill. A particular favourite plant of the Chiffchaffs was a flowering Mexican Saguara cactus shown in the photographs below. In a few of the pictures, by zooming up it is possible to see the nectar drops around the bill. 

Chiffchaff on Saguara cactus

Saguara cactus - Egypt

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

In the two week trip I had one sighting only of Nile Valley Sunbird, another bird that takes nectar. In view of the tremendous number of flowering plants in Makadi Bay my single sighting was a little disappointing. 

The biggest numbers of Nile Valley Sunbirds occur much further south than Hurghada, but in the last 100 years, helped by the building of tourist resorts, the species has spread from the southernmost parts of the Red Sea and up to the Cairo area where it breeds. I didn’t get to Cairo to look for more sunbirds so settled for my one brief encounter and a couple of distant shots.

Nile Valley Sunbird

Egyptian Garden

Some of that sun and warmth of Egypt would  be very welcome right now. Maybe soon? Log in again to Another Bird Blog to check.

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