27 January 2013

No it's not a mistake. We are headed back to January 2013 and a holiday in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain. With the whole of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Island under strict lockdown, there's nowhere to go except a shopping trip or a delve into the archives for a blog post.  

Apologies to readers who were here in 2013 and for whom the pictures may look familiar but needs must.  I changed a few pictures, deleted some and added others, as well as updating the text.    

The post is an introduction to Fuerteventura, the birds and the scenery in the immediate area of our stay in Costa Calma January 2013. Costa Calma is a resort so named for the relatively sheltered nature of the area from the prevailing winds which seem ever present in the Canary Islands subject to the vagaries of Atlantic Ocean winds and currents. This relative calm of Costa Calma is due in no small part to the easterly geographical location and to the long belt of pine trees which give a degree of protection from the often strong winds.

It’s peculiar how the same bird species occur in the vicinity of many holiday places we visit, with Fuerteventura providing a similar hotel list to other places we know whereby sparrows, gulls, Kestrels, Little Egrets and a few wader species are to the fore. Don't forget folks, click on the pics for a better, bigger view.

Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

Sanderlings and Turnstones were ever present on the sandy and partly rocky shore. Turnstones can be fairly confiding here in the UK, but on Fuerteventura they are more so and approachable to within a few metres.  The Whimbrel is fairly common but not in the same numbers as the smaller wader species.

Whimbrel

Sanderling

Turnstone

After taking photographs of a Sanderling I noticed only upon examining the images later that the bird had a British ring on its right leg. With only a couple of shots I couldn’t get quite enough detail to send the record in to the BTO so as to find out where it had been ringed, so in the following days looked for the Sanderling but couldn’t relocate it.  Later I contacted the BTO ringing scheme with the few numbers and letters I had but the BTO confirmed the sparse information was not sufficient to find the original place of ringing.  

Sanderling

Kentish Plovers were usually around the shore although not in the same numbers as Sanderling and Turnstone.

Kentish Plover

Little Egret

Little Egret

An unusual hotel bird proved to be Raven, a pair of birds from the locality paying infrequent visits to the shore to steal monkey nuts from under the noses of the Barbary Ground Squirrels. Almost every tourist paid more attention to feeding the “cute” squirrels whilst ignoring the long-distance-migrant shore birds at their feet, the closeness of the huge Ravens, the feeding terns along the shore or the handsome Yellow-legged Gulls. 

Sandwich Tern

Raven

Barbary Ground Squirrel

Yellow-legged Gull

Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

It was the quiet parts of the hotel grounds where I found the Spanish Sparrows, the pair of Hoopoes, the resident Kestrel and the White Wagtail, one of the latter in particular which followed the gardener’s watering hosepipe so as to locate the resultant insects. There were Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs about the grounds but they kept out of sight in the strong sunshine of most days.

Kestrel

Kestrel

Spanish Sparrow - Passer hispaniolensis

White Wagtail

Hoopoes mostly have that hair-gelled look, a sleeked back crest held in abeyance until some fool with a camera interrupts their feed and causes a moment of anxiety when the feathers fan up and out. 

 Hoopoe

Hoopoe

Hoopoe

As every birder knows, there’s a price to pay for a spot of birding, brownie points to be earned from SWMBO and then banked for another day when bins and camera are stored in the car. 

Near Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

In Costa Calma the African market is compulsory bartering or there's a heavy price to pay for the uninitiated.  Later in the day there's a glass or two of wine reflecting on the fading light and planning the day to come. 

African Market, Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

Anyone For a Massage? African Market, Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

Costa Calma, Fuerteventura

At the moment my glass is half-full with optimism.  In other words, I think that we are about to turn the corner of our 12 month long dark tunnel and see daylight very soon. 

Stay strong friends.  Don't let them beat you into submission and fill your glass to the top.

Rain Day

With the UK under severe lockdown there is no bird ringing allowed unless in one's own garden.  With vehicle travel limited to “essential” and “local journeys” only, it's unlikely I will be able to do much birding or even to get out with a camera.  Add to that 24 hours of rain with more to come today and I'm indoors for a while.

But, keep logging in for news and views. I'll do my best to find news and views to share. 

Meanwhile here's a post to link up with my friend Rain Frances over in New Brunswick and her Thursday Art theme of  Birds and the Sky -  http://www.rainfrances.com/2021/01/thursday-art-date-birds-and-sky.html  

I thought this might prove a difficult one because although the sky is there in many of my bird photos, it is there mostly as a backdrop to the bird or birds. 

So I looked through my photo archive for photos to find some that would satisfy the criteria of Birds and the Sky. Here we go Rain and readers - hope you like my selection of Birds and the Sky, sometimes combined.  I didn't realise there were so many until searching the hard drive. 

Blue, grey, white, cloudy, dark, light, red, and black from all around the world. Some with birds some not.  In no particular order. For best results click on the picture.

Swallows against the morning Sky - Glasson, Lancashire

Sepia Sky - Pilling,Lancashire

Rain on the way Sky - Fleetwood, Lancashire

Goose Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Morning Sky trails - Rawcliffe, Lancashire

Bee Eater Sky - Menorca, Spain

Black Sky at night - Lanzarote, Spain

Cattle Egret - White on Blue Sky

Blue Sky over Sand - Fuerteventura, Spain 

Pintail ducks - Action Sky

Red Sky - Menorca, Spain

Grey Sky, Grey Day- Menorca, Spain

Tourists in the Sky - Greece

Cloudy Sky - Lanzarote

Rainbow Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Lapwing Sky

Coloured Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Big Sky - Lanzarote, Spain

Orange Sky - Knott End, Lancashire

Moody Sky - Rawcliffe, Lancashire

Hitchcock Sky - Pilling, Lancashire

Egyptian Sky - Makadi Bay, Egypt

Another Big Sky,  Lanzarote, Spain

Northern Shovelers Sky

Photos via Canon, Sigma and Sony. 

Now if I just had £17,000 I could update my gear to the latest Sony A7R 1V camera with a Sony FE 600mm F/4 Lens and a Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 Lens. 

How did I do with the post Rain?

Linking on Saturday 16 January to Viewing Nature With Eileen and also birding in Texas with Anni I'd Rather Be Birding.

 

Flight Identification of European Passerines - A Review

A package arrived from Princeton Press, a book for review via Another Bird Blog - a newly released component of the highly successful WILDGuides series. The book? - Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds, an Illustrated and Photographic Guide authored by Tomasz Cofta. 

Just the job for a locked down and now frozen in birder with time on their hands. 

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds - Princeton Press 

 

While the name Tomasz Cofta may be unfamiliar to many UK birders he is in fact one of the most experienced field ornithologists in Europe, having published more than a hundred papers on bird identification, featuring close to two thousand of his own artworks. In the past he has prepared thousands of meticulously detailed illustrations of birds and other wildlife, as featured in over sixty books, including The World's Rarest Birds, a book reviewed HERE on 11 April 2013. 

By any standards this new WILDGuide is a hefty book containing an initially daunting 850 colour illustrations and more than 2400 photographs. It didn't take long to realise, and as the title hints, this is a book aimed at a precise audience of birding purists, students of migration, professional ornithologists and vis-miggers rather than casual and/or weekend birders. 

To get the best from this book it is essential that readers study the Introductory pages from 7 through to 28 that itemise and explain the terminology used in the main body of the book. Pages 7 to 9 discuss size comparisons, while pages 10 to 13 tackle structure and shape, the latter including the sometimes overlooked profiles of birds in flight. 

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds - Princeton Press 

It would be a mistake if readers skipped these introductory pages, especially so for pages 10-13 which contain useful tips and reminders about body, wing, tail and changes in the shape of birds in flight. In the heat and drama of a rapid fly over or fly through with just one chance of an ID, how many times has a birder wished they had remembered to clock the X, Y or Z? I've been there too. 

For anyone just learning to vis-mig pages 16 to 26 become indispensable by explaining the variability of species' flight types and flight patterns that change according to a species' behaviour or circumstances. E.g. the long distance migration flight of most thrush species is completely different to their typical short distance flight. 

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds - Princeton Press 

The well thought out pages relating to calls at 27 to 28 also explain how the species' accounts link via the supplied QR code to a recording of the species being discussed. Better still is the author's promise that links will be updated as additional recordings become available. 

Each species account contains transliterations of flight calls, supported by sonograms of common and also less common species but where quite understandably, rarer species may be unavailable. For UK birders those rarer species might be seldom encountered during their birding lifetime so makes for some useful and day dreaming studies of species like White's Thrush or uncommon members of the Crossbill family. 

The meat of the book, the 237+ species accounts between pages 42 to 484 display a consistent format using the same terminology throughout. The layout of each page is mostly very similar in the number of illustrations used, illustrations that are digitally enhanced, via photographs, drawings and probably hand so as to retain the desired conformity of images. 

As the author explains, the remarkable number of species covered include a number of near passerines, “select landbirds” of the Title. The ecology of these species is similar to that of the passerines and they are often seen on migration at similar times of the day and/or year e.g. pigeons, doves and woodpeckers. 

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds - Princeton Press 

While the quality of both the coloured and the black & white illustrations is of good and sometimes exceptional quality, there are photographs of uncommon species that are far from perfect. As someone who uses a camera with varying degrees of success I understand that birds, and more so small birds in flight, can be almost impossible to capture, so even a less than perfect BIF is OK by me if it portrays the essential jizz. 

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds - Princeton Press 

After a day and or more with Flight Identification of European Passerines I cannot disagree with the publisher's statement that this guide is the “first of its kind.” Whereas in the past bird field guides have included limited information, sketches/photos and guidance to identify a species through flight, this book takes the subject matter to a new and state-of-the-art level. This book will help observers to nail their ID within the single most difficult part of birding. 

I struggle to think of a birder I know or know of who will not wish to buy this book. There is so much to enjoy within its pages, so much to learn and an awful lot to revisit for those who thrill at the sights and sounds of visible migration. Equally those bird watchers who seek to widen their knowledge and expertise will find more than enough to inspire them to head outdoors in these difficult times. As spring approaches the thought of a Pallid Swift overhead can excite any birder.  

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds - Princeton Press 

I thoroughly recommend to serious birders that they should buy this book. Tell Princeton you heard about it first on Another Bird Blog. 

Available now at Princeton Press 

Publisher : Princeton University Press; Illustrated edition (17 Feb. 2021) 

Price : £38.00 / $45.00 

Flexibound : 456 pages 

ISBN-10 : 0691177570 

ISBN-13 : 978-0691177571 

Dimensions : 15 x 1.5 x 23.4 cm 

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Linking this weekend to  Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

More Of the Same

After the latest visit to Gulf Lane Pilling/Cockerham today I carried out a quick audit of results to date. 

The DemOn program produced a table in seconds detailing the species and numbers caught at this single wintering plot since January 2016. The program itemised the number of “new”, N birds and the number of subsequent, “S” birds. N is self explanatory as “New”, the very first capture of an individual which is then fitted with a numbered ring. “S” refers to a bird that is caught on a subsequent occasion, one previously ringed by ourselves and later recaptured, or a bird ring elsewhere by another ringer and recaptured by ourselves. 

Linnets and others -2016 to 2021- via BTO DemOn

The 786 Linnet captures broken down into years equate to: 

2016 - 153 

2017 - 276 

2018 - 79 

2019 -113 

2020 - 138 

2021 - 27 to date 

The 11 subsequent captures relate to just 6 Linnets ringed at Gulf Lane and then recaptured at a later date. The remaining five individuals relate to exchanges between Gulf Lane and Northern Scotland and one between Gulf Lane and Walney Island. One of the birds was captured twice on North Ronaldsay, Orkney in the same spring. 

Linnet connections to Scotland

 

While it is interesting to attain “subsequent” records, our own birds, or better still a bird ringed elsewhere, the fact that we have so few as 11 “subsequent” Linnet records may surprise readers who follow our exploits. They will know that our winter ringing here is as regular and committed as the weather will allow and perhaps think that we catch the same birds many times over - we don't. 

Even during the weeks where more than one day is doable, we rarely capture the same bird twice. Catching “one of our own” is quite a cause for celebration. These results tell us that our winter Linnets are highly mobile, probably on an hourly, daily and possibly weekly basis and that the numbers we count are mere snapshots in time. 

Linnet

Linnet

Our latest effort this morning of 5 January proved unproductive with just 2 new Linnets, an adult male and an adult female. The male proved to be the biggest of the winter so far with a wing length of 86mm, a figure close to the expected maximum for a male, a measurement that points to Scottish origin. 

Linnets

 

Gulf Lane - Pilling/Cockerham 

This morning's flock maxed out at 30, most of which were reluctant to feed in the target zone: we thought that some must be recent captures that have learnt the ropes of when to visit and occasions to avoid the largesse.  Roaming Linnet flocks are social units containing a diverse, variable membership of individuals and numbers at any given time, units that are able to remember regular feeding spots and to use them according to their own requirements.     

Other visitors today - 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Stonechat, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Robin, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Little Egret. 

Today was a slightly disappointing result on a visit that may prove to be the last for some weeks if the nation is to be placed under lockdown again. 

We remain optimistic that during this latest lockdown small-scale bird ringing will continue to be seen as a necessary and essential activity. Bird ringing makes a vital contribution to society and to conservation while promoting mental and physical well-being to those taking part.

 

First Of 2021

We pencilled in Saturday for Project Linnet and the first ringing session of 2021. 

This proved a good decision because Friday arrived with black ice on roads where early morning rush hour drives are best avoided. The A588 via Pilling, Gulf Lane and Cockerham is one of the most dangerous roads in the UK. If the virus doesn't get you, the A588 Poulton le Fylde to Lancaster road probably will. 

The A588

After a good number of mild winters with just one or two days of frost there's a whole generation of people driving cars whose motoring skills are very poor in even normal conditions. The first days of ice and snow finds them driving fairground dodgems at often breakneck speeds without the slightest concern for their own safety or that of others. 

By Friday afternoon and after a little sunshine, the ice had gone. A check of the Gulf Lane Linnets together with a supplementary seed drop had seen 40 Linnets, 3 Stock Dove, 1 Robin, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Kestrel and 1 Reed Bunting. The rapidly thawing fields alongside Murder Mile held hundreds each of Lapwings, Golden Plover, Curlew, Redshank, Black-headed Gull and Common Gull. 

Lapwing

Golden Plover

Curlew

 

Andy and I arrived this morning to another thick frost but safe and sound at 0815.  At minus 4° degrees there's no point hanging around so we set the whoosh net to “ready” and then retreated to the car for a cup of warming coffee and the first Linnets. 

Linnets

 

Linnets came quite quickly and we had a small catch within 15 minutes. We continued in this vein until midday by which time we had caught 25 Linnets, our best of the winter so far. 

It was very noticeable today that we had zero recaptures from the last two weeks. That rather spoilt the idea that the Linnets we saw today were the self same ones of recent days and weeks. In fact what we are seeing is groups and flocks of Linnets on a round robin of local feeding spots that may be a mile or two apart.  It's the old story of the neighbour who tells a birder of the same Robin that comes to their garden every day, every year.

Also obvious today was an influx of adult Linnets including some rather large males. Linnets caught - 11 adult males, 3 adult females, 7 first winter males and 4 first winter females. With snow and frost around here we can be certain that there is a lot of cold weather in the High Pennines and in Scotland with temperatures low enough  to set Linnets on flight paths to relative warmth and guaranteed food. 

Linnet

 

Linnet

 

Other birds seen but not caught - 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Robin, 1 Snipe, 1 Blackbird, 2 Barn Owl. 

Back soon. Happy New Year and Happy Birding everyone.  Let us hope that 2021 will be a major improvement on 2020.  

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni's Texas blog.