Mixed Bag update

This is a little update from yesterday and today, a mixed bag of birding with a spot of ringing thrown in.

Today we had to travel up to Lancaster City so first called in at Knott End followed by a quick look at the geese at Lane Ends, Pilling before heading north up Death Row/Biker’s Mile towards Lancaster.

The tide was pretty much in at Knott End, all the better then for a quick count of stuff beyond the Bourne Arms, on the jetty itself or along the water’s edge, passerines and shore birds: 23 Turnstone, 9 Sanderling, 18 Redshank, 45 Shelduck, 2 Pied Wagtail, 9 Twite, 1 Black Redstart, 45 Shelduck

Twite
Eider

At Lane Ends 7 Eurasian White-fronted Geese were the nearest of a pack of about 300 geese at Backsands Lane. It’s difficult to get a shot of more than 3 or 4 of the white-fronts together because not only are they strung out across several yards, but like all crowds of geese some feed heads down while others stay heads up on the lookout for predators, until after a few minutes it’s time to reverse roles when “feeders” become “sentinels” and vice versa.

Eurasian White-fronted Goose

Back home I’ve caught more Goldfinch and a couple more new female Blackbirds; in the continuing cold, both thrushes carried fat scores of 3 and weighed in at 111 and 110 grams respectively.

As might be expected male Goldfinches continue to outnumber females; the sex ratios in Britain and in Spain suggest that that a greater number of females migrate than do males, and also that females tend to winter further south (Newton 1972, Asensio 1986, Migration Atlas 2002). There does seem to be a steady changeover of Goldfinches through the garden at the moment, perhaps just locally wintering birds so it will be interesting to note when the proportion of females increases. No sign of Siskins yet.

A young female I caught today still had traces of buff, juvenile crown feathers - compare with the fully coloured male, the extent of red behind the eye and the depth of red below the bill.

Goldfinch- first winter female
Goldfinch - adult male

Review: Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America

The weather outside is pretty foul, grey skies and freezing rain, a promise of snow and not much prospect of sensible birding or ringing for a day or two.

Fortunately Princeton University Press sent Another Bird Blog a copy of the newly published and much awaited Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America, A Photographic Guide by Steve N. G. Howell. So I spent the day sat next to a toasting radiator in front of the PC but all at sea with a brilliant book. Read on.

Steve N.G. Howell is a celebrated field ornithologist and writer, an international bird tour leader with WINGS and a research associate at Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO) Conservation Science in California. His books include the Peterson Reference Guide to Moult in North American Birds and Hummingbirds of North America. These are impeccable credentials with which to pen this much needed book about the beautiful but often little known of all the world's birds which live their lives at sea, far from the sight of most people.

When Princeton University Press said they were sending me an early copy the main title didn’t give too much away apart from the fact that the volume might contain information and help towards identifying North American tubenoses. With the additional sub-title of “A Photographic Guide” l perhaps expected a handy, slim, field guide, something in a waterproof cover to take on a lengthy and inevitably wet and probably turbulent, pelagic birding trip.

Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America

In real life the book doesn’t resemble my expectation in any way, with the weighty tome having circa 500 hard covered pages with the contents more akin to a comprehensive and scholarly excavation into the mysteries of approximately 70 species of shearwaters, petrels and albatrosses occurring in North America. In the context of the book, North America is defined as waters within 370 km of land from Alaska and Canada, south to the Caribbean and Panama. The “approximately 70 species” hints at the ever changing taxonomic status and challenges to several groups of the tubenoses, taxonomic changes that where applicable are documented, explored and discussed in first-rate detail in the relevant species accounts.

The species accounts comprise headings and text in the form of Identification Summary, Taxonomy, Names, Status and Distribution, Moult, Field Identification, Habitat and Behaviour & Description, generally running into a handful of pages for each. This includes coloured maps which identify the species sea range, migration routes, moulting area and main patterns of occurrence, together with breeding sites for localised species. In the case of some difficult species e.g “Fea’s” Petrel the critical discussion on taxonomy and identification can stretch the highly readable and illuminating content to seven or more pages. Each species has a number of photographs to accompany the text, some of them quite superb, some inevitably less so.

Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America - Fulmar range in North America

As someone who indulges in a little land-based bird photography I am in admiration of many of the plates in this book, more so when I consider the challenges of taking pictures of a fast flying seabird from a moving boat in weather conditions conjured up by the word “pelagic”. I struggled to pick out just one or two examples to illustrate this feature of the book but settled on the plates below of Fea’s and Zino’s Petrels and then of European Storm Petrel. Note how the discussion of moult and identification is usefully continued into the photographic elements of the pages: the few plates shown here are far from unique in this respect.

Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America - Fea’s Petrel, Zino’s Petrel
Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America – European Storm Petrel

A feature I particularly like in each species accounts is the section headed “Names”, a paragraph or two which explains the historic, and oft-changed taxonomic origins of a species name, allowing the reader to reflect upon the enquiring spirit of those in history with an interest in these fascinating seabirds. Looking for an example to quote here I chanced upon the following, which includes reference to a British birder I once had the pleasure of meeting on the Isles of Scilly.

Grant’s (Band-rumped) Storm Petrel – Oceanodroma castro undescribed - means “ocean runner”, “castro” refers to “Roque de Castro” on Madeira, from which Edward Harcourt (1825-1891) described the first known taxon of Band-rumped Storm Petrel. The English name of the cryptic and as yet formally undescribed winter-breeding taxon commemorates British birder Peter Grant (1943-1990) who led the way in challenging identification forums.

To sum up, this is a fine book which covers a good number of the oceans’ wanderers, a volume which all birders and those interested in conservation should aspire to own, and in whichever continent they happen to live. Of the 70 or so species covered by Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America approximately one third qualify as vulnerable or endangered by human activity, an overall sad fact given emphasis by the author in devoting two pages to the subject, perhaps not enough, my only minor nit-picking of the whole book.

In the preface the author makes the point that there is still much to learn about Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels – “If we know so little about birds as grand and iconic as albatrosses, imagine what else remains to be learned”. I’ll second that Steve, and any minute now I’m about to delve into your book again to do just that.

My advice to any birder out there is to order this book right now. At $45 or £30.95 it is a bargain from Princeton University Press. Even better at £24.04 from Amazon UK.

Killing Time?

When about midday the warming sun cleared the car windscreen and the roads of the overnight frost and ice, I took a trip Out Rawcliffe way. Last week I put a couple of Niger feeders out in readiness for any spring passage of finches so wanted to see how the feeders were performing. I say “any” spring passage because this winter has been totally different from the previous one. In the early part of 2011 and into March we were busy catching lots of Chaffinch, Brambling, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, but in 2012 there are a lot less of those species, especially the latter three, so for instance I haven’t seen a Brambling since November.

There seemed to be birds around our spring and summer plantation today, mainly Chaffinch and Goldfinch, and although the Niger levels had hardly dropped I topped the feeders, set a couple of nets just in case and then took a wander through the still bare trees. After the frost a Woodcock was a certainty, and as I aimed for the clumps of winter bramble the question was not whether I would flush a Woodcock, but when it flew would it head towards the nets? It crashed off north, in the opposite direction to the desired one, but I got a good look as it twisted up and away.

I waited for the nets with in the background a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming out his spring mating call, above the wood 2 Buzzards soaring, and in the distance 5 Roe Deer running across the stubble to the safety of a quiet copse. Click on the "xeno canto" arrow to hear the woodpecker.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Buzzard

Watching the plantation combined with a meander about clocked up 2 Kestrel, 18 Skylark, 8 Linnet, 15 Chaffinch, 12 Goldfinch, 3 Blackbird, 1 Lesser Redpoll and 12 Yellowhammer, but very few of them were interested in making a guest appearance on the field sheet; I caught just 5 birds, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Blackbird and 1 Great Tit. The shy Yellowhammers were coming in for the remains of the shooters wheat stock, providing me with an excuse to perhaps come back soon in the hope of connecting with one or two of the yellow buntings.

Chaffinch
Yellowhammer

Well it may not have been the busiest of birding or ringing days, but it sure was enjoyable out in the sun and fresh, cold air.

"You must not know too much, or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers. A certain free margin...helps your enjoyment of these things." - Walt Whitman

Fly Or Drive

Freezing fog and overnight ice stopped me joining the other lads at Rossall where they were going for another Turnstone catch this morning - I didn’t fancy a potentially hazardous drive at 0630, and the Turnstones can wait.

When the fog cleared about 1300 I put the garden net up for a while in the hope of catching a Goldfinch or two. The first of four Goldfinch was an adult male, already bearing a ring which I assumed was from previous occasions here in Stalmine. When I checked the IPMR database Ian had ringed the bird at Rossall on 16th March 2010, so in a sense I touched Rossall after all today. By road the journey is a tortuous 10 miles, but as the Goldfinch might fly it is but a flap and glide across the Wyre estuary.

Goldfinch – adult male
Fly Or Drive - Rossall to Stalmine

I caught another new Coal Tit today, and it’s not a complaint, just an observation, that while Coal Tits appear plentiful there seems to be a shortage of the Great and Blue variety in these parts.

Coal Tit
A couple of new Blackbirds male turned up in the net too, maybe as a result of the last of the apples put out for them.

Blackbird – 1st winter male

Here in the North West we seemed to escape yesterday’s snow but with more freezing temperatures on the way the birding or maybe even the ringing may get more exciting. Watch this space to find out.

Knott Again?

I was at Knott End this morning, enjoying ten minutes of sunshine before the clouds rolled in from the west. By 1030 when the promised snow arrived as hail, sleet and then rain I had switched the camera to ISO800 for the overcast skies.

The bitterly cold easterly wind had kept many punters in bed, leaving the jetty and the Esplanade reasonably free from walkers and four-legged friends, resulting in a good selection of waders to be seen at close quarters and a few wildfowl on the more distant water: 2500+ Oystercatcher, 270 Knot, 145 Dunlin, 16 Ringed Plover, 24 Turnstone, 50 Redshank and a single Sanderling. On the estuary I noted just 4 Eider and 30+ Shelduck. Passerines came in at just 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Goldfinch and 60+ Starling. I saw the Black Redstart flying through the gloomy, unfinished rooms of the building site, but didn’t hang about to get more photographs, it was simply becoming too cold.

Sanderling
Turnstone
Ringed Plover
Dunlin

The redstart is getting quite attached to the confines of the incomplete building but if it finds a mate there may be complications as the builders have stated their intention to restart work on the site soon. I wonder if they know about the Black Redstart and are aware of the fact that the species is classified as a Schedule 1 and so afforded Special Protection? In other words, if the redstart finds a partner and begins a breeding attempt within the building site, legally that should stop any disturbance to the birds, including commencement of building work. We shall see.

Black Redstart

Although by now the sleety rain was closing in I drove up to Pilling where along Backsands Lane I found about 500 Pink-footed Geese, 7 White-fronted Geese and in the same field, 2 Snipe crouched in the grass. There was also a Lapwing, probably a male with that elongated crest, and also ringed on the left leg; perhaps one from recent or not so recent years, as Lapwings can live 20 years, almost as long as I have ringed Lapwings about here.

White-fronted Goose
Snipe
Lapwing
Lapwing

Play It Cool

I think some birds are responding to the continuing cold weather because on my Knott End to Pilling round this morning I found a few changes to the usual scene. Although the mercury was in the red this morning, it isn’t yet down to the forecast for tonight of minus 10 degrees.

As I passed the abandoned building site at Knott End I could see a lady at the bus stop looking up at the steelwork next to the Bourne Arms, and I reckoned the Black Redstart was still about. After I parked up and went for a peek the woman had got on her bus but the redstart was still there, high up and partly hidden by the steelwork, but as I watched the bird bobbing about it flew across the road and landed on a bungalow roof opposite and then down into someone’s garden. A “good” bird for a garden list, but I don’t think you can count birds seen in other people’s gardens, unless someone knows otherwise.

Black Redstart

I found a couple of rooks in the car park, birds probably from the rookery above the village library. One of the Rooks bore a metal ring, but the bird with the ring proved too wary for me to read the inscription. I imagine there aren’t too many ringers who climb into tall rookeries in order to ring young rooks, so maybe someone has been ringing “branchies” in recent years; stand-by for one of Another Bird Blog’s occasional forays into things culinary. “Branchie” is an old name given to young rooks which leave the nest early and clamber about on nearby branches pending their fledging, until that is an unseasonal wind springs up and deposits them on the ground below the rookery. In some years I used to find a few young rooks under the Singleton Hall rookery and then ring them as 1Js before putting them back on the highest branch I could reach. “Branchies” were also the probable origin of the ancient verse, “Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie” as young Rook meat is said to be very savoury with a similar taste to Wood Pigeon meat.

Rook
Ringed Rook

The stubble at Fluke Hall Lane is frozen solid, and apart from the Jackdaws, there’s nothing much to report, just the usual half a dozen Tree Sparrows and Reed Buntings around the Hi-fly track.

Reed Bunting

The east pool at Lane Ends is now frozen solid, with not a single duck there, just the Mallards on the small patch of unfrozen water on the west pool. A walk through the plantation, taking care not to flatten the Snowdrops, gave a count of 15 + Blackbirds, 2 Redwing, 4 Moorhen and 12+ Chaffinch.

Snowdrops
Lane Ends - Frozen
Chaffinch

As a change of scenery I walked east along the sea wall and logged 3 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 18 Greylag, with 8 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron flushed from the inland ditches where drainage water still trickles. It was up here I found a party of 18 Meadow Pipits, and on the inland field, 80 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Golden Plover, 10 Dunlin and 300 Curlew.

Greylag

Opposite Gulf Lane was a huge concentration of Pink-footed Geese, maybe 7,000 in all, but alongside the stretch of road where to stop is dangerous, as I found out when I drove slowly along there later to the accompaniment of car horns and angry sideways looks. All these folk rushing about like there’s no tomorrow, why don’t they just relax, chill out and take up birding?

More About Goldfinches

It looks like Goldfinches are definitely on the move, and it doesn’t take much extra daylight to notice a turnover of birds in my garden. Catching them reveals the birds using the feeders are not the same individuals, and I caught another 7 today, 5 males and 2 females, plus 2 Starlings and 2 new Blackbirds.

Goldfinch
Goldfinch
Starling

I occasionally check Another Bird Blog stats, out of curiosity, but also to discover how and why people find my blog, to find any trends or which particular items generate more interest. Just once or twice I have noted searches done for “Goldfinch” that included the word “catch” or “catching” that led the search to my blog, one in particular from an Essex location. Recently I found the following on the Internet – an article from The Independent newspaper - July 2010.

“The Goldfinch’s sweet song and bright plumage has also made the tiny songbird prey to bird baiters who are entering urban woodlands with pots of glue to catch the birds, which they can then sell for up to £100 a time. The practice is becoming prevalent in east London, particularly among North African communities where having a songbird in the home is a tradition.

The methods employed to catch the birds are particularly cruel. The hunters put a bait bird in a cage in a bush or tree before smearing the branches with rodent glue. When the bait bird sings it attracts other goldfinches, which flock to inspect the intruder in their habitat. When they land on the branches they become stuck in the glue. Too tiny to free themselves, they can later be plucked off by the baiters. As goldfinches are particularly territorial they can refuse to sing when in an unfamiliar bush. To combat this, some baiters will burn out the bait bird's eyes with a hot needle so it is no longer aware of its surroundings.

Catching wild birds in Britain is illegal. Sergeant Rowan Healey, of Scotland Yard's wildlife crime unit, said: "In the Sixties and Seventies birds like these would be sold in pubs in East London. But as people in this country have become more environmentally aware we don't do that anymore. These birds are caught in places like Walthamstow Marshes or the Lea Valley and are sold from cages outside shops. The fact that they are on display makes it clear that some members of those communities are not aware that catching and selling the birds is illegal.

We need to educate the public that this is a crime. Even if people buy these birds innocently they are inadvertently breaking the law and could be prosecuted."

The catching of Goldfinches and other birds is carried out by bird ringers for purely scientific reasons and research with a permit issued under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1990, and all captured birds are released immediately back to the wild. I would guess that if there are people in the wider community trying to find out how to catch Goldfinches illegally, it is reasonable to assume that they will use the Internet to try and discover ways of catching them. There is no way of preventing them reading blogs about bird ringing, or indeed birding blogs that name localities or identify concentrations of Goldfinches.

I post this information to make other bird watchers and ringers aware of the fact that the illegal trapping of Goldfinches may be taking place in the area they live, and that not everyone taking an apparent interest in bird ringing or bird watching activities may be doing so for genuine or legal reasons. There is nothing particularly new about this problem, but perhaps useful to remind ourselves occasionally that not all share our love to see birds wild and free, or wish to discover more about their fascinating lives.

Goldfinch