Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Chaffinches Lead The Way

I tried another ringing session out on Rawcliffe Moss this morning. On Sunday Goldfinches made up a good proportion of the catch. Today it was the turn of the Chaffinches to come good with a less busy morning and catching at just a steady rate which yielded finches only - 20 Chaffinch, 3 Lesser Redpoll and 2 Goldfinch. 

Later the IPMR database showed 152 Chaffinch caught at this site so far this autumn, the number comprised of 134 (88%) juveniles and 18 (12%) adults. The ratios are very much in line with those of the last two autumns here - see Those Chaffinch.

Chaffinch - male

Chaffinch - female

The morning started frost again, cold and clear, the type of weather where it is hard to spot birds moving high overhead even though some of their contact calls are audible. Lesser Redpolls were the early movers today, the earliest birds soon after dawn and a minimum of 15+ birds until 1100. In contrast, although starting much later than usual the Chaffinch movement remained steady with approximately 60+ birds throughout the same period. 

Lesser Redpoll

Other visible migration, 2 Grey Wagtail, 12 “Alba” wagtail, 5 Reed Bunting, 18 Meadow Pipit, 2 Siskin, 2 Blackbird. Good numbers of Pink-footed Geese moving about in all directions this morning, no doubt unsettled from feeding by the surge in farming activity due to the unaccustomed spell of dry weather. “Otherwise” birds - 12 Snipe, 140 Lapwing, 2 Jay, 3 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

Pink-footed Geese

Just 2 Jays today - probably local birds. Following a poor acorn crop there has been a large influx of Jays to the UK from Continental Europe this week, with literally thousands of Jays arriving in the east and south east of England. While a few of those individuals may have reached the west of the UK, it is also likely that our resident Jays are moving about the countryside in search of food if the low acorn harvest is replicated here. 

Jay 

The Jay is one of the most important natural planters of acorns with the distribution of several oak species somewhat dependent on the birds’ presence. In autumn and winter large numbers of acorns are brought back to Jay territories and hidden for future retrieval. It has been estimated that a single Jay could bury up to 3000 acorns in a single month, not all of which are found by the birds when they later look for them - hence the growth of oak saplings.  

More soon from Another Bird Blog. Stay in touch.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Sticking It Out

The morning began dank and cold with a touch of mist, but the closer I got to Rawcliffe Moss about 8 miles away, the thicker the mist became. Out on the ringing site at 0645 the mist had turned almost to fog, the sort where birds don’t move around much and so not the ideal weather to try and catch birds for ringing. 

A very slow start ensued and by 0930 when I’d caught 6 birds, and with the obstinate mist still in place, I almost gave up. Then Colin the gamekeeper turned up to feed his pheasants and told me all was clear and bright just a few miles away in St Michael’s village, so with a hint of blue sky above I decided to wait for a while. Just as well I did as the next few hours produced a rush of birds until I packed in at 1130 having caught 41 birds of 11 species, 39 new and 2 recaptures. 

New birds: 16 Goldfinch, 10 Chaffinch, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Siskin, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Blackbird, 1 Dunnock and 1 Great Tit. The two recaptures were Goldfinches from recent weeks. The first few birds were Goldfinches and a Lesser Redpoll feeding on Niger seed, closely followed by a Chiffchaff heard “pheweeing” nearby. 


Chiffchaff

Sun And Mist

 Wet Web

At this time the camera was set at ISO800 to cope with the poor light. At least the Lesser Redpoll was bright, a juvenile male. 

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

The single male Goldcrest showed some of its hidden gold. 

Goldcrest

Goldcrest

Goldcrest

All but one of today’s Goldfinch turned out to be juveniles, the exception an adult female. 

Goldfinch

There were Siskins going over as soon as the sky cleared. I didn’t expect to catch any because around these parts the Siskin is something of a late winter speciality for ringers. Upon examination the bird proved to be an adult female. 

Siskin

A couple of “others” photographs. 

Great Tit

Reed Bunting

The heavy mist made sure I saw nothing between 0700 and 0930, with just the sounds of local Goldfinches and cups of coffee to keep me company. After 0930 I was almost too busy with the ringing to make much sense of the visible migration with probably. 50+ Meadow Pipit, 35+ Chaffinch, 6 Siskin, 5 Reed Bunting and 12 Alba wagtail. 

Otherwise: Huge numbers of noisy Pink-footed Geese flying around to the distant north and west somewhere over Pilling Moss, luckily none came down to the decoy but not-quite-perfect-calls of nearby shooters. Also, 8 Snipe, 1 Peregrine, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker. I had a stroke of good fortune when from a party of 5 Jays, one found itself in a mist net but managed to jump out and fly off in pursuit of the others just as I reached the ride. 

The morning turned out to be very productive after all. Glad I persevered with it. 

This week Another Bird Blog is linking up with  Anni at id-rather-b-birdin and Stewart's Photo Gallery 

Friday, October 5, 2012

How to Be a Better Birder

Don’t worry, Another Bird Blog has not morphed into an online advice business, neither is it about to preach to all you bird freaks out there. It’s a book review today after my friends at Princeton University Press sent me a review copy of How to Be a Better Birder by Derek Lovitch. 

How to Be a better Birder

I Googled “Derek Lovitch” and discovered that he too puts digit to keyboard in creating a bird blog, the blog being a likely place to find a snapshot of him. “Derek Lovitch, a career biologist and naturalist with a life-long passion for birds, now lives in Pownal, Maine, USA. He and his wife, Jeannette, own and operate the Freeport Wild Bird Supply, which serves as a vehicle to share their passion for birds, birding, and bird conservation. Derek goes birding nearly every day, all year long, and blogs about it here.” Well that’s OK then he comes with impeccable credentials. 

The title of the book is self-explanatory, but how does it shape up to the expectation it might engender in a reader at just one of the many levels of birding expertise and experience? Bettering birding skills is a theme I heartily support and I wondered if this book could add much to the volumes of recent years which seek to point birders in the “right” directions. And anyway who’s to say the right way to go, and what does being a better birder involve? Is it about correctly identifying all the birds we come across, developing the knack of finding more birds, birding with a purpose in taking part in so called “citizen science”, or simply learning how to enjoy every bird we see whether common or rare? Whatever it means to you, Derek Lovitch probably covers it in this book, calling his birding method “The Whole Bird and More”. 

In the very first chapter, Advanced Field Identification he explains the “Whole Bird and More,' where his holistic approach goes beyond jizz and asks us to consider a bird in the context of their environment and habitat and to think about their behaviour as well as their size. One of his first recommendations is that birders should bird, bird, and then bird even more, with added time in the field used to listen to, study, and watch birds. Pretty obvious you might think but Lovitch reasons we should put the “watching” back into bird watching rather than simply seeing a bird, identifying and listing it and then moving on to the next. In the same chapter he recommends that birders study moult so as to understand more about birds as well as using the knowledge to aid identification. How often do I read on a birding web site where a birder apparently ages a particular species in the field, especially during the autumn time? This is a time of the year when as a ringer I know that for a number of species that feat of supposed ageing is well-nigh impossible, and so perhaps at times it is better to say that we don't know or are not sure rather than pretend otherwise.

The central chapters cover the closely related topics of Birding by Habitat, Birding with Geography and Birding and Weather, with lots of good, practical advice for inexperienced birders who wonder why they cannot connect with a bird, without realising that they may be in the wrong habitat, or worse, in unsuitable habitat at the unlikeliest time of year and/or in the wrong weather conditions. At the start of the chapters DL makes the highly sensible suggestion that birders develop knowledge of plants’ identities, so furthering appreciation of biodiversity and the development of the ethic of conservation, a state of mind which in turn leads to a desire to protect birds as well as to simply watch them. By splitting the three topics the author has made each of them readily understood without using the jargon or shorthand that many birders like to use in the course of aiming for one-upmanship. The chapters cover all the essentials of migration, visible migration and why birders head to mainly coastal hot spots in spring and autumn, plus why, when and how the weather comes into play. 

The book is written with a US audience in mind and so in the chapter Birding at Night the author enthuses readers to use the free Internet NEXRAD Doppler radar. Here they can actually watch migration in action and so help them decide where to go birding the next morning! All clever stuff, more technical than the preceding or following chapters, but essential reading all the same. 

Chapter 6, Birding With a Purpose gives lots of advice and information on how birders can not only enjoy their birding, but also put their skills to good use in the cause of science, whether through a job in the field – albeit a probably lowly paid one, a scientific study, citizen science or even small scale personal study. 

In the chapter Vagrants, a man after my own heart, Lovitch implores birders to do more than just twitch rarities found by other birders or watch birds by following “where to” directions in bird books, magazines, Internet forums and on pagers. He maintains that a good birder, and certainly the best birders, aim to find birds on their own, especially the vagrants which ultimately hit the birding headlines. Unfortunately the ethos of current birding is centered around vagrants and “good” birds with new birders introduced to a diet of birds where the commonplace gets barely a mention and where to take time out for a study is a perilous path which can lead to the humiliation of missing a “big one”. 

This slim book is written in a highly readable and informative style, interspersed with the essential humour required to survive in amongst the birding scene. There is a huge amount of information and advice packed into its almost 200 pages with for good measure a comprehensive list of References and Additional Reading material. 

Lots of birders won’t buy this book. They already know all there is to know about birds and birding – or at least they think they do. But maybe they should beg, borrow or steal a copy of How to Be a Better Birder and read it under the bed covers at night just to check they are doing it right and whether there is room for improvement? 

The book is available from Princeton University Press at $19.95 or £13.95. 

How to Be a Better Birder

That’s a Painted Bunting on the book’s front cover, here’s a close up shot courtesy of USFWS. 

Painted Bunting 

More UK birds from Another Bird Blog soon, stay tuned. 

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Restricted Birding

With a touch of a gammy toe today was gentle birding only, with no slogging along the sea wall at Pilling or tramping endlessly around the net rides at Rawcliffe. 

But it was Niger filling time on the Moss where I disturbed 40 or more Goldfinch hanging around the feeders along with the usual assortment of Chaffinch and Blue, Great and Coal Tits. As I left the plantation I just caught sight of a Marsh Harrier heading off south and towards the river; perhaps it didn’t go too far and it could be the same gold top which has been around here for some weeks, but by October harriers should be contemplating migration. 

Marsh Harrier

Chaffinch

Also about the woodland, 12 Blackbird, 2 Jay, 4 Siskin flying over, 14 Chaffinch, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Reed Bunting, 15 Tree Sparrow, 1 Kestrel and 2 Buzzard. 

Buzzard

After more downpours yesterday the farm is still very flooded as shown by a count of 400+ Black-headed Gull, with around the edges of various floods, at least 15 Pied/White Wagtails. These wagtails are a problem to identify in the autumn, more especially now we are told that a large proportion of the supposed two species Motacilla alba and Motacilla yarelli are found together in the breeding season. Perhaps it’s time to lump alba and yarelli together? I took this photograph today and reckon it is a White Wagtail but stand to be corrected. 

White Wagtail

Looks like feet up and a few painkillers tonight, then hopefully I’ll be fit for more birding tomorrow. If so read about it on Another Bird Blog soon.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Sad September Song

I kicked off the month of October by ringing another Wheatear out Pilling Way yesterday, a juvenile this time, but once again a so called “Greenland” race leucorhoa with a wing length of 112mm. I missed the high tide so haven’t much to report apart from the usual distant 5000+Pink-footed Goose, Peregrine, 6 Little Egret, 3 Wheatear and 25+ Goldfinch. A Buzzard appeared over Fluke Hall and then circled for a while before drifting off south. 

Wheatear

The weather during September gave the ringing group (Fylde Ringing Group) a fairly hard time in trying to catch birds whereby a total of 250 birds of 24 species proved to be the second least productive month after April, a month which in any case we expect to be quiet. The constant wind and rain of September stopped us increasing numbers of the most ringed bird of Chaffinch with 96 trapped, the vast majority of those caught out on Rawcliffe Moss when conditions allowed. Unusually for the group Goldcrest was the next most numerous in September with 36 individuals ringed, mostly due to a couple of days when Will found good numbers of them in an upland plantation. 

Chaffinch

Goldcrest 

Third in the September list came Goldfinch with 21 new birds caught in a month when despite the large numbers in evidence, especially juveniles, the weather on exposed ringing sites played a huge part in limiting catches. 

Goldfinch

Warbler totals all came in at less than 10 each when during a normal September we might expect to mop up the last of the migrants, especially Chiffchaffs. 

Chiffchaff

Here’s hoping that October is a better birding, ringing and photography month for Another Bird Blog.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Saturday on Sunday

Saturday was a little fraught with the domestic complications of Sue’s expired laptop and a deceased TV, leaving no time to update the blog but instead a visit to the shops to replace said items. Now on Sunday the weather is diabolical with more wind and rain, so as I’m stuck indoors here’s an update from Saturday. 

Unlike the visit to Comet, Saturday’s birding didn’t break the bank with the morning providing a little recompense in the shape of another Wheatear caught from a new threesome along the sea wall at Pilling. That’s five trapped in September, fourteen for the year and now almost into October, possibly the last until next spring. This latest one, an adult male, took the mealworm bait in seconds, after which and upon examination the bird appeared very thin and felt lightweight suggesting overnight arrival. It’s doubtful there are any UK adult males around by now and while the wing length of 100mm lies near the top of the range for nominate oenanthe at 95-102mm, it fitted more closely the values for Icelandic leucorhoa at 99-107mm. In addition the whole bird was a brightly coloured specimen. 

Wheatear

Wheatear

The remainder of the few hours resembles jottings of recent days: 1200 Pink-footed Goose, 3 Barnacle Goose, 265+ Shelduck, 700 Teal, 250+ Wigeon, 18+ Pintail, 3 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron. Many of the ducks came off the wildfowler’s pools and headed out to the marsh but both their presence and the numbers in the pools at any one time is unpredictable. The tide was slightly too low to concentrate waders which gave  rather small and less than totally accurate counts of 270+ Lapwing, 90 Golden Plover, 15 Redshank, 300 + Curlew and 4 Snipe with many birds remaining at Preesall Sands. A single juvenile Peregrine appeared again, the bird causing mass panic when it chased low across the marsh and scattered everything in its very fast path. 

The couple of hours gave a steady trickle of Swallows heading west, probably 40+, with other “small stuff” represented by 40 Goldfinch, 10/12 Meadow Pipit, 1 Pied Wagtail and 18 Skylark, the latter species beginning to appear in larger numbers in recent days, just as as the Swallows leave our shores for the warmth of Africa. 

Barn Swallow

Skylark

I had a text from Will who is in Scotland - “Siskins by the hundreds if not thousands heading south daily. First Redwings yesterday.” 

Siskin

Maybe those Siskins will hit the feeders here this week? If they do then be sure to read about it on Another Bird Blog, this week linking up with I'd Rather B Birding and Stewart's Photo Gallery.

Friday, September 28, 2012

A Windy Wheat

It was pretty windy out Pilling Way this morning but something made me head off towards Pilling Water again hoping for a Wheatear or two to relieve the non-ringing days of late. Just a single bird today feeding in the sheltered stones, proving easier to catch than a whole gang of them urging each other on to migrate as per yesterday. Today’s hungry juvenile had a whopping wing length of 112mm, so an obvious Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa , but I had to find a sheltered spot for the portrait. 

Wheatear - Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa

 Wheatear - Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa

In the conditions there wasn’t much else of note: similar numbers of Pink-footed Goose at c5000 but 8/10 Barnacle Geese mixed with the distant flock, 1 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 40+ Goldfinch, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Little Egret. 

After, and in the hope there might be less wind, I thought I’d best go to Rawcliffe Moss to see if the low-lying farm track was negotiable and further up the farm, if my peaty, muddy parking spot was reasonably solid. If the answer to both questions was “yes”, I planned a top up the Niger feeders followed by a wander about. 

A long section of the track proved pretty deep in water, and then the parking location an uninviting pool of squashy black mud, but the GV did the business without trouble and then donning wellies I set off for a gander. 

There’s still a roving flock of Goldfinches about, their numbers gradually falling with c 40 today, at least 8 of them finding their way to the Niger food in the net rides where I topped the almost empty feeders up. It’s been almost impossible to get to the site in the last week with the continual rain and locally flooded roads but on the first half decent day a ringing session will ensue. The time was almost 11am but a few each of Siskin, Chaffinch and Meadow Pipit flew over, obvious remnants of any the morning’s migration but the steady breeze all morning had been too strong for ringing. 

Goldfinch

On the floods I found 6 Pied Wagtails and a few more Meadow Pipits, but with the wind picking up the open mossland isn’t the best place to linger. On the way off the farm I clocked a Kestrel, a Buzzard and grabbed a shot of the local Robin which hangs around for seed spills. Clever animals these birds. 

Robin

Buzzard
 
Saturday and Sunday look breezy again, so fingers crossed for better weather and more birds soon on Another Bird Blog. 

Saturday Morning
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