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 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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

Not Quite Cyprus?

The weather wasn’t as good as the forecast promised this morning with spits and spots of the dreaded stuff from the off, although it was infinitely better than of late allowing a spot of birding. Knott End was first the port of call for a walk up river and a look at the rising tide due to peak at 10 o’clock. 

There was a good selection of waders with 1900 Oystercatcher and 250+ Knot mixed in the flock, 18 Redshank, 6 Turnstone, c300 more distant Curlew and a single Grey Heron along the tide line. Wildfowl numbers are much lower and yet to build: 90 Shelduck, 3 Red-breasted Merganser and just 3 Eider. 

Red-breasted Merganser

There was very little evidence of any visible migration this morning, the highlight being a Lesser Redpoll which seemed to arrive from the North West before continuing south and up river followed by a few calls of high-up Meadow Pipits. There’s a gang of finches which hangs about near the Bourne Arms and the salt marsh, today numbering c 60 Goldfinch and c15 Linnet. It was a quiet walk up river with no shouts of golfers today, just the silence of the flooded fairway and the noise of Black-headed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Oystercatchers and a couple of Redshank taking advantage of the new feeding opportunity. 40+ Jackdaws feeding here too. 

Redshank

Knott End Golf Club

The brightening sky sent me up to Pilling and Lane Ends, avoiding some flooded roads which are passable with care only. A couple of hours of walk and watch produced a lot of very active Pink-footed Goose, coming and going between the marsh and Hi-Fly fields with an estimate of 5500 +. In addition to these there are many birds feeding inland, with the best time to complete a full count either at dawn when the geese fly from their marshland roost in search of food, or in the evening when they fly back out to the marsh to roost for the night. 

It’s never easy to get a photograph of the pinkies: they are so wild and wary that the slightest movement of a lens sends them up and away from the device pointed in their direction, and where the birds pack so tightly that inevitably one or more birds are obscured by others. In the last sentence substitute the word “gun” for “lens” to explain why our pinkies are so wary throughout the winter months. But then we aren't as wicked as the people in some Mediterranean countries - are we?

Pink-footed Goose

 Pink-footed Goose

A few bits and pieces at Pilling Water, namely the now resident Kingfisher, 4 Wheatears moving rapidly west, 1 Grey Wagtail, 4 Skylark, 1 Kestrel, 15 Linnet and 2 Red-breasted Merganser. The Peregrine was having fun out on the marsh, constantly harassing the masses of Teal and Wigeon, very distant after the only medium tide dropped, but in excess of 800 Teal and 200 Wigeon. 

Wigeon

Today I noticed a distinct lack of Swallows, my count from Pilling being completed on one hand as October draws near. 

There’s more from Another Bird Blog soon. In the meantime and  to finish on here’s a petition that every birder should sign  End The Slaughter . 

Sunnier Days

Sorry to disappoint regular readers but following at least 48 hours of solid rain rather than showery migrant bearing showers, birding would be rather pointless and unproductive at the moent, so apologies for the lack of bird news. 

On Monday evening I and many other bird enthusiasts went along to an event entitled “Bird Migration”, an illustrated talk given by Professor Ian Newton and arranged by the Lancaster and District Birdwatching Society. 

Bird Migration by Ian Newton

Professor Newton is one of the world's leading ornithologists, currently chairman of the British Trust for Ornithology and also the author of several essential-reading bird books. These volumes include a couple of my own favourites, “Finches” and “The Sparrowhawk”, the latter a book which many consider to be the most detailed study ever of any population of raptors. 

The evening proved a great success as Professor Ian Newton described to the packed audience some of the mysteries of bird migration, its evolution, and how it is changing under the influence of climate change. His presentation included explanations of some the many challenges that birds face on their immense travels around the globe, together with the remarkable physical adaptations that enable them to take such demanding journeys. For any blog readers who get the chance to go along to one of Professor Newton’s talks I would urge you to do so. In my case it was rainy evening well spent. 

For today I trawled through the PC archives to find a few pictures from sunnier days and sunnier places so as to keep the blog alive and well. 

Kingfisher

Cattle Egret

Bee Eater

My recent picture of Pilling at high tide was shown as a background to the BBC North West weather forecast last night. They must have decided to use it as illustrating lots of water rather than a sunny day.

A Sunnier Day

As soon as it stops raining or brightens up I’ll be out birding and then report in to readers of Another Bird Blog, so tune in again soon because it can’t rain forever can it? 

This post is linking with I'd Rather B Birding and Stewart's Photo Gallery.

Where’s Tonto When You Need Him?

Yes, The Lone Ringer would have welcomed an extra set of eyes plus an additional pair of hands to help out on Rawcliffe Moss this morning. Just as the BBC promised, there was a layer of white frost on the ground when I arrived, and when heading off to the net rides I found the resident ropes and mist net poles with an unpleasant coating of ice. 

It was a slow, cold start but the morning soon warmed up, both bird and temperature wise into on an eventful, busy morning for ringing and watching bird migration in action. It’s at times like this when the ringing must take priority, with counts of overhead birds and those obviously passing through becoming approximations or missed entirely when hands and eyes are fully occupied with processing birds. 

More of the “vis” later, but first the ringing which comprised mainly finches - 38 birds of 6 species, 16 Chaffinch, 17 Goldfinch, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Coal Tit and 1 Great Tit. Of the Chaffinches there were just 2 adults today, both of them males, with the remaining 14 juveniles split 11/3 in favour of males today. Of the Goldfinches all 17 birds proved to be first year birds in varying degrees of progression to first winter plumage. 

Goldfinch

I hope today was the start of the redpoll passage as they are infinitely more catchable than autumn Siskins. 

Lesser Redpoll

 

Coal Tit

Even as I arrived at 0630 and in the half-light there were Song Thrushes dodging along the farm track and then within minutes the first sounds of Siskins overhead. Soon after dawn 2 Mistle Thrushes came from the north before they too headed south. Mistle Thrushes have got really scarce in these parts, these two the first I have seen in months. 

Frosty Start

Siskins were to dominate the morning calls, eclipsing even the normal preponderance of Chaffinch here. By 1130 my approximation of both came to 100+ Siskin and 70 Chaffinch, with Lesser Redpoll trailing in third place at 10+. 2012 has certainly been a “Siskin Autumn” so far, a scenario which doesn’t necessarily translate into a Siskin winter if birds continue too far south and out of the UK. The Goldfinches caught today came from a flock of 120+ birds feeding nearby, and as ever on this site at this time of year, it is impossible to separate out any Goldfinches that may be on migration. 

There was a reasonable passage of Meadow Pipits overhead, c90, but they were moving on a broad front with many west of my vantage point when I had a rare quiet moment to look through binoculars. Skylarks were on the move this morning, all seemingly from the east and heading west, 15+ individuals. Other overheads: 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 alba wagtail, 1 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, 3 Blackbird. 

Other birds: a singing Chiffchaff which I heard just once before it probably moved on, 2 Jay,1 Kestrel, 140 Pink-footed Goose, 1 Buzzard and 30+ seemingly local Swallows. Halfway through the morning I received a text from Will who was working near Claughton. His message told of a heavy passage of Meadow Pipits underway, together with a “phenomenal” movement of Swallows. Interesting that the Meadow Pipits I had seen and heard just 7 or 8 miles away probably tallied with Will’s observations, but there was no sign of a sizeable movement of Swallows here on the moss. 

On the way home I called to see if my pal the reliable, approachable and easy-going Little Owl was having a sun bathe. He or she was there in the usual spot, just snoozing in the midday sun until the shutter clicked as if to rouse the bird. There and then I decided to christen the owl Tonto even though it could be male or female, and while Tonto won’t be able to help out with my ringing, it’s always around when I need a photo or two. 

 

Little Owl

 

"Tonto"

Tune in soon for more news, views and photos from Another Bird Blog.

Friday News

There aren’t many new pictures on offer with this post but there’s a good list of birds following an afternoon out Pilling way. Yes, the wind and rain finally gave way to a half-decent few hours of bright weather for a  circuit of Lane Ends/Pilling Water. 

Less Pink-footed Goose in evidence than of recent days with a count of just over 2100, but the birds were reluctant to fly into the maize and wheat fields due to the steady stream of human activity, me included, along the sea wall. I had a good count of Teal and Pintail today with 750 and 110 respectively, together with just 90 Wigeon, although in most years the Wigeon do tend to appear in higher numbers during the depths of winter. 

Shelduck numbers may be building after a count of 60+ today as birds return from their moult migration. Many UK and Irish Shelduck fly east to the Helgoland Bight in the Waddensea, an intertidal zone in the south eastern part of the North Sea, where they join birds from Scandinavia and the Baltic, and there complete their moult before returning to the UK and form the large winter concentrations we expect. 

Shelduck

Two Peregrines were active today, both out on the marsh and over Hi-Fly fields, one in particular actively hunting any Red-legged Partridge foolish enough to take to the air, and while I didn’t see the raptor catch a partridge, it came very close. Peregrine was the only raptor seen, with seemingly the recent Buzzards and Marsh Harriers having moved elsewhere. An expected count of 7 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron. 

Peregrine

Passerines etc: 120+ Swallow in the area but none specifically engaged in visible migration, although it was afternoon time. Also, 5 Skylark, 8 Meadow Pipit, 15 Goldfinch, 20 Linnet, 1 Pied Wagtail and 2 Wheatear. 

Wheatear

The BBC say the wind is dropping overnight with probably a morning frost after a clear night. So there’s signs of  a ringing session tomorrow if the early morning alarm call does the trick. If so, log in tomorrow for more news and pictures on Another Bird Blog.