Owls About And Not Much Else

The outside temperature read minus 1 °C again, and as I took the frost guard off the windscreen the local Tawny Owls were busy making a fair old din. They called away to each other, tempting me to go and take a look, but it was too dark. Anyway I’ve tried it before and they just fly to their other spots where they continue their canoodling duet. 

Through Hambleton village a Little Owl flew across the highway ahead of the car and towards the darkness on the other side of the road. I was on the way out to the moss again hoping to kick off the migrant year with a Chiffchaff, maybe even a Willow Warbler. As I walked into the plantation I could see the local Barn Owl plugging away again in the distance but when I got back to the car the owl was gone, hopefully back to the barn with a vole or two from the frosty fields. 

Don’t forget to “click the pics” for a light box show, I think Blogger have sorted the problem for now. 

Barn Owl

I caught the Chiffchaff but not much else during an extremely quiet couple of hours. Just seven birds caught from the bare, leafless and insect free plantation - 2 Goldfinch with singles of Brambling, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Robin and Blue Tit, all from the feeding station. 

Chiffchaff

Of over 400 Bramblings ringed by the ringing group in almost thirty years today’s is only the second one ringed in the month of April and an indicator of how Bramblings are very late in returning north this year. 

Brambling

Goldfinch

The birding was equally as quiet as the ringing, almost non-existent in fact with 4 Fieldfares and similar numbers of Meadow Pipits high overhead in the clear morning sky the only real signs of bird movement. Otherwise all was local stuff once again with 2 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 2 Mistle Thrush, 3 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 3 Corn Bunting, 4 Yellowhammer, 15 Tree Sparrow and 40+ Curlew. 

On the way home I stopped to check out the Little Owl pair where I found them both on the lookout for daylight food, and like me puffed up against the still cold air. 

Little Owl

I had to stop the car on the way home when the mobile rang from a lady in Knott End who’d seen a single Waxwing in gardens near the promenade. 

Waxwing

I thanked the lady for the info but there was no time for a Waxwing twitch after I’d spent a good fifteen minutes with the owls. I needed to get home, sort the pictures and grab a bite to eat myself - a birder’s work is never done. 

Log in soon for more news and views and find out if the Little Owls pics got sorted.In the meantime take a look at Stewart's Photo Gallery on the other side of the world down in Aussie.

There’s A Surprise

Yes I know the best birders get up early to catch the worm but sometimes a lie-in just seems a good option, especially after a run of icy mornings with not much doing. So waiting until lunch time I set off for Pilling hoping to see a freshly arrived Wheatear, perhaps hear a Chiffchaff, or watch a Sand Martin or Swallow hurrying north - anything really which might indicate the arrival of Spring. 

Not much at Lane Ends itself, just a pair of Canada Geese and a pair of Greylags seeing who could make the most noise above the trilling of the Little Grebe pair on the smaller west pool. The morning must have warmed up. I disturbed a Peacock Butterfly from the grass and it rested on the path momentarily before flying off; my first butterfly of the year before my first Wheatear or Swallow - now there was a surprise. 

Little Grebe

European Peacock 

All the bird action seemed to be nearer Pilling Water with several Meadow Pipits, leftovers from the morning rush hour I’d perhaps missed. There was no sign of any Wheatears ready for the pepper pot of meal worms stashed in the camera bag. The pools proved quite rewarding with singles of both Greenshank and Spotted Redshank, two species which could be the most unapproachable bird species on the planet, bettered only by our Common Redshank. 

 Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Greenshank

There was a good selection of wildfowl too, refugees from the shooting season but still as wary as ever and giving a sporting chance of a picture when they flew about the pools expecting a volley of shots from guns not a camera. I counted 18 Teal, 8 Pintail, 6 Shoveler, 4 Shelduck and just 2 Mallard. 

Pintail 

Teal and Pintail

Pintail

Shoveler

On the marsh there are still 300+ Pink-footed Geese perhaps reluctant to head north without a following wind. More Shelduck too, another 40+. 

One singing Skylark, 1 Little Egret and a few more Meadow Pipits highlighted the stroll back to Lane Ends, otherwise little sign of true April. 

More news and surprises on Another Bird Blog soon. In the meantime take a look at Anni's Skimmers .

Still Winter Birds

The weather people now say we have to wait until the middle of next week for warmer temperatures. If and when such warmth eventually arrives there’s sure to be a flood of birds, but in the meantime out on the moss this morning it was 1°C again at early doors with no surprises when all the birds were of the wintering kind. 

I had a couple of nets up for a while before the wind arrived again, time enough to catch 5 Goldfinch, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Chaffinch and a single Brambling. The latter was a recapture from recent weeks, one of the Goldfinch a regular from 2010, 2011 and 2012 and a breeding male.

The morning kicked off with a Barn Owl, just one bird now where last week I was seeing two of them regularly, one of those probably a bird I found dead on 1st April. Let’s hope there’s a current surplus of Barn Owls large enough to fill gaps caused by winter losses. This Barn Owl hunts over a square half-mile or more from its night-time roost, flying a regular beat across the fields, along fence lines and woodland edge but seems to rarely cover the same ground twice in the one outing. There’s a lot of energy expended with seemingly not much reward at the moment, as I rarely see it catch anything to eat. 

Barn Owl

Into April and there are few birds at the feeding station now, the Reed Buntings thinned to 8 or 10, similar numbers of Chaffinch and Goldfinch with just odds and ends of Bramblings. Including today gives a total of 43 new Reed Buntings caught here since January 1st, not to mention the bonus of a Little Bunting amongst them.

Reed Bunting

Little Bunting

Overhead happenings this morning were limited to a single Siskin heading north and a noisy party of about 20 Fieldfares flying north-east. There are still regular flocks of 200+ Curlew, 15+ Golden Plover and 50+ Lapwing on fields towards Pilling, but a single pair of Lapwings close to the ringing station could well be on eggs now. This pair constantly chases off the local Carrion Crows suggesting something more than a simple territorial dispute. 

After seeing and hearing huge wintering flocks clattering through the skies since November, the Woodpigeon flocks are now much reduced in size and more easily counted to less than a hundred individuals today. 

 Woodpigeons

Raptors today: 2 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel and 1 Sparrowhawk. A day or two ago I noticed the male Kestrel is ringed, probably one of the nestlings Will and I ringed here in June 2010 and now occupying the same territory in which it was born. 

Kestrel

On the way off the farm I counted 11 Yellowhammers scattered across a yet to be ploughed field, the birds still finding some goodness in the soil, and nearby still 15 Corn Buntings. 

There’s more seasonal birds an Another Bird Blog soon. Log in to find out which they are.

Another Bad Barn Owl Day

This is in danger of becoming an unwelcome habit, but after Saturday's road casualty I found another dead Barn Owl yesterday. This one wasn’t a victim of a road accident as I found it in a partially wooded area at Out Rawcliffe. When I turned the body over for a closer look there was with a single large hole in its body, so readers of a squeamish disposition may wish to look away now. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Not a pretty sight. It looks as if one of the crow family, and probably a Carrion Crow as there are plenty of them about here, found a freshly dead Barn Owl then pierced the carcass to take out the best bits, the heart and liver. It has been documented in the past that crows do this and they are not labelled “Carrion Crows” without good reason. 

Carrion Crow

The Carrion Crow is one of the cleverest, most adaptable of our birds and although this seems a particularly gruesome habit it is an example of nature in one of its rawest moments. So now there are two dead Barn Owl to pass on to Lancaster University where they will be tested as to cause of death (known in one case), but also for any secondary causes and/or remains of rodenticides/pesticides. 

The coldest months of January to March are known as a time of year when many birds have  difficulties finding food whereby many literally starve to death. The days and nights have been very cold of late, the coldest March for 50+ years. Barn Owls have been especially active recently suggesting that they are having to spend longer hunting in order to sustain themselves through the cold but to also build up reserves in readiness for the breeding season. 

With the nesting season due to start this may be an opportune time to remind readers of the law regarding Barn Owls, particulalry as a number of bird watchers and photographers choose to ignore or "forget" the rules in their preoccupation with Barn Owls and other birds with special protection.

Barn Owl

Most bird species have some protection by law, Barn Owls and their nest sites are specifically protected. The Barn Owl is specially protected under Schedules 1 and 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to kill, injure or take a wild Barn Owl or to take or destroy its eggs. It is also illegal to check nest sites or even to disturb a Barn Owl while it is at or near a breeding site - unless you hold a special licence. (Usually March to October is considered the breeding season, but they might breed at almost any time of year). 

Any study or disturbance of Barn Owl nesting sites requires a “Schedule 1 Licence” which can only be obtained through official government bodies or agencies - usually Natural England, Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage or Northern Ireland Environment Agency or British Trust for Ornithology. The Schedule 1 scheme monitors where the observers are operating, and tries to ensure that no site is visited by more than one group of observers 

It has been a bad few days for Barn Owls, at least for me, so I hope the breeding season is a good one for them. 

In the meantime stay tuned to Another Bird Blog for both bad and good news about birds or take a look at Stewart's Photo Gallery from Australia where there could well be a Barn Owl or two.

A Bad Barn Owl Day

It started off as a Good Barn Owl day when half- a-mile from home I spotted one of the local Barn Owls hunting the roadside fields in the half light of dawn. Heck I’d not travelled more than another 200 yards when there was a second Barn Owl, but this time one lying dead at the roadside. After jumping out of the car to retrieve the body of the poor bird I could see that it was the victim of a vehicle some hours previously, the lifeless body now cold and feathers with a layer of overnight frost. The bird’s left leg bore a BTO ring GC29419 - I will post the record online to the BTO today. 

What made the event even sadder was that the bird was so close to the first owl I’d watched just seconds before so I knew they must be a pair. The morning had quickly turned into a bad Barn Owl day. When back home I examined the corpse more closely, the lack of obvious barring on the tail and the primary feathers, coupled with the extensive white throat pointed to the dead bird being the male. Collisions with traffic (mostly road, but also trains) are the one of the main causes of death to Barn Owls, the other most frequent reason being starvation during weather which prevents them from hunting or when prey is scarce. 

Barn Owl

I was on the way to Rawcliffe and the feeding station, passing Town End when yet another Barn Owl appeared ahead of the car but luckily this one took evasive action by flying off pretty smartish. 

With the drama over I reached the farm and tried to concentrate on ringing and birding even though I hoped to see more of Barn Owls. I set the camera on ISO3200 and waited in the car for a while, warming hat, gloves and feet with the full-on heater before daring to venture off into the cold air to erect nets; instead I hoped for glimpses of the Barn Owl pair from the next farm. Sure enough one appeared not too far away but flying quickly away to avoid an encounter with the silver coloured car which lives on the track it wants to search. After several minutes of searching distant ground the owl turned and headed in my direction, turning the morning into a still sad but not completely bad owl day with a couple of grainy shots. Those are willow catkins in the background which might as well be snowflakes so cold is the weather now.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Both the ringing and birding were extremely quiet and after some clear nights I do now suspect that the vast majority of Bramblings and Chaffinches of recent weeks have headed north and even the reliable Reed Buntings thinned out. Just 8 birds for my troubles - 2 Brambling, 2 Chaffinch and 4 Goldfinch. A couple of interesting weight extremes came to hand with a worryingly light adult male Brambling of 18.4 grams and a heavy female Chaffinch of 24.5 grams and bulging biceps. 

Brambling

Here on the moss Spring migration is hard to detect in a normal year, doubly difficult this year and on this occasion less than 10 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails were an improvement on the week before. A single Linnet is harder to place in context but 1 Peregrine, 2 Little Owl, 2 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 25+ Corn Buntings and 11 Skylarks are definitely local birds. 

The Corn Buntings appear to spend most of their time hiding in the hedgerow from passing traffic but at this time of year the winter flocks have normally broken up and the birds returned to wherever they originate. 

Corn Bunting

It was about 10am when the wintering Hen Harrier gave a rapid fly through, a lone and distant flash of pale which looked for all the world like a Barn Owl until binoculars found it still hurrying east. Curlews and Golden Plovers remain on the fields towards Pilling, 130 and 40+ respectively. 

Well it wasn’t a bad day after all, life and death and all it entails is part of the joy of discovery. 

Join Another Bird Blog soon for more news and views plus encounters with birds and wildlife.

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Goldcrest

A quick look at Fluke Hall this morning revealed not a lot happening on the migration scene again. A Chiffchaff in the same stretch of hedgerow as on Wednesday, a dozen or so Pied Wagtails and 5 Meadow Pipits at the midden, one of the resident Mistle Thrushes, and then close-by a Sparrowhawk dashing along the ditches.  So the rest of this post is devoted to Thursday morning's ringing and birding Out Rawcliffe way.
        
The early 6am start meant I got to watch the local Barn Owl pair hunting before the fields became busy with the noise and activity of Spring tractors; ringers are often up and about before farmers but don’t have the staying power to work the fields as quickly or effectively as two Barn Owls or a John Deere. 

The nagging and bitterly cold easterly wind finally relented for just a few hours, enough to have a crack at the feeding station. The owls had my attention for a good thirty minutes, saving me from the cold until a few birds appeared in the nets to keep icy hands busy, but then as early as 0930 the wind re-energised itself and forced an end to my heroics. 

Fifteen birds caught - 11 new and 4 recaptures. New birds; 3 Brambling, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinch and in the only sign of Spring arrivals, a single Goldcrest. The recaptures were 3 Brambling from recent weeks and 1 Chaffinch. The female Chaffinch was first ringed here in 2007 as a juvenile, recaptured in 2009 but no other captures until today, with the bird now a respectable age for a Chaffinch. While Chaffinches can live to 10 or 12 years of age their average lifespan is much shorter with only a very few fledglings surviving their first winter. 

Chaffinch

The migratory Goldcrest is the smallest British bird, almost always weighing in somewhere between 5 and 5.5 grams, with this morning’s example proving something of a heavyweight at 6.3 grams but still less than a ten-pence coin which tips the scales at 6.5. 

Goldcrest 

 Ten Pence coin

From recent visits to the moss I reckoned the regular Bramblings numbered 10 or 12, always around the seed drop zone, scattering far and wide into the trees as soon as look at them, so catching six today confirms the suspected number as a likely guess. 

Brambling

Brambling

Still the Reed Buntings surprise with a daily and continual turnover of new birds and three more second calendar year males today. 

Reed Bunting

Maybe the other sign of Spring was 14 Fieldfare heading noisily north, or perhaps the flock of Golden Plover, 90+ strong, black faces and black bellies, some in fluty song, even though they stayed put on the stubble field with more than 100 Curlew. A few of the Curlews bubbled up too, but just like the goldies didn’t go anywhere except for a fly around the field. 

“Others” noted. 3 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 8 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer, 1 Pied Wagtail, 20+Tree Sparrow. 

Early last week the Tree Sparrows were busy in and out of the boxes carrying feathers and chirruping away, but their homebuilding seems to have come to a stop for now. Maybe things will warm up soon? 

Tree Sparrow

Look in to Another Bird Blog soon and find out if Spring ever springs. In the meantime check Anni who would rather be birding or  Madge's Weekly Top Shot.

And The Winners Are..

Thanks to everyone who took part in Another Bird Blog’s recent draw for a copy of The Crossley Guide:Raptors. I put the correct answers in a hat and Sue pulled out the two winners, so congratulations to Mr E. Newman of  Somerset UK and Mr W Jones of Florida USA who both gave the answer to the question as American Kestrel Falco sparverius - if you are reading this Errol and Wally, please let me have your full postal address. Soon a copy of the Crossley book will be winging its way to them courtesy of Princeton University Press and I'm sorry that only two people could win a copy of this super new book.

Here’s a copy of part of the official British List of birds from the BOURC website, where American Kestrel is listed just below our UK/European Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus.

 

The British List from BOURC 

Yes, just two accepted records of American Kestrel in the UK, both in 1976, the first on the remote Fair Isle north of Scotland and a later one in the extreme south of England in the county of Cornwall. There are no further records of Amercan Kestrel in the UK since 1976, but there's lots of people hoping to get one on their own Britsh List, including me.

Although we are fairly used to seeing small passerines whisked across the Atlantic in autumn low pressure systems to then landfall in the UK or Ireland it is rare for raptors to be so involved. I guess the primary reason is that birds of prey are strong fliers and can normally outpace and outmanoeuvre an adverse weather system, whereas a tiny falcon like an Amercan Kestrel of just 10 inches and the size of  a Jay, is much more likely to be caught up in such extremes.

There was a false alarm here a couple of years ago when in November 2010 thousands of UK twitchers raced across country to Sussex, England in the hope of seeing an American Kestrel, only to discover it had escaped from a wildlife sanctuary. Perhaps they didn’t know that American Kestrels are commonly kept in captivity and used in falconry, especially by beginners? So don’t despair UK birders, there’s a likelihood of more escapes but also the possibility that eventually a “real” American Kestrel will turn up again in Britain or Ireland.

There are a couple of pages from the book below, plates which show American Kestrels in their natural habitat, in lifelike scenes and in a range of age and colour variants. The whole book is based upon this pioneering approach to bird identification, a method employed in the first Crossley Guide and continued here to even better effect. The new guide is an ideal way for beginner or novice birders to learn about raptors and an opportunity for the more experienced to sharpen up their skills on the "Mystery Image" pages.

American Kestrel - from The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors 

 

American Kestrel - from The Crossley ID Guide:Raptors

I found this on Wiki - The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), sometimes known as the “Sparrow Hawk” is actually a small falcon, and the only kestrel found in the Americas. Until the sixth edition of the AOU Checklist of North American Birds was published by the American Ornithologists' Union in 1983, the most commonly used name for the American Kestrel was the “Sparrow Hawk” or “Sparrowhawk”. This was due to a mistaken connection with the Eurasian Sparrowhawk, however the latter is an accipiter rather than a falcon. Though both are diurnal raptors, they are only distantly related. 

In fact, and I read this up on Wiki too, the American Kestrel is not a true kestrel at all. DNA analysis indicates a Late Miocene split between the ancestors of the American Kestrel, and those of the European Common Kestrel and its closest relatives. The colour pattern of the American Kestrel with large areas of brown is reminiscent of kestrels, but the colouration of the head - notably the black ear patch, which is not found in any of the true kestrels - and the male's extensively grey wings are suggestive of a closer relationship with the hobby family. 

American Kestrel by Greg Hume via Wikimedia CC.

Oh, why is this birding stuff so complicated? 

Call into Another Bird Blog soon for more news, pictures and points of view about our feathered friends.