Wednesday Wander

Mid-day and it’s raining for the rest of the day. It was as well I managed a few hours birding earlier at Conder Green in the morning when the birds were pretty much a repeat of a week ago. Well we are in the doldrums of June when nothing much is on the move. 

The Avocets continue to occupy the same island as the Common Terns, but while the Avocets are eminently watchable the terns are playing hard to get. That latter might suggest the terns are close to the eggs hatching. There was a single Great Crested Grebe again today. I watched it hanging around and submerging into quite shallow water near where the male Avocet fed, just like a week ago. I came to the conclusion that the grebe was cashing in on the way the swaying motion of the feeding Avocet stirs up food from below the surface. 

Although the grebe’s diet consists mainly of fish they will eat insects and larvae including dragonflies, beetles, water bugs, flies and moths; they also take frogs, tadpoles and newts. 

Great Crested Grebe

There are still 4 Tufted Duck and 15+ Shelduck around but no sign of ducklings for either. A pair of Oystercatchers still has 2 young and although a handful of Lapwings have been around most of the spring there’s still nothing to show for their presence. I didn’t see any young Redshanks either but there was an increase to 40+ today perhaps as a result of failed and non-breeders arriving from not too far away. 

Oystercatcher

 

Two Grey Herons and a single Little Egret made up the meagre quota of herons. Swallows and House Martins were about in tens while it made a change to see a few Swifts – six in all hawking around the hedgerow and the farm buildings. 

A walk around the road and railway circuit found warblers, finches and buntings in the shape and sound of 3 Whitethroat, 4 Sedge Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Reed Warbler, 4 Reed Bunting, 3 Linnet, 2 Goldfinch and 2 Pied Wagtails. 

Sedge Warbler

 

Sedge Warbler

Reed Bunting

Sedge Warblers have an old name of “sedge nightingale” from their habit of singing in the dark, especially when newly arrived on territory in spring. Their chattering, reeling, unmusical song is nothing like the song of a Nightingale, not that we get to hear any Nightingales here in North West England. 

Glasson Dock was quiet apart from Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat and a Grey Heron heading out over the marsh. A Lesser Black-backed Gull hung around the car park but rain was not far away.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

 

There’s more soon from Another Bird Blog. Don’t forget to pay a visit.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Run A Round Ranch.

Recent Recoveries, Oakenclough

I recently told blog readers about a Siskin ring number Z470850 that Andy and I ringed at Oakenclough on 23rd March 2016. Just 21 days later on 13 April 2016 it was recaptured near Fortrose, adjacent to the Moray Firth in the highlands of Scotland. 

Siskin

Now comes along another similar Siskin recapture, ring number Z470846 (the same ring string as the above), ringed on the same day of 23rd March 2016. This Siskin was also recaptured by other ringers in Scotland, but this one at Abernyte, Perth & Kinross on 8 May 2016. The Moray Firth is 416 kms due north of Oakenclough whereas Perth and Kinrosss is 284 kms due north.

 

Siskin - Oakenclough to Moray Firth

Siskin - Oakenclough to Abernyte

As we hoped at the time of ringing good numbers of Siskins, there was a good chance that a few would be later found in Scotland or even further north. 

Siskins

We also received from the BTO recovery details about a Lesser Redpoll and a Willow Warbler. 

A Lesser Redpoll carrying ring number D948673 was originally ringed as a first year, a juvenile, on 29th September 2014 at Woolston Eyes, Warrington, Cheshire by the Merseyside Ringing Group. We recaptured this bird at Oakenclough on 20th April 2016 when we were able to determine it as an adult female. The dates of ringing and recapture are both at the peak of migration timing of Lesser Redpolls but clearly we have no indication of where the bird was between times.

Lesser Redpoll - Woolston Eyes to Oakenclough

 Lesser Redpoll

A Willow Warbler carrying ring number HPH224 gave us a very interesting recovery. Originally the warbler had been caught on 18th August 2015 at Cissbury Ring, near Worthing, West Sussex by Steyning Ringing Group.

With a wing length of 67mm it could not be sexed but was safely aged as a bird of the year, a juvenile. Willow Warblers do not winter in the UK but make their way to Central Africa where they winter. We can be certain that in August this bird was about to cross the English Channel to France on the next stage of its long journey.

Willow Warbler -  Worthing to Oakenclough

We recaptured the Willow Warbler at Oakenclough on 20thApril 2016 when the by now adult wing length of 69mm allowed it to be be safely assigned as a male. A lack of visits to Oakenclough since April has meant we have been unable to find out if HPH224 stayed around to breed. Hopefully we’ll catch up with it soon and add another piece to the jigsaw.

Willow Warbler

It's raining today and I've still not completely recovered from my virus, but with luck there'll be news, views and photographs soon.

Check out the new header picture, an Oystercatcher at Pilling.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday  and   Anni's Birding.

Purple Patch

Conder Green has its detractors, including those who complain they “never see anything there”. Perhaps it’s the same people who visit just periodically, expect to see the scarce birds that sometimes turn up there but who neglect to take an interest in the common birds that are always around? 

Anyway the old place is going through something of a purple patch at the moment with a pair of Common Terns breeding for the third successive year, and now this year a pair of Avocets. Both events have caused visitor numbers to increase and it’s good to see the interest shown. 

The Common Terns and the Avocets are both nesting on the same distant island of the pool where the water levels are currently ideal for species that wish to nest. A pair of Oystercatchers had two good sized youngsters this morning with three or four other pairs looking as though they might do similar. 

Oystercatcher

Avocet

A few lingering Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta were in Menorca just a few weeks ago where my pal Javier told me that the Spanish name for Avocet is “cusisacs”, which means “sack-sower”; the curved shape of its bill being similar to the traditional darning needles used to repair sacks. 

It has taken Avocets a good number of years to adopt Conder Green considering the recent healthy populations in Morecambe Bay and on the Ribble Marshes, plus the fact that the species is now a regular rather than a spasmodic spring migrant in these parts. Not so on 1st April 1983 when I discovered one feeding along Pilling shore, following which the sighting was met with some scepticism by those who thought it an April Fool prank. Birders don't design wind-ups about rare birds.

The pool was quite busy, especially so when a Barn Owl appeared to jolt others from their parental duties. A number of birds joined in the mobbing to see the owl off site, including both terns, the male avocet and a couple of Oystercatchers but the owl wasn’t for lingering as it had food to deliver. It’s a rubbish shot but tells the story of how birds react to predators on their patch.  I saw a second or the same Barn Owl an hour or so later, this time from the road bridge. 

Common Tern and Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Also on the pool/creeks - 15 Shelduck, 15 Redshank, 2 Wigeon, 6 Tufted Duck, 3 Lapwing, 1 Curlew, 3 Greylag, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron and a flying visit from 12 Black-tailed Godwit. 

That’s a pretty good list by any standard but it’s not done yet as a walk around the area discovered 3 Stock Dove, 15 House Martin, 12 Swallow, 4+ Linnet, 2 Goldfinch, 3 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Reed Warbler, 3 Whitethroat, 4 Greenfinch, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Meadow Pipit and 1 Blackcap. 

Sedge Warbler

House Martins were collecting mud from the creeks, definitely building at Four Winds and trying to do so at Café De Lune where of course the proprietors have declared the martins to be persona non grata and made great efforts to keep the birds at bay. 

It was while watching the martins that a number of Redshanks exploded noisily from the nearby creeks as a Hobby shot through my vision and disappeared over the trees behind. Thoughts of the martins forgotten I looked for the Hobby without much hope, elusive creatures as they are.

Hobby

That was a pretty eventful and productive morning on the old patch. I should do that more often.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and  Run A Round Ranch.

Book Review - Listening To A Continent Sing

Sorry folks, the blog is still mostly out of action. The evil little beast that wormed its way into my system two weeks ago has landed me with a bout of viral myalgia, not the best condition for walking the sea wall at Pilling. I’m taking the pills and with luck I should be back in full song soon. 

Meanwhile I’ve been “Listening To A Continent Sing”, a new and unusual idea for a bird book, and one just published by Princeton University Press. 

Listening To A Continent Sing 

It’s a tale of a 10 week bicycle based birding journey through 10 states of the USA, coast to coast. The teller of the story is Donald Kroodsma an Emeritus professor of Ornithology at the University of Massachusetts, a man with half a lifetime study of birdsong to draw upon. 

This celebrated ornithologist chronicles his 10-week, leisurely cross-country cycling/birding trip with his 24-year-old son. It’s a journey taken at a relaxed pace and one which draws the reader in to join their periodic stops and take in not simply the birds but the landscape they pass through and the people they meet along the way. There are delightful black & white sketches throughout the book, vignettes which portray a part of each of the thirty plus chapters by way of the birds encountered, the journey itself or even the characters met along the way. 

Hence we are amused but understanding of the bicycles dripping in the rain as our intrepid duo wait for the storm to pass from the dry of their tiny tent. In Virginia we meet The Cookie Lady, a hero of hospitality to cyclists from 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, and in Colorado we learn that “If it’s Tuesday, it must be BINGO”.

In Virginia father and son stop to gaze upon the killing fields of the American Civil War where 80,000 Union and 80,000 Confederate troops fought each other and where Field Sparrows and Yellowthroats offer their laments to ancestors who bore witness to the senseless moods of man. 

Our twosome cruise through the Rockies, arms held high to the sheer majesty of the mountains and the reader is lifted again by the author who hears Fanfare for the Common Man as his bicycle steers itself downhill. There are lots of such moments in this book. The author may be first and foremost known for his ornithology but he is also a man of words, and Listening To A Continent Sing” is an accomplished travelogue written with great style which makes for an enjoyable and highly entertaining read. It is a book to be enjoyed by birders or non-birders alike. 

Throughout the text are QR codes where the reader can break off and link to one of the 381 birdsong audios described during legs of the journey. I found this to be impractical, probably as a result of becoming engrossed in the story and the evocative writing and thereby missing the relevant code. I found it much more satisfactory to visit the accompanying web site Listening To A Continent Sing  where I could choose to listen by number, listen by state, listen by species, or my particular favourite, and a valuable learning tool, listen to the dawn chorus. 

This hardback book from Princeton University Press is now on general release and priced at $29.95 or £22.95 and I recommend it to readers of Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Birding and Eileen's Blog.

Memory Lane Menorca

It’s been a rubbish week. Laid low with a vicious bug, lethargy has been the order of the day. I’ve barely eaten a thing, spent 10 hours at a time in bed and struggled to leave the house. Even the thought of a glass of wine has left me cold. 

But now it’s time to shake off the self-pity and head off to Menorca for the last time this year. It’s a journey we make each year to Punta Nati, a remote, unforgiving and brutal landscape of rocks and field after field of moonscape with dwarf vegetation but where speciality birds abound. Don't forget to "click the pics" for better images.

We left our hotel soon after breakfast, found our way to the Me1 and joined the commuter run to Ciutadella, Menorca’s second city. The Ronda, the Ring Road, skirts the busy city where with luck we’d find the purple signpost that would send us to the parallel world of Punta Nati just ten minutes from the old world charms of Ciutadella. 

I pulled the car into the barely possible parking spot, the wing mirror just a whisker from the stone wall. The old fellow came out to greet us as he always does and explained again in zero English how the Cattle Egret colony here is the only one for many miles, maybe even the only one in Menorca. In my best zero Spanish I nodded in agreement and motioned with the camera that a few shots later we’ll be on our way and leave the egrets to their squawking family squabbles and bad hair days. 

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

Towards the point Bee Eaters were on the move, circling high in the sky, resting on overhead wires and bubbling out their unforgettable contact calls. There’s urgency in their excited calls. Some drift off, others move closer together before as a group their calls grow more eager and they’re off as one, specks in the sky and heading over the lighthouse, over the Med and towards Europe. 

Bee-eater

Bee-eater

Punta Nati

The calls of larks, buntings and pipits are constant as all seem to be in the throes of breeding. Searching for food, looking out for their nests, warning of predators or snatching a song; it’s all in a day’s work where the dry atmosphere and unrelenting sunshine takes its toll on a bird’s plumage. 

Thekla Lark

Short-toed Lark

Tawny Pipit

Tawny Pipit

Corn Bunting

Towards the lighthouse we eventually found a pair of Blue Rock Thrush, the calls of the male leading us to the spot where the pair lived. A Kestrel watched us as we went, the species is a common sight dashing across the bare fields and where there are more than enough vantage points. Red Kites lazed through the skies, their twisty tails a delight to watch in the remarkable blue of a Menorca sky. 

Punta Nati

Red Kite

 Kestrel

An hour or two later the trippers arrive, fresh from their tourist maps looking for something to do, something to see, a little excitement on a sunny day. But unless they are into birds, and very few are, there’s little for to do except walk without purpose to the lighthouse and back, trample over unforgiving terrain along coastal paths and maybe sprain an ankle. Most give up at the sheer desolation of the place, jump back in their shiny hire cars and probably vow never again to visit Punta Nati. 

We’ve had our fun, seen some great birds, laughed at a few German tourists with their huge knapsacks and knobbly white knees but we kept the secret of Punta Nati. Now it’s time for a trip to the busy city ten minutes away. 

We park in the main square for all of two Euros and head to some favourite watering holes. 

Ciutadella

The Aurora

Diageo's

The Harbour - Ciutadella

Ciutadella is a fabulous place, a working Spanish city which remains untainted by the tourism that has blighted so many other similar places. And after a dry, dusty trip birding along Memory Lane, what better than a coffee or two, an ensaimada or a bocadillo and a spot of people watching for a change?

Linking today to  Eileen's Saturday.

The Port

Weekends are for birding but with builders in the house, there was the inevitable aftermath of the clearing up. Sunday I got stuck into the clear up operation so had to give birding a miss and now on Monday I'm painting,

So for today I’m posting pictures of the recent holiday to Menorca with a morning trip to Es Grau, the tiny fishing village on the north-east coast.  "Es Grau" is not Spanish but Catalan and means "The Port"

Es Grau is home to the well-known nature reserve of S’albufera where there’s a rich variety of bird life. Sand dunes, wetlands and scrubland make up one of Menorca’s most beautiful and peaceful locations. The reserve stretches 8km north along the coast from Cap de Favaritx and contains over 100 species of birds and animals living in their natural habitat. It’s fairly important to arrive here early with a large bottle of water for the hours ahead, not to mention beating the procession of visitors, often school parties learning about their environment.

On the way there and up on roadside wires we spotted a European Roller, the only one of the two week holiday and a much sought after species. It was just a shame that the bird was above a particularly fast piece of road with no stopping places. Despite turning the car around in a gateway and looking afresh, there was nowhere to pull in for a closer look or a picture.

So we headed for the entrance gate from where around the edges of the pool and by searching hard we found 6 or more Black-crowned Night Herons, a few feeding on the tree-lined perimeter, the others just roosting in the higher branches. Here we also found a couple of Little Egrets, Black-winged Stilts, Audouin’s Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Not far from the visitor centre and watching from screen hides found many distant waterbirds, more gulls, hundreds of Coot, dozens of Little Grebe, a dozen or more Great Crested Grebe and even two Greater Flamingos. Unfortunately most of the birds remain distant on the huge expanse of water, both open and reed fringed but it’s a peaceful and relaxed environment in which to spend a morning or longer.

Hide at Es Grau

Little Grebe

Black-winged Stilt

The usual raptors were in evidence – Red Kites, Booted Eagles, Marsh Harriers and Kestrels plus a bonus in the shape of a dashing Peregrine Falcon. Peregrines aren’t numerous in Menorca but they do nest around the often rocky and remote coastline.

Along the paths we heard the purring of Turtle Doves without actually getting any really exciting or prolonged views. Similalry the Nightingales, Cetti's Warblers and Sardinian Warblers stay out of sight while proclaiming their prescence.

Turtle Dove

Purple Herons mostly remain hidden from sight as they sneak through the reeds hoping to catch unwary prey. That’s a mighty big dagger of a bill than can easily despatch a good sized Coot, Moorhen, Little Grebe or an unsuspecting frog or lizard.

Purple Heron

We encountered good numbers of Spotted Flycatchers here, not unreasonable since it is a common resident of Menorca whereby by mid to late May it’s fairly certain that migrants heading for northern Europe are long gone.

The local Spotted Flycatchers Muscicapa striata balearica are smaller, noticeably paler, and less streaked than their northern counterparts as can be seen from the pictures below, my Menorca photos from early May. For comparison, the third image is the type  of Spotted Flycatcher that we see in the UK. Dutch birders are currently working on the idea that Mediterranean Spotted Flycatchers should be treated as a full and separate species, one differing from Muscicapa striata in morphology, migration and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA.

Spotted Flycatcher - Muscicapa striata balearica 

Spotted Flycatcher - Muscicapa striata balearica

Spotted Flycatcher - Muscicapa striata - Photo credit- Ian N. White via / CC BY-NC-SA

Moorish Gecko was a first for me. It’s native to the Western Mediterranean region of Europe and North Africa and widely introduced to America and Asia. It is commonly observed on walls in urban environments, mainly in warm coastal areas, though it can spread inland - especially in Spain 

Moorish Gecko

S'albufera

I hope everyone enjoyed the morning in Menorca. Come evening time we decided to try a glass of Cava and a few chocolates brought all the way from Belgium by two friends and blog fans, Ivan and Jeni. 

Belgian treats

Thanks guys. the chocs sustained a little superficial damage on their long journey but after close inspection they were just fine. A lovely ending to a perfect Menorcan day.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday .