birdman
Tuesday 3rd February 2004, 11:39
Ok, I'm a bit overdue writing this, but here we go.
Took another walk around my outback on Sunday 1st, in gloriously sunny, breezy conditions.
Skylarks were singing all over the place and indulging in "chasing" behaviour is this courtship or territory marking? I'd be interested to know.
The gull flock has increased to something like 50 birds, give or take one or two. It's getting harder to count as it gets larger, and they didn't help by insisting on flying, rather than staying on the ground. I think gulls definitely enjoy windy conditions!
A walk past the, now full, pond suggests the Mallard numbers are also increasing, and the Tufted Duck "colony" had doubled in size over the past week from 1 male and 2 females, to 2 and 4.
I have found out that a local farmer effectively controls the water supply to the pond by utilising the flow from the river, obviously to the benefit of his farm, (fair dos); that (along with the extremely hot summer) explains why the levels dropped so low last year, and also explains why there are obviously fish in the pond enough to keep the herons happy.
Last year the supply was cut off completely for some weeks, but the pond did not entirely dry out which suggests to me at least that it is a reasonably reliable habitat. Now, clearly, water is no longer in short supply as the channels running into the pond were gushing like I have never seen before.
Continuing around the normal route, we were treated to a reasonable variety, if not great number of birds. Green Woodpeckers seem particularly evident, as were heard call regularly. Obviously, as they can fly around, we could simply be hearing the same bird over and over again, but we heard calls in three distinctly different locations, and I have taken this as reasonable evidence of at least 3 individuals.
Partnyorsha managed to track down the single Greater Spotted that we saw, and superb views we had indeed.
A couple of decent sized "finch" flocks overflew us, but I'm a long way from being able to confidently id in those circumstances, and a few thrush-like shapes were flitting in and out of the trees eluding any useful observation!
Coming round the the end of the walk, I had just about resigned myself to having enjoyed a good walk, but seeing nothing new for this year when a final look at the pond brought and unexpected surprise as you will see from the list.
Evidently more than enough fish than to simply keep the heron happy!
Plain text = Outback day tick
Bold text = Outback year tick
Bold italic text = Outback life tick
(Number in brackets is highest number of individuals identified at one time)
Skylark : 9 (7)
Starling : 14 (6)
Black-headed Gull : 50 (50)
Blue Tit : 13 (2)
Carrion Crow : 11 (6)
Mallard : 15 (10)
Moorhen : 2 (1)
Woodpigeon : 12 (3)
Magpie : 8 (4)
Robin : 4 (2)
Great Tit : 8 (1)
Coot : 1 (1)
Tufted Duck : 6 (6)
Greenfinch : 4 (4)
Long-tailed Tit : 7 (3)
Green Woodpecker : 3 (1)
Mistle Thrush : 3 (3)
Kestrel : 1 (1)
Coal Tit : 4 (4)
Greater Spotted Woodpecker : 1 (1)
Blackbird : 3 (2)
Goldcrest : 1 (1)
Chaffinch : 1 (1)
Pheasant : 1 (1)
Grey Heron : 1 (1)
Little Grebe : 1 (1)
Took another walk around my outback on Sunday 1st, in gloriously sunny, breezy conditions.
Skylarks were singing all over the place and indulging in "chasing" behaviour is this courtship or territory marking? I'd be interested to know.
The gull flock has increased to something like 50 birds, give or take one or two. It's getting harder to count as it gets larger, and they didn't help by insisting on flying, rather than staying on the ground. I think gulls definitely enjoy windy conditions!
A walk past the, now full, pond suggests the Mallard numbers are also increasing, and the Tufted Duck "colony" had doubled in size over the past week from 1 male and 2 females, to 2 and 4.
I have found out that a local farmer effectively controls the water supply to the pond by utilising the flow from the river, obviously to the benefit of his farm, (fair dos); that (along with the extremely hot summer) explains why the levels dropped so low last year, and also explains why there are obviously fish in the pond enough to keep the herons happy.
Last year the supply was cut off completely for some weeks, but the pond did not entirely dry out which suggests to me at least that it is a reasonably reliable habitat. Now, clearly, water is no longer in short supply as the channels running into the pond were gushing like I have never seen before.
Continuing around the normal route, we were treated to a reasonable variety, if not great number of birds. Green Woodpeckers seem particularly evident, as were heard call regularly. Obviously, as they can fly around, we could simply be hearing the same bird over and over again, but we heard calls in three distinctly different locations, and I have taken this as reasonable evidence of at least 3 individuals.
Partnyorsha managed to track down the single Greater Spotted that we saw, and superb views we had indeed.
A couple of decent sized "finch" flocks overflew us, but I'm a long way from being able to confidently id in those circumstances, and a few thrush-like shapes were flitting in and out of the trees eluding any useful observation!
Coming round the the end of the walk, I had just about resigned myself to having enjoyed a good walk, but seeing nothing new for this year when a final look at the pond brought and unexpected surprise as you will see from the list.
Evidently more than enough fish than to simply keep the heron happy!
Plain text = Outback day tick
Bold text = Outback year tick
Bold italic text = Outback life tick
(Number in brackets is highest number of individuals identified at one time)
Skylark : 9 (7)
Starling : 14 (6)
Black-headed Gull : 50 (50)
Blue Tit : 13 (2)
Carrion Crow : 11 (6)
Mallard : 15 (10)
Moorhen : 2 (1)
Woodpigeon : 12 (3)
Magpie : 8 (4)
Robin : 4 (2)
Great Tit : 8 (1)
Coot : 1 (1)
Tufted Duck : 6 (6)
Greenfinch : 4 (4)
Long-tailed Tit : 7 (3)
Green Woodpecker : 3 (1)
Mistle Thrush : 3 (3)
Kestrel : 1 (1)
Coal Tit : 4 (4)
Greater Spotted Woodpecker : 1 (1)
Blackbird : 3 (2)
Goldcrest : 1 (1)
Chaffinch : 1 (1)
Pheasant : 1 (1)
Grey Heron : 1 (1)
Little Grebe : 1 (1)