Christmas day birding

[ColinD]

Not a bad hour or so birding this morning. I had a walk around Eccleston Mere and saw a Willow Tit on a garden feeder, Kingfisher, drake Goldeneye and a nice, close Treecreeper.

It's always nice and quiet on Christmas Day.

[halftwo]

Hi Colin,

Happy Christmas.

Went to bed last night to Tawny owls hooting, woken this morning by a drumming Greater 'pecker.

On going out to feed the birds I heard the unmistakable sound of Waxwings. Twenty were perched in next doors' tree - but soon flew off.

Nice Xmas present!

H

[joannec]

Tawny Owls for me too last night and woke up to see a buzzard on the fencepost. Later redwing feeding in the stubble field and a yellowhammer in a treetop.

Joanne

[Edward]

Went out for a quick walk round my patch at noon when my girls were having their midday nap. Colder than I thought, snow showers and soon regretted not wearing my balaclava. The usual suspects in the garden, i.e. Redwing, Redpoll, Blackbird, Starling, with the inevitable Snow Bunting and Raven overhead.
Down by the sea, rafts of Eider, with Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Mallard, Red-breasted Merganser, Wigeon, several adult Iceland Gulls, one Glaucous Gull, two Herring Gulls and three Great Black-backed Gulls. A Great Northern Diver flew over. Just as I was going to turn round, I saw a Gyr Falcon shaped rock by the footpath ahead, which materialised into a young Gyr Falcon when I lifted my bins. I lay down in the snow, out of the wind and watched it from about 50 metres away for 2 minutes before it flew off.

E

[Steve Lister]

Five hours out around here produced 58 species but nothing out of the ordinary. I flushed single Jack Snipe and Woodcock and found two flocks of Redpolls, biggest 15.

Bumped into a couple of birders and gave them a Christmas bottle of wine.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Steve

[pete seaman]

Spent some time on our local patch this morning,there was a Little Egret,Green Sandpiper and Snipe among the usual birds,nice start to Christmas Day.

[Matt_RTH]

The only birding I'm doing today involves a 13 lb turkey hen. I've gotten some great views of her, even willing to stay still long enough for me to pull the gizzards and neck out of her body cavities. Usually when I see a turkey they are gone before I can pull out my camera but this one is decidedly cooperative. She was especially appreciative of the 12 hour brine bath.

[Edward]

Bumped into a couple of birders and gave them a Christmas bottle of wine.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Steve

Just bumped into them and gave them some wine? That's very generous of you, Steve. Feel free to bump into me next Christmas.

E

[JamesA]

Tawny owl calling here too, just before I slept. A pretty good record for where I live, in the middle of a town. Nothing amazing during the day though; hopefully tomorrow will bring something good.

[Allen S. Moore]

I nipped out for an hour or so this morning to visit 2 beaches in the south of the Isle of Man before heading home and collecting my parents for a family meal. I saw 48 choughs and also a bird that I had only seen once before here, a little egret. I wasn't excited by that, as many birdwatchers here are, because I've seen thousands in the Ebro Delta and others elsewhere in Spain, Portugal, Australia and, also, one or two in England and Wales. I hope that others got out to enjoy it, though, it was wasted on me!
Happy Christmas / Nollick Ghennal
Allen

[Pagan Birder]

Went out for a quick walk round my patch at noon when my girls were having their midday nap. Colder than I thought, snow showers and soon regretted not wearing my balaclava. The usual suspects in the garden, i.e. Redwing, Redpoll, Blackbird, Starling, with the inevitable Snow Bunting and Raven overhead.
Down by the sea, rafts of Eider, with Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Mallard, Red-breasted Merganser, Wigeon, several adult Iceland Gulls, one Glaucous Gull, two Herring Gulls and three Great Black-backed Gulls. A Great Northern Diver flew over. Just as I was going to turn round, I saw a Gyr Falcon shaped rock by the footpath ahead, which materialised into a young Gyr Falcon when I lifted my bins. I lay down in the snow, out of the wind and watched it from about 50 metres away for 2 minutes before it flew off.

E

That'd take some beating ;)

Had Waxwing, Peregrine, 10 Red-breasted Mergansers, 24 Mediterranean Gulls, and quite a few other odds and sods here though. Wasn't a bad way to escape socialising for the day ;)

Jan

[Larry Wheatland]

Merry Christmas (recovery period!). No big rarities on Christmas day itself, but it was great watching a load of White-fronted Terns having Christmas dinner and feeding their overgrown young 'uns on the beach at Nelson. A recently dead Little Penguin was a bit sad though.

[chowchilla]

I was working that day so didn't get the chance to go birding... :-C