birdman
Орнитол&
Having missed the best part of the day weather-wise due to a prior engagement, we weren't sure of being able to get outback this weekend. Fortunately, just about the best thing about living where we do, is that my local patch is immediately adjacent to our home and if the conditions fall right we can decide to "Go Now!!!"
Today was one of those days, so having made the "Go Now!!!" decision, we had a couple of cups of tea and some pear crumble with custard, and then wandered out... yeah, I know!!!
I seem to recall this time last year, things really started to tail of bird-wise - which I guess was down to the weather. I know we hadn't yet had the 100 degree temperatures, but I seem to recall it was a lot sunnier and warmer than this year!
But, this year's awful summer, seems to perhaps have had the silver lining of increasing the bird populations gnereally speaking. Anyone else finding the same?
Today was certainly a very busy day, and there were A LOT of juvenile woodland birds about that evaded id. Suffice it to say, if it was sparrow-sized or less, I've probably well undercounted!
Anyway, walking through the estate, I was immediately aware of 4 House Martins, and quickly recorded these... too quickly as it turned out as seconds later they were joined by a good number more, giving a total of at least 30.
A single House Sparrow and a Magpie was added before we got to the rough ground - when we herad a couple of intrepid, and I imagine rather samp Skylarks.
Actually things didn't look too promising at first as the stretch to the pond added nothing other than a couple more Magpies and a distant Yellowhammer calling.
Then we arrived at the pond, with the usual Mallard and Coots, and noticed a great deal of activity in the shrubs at the water's edge. By this time we had heard a Chiffchaff "chiff chaff" and indeed a good number (perhaps 5 or 6) of the birds in the shrub were what I have now regularly seen referred to on BF as "Willowchiffs". They were all pretty drap little fellas, although occasionally we got a flash of yellow breast, but there was not so much as a peep out of any of them.
To be fair, I thought we would miss out on iding as many as twenty of them, but a bit of patience revealed that there was a mix of birds in the shrub - mostly juveniles - including Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Whitethroat. Whilst trying to pin these down, we heard a passing Green Woodpecker.
As the weather was not sparkling, and as the pear crumble had only gone part way towards helping us forget we had had a very light lunch, we took a short-cut, rather than the now customary three-quarter circuit of the pond, and headed straight on towards the cultivated fields.
Not many yards further on, we startled a couple of birds from in the grasses, and I turned expected to see and hear partridges heading for the distance in a flurry of feathers and excitement. Which would have been nice enough... As it turned out, it was a couple of Green Woodpeckers, that seemed to head of in six directions at once - yaffling loudly.
In the hope of a better and less flustered view, I went in silent(ish) pursuit (they had dropped out of sight) soon to cause a repeated dash for the distance... this time the trees. Clearly, though, they had their minds mostly on what they were doing in the grass (feeding I guess) as they quickly returned to the ground, although further away. It was now obvious there were at least three - as they darted from tree to ground, into the undergrowth and then back to the trees - sadly getting further away each time. Luckily, though, I was able to get a couple of long distance photos.
At the same time, in the opposite direction, partnyorsha was keeping an eye on 5 Carrion Crows also feeding, whilst keeping a wary eye on a walked dog.
Continuing towards the east end on the route, a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over, one in adult plumage, and therefore easy enough for me to id, with a sub-adult "wing-man". Birds of a feather and all that! It turns out that these are an "Outback Lifer", which surprised me, but I think is, in truth, rather than an indication of scarcity, more an indication of my inability to id gulls with any great confience a year ago, whereas I'm just a bit more confident now.
A couple of minutes later, 6 more large gulls flew over, but as they were all juveniles, and I didn't feel I could stretch the saying too far as far as gulls are concerned (OK... I'm not THAT confident!), they remain frustratingly unided.
As did the first two of up to 5 "pipits". Now these really are the bain of my life, although I'm making a bit of headway. They didn't sound like Meadow Pipits - that trisyllabic sit-sit-sit - and they did seem to take a bit of a fancy to the taller undergrowth and trees... but...!!!
Well, a Blackbird, A Swift and the first Swallow gave me something I could note down.
Reaching the eastern path, we again came across a great deal of activity. The beet fields of earlier in the year have now been planted with peas, and there was a great deal of interest in the pea-fields for the local birds. This time they seemed to be moslty Blue Tits - although I did get a juvie Great Tit and two (count 'em, two) juvie Coal Tits. I'm sure we missed plenty though!
The trees that form more of a "wood" near the hotel and the private garden, and which are usually alive, were actually less productive today. A couple of small (perhaps warbler-sized) birds were flitting about, and we added a Robin, singing somewhere in the trees, but that was about it.
Further along, another Chiffchaff was added - in fact our fourth singer of the walk, and then what may have been a small family of Wrens, as first one and then four more flew across our path. We had looked at a couple of them in the trees just before, and I'm pretty sure I saw what looked like the remnants of a bright yellow gape... so not old birds by any stretch of the imagination!
Looking across towards the hotel grounds, we added a couple more Blue Tits, and a Blackcap - which was being harrassed by a Grey Squirrel for some reason.
By now the weather was getting decidedly iffy. We had already had a couple of light drizzle showers, but as we turned towards home, we could see the pylons in the distance slowly disappearing.
We soon stopped noticing this, though, with the sound of yet another Green Woodpecker. I didn't see it, but partnyorsha noticed it fly into a distant tree. Never did find it, but we did find a large roosting owl. Unfotunately, it was so far away, that it was totally unidable. In fact, I wouldn't put my last dollar on it being an owl - it just seems unlikely it could be anything of similar size.
An overflying Grey Heron, a vocalising Grey Partridge and a bright lemon-yellow Yellowhammer were added before the rain started... and we began our trudge back home.
In fact we did add another Woodpigeon or so, another Yellowhammer, and two more of these frustrating "pipits" flying into the trees. Very streaky, with "white" underparts, but a noticeable dark throat patch.
Ah well... keep learning, I suppose!
Plain text = Outback day tick
Bold text = Outback year tick
Bold text italic = Outback life tick
(Number in brackets is highest number of individuals identified at one time)
Grey Partridge : 1 (1)
Pheasant : 2 (2)
Mallard : 12 (12)
Green Woodpecker : 5 (3)
Swift : 1 (1)
Woodpigeon : 14 (3)
Moorhen : 1 (1)
Coot : 7 (7)
Lesser Black-backed Gull : 2 (2)
Black-headed Gull : 2 (2)
Grey Heron : 1 (1)
Magpie : 7 (3)
Rook : 1 (1)
Carrion Crow : 9 (5)
Blackbird : 1 (1)
Robin : 1 (1)
Wren : 5 (4)
Coal Tit : 3 (2)
Great Tit : 1 (1)
Blue Tit : 10 (2)
Long-tailed Tit : 4 (2)
Swallow : 7 (5)
House Martin : 30 (30)
Chiffchaff : 4 (1)
Blackcap : 1 (1)
Whitethroat : 2 (2)
Skylark : 2 (2)
House Sparrow : 1 (1)
Chaffinch : 3 (1)
Goldfinch : 2 (2)
Yellowhammer : 3 (1)
Today was one of those days, so having made the "Go Now!!!" decision, we had a couple of cups of tea and some pear crumble with custard, and then wandered out... yeah, I know!!!
I seem to recall this time last year, things really started to tail of bird-wise - which I guess was down to the weather. I know we hadn't yet had the 100 degree temperatures, but I seem to recall it was a lot sunnier and warmer than this year!
But, this year's awful summer, seems to perhaps have had the silver lining of increasing the bird populations gnereally speaking. Anyone else finding the same?
Today was certainly a very busy day, and there were A LOT of juvenile woodland birds about that evaded id. Suffice it to say, if it was sparrow-sized or less, I've probably well undercounted!
Anyway, walking through the estate, I was immediately aware of 4 House Martins, and quickly recorded these... too quickly as it turned out as seconds later they were joined by a good number more, giving a total of at least 30.
A single House Sparrow and a Magpie was added before we got to the rough ground - when we herad a couple of intrepid, and I imagine rather samp Skylarks.
Actually things didn't look too promising at first as the stretch to the pond added nothing other than a couple more Magpies and a distant Yellowhammer calling.
Then we arrived at the pond, with the usual Mallard and Coots, and noticed a great deal of activity in the shrubs at the water's edge. By this time we had heard a Chiffchaff "chiff chaff" and indeed a good number (perhaps 5 or 6) of the birds in the shrub were what I have now regularly seen referred to on BF as "Willowchiffs". They were all pretty drap little fellas, although occasionally we got a flash of yellow breast, but there was not so much as a peep out of any of them.
To be fair, I thought we would miss out on iding as many as twenty of them, but a bit of patience revealed that there was a mix of birds in the shrub - mostly juveniles - including Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Whitethroat. Whilst trying to pin these down, we heard a passing Green Woodpecker.
As the weather was not sparkling, and as the pear crumble had only gone part way towards helping us forget we had had a very light lunch, we took a short-cut, rather than the now customary three-quarter circuit of the pond, and headed straight on towards the cultivated fields.
Not many yards further on, we startled a couple of birds from in the grasses, and I turned expected to see and hear partridges heading for the distance in a flurry of feathers and excitement. Which would have been nice enough... As it turned out, it was a couple of Green Woodpeckers, that seemed to head of in six directions at once - yaffling loudly.
In the hope of a better and less flustered view, I went in silent(ish) pursuit (they had dropped out of sight) soon to cause a repeated dash for the distance... this time the trees. Clearly, though, they had their minds mostly on what they were doing in the grass (feeding I guess) as they quickly returned to the ground, although further away. It was now obvious there were at least three - as they darted from tree to ground, into the undergrowth and then back to the trees - sadly getting further away each time. Luckily, though, I was able to get a couple of long distance photos.
At the same time, in the opposite direction, partnyorsha was keeping an eye on 5 Carrion Crows also feeding, whilst keeping a wary eye on a walked dog.
Continuing towards the east end on the route, a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over, one in adult plumage, and therefore easy enough for me to id, with a sub-adult "wing-man". Birds of a feather and all that! It turns out that these are an "Outback Lifer", which surprised me, but I think is, in truth, rather than an indication of scarcity, more an indication of my inability to id gulls with any great confience a year ago, whereas I'm just a bit more confident now.
A couple of minutes later, 6 more large gulls flew over, but as they were all juveniles, and I didn't feel I could stretch the saying too far as far as gulls are concerned (OK... I'm not THAT confident!), they remain frustratingly unided.
As did the first two of up to 5 "pipits". Now these really are the bain of my life, although I'm making a bit of headway. They didn't sound like Meadow Pipits - that trisyllabic sit-sit-sit - and they did seem to take a bit of a fancy to the taller undergrowth and trees... but...!!!
Well, a Blackbird, A Swift and the first Swallow gave me something I could note down.
Reaching the eastern path, we again came across a great deal of activity. The beet fields of earlier in the year have now been planted with peas, and there was a great deal of interest in the pea-fields for the local birds. This time they seemed to be moslty Blue Tits - although I did get a juvie Great Tit and two (count 'em, two) juvie Coal Tits. I'm sure we missed plenty though!
The trees that form more of a "wood" near the hotel and the private garden, and which are usually alive, were actually less productive today. A couple of small (perhaps warbler-sized) birds were flitting about, and we added a Robin, singing somewhere in the trees, but that was about it.
Further along, another Chiffchaff was added - in fact our fourth singer of the walk, and then what may have been a small family of Wrens, as first one and then four more flew across our path. We had looked at a couple of them in the trees just before, and I'm pretty sure I saw what looked like the remnants of a bright yellow gape... so not old birds by any stretch of the imagination!
Looking across towards the hotel grounds, we added a couple more Blue Tits, and a Blackcap - which was being harrassed by a Grey Squirrel for some reason.
By now the weather was getting decidedly iffy. We had already had a couple of light drizzle showers, but as we turned towards home, we could see the pylons in the distance slowly disappearing.
We soon stopped noticing this, though, with the sound of yet another Green Woodpecker. I didn't see it, but partnyorsha noticed it fly into a distant tree. Never did find it, but we did find a large roosting owl. Unfotunately, it was so far away, that it was totally unidable. In fact, I wouldn't put my last dollar on it being an owl - it just seems unlikely it could be anything of similar size.
An overflying Grey Heron, a vocalising Grey Partridge and a bright lemon-yellow Yellowhammer were added before the rain started... and we began our trudge back home.
In fact we did add another Woodpigeon or so, another Yellowhammer, and two more of these frustrating "pipits" flying into the trees. Very streaky, with "white" underparts, but a noticeable dark throat patch.
Ah well... keep learning, I suppose!
Plain text = Outback day tick
Bold text = Outback year tick
Bold text italic = Outback life tick
(Number in brackets is highest number of individuals identified at one time)
Grey Partridge : 1 (1)
Pheasant : 2 (2)
Mallard : 12 (12)
Green Woodpecker : 5 (3)
Swift : 1 (1)
Woodpigeon : 14 (3)
Moorhen : 1 (1)
Coot : 7 (7)
Lesser Black-backed Gull : 2 (2)
Black-headed Gull : 2 (2)
Grey Heron : 1 (1)
Magpie : 7 (3)
Rook : 1 (1)
Carrion Crow : 9 (5)
Blackbird : 1 (1)
Robin : 1 (1)
Wren : 5 (4)
Coal Tit : 3 (2)
Great Tit : 1 (1)
Blue Tit : 10 (2)
Long-tailed Tit : 4 (2)
Swallow : 7 (5)
House Martin : 30 (30)
Chiffchaff : 4 (1)
Blackcap : 1 (1)
Whitethroat : 2 (2)
Skylark : 2 (2)
House Sparrow : 1 (1)
Chaffinch : 3 (1)
Goldfinch : 2 (2)
Yellowhammer : 3 (1)
Attachments
Last edited:
