Norfolk birding (138 Viewers)

[Mark Batten]

Very common in 1968. Most if not all recent claims have been starlings...

 

[Tideliner]

Anyone who muddles up starlings with nutcrackers needs to clean their bins. Size , flight and gait are all very different. And yes Kerin there was a 2010 bird on a private site where disturbance would have been a major problem.

 

[Mark Batten]

Not submitted? Photos?

 

[Lightthiscandle]

Your Pied Fly looks similar to the one I found on B Point last week. I presumed it was some kind of immature plumage but on discussing the bird with JMc today he said it was more likely a 'Brown' Pied F plumage that is more common in Poland/E Europe...
Do you think this is the case with this bird?

Hi Sacha!
To be honest, I was so amazed to find a PF in marshy woodland in the Yare Valley, I hadn't really considered races... It did have a lot of white on the wing, though.

 

[jimbob]

Anyone who muddles up starlings with nutcrackers needs to clean their bins. Size , flight and gait are all very different. And yes Kerin there was a 2010 bird on a private site where disturbance would have been a major problem.

Fantastic to hear this species is a part of our county's recent ornithological history. Tideliner, I know from Birdforum that you like to keep locations to yourself, and I respect that, but this must have been a tough one to keep quiet about! Gotta say, would have been nice to know there was a bird around, might have made me look a little harder....but I know not all folk enjoy the message "....at a private site with no access". Me, I just like to know good birds are out there!
How long was it present? Any photos?

Cheers,
Jim.

 

[Mark Batten]

But is it not either submitted or accepted. Not part of any record whatsoever. Three probable nutcrackers in the garden this am. They are about the same size as a blackbird?

 

[James Emerson]

But is it not either submitted or accepted. Not part of any record whatsoever. Three probable nutcrackers in the garden this am. They are about the same size as a blackbird?

This was raised when the bird was first mentioned, in a thread last year (about twitching ethics maybe?). The answer was that when a rare bird is seen by someone conducting a survey for the land owner/manager the information is usually passed to them, and they can then submit it if they choose. Of course some surveyors may choose to submit it personally (you can choose to withhold location and observer info if necessary), but this may discourage prospective employers from hiring that individual.

So in this case the Nutcracker wasn't submitted, and I have a feeling that Tideliner hasn't lost any sleep over it not being accepted by the BBRC

 

[Mark Batten]

Records can be submitted to the bbrc with the exact location witheld. In some cases even the finders names witheld. Look forward to seeing the photos.

 

[MJB]

...more likely a 'Brown' Pied F plumage that is more common in Poland/E Europe...

Sacha,
Just for general info, a brown male isn't actually a morph, just a bird that, for reasons probably more associated with an individual's genetic makeup or moult strategy, defers its black plumage until before the second return migration. Brown males can still breed, but how this difference might affect mate selection I don't know, although a theory may have been published.
MJB

 

[sacha]

Sacha,
Just for general info, a brown male isn't actually a morph, just a bird that, for reasons probably more associated with an individual's genetic makeup or moult strategy, defers its black plumage until before the second return migration. Brown males can still breed, but how this difference might affect mate selection I don't know, although a theory may have been published.
MJB

Thanks for that. There seems to be a lot of research online regarding breeding studies of the colour preferences of females (even comparing Collared and Pied etc)
.... Interesting how common hybrids are.. But 'Alas'.. That is for another thread!

 

[willowgrouse]

Fabrication of bird records

Interesting paper in British Birds magazine this month: Fabrication of bird records. Well worth a read.

First Turtle Doves of the spring this morning heading west

 

[Lightthiscandle]

Look who are back!

Third year in a row!

 

[davethebird]

As John has not reported on the Stonechats at Gramborough Hill for a while I thought you might be suffering withdrawal symptoms. Today I only saw one male and he was unringed and had a showy white rump.

6 Wheatears around but just 1 flyover 'flava' wagtail.

The were three Little Gulls over Pat's Pool at Cley - 2 in 1st winter plumage and one more adult winter like. These were watched at distance from the car park.

 

[davethebird]

Third year in a row!

This prompted me to refill my feeders. Now the waiting starts ...... :t:

 

[Johny121]

Third year in a row!

Excellent, glad to see they've survived the guns of southern europe!

 

[Lightthiscandle]

Turtles

Although I really enjoy seeing / finding rare birds, there really is an extra frisson in having such beautiful visitors!

 

[Dave_A]

Pallid and a ginger cuckoo

Spent a nice morning ringing at Waxham catching mostly Willow Warblers and Whitethroats, a male Stonechat and a female Wheatear were the ringing highlights. Packed up at 11:00 we then went birding, north to Waxham Corner was very quiet but as we headed south of the Holiday Park picked up this rather nice Pallid Harrier and 2 ring ouzels. Pallid came low over area inside dunes then circled gaining height over the Holiday Park. A self find tick for me but not for Will who got one last year in Scotland.

Later, Rush Hill Scrape was quiet, however this hepatic female cuckoo was a bonus.

Also, forgot to say - had a cuckoo singing at 3.30am this morning in the Golden triangle (College Road) in Norwich. Do cuckoos normally sing at night? and what this bird was doing in the middle of Norwich...

 

[Tideliner]

Mark as James says the nutcracker was on private ground and I was under contract for bird survey work. The information is not mine to give out , it belongs to the trust that was employing me. I never give out any information on any birds that I find unless its on a wardened site and it has the ok of the warden or its something very common and unlikely to attract attention.

Birds are my work not a hobby. I am sometimes involved with sensitive sites which are subject to planning applications , ie wind farms and as such my reports have to be confidential . I see a lot of rare and uncommon birds while working , but then to survey a wind farm site it requires one complete day a week for a year , plus additional night work for owls\nightjar ect and targeted work on specific sites within a 1km circle of the proposed site. Stand in a field on the N Norfolk Coast or Broadland marsh making an Id of every bird , counting numbers , plotting flight speeds , direction and heights of target species , ie raptors and waterfowl . Do that for 52 complete days a year and you would be surprised what you see. At the present time I am doing Common breeding bird surveys at various sites in Norfolk and Suffolk 6 days a week and a couple of evenings a week which may sound fun for some on here , and to be honest it is , but with 10 weeks of CBCs in a spring like this the attraction wears a bit thin at times. I will not be sorry when they wind up in mid June and have the odd late morning in bed.


O and a nutcracker larger than a blackbird and I have seen a lot of them in the past while working in the northern Taiga forest in Scandinavia.

Light this candle I found a pied flycatcher this afternoon in an inland oak woodland.

And James is right I will not lose any sleep about unsubmitted records. The powers that need to know will know.

And Jimbob if you read my back posts you will find i sometimes give a pretty strong clue to the rough area where i have seen something good , its then up to a birdwatcher to do the same as i did and search the area. ie on Dec 4th i posted "Jim there are 3 American waders in the area , but the third has yet to be reported , just keep running through the shanks."

 

[stuart white]

Spent a nice morning ringing at Waxham catching mostly Willow Warblers and Whitethroats, a male Stonechat and a female Wheatear were the ringing highlights. Packed up at 11:00 we then went birding, north to Waxham Corner was very quiet but as we headed south of the Holiday Park picked up this rather nice Pallid Harrier and 2 ring ouzels. Pallid came low over area inside dunes then circled gaining height over the Holiday Park.

Later, Rush Hill Scrape was quiet, however this hepatic female cuckoo was a bonus.

Nice find and by the sounds of it clearly a different bird to the blakeney point one

 

[Mark Batten]

T[he three nutcrackers were starlings tideliner as are nearly all claims of nutcracker. You make no mention of photos in your post. Will, cracking find with the pallid. Shame it was not a new self found..