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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Birds fae Torry (2 Viewers)

early this morning I was given a very pleasant tingle by a cracking red crossbill that chooped it's way past the battery and up the river.....it delved down low along the north bank so it might well have stopped at the sycamore or allotments. Only my third one down the ness, ever. Not much else in the way of migrants apart from singles of chaffinch and reed bunting over the battery, and a lonely looking pink footed goose wandering around on the golfcourse.

Seawatching was also quiet, apart from a very interesting looking arctic skua that had extensive white underwings....I've never seen one quite like it before, and it really had me going as it was doing a pretty good sheawater impression as it went north! Probably a second summer bird....and really quite striking.
 
And one more thing....I have a mobile phone that has outstayed its welcome at mine and needs a new home. It's a sony ericsson (c90 or something like that) which has a 5 megapixel camera in it.

The reason I'm putting it on here is that it has recordings of something like 450 species of birds on it (not mine...from the Roche 4 cd collection, and also 'the calls of eastern vagrants' cd)

It has some stuff on it that won't be much use (eg white pelican) but lots of very useful sounds to be able to carry around in your pocket.

It comes with a charger, and, if I can find it, a data cable (if I can't find it, I'm sure you'll be able to pick one up online)

Free to a good home.
 
TheSeagull said:
About Crossbill taxonomy, are there still separate crossbill species in Britain or have they been merged into one 'Red Crossbill'?
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We officially have 3 breeders - Common, Parrot and Scottish. A lot of contention about whether Scottish should be allocated full species status and whether or not there are 'cryptic' common species or types.

If you are interested in local crossbills check HERE to read the thoughts of Lindsay Cargill who is studying them in Deeside. He is pretty approachable but be warned: he won't give out details of Scottish/Parrot crossbill breeding (or ringing) sites !
 
bombycilla said:
We officially have 3 breeders - Common, Parrot and Scottish. A lot of contention about whether Scottish should be allocated full species status and whether or not there are 'cryptic' common species or types.

If you are interested in local crossbills check HERE to read the thoughts of Lindsay Cargill who is studying them in Deeside. He is pretty approachable but be warned: he won't give out details of Scottish/Parrot crossbill breeding (or ringing) sites !
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That's what I thought but BirdLife announced the other day that Scottish was no longer and from there I've been even more confused
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=152660
 
Well done on the Crossbill, Mark. I've never seen migrant Crossbill before. But I had some yesterday in a forest near Banchory. Presuming they were just Commons now that you mention that Scottish may not be a full species?

According to BBC Weather, the winds are changing in the coming week and by Thursday a 30mph NNW wind is forecast for Aberdeenshire, which sounds promising (for sea-birds especially). Will probably head down to the Ness after school on that day. ;)
 
Joseph N said:
Well done on the Crossbill, Mark. I've never seen migrant Crossbill before. But I had some yesterday in a forest near Banchory. Presuming they were just Commons now that you mention that Scottish may not be a full species?

According to BBC Weather, the winds are changing in the coming week and by Thursday a 30mph NNW wind is forecast for Aberdeenshire, which sounds promising (for sea-birds especially). Will probably head down to the Ness after school on that day. ;)
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Finally deciphered it, Scottish Crossbill, Loxia scotica, is no longer recognised as a species taxonomically and will be dropped from the IUCN Red List 2010. The Common Crossbill is now Red Crossbill and although it doesn't say from the text
Scottish Crossbill Loxia scotica (Data Deficient) was previously treated by BirdLife as specifically distinct from L. curvirostra. However, the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group choose to follow the approach of the AOU in recognising one species of Red Crossbill because it does not feel that vocal differences alone, when plumage, morphological and genetic characters are not diagnosably distinct between populations, provide sufficient basis for recognition of taxa as distinct species. Scottish Crossbill will therefore be dropped from the 2010 IUCN Red List.
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Loxia curvirostra scotica, a subspecies of Red Crossbill but it's all terribly confusing and I might be completely wrong and it might be a subspecies of Parrot Crossbill or even not even a subspecies but just a race (think breed of dog) of one of the two.
 
Crossbill taxonomy is much like quantum physics.....if you think you understand it then you've almost certainly got the wrong end of the stick! I've always thought that Scotbill was a bit of a tricky issue, and despite the fact that birdlife have dropped it, we probably haven't heard the end of it! One things for sure though....it was removed from my list a long time ago....not because I didn't think it was a good species, but because I wasn't prepared to kid myself that I could ID them!

I think an in-off 'scot'bill is out of the question, but I suppose a Parrot is not. This bird sounded fairly typical of common (red) crossbill though so thats what it's going down as.

Back tae birds fae Torry ken, hud anither (can't keep that up any longer....sorry local people!) wander round yesterday afternoon. It was quiet but seawatching produced 2 arctic skuas, 4 RTDs, 4 teal, 7 wigeon, 3 velvet scoter and 10 golden plover, all south. Which was nice.
 
I was down Ness way today on just a walk with family. We were walking by the cliffs just round the corner from Nigg Bay, and my Dad and I took the bins, and we actually saw quite a few noteworthy things. The main highlight was 22 Pale-bellied Brent Geese offshore, which was very surprising as I have never seen so many Brents together. Also a Peregrine was present and showed fairly well for up to 5 minutes on a telephone pst, and up to 6 Wheatears (presumably migrating birds) flitted about from rock to rock before moving steadily heading southward bound. Also a few biggish flocks of Pinkfeets passed every now and then. Isn't it strange how sometimes you see birds when you aren't actually properly birding? :t:

Red Crossbill, as far as I know is just the American name for Common Crossbill, so in Europe and Asia I don't think we would use that name. From what I've read, its basically the song that defines Scottish Crossbill from Common Crossbill, otherwise they are pretty much the same. You can tell a Parrot Crossbill due to its bulkier appearance, strong bull-necked head and thick bill, so I would have no problems with identifying them unless views were very poor. But chances are very low of me seeing them anyway, so basically I have any crosbill I am likely to see down as a Common. I personally don't think Scotbills should be a seperate species, as it causes a lot of confusion amongst birders that want to count them on their 'lists', as they don't quite know what they are seeing. The only advantage of keeping them a seperate species in my view is the fact that they are the only bird unique to the British Isles and the only endemic bird species in the UK. ;)
 
Forgot to say that I had a flock of about 20-30 geese heading west over my house on Saturday (west = inland, east = to the sea), anybody else see them? I think they were Pink-foots but I could be wrong
 
Joseph N said:
I was down Ness way today on just a walk with family. We were walking by the cliffs just round the corner from Nigg Bay, and my Dad and I took the bins, and we actually saw quite a few noteworthy things. The main highlight was 22 Pale-bellied Brent Geese offshore, which was very surprising as I have never seen so many Brents together. Also a Peregrine was present and showed fairly well for up to 5 minutes on a telephone pst, and up to 6 Wheatears (presumably migrating birds) flitted about from rock to rock before moving steadily heading southward bound. Also a few biggish flocks of Pinkfeets passed every now and then. Isn't it strange how sometimes you see birds when you aren't actually properly birding? :t:

Red Crossbill, as far as I know is just the American name for Common Crossbill, so in Europe and Asia I don't think we would use that name. From what I've read, its basically the song that defines Scottish Crossbill from Common Crossbill, otherwise they are pretty much the same. You can tell a Parrot Crossbill due to its bulkier appearance, strong bull-necked head and thick bill, so I would have no problems with identifying them unless views were very poor. But chances are very low of me seeing them anyway, so basically I have any crosbill I am likely to see down as a Common. I personally don't think Scotbills should be a seperate species, as it causes a lot of confusion amongst birders that want to count them on their 'lists', as they don't quite know what they are seeing. The only advantage of keeping them a seperate species in my view is the fact that they are the only bird unique to the British Isles and the only endemic bird species in the UK. ;)
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just to clarify, scottish crossbills can only be reliably identified by a specific flight call (fc3 i believe its called) and should only really be claimed along with sonograms or recordings.....or colour ring sightings.

Parrots are big, deep billed birds but there is considerable overlap between larger scotbills and smaller parrots. Unless you get an absolute monster i would be cautious about making an identification.

Just steer well clear of them, thats what i do! They are a nightmare!
 
Scottish Crossbill is still recognised as a full species by BOU and I don't think that position will change - whatever your thoughts on 'Scottish' Crossbills it is clear that there are at least intermediate sized birds that are specific to our region ( until discovered elsewhere !). The Birdlife decision is interesting as RSPB are their partners and Scotbill is a flagship species for them - could be a bit of love lost...RSPB have also moved Scotbill off their Red List as they found 13,000 of them in the 2008 survey.

According to Lindsay the flight calls of Scotbill are really distinctive but the excitement calls can be confused with Fc4 Common. He is a musician and though he collects lots of recordings he seems to have the knack of doing them by ear ( that and the fact crossbills are pretty much all he works on !).

I have let him know about the migrant at the Ness as this suggests birds are still irrupting.
 
Andrew Whitehouse said:
I noticed this was up for sale the other week. Another possible site for Girdle Ness bird observatory. If you all want to chip in then send your contributions to me I'll make sure I put them towards the deposit. Honest.
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Speaking seriously though, if someone did make that into a sort of bird observatory/hide then I'm sure it would take in good numbers. If the owner had an admission system like one entry £1, year's entry £40, lifetime £120 etc. then I'm sure he would make more money than it would cost for the house. Someone alert the RSPB or some other authority? Or is some lone person willing to take on the task?
 
Andrew Whitehouse said:
I noticed this was up for sale the other week. Another possible site for Girdle Ness bird observatory. If you all want to chip in then send your contributions to me I'll make sure I put them towards the deposit. Honest.
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Wouldn't it be lovely. It's blooming expensive, though - 200 grand for 2 beds. Is that typical for Aberdeen?
 
If I see any crossbills in the future (unless its a two-barred down at the Ness or somewhere) I'll just presume they are Commons from now on. ;)

I saw this up for the sale the other day, and it sounds like a fantastic place to put an observatory. How could I contribute to this possible project?
 
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Joseph N said:
If I see any crossbills in the future (unless its a two-barred down at the Ness or somewhere) I'll just presume they are Commons from now on. ;)

I saw this up for the sale the other day, and it sounds like a fantastic place to put an observatory. How could I contribute to this possible project?
Click to expand...

I don't know, I don't think anyone has taken it upon themselves yet so I may just e-mail the RSPB...
 

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