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Corn Bunting?? (1 Viewer)

Ruby

Well-known member
Would anyone be able to help me out with this LBJ?..... I think it looks good for a Corn Bunting, but am not really confident.

I've only ever seen Corn Bunting once before and at a bit of a distance, so this would be a good tick for me.....
 

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Jane Turner said:
I see so few these days...but yes, thats a Corn Bunting :)

Thanks Jane....

The chap who I was with on the first ocasion I saw one of these gave me a good id tip..... the beak seems to be more-or-less a continuation of the line of the 'forehead'


Rgds.... Ruby
 
Its the bodybuilder outline that always strikes me.. My first thought as they fly over is my word this sparrow is fat and has a long tail.. then I hear it calling and remember what Corn buntings look and sound like!
 
Fine photo! They really are a lovely bird. They almost always call - did you hear the jangling song? Also - was it with yellowhammers?
 
OK OK. I guess I'd better tell it like it really happened....

Just driving up the quiet approach road to Oare, doing my usual - looking out the side windows etc (just as well my car doesn't have a sunroof!) when I saw an interesting looking bird on the telephone wires.

Pulled (more-or-less) off the road and got out for a closer look, and it turned out to be a Yellow Wagtail.

Grabbed scope, camera and assorted other bits and bobs that no self-respecting digi-scoper ever leaves home without and got set up for a shot...

DISASTER.... Due to over-use, my shutter release cable had fallen apart and the little plunger jobbie would no longer reach the shutter button!! Spent a little while (in vain) trying to fix it and then took the pictures by hand (turned out OK as it happens!!)

Anyway...... Throughout all of this, I'd been keeping an eye on the Yellow Wag and has noticed a small LBJ rather further away on top of a tree.

I snapped off a couple of quick pics of the YW and one of the LBJ before another car came along and frightened everything away....

So the short answer to your question is 'No' I didn't hear it sing and in fact I was completely unaware of its existence until I got home and looked at the pics!!

Shameful isn't it...... ;)
 
"...little plunger jobbie" - ah, I loved that, Ruby. Made me smile.

I'd be going back to keep tabs on it if I were you as they are a dwindling species and very local indeed. I heard them in Norfolk, last week, for the first time in very many years and it was pure nostalgia to hear that lovely, lovely sound again.
 
scampo said:
I'd be going back to keep tabs on it if I were you as they are a dwindling species and very local indeed.

Oh... I hadn't realised that they were getting that scarce....

I saw my first definite CB only about 3 weeks ago (had possibly seen one before but not 100%..) when there was a reasonable sized flock of about 30 or so at Rye Harbour. According to info in the hide, there had been rather more seen in recent days - flocks of 65 were mentioned as I recall...

This bird yesterday was a loner though...

Bit of a way from where I live to get to these places too often unfortunately.... but even further from where you are....
 
I have a soft spot for Corn Bunting, partly because they are always described as non-descript and drab and I feel that somebody needs to stick up for them. Haven't seen them in Britain but in Spain they are still INCREDIBLY common and in Extremadura sit on fence posts at five metre intervals all singing like mad. I've never quite understood "the jangling a bunch of keys" analogy as it does nothing to describe the quickening pace of the song, but after a week in Spain I'll never forget that very distinctive voice.

E
 
Ruby said:
Thanks guys for all your help.... my next challenge now is to find one singing!!

If you want a realchallenge, Ray, find one in Surrey. I've been birding in the county since 1988 and have yet to see one, though they are occasionally seen. There used to be a few around the Pagham (Sussex) area, and there's plenty in Kent (e.g. at Harty Ferry and Shellness). One quite useful ID feature is that the males often fly with their legs dangling down. (That was what the first one I ever saw was doing, in Porthcurno, Cornwall 1st June 1976. Two days before I found my first hoopoe... but I digress! ;) )
 
That sounds too tricky!!

Did someone ask whether this particular bird was seen with Yellowhammers?? (thinks... do Corn Buntings hang out at the same sort of places that Yellowhammers do??)

I know a couple of good Surrey spots for Yellowhammers...... ;)
 
I think they might well mix in winter but I'm not so sure about their breeding habitats. Yellowhammers seem to like thick hedges (such as hawthorn) while corn buntings in my limited experience often seem to be close to crops of oats/wheat/barley where there are no significant hedges or even bushes. But they do seem to need some sort of songpost (telegraph pole or fence post). This is probably a gross oversimplification, and no doubt someone will put me right. And, while they are at it, they may well say that females also dangle their legs?
 
It was me who asked - it seems to me that they both enjoy thick hedges but corn buntings do like a songpost. My experience is sorely limited, though!
 
Ah well - my vast experience of Corn Buntings is this one (perched on top of tree, not doing a great deal) and a small flock down at Rye Harbour, which were perching up on a low wire fence and dropping down onto rough ground - presumably to feed....

The likely (but not certain) earlier sighting was also at Rye, where a couple of birds were down amongst tussocky grass just walking across the raised paths from the caravan site....
 
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I just had a bright idea and consulted Hollom (Popular handbook of British Birds)
Corn bunting: habitat: in the breeding -season it haunts arable and grasslands with hedgerows or bushes.... especially near the coast....
general habits: ...on leaving a song-perch male ;) often flies with legs dangling. Gregarious from winter to spring, in unmixed parties or in company with other buntings and finches.
 
Surreybirder said:
There used to be a few around the Pagham (Sussex) area
Had a few near there (at Easton Farm, Earnley Grange to be precise) back in August 1996. Of course a lot can happen in 8 years.
 
Hi All,

A happy day today.....

Went down to Dungeness to look for the Squacco Heron (which mainly involved standing with a big bunch of guys staring at Reedbeds and seeing no SHs)

Had to call it a day, so headed back to the car. Heard a very strange noise (I can see why people say that it's a bit like keys jangling - even though it isn't really) and spotted an LBJ on a fence post about 100m away.

Hopped into the old mobile hide and coasted along to a point right opposite the Corn Bunting, where it treated me to close range views of it singing away...

Fantastic....
 
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