birdman
Орнитол&
Saturday brought another trip outback. As today happened to be a working day for partnyorsha, it was just me and my daughter. Once again, my budding birding buddy took charge of the notepad.
I’m not going to ram this hobby of ours down her throat, but she enjoys our weekly walk, and she also goes around with her eyes open. Just last week I got a text from her, telling me she had seen a kingfisher!
First thing was to make a quick count of the Starlings, before we noticed a Mistle Thrush in a garden tree.
Once off the estate, Black-headed Gulls were visibly the most obvious bird, although the numbers have reduced considerably recently. Skylarks were singing, and there were a few ducks on the path by the pond.
The conversation turned to “sparrows”. I had mentioned previously that a lot of people see small birds and dismiss them all as “sparrows”, without realising they might be seeing something else. My daughter said that there were a lot of “little brown” birds, and also asked me exactly what House Sparrows and Tree Sparrows looked like. I described them to her, and also explained the hassle that “little brown jobs” cause us all from time to time – me more than most I should imagine!
As we reached the pond, we noticed a few more ducks, along with Coots and Moorhens. A kestrel was hovering over the field, and my daughter was watching it through her binoculars – just as a small flock of Long-tailed Tits flew right behind her into the shrubbery. (Is this the sign of a real birder in the making? Too much to see, and you miss one watching the other!)
The Kestrel hovered here and there for a while, and my daughter noticed the colour of his back, and the band on his tail. She also was still watching through her binoculars as he plunged to the ground towards his prey. I think she was rather pleased.
As we walked along the pond, we could hear the raucous calls of Magpies around the corner behind the bushes. I said that in spite of the noise, there were probably about three. Sure enough, as we rounded the bend, three Magpies left the scene. My daughter was amused and impressed – although I confess to BF that this was nothing more than a lucky guess!
This side of the pond added more Mallards, Coots and Moorhens, and also some Tufties. We also noticed three large flocks of birds in the distance (two in the far distance) way out of range for identification.
Continuing our way towards the beet fields, we began to talk of school-friends, and making arrangements for one of my daughter’s friends to come for a sleepover in a couple of weeks – but soon, the conversation returned to the subject of birds, and not prompted by me, I should add.
My daughter has noticed that parts of the walk have quite a lot of activity, whereas in other parts there is less happening. We began to talk about habitat, about the fields, the trees, the pond, and how the area where we were walking was where we can expect to see the Long-eared Owls hunting during those far-off light summer evenings!
Soon we reached a busier part of our route, although not as busy today as it often is. Even so, we were both treated to excellent views of a Treecreeper. A few minutes and a few yards later, there was a little more going on, and as I scanned the trees, I saw a movement. Thinking Nuthatch, I looked again, with binoculars to see a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. It took my daughter a little while to find him, but she soon did, and we both had excellent views of this handsome bird.
(As I compile this report, I notice my daughter has drawn a smiley-face next to the GSW note!)
As she has seen Greater Spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker with me, and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in her garden, would you believe (!), my daughter asked if there were any more.
So I explained about the European Woodpeckers I’ve heard of (the spotted types, the green types, the Black Woodpecker) and then briefly mentioned the precious little I know about American Woodpeckers. We agreed we should take a trip to the European Forests to track a few down… well one year!
Returning home, we added small flocks of Woodpigeon and Jackdaw to the list, and were able also to add Goldfinch and Nuthatch. Then almost at the end of the walk, I was able to identify one of the large flock of birds (now considerably closer) as Redshank; the day’s first and only new addition.
Back on the estate, and a recount of the Starlings, before getting home and warming up!
A really enjoyable walk, with a birdlist as below
Plain text = Outback day tick
Bold text = Outback year tick
Bold italic text = Outback life tick
Starling : 14 (14)
Mistle Thrush : 1 (1)
Magpie : 8 (3)
Blackbird : 1 (1)
Black-headed Gull : 13 (13)
Robin : 3 (2)
Skylark : 5 (2)
Great Tit : 2 (1)
Blue Tit : 13 (3)
Coot : 6 (5)
Mallard : 18 (10)
Moorhen : 4 (4)
Long-tailed Tit : 11 (7)
Kestrel : 1 (1)
Tufted Duck : 4 (4)
Chaffinch : 2 (1)
Woodpigeon : 14 (13)
Carrion Crow : 13 (4)
Treecreeper : 1 (1)
Greater Spotted Woodpecker : 1 (1)
Pheasant : 1 (1)
Green Woodpecker : 1 (1)
Jackdaw : 11 (11)
Fieldfare : 1 (1)
Goldfinch : 3 (3)
Nuthatch : 1 (1)
Redshank : 100 (100)
This takes My Outback Year List to 47 and Life List to 65.
As a footnote, about hour and a half later, I noticed approximately 70 Starlings outback, and then later still this number had increased to at least 150. The makings of a roost, perhaps?
I’m not going to ram this hobby of ours down her throat, but she enjoys our weekly walk, and she also goes around with her eyes open. Just last week I got a text from her, telling me she had seen a kingfisher!
First thing was to make a quick count of the Starlings, before we noticed a Mistle Thrush in a garden tree.
Once off the estate, Black-headed Gulls were visibly the most obvious bird, although the numbers have reduced considerably recently. Skylarks were singing, and there were a few ducks on the path by the pond.
The conversation turned to “sparrows”. I had mentioned previously that a lot of people see small birds and dismiss them all as “sparrows”, without realising they might be seeing something else. My daughter said that there were a lot of “little brown” birds, and also asked me exactly what House Sparrows and Tree Sparrows looked like. I described them to her, and also explained the hassle that “little brown jobs” cause us all from time to time – me more than most I should imagine!
As we reached the pond, we noticed a few more ducks, along with Coots and Moorhens. A kestrel was hovering over the field, and my daughter was watching it through her binoculars – just as a small flock of Long-tailed Tits flew right behind her into the shrubbery. (Is this the sign of a real birder in the making? Too much to see, and you miss one watching the other!)
The Kestrel hovered here and there for a while, and my daughter noticed the colour of his back, and the band on his tail. She also was still watching through her binoculars as he plunged to the ground towards his prey. I think she was rather pleased.
As we walked along the pond, we could hear the raucous calls of Magpies around the corner behind the bushes. I said that in spite of the noise, there were probably about three. Sure enough, as we rounded the bend, three Magpies left the scene. My daughter was amused and impressed – although I confess to BF that this was nothing more than a lucky guess!
This side of the pond added more Mallards, Coots and Moorhens, and also some Tufties. We also noticed three large flocks of birds in the distance (two in the far distance) way out of range for identification.
Continuing our way towards the beet fields, we began to talk of school-friends, and making arrangements for one of my daughter’s friends to come for a sleepover in a couple of weeks – but soon, the conversation returned to the subject of birds, and not prompted by me, I should add.
My daughter has noticed that parts of the walk have quite a lot of activity, whereas in other parts there is less happening. We began to talk about habitat, about the fields, the trees, the pond, and how the area where we were walking was where we can expect to see the Long-eared Owls hunting during those far-off light summer evenings!
Soon we reached a busier part of our route, although not as busy today as it often is. Even so, we were both treated to excellent views of a Treecreeper. A few minutes and a few yards later, there was a little more going on, and as I scanned the trees, I saw a movement. Thinking Nuthatch, I looked again, with binoculars to see a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. It took my daughter a little while to find him, but she soon did, and we both had excellent views of this handsome bird.
(As I compile this report, I notice my daughter has drawn a smiley-face next to the GSW note!)
As she has seen Greater Spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker with me, and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in her garden, would you believe (!), my daughter asked if there were any more.
So I explained about the European Woodpeckers I’ve heard of (the spotted types, the green types, the Black Woodpecker) and then briefly mentioned the precious little I know about American Woodpeckers. We agreed we should take a trip to the European Forests to track a few down… well one year!
Returning home, we added small flocks of Woodpigeon and Jackdaw to the list, and were able also to add Goldfinch and Nuthatch. Then almost at the end of the walk, I was able to identify one of the large flock of birds (now considerably closer) as Redshank; the day’s first and only new addition.
Back on the estate, and a recount of the Starlings, before getting home and warming up!
A really enjoyable walk, with a birdlist as below
Plain text = Outback day tick
Bold text = Outback year tick
Bold italic text = Outback life tick
Starling : 14 (14)
Mistle Thrush : 1 (1)
Magpie : 8 (3)
Blackbird : 1 (1)
Black-headed Gull : 13 (13)
Robin : 3 (2)
Skylark : 5 (2)
Great Tit : 2 (1)
Blue Tit : 13 (3)
Coot : 6 (5)
Mallard : 18 (10)
Moorhen : 4 (4)
Long-tailed Tit : 11 (7)
Kestrel : 1 (1)
Tufted Duck : 4 (4)
Chaffinch : 2 (1)
Woodpigeon : 14 (13)
Carrion Crow : 13 (4)
Treecreeper : 1 (1)
Greater Spotted Woodpecker : 1 (1)
Pheasant : 1 (1)
Green Woodpecker : 1 (1)
Jackdaw : 11 (11)
Fieldfare : 1 (1)
Goldfinch : 3 (3)
Nuthatch : 1 (1)
Redshank : 100 (100)
This takes My Outback Year List to 47 and Life List to 65.
As a footnote, about hour and a half later, I noticed approximately 70 Starlings outback, and then later still this number had increased to at least 150. The makings of a roost, perhaps?
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