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Corncrake or Pheasant? (1 Viewer)

O

oakwoodbank

New member
The main reason for joining this Board today is to try and find out the answer to a question that I have not managed to gain elsewhere.

First though let me say that I have caused a bit of controversy in north Wales by my report that a corncrake has been nesting in my garden and has produced two broods. That is a long story but wildlife websites tell me that corncrakes have not been sighted in north Wales since 2015.

So, to the question; do pheasants still call when sitting on the nest with hatchlings?

As an aside; can anyone contribute to this matter of rarity of corncrakes in north Wales?
 
Welcome to BirdForum. I would certainly say that Corncrakes are rare in north Wales and, as far as I know, they don't normally breed there. In Britain they only regularly breed in western Scotland with perhaps a few elsewhere. They may occur more generally as migrants but those mostly go undetected. Corncrakes are really hard to see. If you can see these birds easily, I would say that means they're not Corncrakes.
 
What colour were the chicks? That's the simplest fairest approach to reaching a conclusion, but as suggested above if you've seen any of this activity at length in the open/with relative ease it is probably pheasant.
 
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A male pheasant will continue to occassionally call whilst the female incubates the eggs to answer your question.
A pair of Corncrakes breeding and raising young in North Wales would be a remarkable modern day record.
One question back to you is how did you identify the sitting bird? Female and young pheasants regularly are misidentified as Corncrakes.

If a male Corncrake had taken up territory near you, its rasping call through the night would have stood out and been noted.

Unfortunately I think your nesting bird was unlikely to be a Crake. I'm guessing photographs and sound recordings to substantiate your claim are not available
 
Corncrakes

LowellMills said:
What colour were the chicks? That's the simplest fairest approach to reaching a conclusion, but as suggested above if you've seen any of this activity at length in the open/with relative ease it is probably pheasant.
Click to expand...
------------------------------------

Unfortunately, the hen was eventually pestered by a crow that also nests in my garden. I believe all nine eggs hatched (one was blue - I wondered if this was due to a simultaneous mating with a water rail that could have been nesting on water near by —this was the second clutch of eggs that she had hatched - none of the first brood survived a far as I am aware). I think that either the crow eventually got to some of the chicks or the hen took them away to a safer area. After she left, I have not heard any corn crake calls.

She sat on them all day including after they were hatched. They only left the nest after dark. That meant that I did not see the chicks as I knew that if they were black, they would be corncrakes.

The hen had a corncrake call, but this was generally only a dual double note call (like the one on this video but not as incessant ).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibUsXObZhEg



She did not have any characteristics of a pheasant and there was never a male pheasant in sight during the three weeks on my observations.
 
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Nothing but adverts when I click the link I'm afraid. A lot of variables and behaviour I'm not able to correlate, so hope others can offer an answer.
 
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corncrake goes click click click all night long and is really annoying if you are camping near one.
(having had that pleasure on a climbing trip to the isle of Mingulay in the outer hebrides)

did you hear that kind of noise at night? Hard to miss
 
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If you had heard a Corncrake you wouldve known ... Its unmistakeable ...and as for the "blue" egg in the nest i have found duck eggs dumped in pheasant nests which explains the water nearby theory ... my mortgage is on Pheasant
 
Why isn't size mentioned? That surely would be a determinant.

A hen pheasant dwarfs a female corncrake, a light pheasant is over 5 times as heavy as a heavy corncrake.
 
I can't believe that these birds have been in your garden for 3 weeks (or more?) and you cannot present us with any photographic evidence!

Sorry - but there's nothing here to suggest Corncrake to me.
 
With all due respect to the original poster can this thread not be moved somewhere more appropriate as it is generating more heat than light imo...

Laurie:t:
 
Sorry if this is some more gasoline over the fire:
- corncrake chicks are black, while those of pheasant are like this
- water rail eggs are not blue (they're buffish with darker spotting)
- given the number of fantastic events occurring simultaneously: corncrake nesting in Wales, then nesting in a garden (!), raising 2 broods, 1 blue egg, water rail laying blue eggs, water rail laying egg in a corncrake nest in a garden in Wales, 2 broods hatched but colour of the chicks not conclusively recorded, etc... I'd apply Occam's Razor principle and simply accept Pheasants are nesting in your garden (which is actually cool!).
 
rollingthunder said:
With all due respect to the original poster can this thread not be moved somewhere more appropriate as it is generating more heat than light imo...

Laurie:t:
Click to expand...

Such as where ? What would your preference be? I would have thought a bird identification sub forum was the place to start for a new member. The OP had warned us the claim had caused controversy in Wales.

Rafael, you forgot the mating with a Water Rail whilst paired, what a hussy? Chicks hatched and left the nest during night time

Claim remains unproven for the time being.
 
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PYRTLE said:
Such as where ? What would your preference be? I would have thought a bird identification sub forum was the place to start for a new member. The OP had warned us the claim had caused controversy in Wales.

Rafael, you forgot the mating with a Water Rail whilst paired, what a hussy? Chicks hatched and left the nest during night time

Claim remains unproven for the time being.
Click to expand...

Hi Pat. This thread was in the Rare Bird Forum. I’ve since moved it as per Laurie’s suggestion.

Rich

For what it’s worth. I think it’s more likely that it’s a pheasant’s nest.
 
RafaelMatias said:
Sorry if this is some more gasoline over the fire:
- corncrake chicks are black, while those of pheasant are like this
- water rail eggs are not blue (they're buffish with darker spotting)
- given the number of fantastic events occurring simultaneously: corncrake nesting in Wales, then nesting in a garden (!), raising 2 broods, 1 blue egg, water rail laying blue eggs, water rail laying egg in a corncrake nest in a garden in Wales, 2 broods hatched but colour of the chicks not conclusively recorded, etc... I'd apply Occam's Razor principle and simply accept Pheasants are nesting in your garden (which is actually cool!).
Click to expand...

Pheasant x Water Rail, is that even a thing, this is starting to smell like a wind up....
 
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