Birding in the time of Coronavirus (1 Viewer)

3Italianbirders · Apr 20, 2020

As expected, rain greeted us as we looked out of the window, and very welcome it was, after nearly 5 months of drought. ☔

What we didn't expect was the good numbers of species, including a new one for the lockdown list and for the year, and a very good sighting of one of my favourite birds.

There was a lot of activity at the back around mid-morning, the usual Blackbirds, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit and Tree Sparrow. I was on the phone with a friend, looking out of the window, when I saw a small brown bird, with white underparts. I said to my friend "sorry I've got to go!", hung up, called G, grabbed binoculars and there it was a female Pied Flycatcher! :king:

It stayed around for a few minutes, and as soon as it disappeared a Great Spotted Woodpecker made a brief appearance up a pine trunk. We also saw Robin (an unusual sight at this time of the year), Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, a pair of Jays which seem to be building a nest, Magpie, Black Redstart, Collared Dove and Hooded Crow. After lunch, I had another look out of the window and heard a familiar call, after a while it got closer and there it was, a handsome Firecrest, a favourite of mine, which I never get tired of watching.

A good day!

🌈

opisska · Apr 20, 2020

We were let our of the cage today! I went to my local patch with a bit of fear of crowds, but was completely alone surprisingly. It's a weird feeling, to be in surrounded by the city where all this insanity is still going on yet be in a serene empty nature.

I haven't been in nature for a month and outside at all for two weeks - so even though I have watched the spring out of my window, I was still surprised how much everything changed with blooming flowers and stuff.

The forest birds are here and loudly active, while the birds of the open space are still on the way mostly. Also the site is now half dried, the vast open marshes are mostly gone - at least the marsh in the wooded parts survived thanks to the valiant effort of our beaver family. Besides the common species from our minigarden, I got Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Marsh Harrier, Hooded Crow, Whinchat, Reed Bunting, Pheasant. Thinking about it it was not that many species, but it was great anyway!

3Italianbirders · Apr 20, 2020

Well done Jan! I am particularly envious of your Marsh Harrier, common along the coast in winter, frequent during migration all over the country, everyone is seeing them these days! But they don't seem to like mountains :-C ... and Whinchat too! Again if only we could move by a few km we would get those too!

Keep it up and keep us posted! :t:

Jos Stratford · Apr 20, 2020

3Italianbirders said:
... there it was, a handsome Firecrest, a favourite of mine, which I never get tired of watching

Now, there's a bird I would like on my patch 👍

opisska · Apr 20, 2020

3Italianbirders said:
Well done Jan! I am particularly envious of your Marsh Harrier, common along the coast in winter, frequent during migration all over the country, everyone is seeing them these days! But they don't seem to like mountains :-C ... and Whinchat too! Again if only we could move by a few km we would get those too!

Keep it up and keep us posted! :t:

Marsh Harruer is extremely common in NE Poland, probably because a significant part of it is, well, a marsh

I would trade some of these for some Hawfinches any day! The Whinchat I would have to check but it might be my first Polish record, this used to elude us for years here and I don't know if we ever broke it. They are much more common in the Czech Republic (and I presume also southern Poland, where we were only very rarely stopping by).

Jos Stratford · Apr 20, 2020

opisska said:
The Whinchat I would have to check but it might be my first Polish record, this used to elude us for years here and I don't know if we ever broke it. They are much more common in the Czech Republic (and I presume also southern Poland, where we were only very rarely stopping by).

Whinchats are common in good habitat in north-east Poland, and indeed are a common breeder across Lithuania to the north.

opisska · Apr 20, 2020

Jos Stratford said:
Whinchats are common in good habitat in north-east Poland, and indeed are a common breeder across Lithuania to the north.

This statement had me thinking (because you have clearly a lot of firsthand experience here) and so I looked it up - and I am really sorry, I had the English names switched and meant Stonechat! Whinchat is indeed quite common.

Apologies!

Jos Stratford · Apr 20, 2020

Ah yes, Stonechat is rather rare - and in Lithuania it is, more or less, an occasional visitor and sporadic breeder

3Italianbirders · Apr 20, 2020

It's the opposite here: Stonechat very common throughout the year, Whinchat only during migration. And, Jos, you can borrow a Firecrest anytime if you lend me a LSE, or a Caper, or a Woody....

opisska · Apr 21, 2020

News reached me that a Short-toed Eagle was observed a few days ago above my aforementioned patch - which means that it could have been visible from my window, had I been looking

Probably the first ever record for Warsaw - in Poland they actually breed, but in a remote part and very small numbers. It's a fascinating little location here, even Blyth's Reed Warbler was recorded several times.

lmans66 · Apr 21, 2020

Cold spring....windy many days. Have been out a few times but mainly bird in the backyard. Hummers should start showing up soon, ...warblers too

opisska · Apr 21, 2020

Even though the closure of all accomodations doesn't affect us directly as we would be sleeping in the wild anyway, we get the idea of it (to not spread the virus between unevenly affected regions) and voluntarily play along and stay in Warsaw and do day trips. This way at least I get to discover the overlooked local gems. Today I went to a really random patch at the edge of town, between an oxbow lake, some grasslands and woods and a weirdly abandoned romantic-style park with a huge pond. Let's pretend I keep an "lockdown and after" list, then the additons would be Yellowhammer, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Mute Swan, Mallard, Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Common Tern, Jay, Savi's Warbler, Kestrel, Gray Heron, White Wagtail and I forgot Blackcap from yesterday. Nothing groundbreaking, but still extremely pleasant and again completely devoid of people despite being (just) inside the city limits.

3Italianbirders · Apr 21, 2020

Very quiet today, as the weather was even gloomier than yesterday. Also in the afternoon we attended an online lecture on waders identification organised by EBN Italy - not that we expect to be able to see any waders in the near future, but you never know!

Specie were the usual: Black Redstart, Great and Marsh Tit, Magpie, Tree Sparrow, the usual pair of Jays, Chaffinch, and I heard a Firecrest again, let's hope it stays around!

Good to hear you are out and about again Jan. Keep us posted!

3Italianbirders · Apr 22, 2020

Only 5 species seen/heard today as the rain was relentless - a good thing as it was long overdue: Great Tit, Jay Chaffinch, Blackbird and Magpie.

Sorry folks, not very entertaining, I know, but maybe tomorrow it will be better, sunshine forecast and I'll drive to my mum's, so fingers crossed!

opisska · Apr 22, 2020

Well it's all relative - what would people here give for some rain... the Biebrza park is burning, marshes are low, crop yields threatened. Well at least it's nice to go out. Today I drove 45 minutes to the Bug river, the closest "big birding" spot. Added a plenty of species: Raven, Chaffinch, Woodlark, Green Sandpiper, Cuckoo, Merganser, Ruff, Gadwall, Crane, Bittern, Black-headed gull, Coot, Garganey, Whinchat (for real this time), Hoopoe, Sedge warbler, Barn Swallow, Great Cormorant, Great Egret, White Stork

The mosquitoes are just about beginning to come out, not biting yet, but the best week of the year (green but not bitey) is coming to an end quickly.

3Italianbirders · Apr 22, 2020

More rain is needed here too. The last proper rain we had (before the last three days) was in November. And no snow either. So it has been very welcome, but it's still not enough. More is forecast for next week.

Farnboro John · Apr 22, 2020

3Italianbirders said:
More rain is needed here too. The last proper rain we had (before the last three days) was in November. And no snow either. So it has been very welcome, but it's still not enough. More is forecast for next week.

You mentioned your House Martins arriving and then disappearing: could that be because they can't find mud for nest-building?

John

3Italianbirders · Apr 23, 2020

Could be, but they have been doing the same thing for the past three years, and last year, for example, we had a very wet spring - I can't remember the year before. Previously we had a few pairs nesting in the building opposite (some nests are still there) and hundreds around town. 🤔

3Italianbirders · Apr 23, 2020

The morning dawned bright and windy, and as I prepared to set off I was hoping that the day would bring new species for my semi-lockdown list. My targets were Marsh Harrier, Hobby and Turtle Dove (a Red-footed Falcon would have been nice, too). Needless to say I dipped on all of them, although a distant blob seen from a stretch of a road where I couldn’t possibly stop could well have been a Marsh Harrier. Nonetheless on the way back there were a couple of nice surprises.

The Swifts were back after the rainy spell, and I saw a Coal Tit and a Marsh Tit around the feeders. Leaving town several House Martins were flying around a building where they usually nest. I saw 4 Buzzards in half an hour, all perched by the side of the road and the last three in the same 3 km of road. I also heard a couple of Cirl Buntings, Cetti’s Warbler, Greenfinch and Nightingale and saw Jay, Wood Pigeon, House Martins, Swallows, Corn Buntings, 8 Little Egrets in a field, a Zitting Cisticola, Serins and Goldfinches. When I reached my mum’s town there must have been a million of Swifts around and several Jackdaws.

On the return trip, the field where I had seen the Zitting Cisticola held uncounted Cattle Egrets, probably around 30 and I also saw a flyby Mallard, incredibly a new species for my list. The first surprise was where I was hoping to see Turtle Doves, on a bramble branch by the side of the road a cracking male Subalpine Warbler, which would have been impossible to see in normal conditions along a busy road, immediately after another Corn Bunting and the only Stonechat of the day. I stopped for a few minutes on a bridge as the stream below sometimes has Little Ringed Plovers and Stone Curlews. Instead I got a Little Egret and a Cormorant. Soon after the only Kestrel of the trip and a few km from home a singing Mistle Thrush another Cirl Bunting and a last Buzzard.

Could have been better, could have been worse, but it was surely better than staying at home, the only problem is that it gave me a taste for more!

Also quite a few orchids around, mostly green-winged orchid (I think)

Jos Stratford · Apr 23, 2020

A nice selection indeed, fortunate indeed you have a mother in another town 👍

Birding in the time of Coronavirus (1 Viewer)

well-known member

rabid twitcher

well-known member

Eastern Exile

rabid twitcher

Eastern Exile

rabid twitcher

Eastern Exile

well-known member

rabid twitcher

Out Birding....

rabid twitcher

well-known member

well-known member

rabid twitcher

well-known member

Well-known member

well-known member

well-known member

Attachments

Eastern Exile

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread