Saw a max of 3 in the air at any one time today over Pevensey Levels in similar conditions Joanne. A bit closer to home also...
Al
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Migrants Returning (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter joannec
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Saw a max of 3 in the air at any one time today over Pevensey Levels in similar conditions Joanne. A bit closer to home also...
Al
joannec
Well-known member
3
LOL Don't we always think somewhere else is better than home? Certainly is closer to home! Where were you Alan? I wish I knew the area better. It is all so s p r e a d o u t.
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Looks like your covering the raptor report just fine, missy! :-O With gas prices exceeding $4.00 a gallon :-C, I'll continue to enjoy reading your birding days.
Can wait for until the next update, ann.
Send some of that cheap 'gas' over here! Try $11-12 a gallon like we have to pay!
joannec
Well-known member
Looks like your covering the raptor report just fine, missy! :-O With gas prices exceeding $4.00 a gallon :-C, I'll continue to enjoy reading your birding days.
Can wait for until the next update, ann.
Thanks Ann.
I think it's even more than that, H, closer to $15.
Re raptors: there have been several recent reports of red kites close to my patch, possibly breading, and there seems no doubt that they are spreading further into East Sussex. I'm keeping my eyes pealed. :t: It would be very nice to see them without having to drive anywhere.
Atricapilla
Still Wandering
The 4 Eleonora's seem to have settled into their routine of hawking the insect hatch above the house,will have to check the cliffs for the breeding site next,the Rock nuthatch have their first clutch hatched ,the Black headed bunting and Cretzschmars will be next, along with the Black eared wheatear.
The Black winged stilt keep dive bombing me as I pass their nest site while the Ruddy sheldduck chicks must be 3 weeks old now,the Kentish plover chicks should be arriving soon.
The 5 pair Lesser kestrels are also very busy at the nest site .
The Black winged stilt keep dive bombing me as I pass their nest site while the Ruddy sheldduck chicks must be 3 weeks old now,the Kentish plover chicks should be arriving soon.
The 5 pair Lesser kestrels are also very busy at the nest site .
joannec
Well-known member
I should have thought of this before, Ann. Just for you, a male Eurasian Kestrel!:-O I took this picture a couple of years ago at another location but I have a breeding pair on my patch. I see one or the other every day and am expecting to see this years youngsters anytime now.
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joannec
Well-known member
Great birds Bob that I'd love to see. I've not seen any of them except for Lesser Kestrels.....really nice birds too!o
Joanne
Atricapilla
Still Wandering
Hope your Kestrel brood do well Joanne, great pic; I am on my way out to the cliffs this morning to try and find the Eleonora nestsite .
I am also hoping for a photo of the Roller I saw the other day.
I am also hoping for a photo of the Roller I saw the other day.
Robert / Seattle
Well-known member
I don't know that they're migrants, so much as rarities here, Joanne ...
But these are nonetheless unexpected for Western Washington. No less than three of these beauties passed through today at my local patch. Three Wilson's Phalaropes as pictured (images courtesy "Google Images"):
But these are nonetheless unexpected for Western Washington. No less than three of these beauties passed through today at my local patch. Three Wilson's Phalaropes as pictured (images courtesy "Google Images"):
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joannec
Well-known member
What a beautiful bird Robert, such a lovely gentle face. Glad you got to see these rarities.
Atricapilla
Still Wandering
A nice suprise this morning when I bumped into a family of Wheatear,the juveniles were very inquisitive but the female would warn them when she thought they were getting too close to the" strange thing" hiding in a bush.
Yet another summer visitor successfully breeding again this year.
Yet another summer visitor successfully breeding again this year.
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ayasuda
Well-known member
:-O Re raptors: there have been several recent reports of red kites close to my patch, possibly breading, and there seems no doubt that they are spreading further into East Sussex. :-O
Red Kites and toast, or is this a new raptor behavior I haven't noticed. :eek!: Kites leaving a trail of crumbs for unsuspecting pigeons. :t: You made my day.
Thanks for that beautiful shot of the Red Kite. I can't wait to start counting raptors on the hill.
Red Kites and toast,
or is this a new raptor behavior I haven't noticed. :eek!: Kites leaving a trail of crumbs for unsuspecting pigeons. :t: You made my day.Thanks for that beautiful shot of the Red Kite. I can't wait to start counting raptors on the hill.
joannec
Well-known member
That's a kestrel.....just for you! LOL
joannec
Well-known member
I thought it looked funny. Oops! o
No problems.
The top right-hand corner J....Horse Eye Level. It's easier if you have an OS map. It's accessible on foot from the road that we drove earlier in the year, on the way to Rickney. Also from the Hailsham side too. There was a sighting of G-W Egret that day, but I didn't have the grid reference and it's kind of 'spacious' as you rightly point out! I was there for the Hobbies, so wasn't disappointed and in any case didn't wish to dally in the mid-day sun (nice as it is, er...was :>)
Al
ayasuda
Well-known member
Just had to share this with you. This week has been an excellent birding day at work. My boss took this photo yesterday near our center. We also had a Killdeer family exploring our parking lot for tasty bugs, and the Barn Swallow babies above our double doors are almost ready to fledge. :t:
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joannec
Well-known member
What a gorgeous picture Ann!:t:
Some West Sussex Birding This Week
There have been some terrific vagrants in my home county in the past week or so....most are difficult to see in difficult places so I haven't even attempted them. However......I couldn't keep away from some. Our Wednesday crew trundled over to Shopham Bridge, or was it Stopham Bridge? Only in rural England could two such unlikely place names exist within 5 miles of each other. Anyway we managed to locate the correct one and to our delight saw the very watchable red-backed shrike showing off his stuff in a river valley. He flew between hedge, dead tree, bramble patch and elder bush, each time perching for all to see, each time giving a fine view in the morning sunshine. What a delightful and obliging bird.o Plenty of whitethroat here too and a distant buzzard.
Onwards to the nearby Burton Mill Pond where we first hear firecrest and as we sit eating our lunch I locate him in a fir tree. We are delighted to watch him preening on a branch. I never knew they could stay so still for so long (but not long enough for a picture), his firey bright orange crown iridescent in the now hot afternoon sun. At the pond a kingfisher fishes and we watch him catch two silvery fish, each time disappearing into the reeds. :eat: Swifts and swallows hawk and sedge and reed warblers are heard and seen.
Pulborough Brooks is on our way home, a spoonbill has been seen over the past few days......wonder if it's still around. The path down is full of baby birds; a spaced out nuthatch chick clings for dear life to a branch, a noisy great spotted woodpecker chick on the point of fledging pokes out of a tree hole, a greenfinch family go about their business, blackcap parents busily feed their young family and so it goes.o
At Jupps View we soon see the spoonbill, bill tucked up asleep. We linger here long enough for him to wake up, we ID it as an adult, and he begins spooning for his food doing just what we want him to do. Then mega highlight of the day. My friend finds a white stork. WOW!....a lifer for me. As far as we know it hadn't been seen until now and it's a feather in the cap for Dot! :t: We watch it for perhaps 10 minutes, it takes to the air, lands briefly and takes off again. It soars, gaining height , round and round as it thermals ever higher and higher and then drifts off to the north. Woooooo! Plenty of duck and goose family around today, a shelduck family giving great views. A group of 4 black tailed godwit are the wader highlights.
Walking around the reserve it's getting late now but a few more treats in store. A perched hobby; I get good views and see its beautiful face and we watch him preening on a post, ever alert and watchful. One more star of the day, SueP points out a flyby peregrine just as we're leaving.
Another good days birding. Thanks for doing the driving Alan.
A couple of pictures, not good but just have to show the red backed shrike.
Some West Sussex Birding This Week
There have been some terrific vagrants in my home county in the past week or so....most are difficult to see in difficult places so I haven't even attempted them. However......I couldn't keep away from some. Our Wednesday crew trundled over to Shopham Bridge, or was it Stopham Bridge? Only in rural England could two such unlikely place names exist within 5 miles of each other. Anyway we managed to locate the correct one and to our delight saw the very watchable red-backed shrike showing off his stuff in a river valley. He flew between hedge, dead tree, bramble patch and elder bush, each time perching for all to see, each time giving a fine view in the morning sunshine. What a delightful and obliging bird.o
Plenty of whitethroat here too and a distant buzzard. Onwards to the nearby Burton Mill Pond where we first hear firecrest and as we sit eating our lunch I locate him in a fir tree. We are delighted to watch him preening on a branch. I never knew they could stay so still for so long (but not long enough for a picture), his firey bright orange crown iridescent in the now hot afternoon sun. At the pond a kingfisher fishes and we watch him catch two silvery fish, each time disappearing into the reeds. :eat: Swifts and swallows hawk and sedge and reed warblers are heard and seen.
Pulborough Brooks is on our way home, a spoonbill has been seen over the past few days......wonder if it's still around. The path down is full of baby birds; a spaced out nuthatch chick clings for dear life to a branch, a noisy great spotted woodpecker chick on the point of fledging pokes out of a tree hole, a greenfinch family go about their business, blackcap parents busily feed their young family and so it goes.o
At Jupps View we soon see the spoonbill, bill tucked up asleep. We linger here long enough for him to wake up, we ID it as an adult, and he begins spooning for his food doing just what we want him to do. Then mega highlight of the day. My friend finds a white stork. WOW!....a lifer for me. As far as we know it hadn't been seen until now and it's a feather in the cap for Dot! :t: We watch it for perhaps 10 minutes, it takes to the air, lands briefly and takes off again. It soars, gaining height , round and round as it thermals ever higher and higher and then drifts off to the north. Woooooo! Plenty of duck and goose family around today, a shelduck family giving great views. A group of 4 black tailed godwit are the wader highlights.
Walking around the reserve it's getting late now but a few more treats in store. A perched hobby; I get good views and see its beautiful face and we watch him preening on a post, ever alert and watchful. One more star of the day, SueP points out a flyby peregrine just as we're leaving.
Another good days birding. Thanks for doing the driving Alan.
A couple of pictures, not good but just have to show the red backed shrike.
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