Garden/Yard List 2022 (14 Viewers)

[KenM]

I am going to brave the cold early tomorrow morning and hope for some more movement.

Didn’t realise you only have an “outside” John BH.🤣
I’ll be keeping an eye out for the flapwings tho…👍

 

[KenM]

Putting a positive on a wall to wall blue (minus day) no.83 and a new life garden tick to boot, 3 Southbound Whooper Swans.😮😮😮

 

[KenM]

FWIW Wari! they flew past going South….5 mins after one of these.😊

 

[Richard Prior]

The swans weren’t ship assisted then……
Is the cargo hold door open in that photo Ken, I think we should be told……..

 

[Steve Lister]

Putting a positive on a wall to wall blue (minus day) no.83 and a new life garden tick to boot, 3 Southbound Whooper Swans.😮😮😮

I have a sneaking doubt that could be a Bewick's - head shape and not much yellow on the bill. But not a brilliant photo to judge.

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

I have a sneaking doubt that could be a Bewick's - head shape and not much yellow on the bill. But not a brilliant photo to judge.

I suspect Whooper, but it would be good to see a non-BOC shot.

 

[KenM]

It was a strange experience all round, prior to my two sightings (earlier in the year) of two and three “fly past Mute Swans”, I’d only ever had perhaps 3-4 fly bys in the previous 30+ years.
Thus any records would be of a rare occurrence and anything other than Mute…wouldn’t even be a remote possibility.
When first seen even with camera in hand and in superb light…I had no time to activate the camera before they passed behind the tree line.
The one thing I remembered before they disappeared behind the trees was the yellow on the bills.
However, it didn’t occur to me that anything other than the “norm” would eventually reappear at tree line end, where I eventually fired a burst and was relieved that I’d got some “Mute” frames 😮 to view!
Initially thinking that they were not as good as my earlier in the year “Mute” shots, I despaired a little, before “suddenly” realising (on blow up) that they weren’t Mutes!!!!😮
Then I remembered the “yellow” this was promptly followed by # # #!
Initially I wondered whether Bewick’s would be a candidate (Steve), however (as bad as the images were) I felt that the amount of yellow showing was greater than that which the latter would show, also Whooper would be the most likely?

Camera shots herewith.

Cheers

 

[Conwy Birder]

The bird on the left is surely a juvenile Mute Swan and the other two appear to be this species too? Whooper/Bewick would never show the black line connecting the bill to the eye, and doesn't the two-tone plumage in the wings rule out Whooper/Bewick which are uniformly grey whereas young Mutes show this plumage as they moult? The bill colour is colour artefect in my opinion.

I know you will disagree with this assessment Ken

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

Seeing the processed shots I think Conwy Birder is spot on. The plumage of the LH bird is the clincher.

 

[Jos Stratford]

The bird on the left is surely a juvenile Mute Swan and the other two appear to be this species too? Whooper/Bewick would never show the black line connecting the bill to the eye, and doesn't the two-tone plumage in the wings rule out Whooper/Bewick which are uniformly grey whereas young Mutes show this plumage as they moult? The bill colour is colour artefect in my opinion.

I know you will disagree with this assessment Ken

Agree 👍

 

[Bananafishbones]

47: Reed Bunting

You know winter has set in when Reed buntings are coming to suburbia

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

Cold weather here, a light dusting of frosty snow this morning. I heard a Blackcap yesterday and again this morning in the same area. I assumed it was going to be the male I saw in November, a surprise then when a female popped up, even more of a surprise when 2 more popped up, I’ve only had them once before in December. Shortly after I heard what could have been a fourth bird! I did have 4 on one occasion in late winter. I wonder if I can beat that?

Another goody was 4 Lapwings a day or two ago, which was my first December record.

A walk downriver the other day revealed a Cetti’s Warbler just a couple of hundred metres from the garden, today there was (another?) a couple of hundred metres upriver, along with a Chiffchaff. The latter has almost made it onto the patch in the past few days. I’ve never had one in December.

Even scarcer lately has been Kestrel, just one sighting in about 3 months, so one perched and hunting in the garden this afternoon's was very welcome.

 

[KenM]

The bird on the left is surely a juvenile Mute Swan and the other two appear to be this species too? Whooper/Bewick would never show the black line connecting the bill to the eye, and doesn't the two-tone plumage in the wings rule out Whooper/Bewick which are uniformly grey whereas young Mutes show this plumage as they moult? The bill colour is colour artefect in my opinion.

I know you will disagree with this assessment Ken

I’m far removed from having any real expertise on the Whooper/Bewick’s group and “almost” the same with Mute Swan.

However that said, assuming the two swans behind are adult/sub adult, I’d have thought that there would have been (even with pixcellation) some suggestion of a more black vertical knob like fixture above the bill.

All I can see is an apparent straight wedge line of extended yellow, which appears to be far in excess of what one might expect from Mute Swan?
It’s not a case of me objecting to an opposite opinion, indeed I welcome it, if only to arrive at the correct ID and from what is shown, head/bill structure and colour looks more akin to Whooper than Mute?

Regarding the plumage of immature Swans,
I have no experience, but finding it odd that there should be “difference” in the ageing transition between the species?

…..a few images to mull over, and they’re not Mute.

 

[KenM]

47: Reed Bunting

You know winter has set in when Reed buntings are coming to suburbia

Once upon a time for me Banana, but alas no more…last one would have been circa 25 years ago!😩👍

 

[Conwy Birder]

Regarding the plumage of immature Swans,
I have no experience, but finding it odd that there should be “difference” in the ageing transition between the species?

Probably something to do with their migration strategies? Mute Swans moult into adult plumage during their first autumn/winter whereas Whoopers don't moult until they have migrated back north the following spring?

…..a few images to mull over, and they’re not Mute.

Those are all Tundra Swans which have far more black on the bill than either Whooper or Bewick and not a subspecies we get in the UK. Try showing similar with either of our species

 

[KenM]

Probably something to do with their migration strategies? Mute Swans moult into adult plumage during their first autumn/winter whereas Whoopers don't moult until they have migrated back north the following spring?


Those are all Tundra Swans which have far more black on the bill than either Whooper or Bewick and not a subspecies we get in the UK. Try showing similar with either of our species

Correct Tundra and there was me thinking they’re one and the same!😮
However, here’s a Whooper.

 

[halftwo]

Some movement here too, BH, which included

52: 2 Snipe

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

Flushed a bird yesterday from the garden (down in the river) sounded like Snipe, but when I looked round I saw a Teal flying off. Puzzling.

My neighbour texted me today to say there was a Snipe in the river. Puzzle solved.

I popped out later and immediately flushed a noisy Snipe by the front door, it flew a little and settled back down. As I was looking for it in the overgrown and quite shallow river something silently flew through my line of vision. Puzzled.

I went back indoors to get my digi-scoping kit and checked along the river, immediately flushing a Snipe which flew off strongly, then another that flew silently a short way and disappeared. Just how many are there in the river?

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I then flushed one again that flew off. Getting back to the decking by the front door I saw 3 together, which gave me confidence to think that perhaps they were all different, so 6, or maybe more.

Trying to find one to film that was showing in the vegetation I spotted a Water Rail #106 for the year. A pretty dull bird, perhaps a bird of the year. It’s the first for 22 or so months. We had one that wintered in the same spot for 2 consecutive winters, so I always held out hope of another.

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106 is the total for both 2020 and 2021, a bit of a coincidence. With 20 days to go and this cold spell upon us, maybe the record can be broken.

A really misty murky day, so no chance of seeing anything flying over, hopefully tomorrow is going to be a bit clearer. I can’t wait.

 

[halftwo]

Narrowly missed a Peregrine this morning: one flew over but I was 100ms away from my ticking grounds! It flushed a Sparrowhawk which alarmed as it sped away!

 

[Richard Prior]

Narrowly missed a Peregrine this morning: one flew over but I was 100ms away from my ticking grounds! It flushed a Sparrowhawk which alarmed as it sped away!

Don’t worry H, you could declare ( as in cricket) now, I’m sure your total is enough now .