Hobby Observations & Nesting Dates (1 Viewer)

[SueO]

Hi H,
What a great account of your birds. You make me long for my own place. I can’t wait to get home and not only spend hours with the birds on my patch but make my 35 acres a better sanctuary for them and other animals and plants. I am in the UK now. I post my photo as evidence. Yesterday, I was in sunny Spain, and now…well, take a look at the picture, it’s worth a 1,000 words. Do you think a group of people have the power to change the climate based on what they think things should look like?:-O:-O
Seriously, today was sunny and warm. It has been almost two months and 1,000 miles since leaving Roma, and Gibraltar is a milestone. The next one will be crossing the Atlantic and reaching the Lesser Antiles in the Carribean (about 2,500 nm). We will have a stop in the Canaries (about 600nm), where I hope to see a few endemics.
Thanks so much for posting your observations, it’s always enjoyable to read about birders really watching their birds. You are out to see what you love rather than write a paper on what you’ve read.There is often more insight in a naturalists observations than there is in the so called ‘expert’ accounts.
Best to you and Mrs. H.
Sue

Da*m, too many pixels on the foggy Gibraltar shot--in the words of my Governator--I'll be back.

 

[joannec]

Hi Sue

LOL. I was going to suggest we have a "meet Sue O BF get together" as I thought you were here ....that is until I realised you were on Gibraltar!3

 

[halftwo]

We could go to California Joanne!

Don't particularly envy your cross Antlantic bit of the journey Sue - though it couldn't be worse than some of your other exploits in eg. the Indian Ocean. However - the Carib. part - now that'd be wow.
When do you leave Gib.?

H

 

[halftwo]

Aug 25th. Prey Remains!

Dashed down there straight from work almost - rain threatening.

All quiet - no sign of any Hobby. Impatient and anxious after some minutes - walked towards the perch pylon.
Fifty metres away I see a young Hobby sitting in the stubble - watching me and unconcerned. I sat down to have a really good luck. What a bird - all orangy buff below darker marks, mantle and wings edged paler. She sat in profile for a minute then took to the pylon.
The other juv. took to the air simultaneously and flew around - the first joined it in choreographed flight to the nest tree.
Later an adult overflew the sight but kept going - perhaps one of the parents.

I took some time to search around the pylon's base - and found treasure!

Pictures below show: (one clear shot & two blurred - sorry)

Bat's wing - some four inches or more long - a big bat - possibly noctule. Some body fur remains - but nothing else.
Another bat's wing - smaller and less well preserved.
Swift's primaries - I found a site of where one had been consumed - so either scavengers had eaten any remains - or the Hobbies leave no remains - I thought I might find a skull or a leg - but no.
One Hobby pellet - dark brown and made up of insect remains: about 40 mm. long.
Another feather I'm trying to identify...

 

[MGJohn]

Bat wings ~ so late dusk hunting or maybe even later. Very interesting.

 

[halftwo]

Yes, MGJohn,

I left the implication hanging; but there it is: long after I've been down to watch the site they are still finding prey.
Noctule bat: weight 20-40 grammes: up to Swift's sort of weight; wingspan up to 400mm. And of course they are on of the first to fly in semi-light. Must be irresistable to a Hobby.
(I wonder what the eco-location sound of an approaching Hobby sounds like?!)

 

[SueO]

We could go to California Joanne!
Don't particularly envy your cross Antlantic bit of the journey Sue - though it couldn't be worse than some of your other exploits in eg. the Indian Ocean. However - the Carib. part - now that'd be wow.
When do you leave Gib.?

H

If I ever get home, I would love to organize a Southern Cal BF Bash! We could put a few people up; it would be good for the hubby to see that I'm not crazy and they're are others like me out there. But I’d need about a year to get the house back in order after years of renters from hell and now kids and grandkids. I’m afraid the rate Peregrine is going, it’ll be the Geriatric BF Bash and we won’t remember each others names let alone the birds.

I am not looking forward to the Atlantic crossing at all, but hope to get some birds in the Carribee. I got some books while I was home last time and hopefully, I will be able to id what I see. I am reading the Canary stuff now and will read about the Lesser Antilles while making the long passage. Don’t know when we will leave Gib. A week maybe?

Sue

 

[SueO]

Hi Sue

LOL. I was going to suggest we have a "meet Sue O BF get together" as I thought you were here ....that is until I realised you were on Gibraltar!3

Hi Joanne,
If EU time allotment and Mother Nature didn’t make it hard to linger, I would have loved to have flown in to GB. Puffins! Maybe, one of these years, but by 747.
Sue

 

[SueO]

Good investigating, H. I guess you'll be going to see them later now.

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 26th. Crepuscular Falcons

Good investigating, H. I guess you'll be going to see them later now.

Well, as my shifts selected the timing for me this happened to be the case today: 7:00p.m. - 8:45 pm.

Two juvs. on the pylon when I arrived - and that was still the situation (give or take a short flight in between) when they went to roost (in the nest tree) at about 8:15 pm.
Some calling for ten minutes - almost dark.
No parent birds. No bats.

Where were the adults? Possibly nearby and already settled?
Maybe the bats are caught at dawn?

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 27th. One of Each

Cold and grey this morning - drizzle threatening. Swallows heading south. Swifts all departed.

Both juveniles were on their usual perch again - and for the first time what I've suspected for only the last few days was more apparent: there is a size difference between the two youngsters.
Why this dimorphism has only recently manifested itself I can't say. I've had some good views - perched and on the wing - yet it is as if their body sizes have just differentiated.
And the male's cheeks are a shade paler than the buffier female's - so already their heads appear dissimilar.

The female adult was on another pylon nearby - and left to hunt for half an hour - returning to their pylon later.
It appears that they are being left to their own devices much of the time - it's been a few days since I've seen prey supplied by their parents. But they can sneak in and away without being seen so it's difficult to be sure of that. The young seem to spend a lot of their time on the ground - hidden behind the field's hump from me.
There's also much less noise now - less begging, less alarming.

By nine I was cold and in need of porridge.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Today, around half past 9 a.m., birding in a marsh area nearby Bucharest, I saw a Hobby flying at a few meters over reeds. Unfortunately I was among high reeds, so I lost the bird after one or two seconds.

Cristian

 

[halftwo]

Today, around half past 9 a.m., birding in a marsh area nearby Bucharest, I saw a Hobby flying at a few meters over reeds. Unfortunately I was among high reeds, so I lost the bird after one or two seconds.

Cristian

Hi Cristian,
That seems a fairly typical normal view!
H

 

[halftwo]

Aug. 27th Part Two: Sloth

Went back this pm. for a final look before I have a few days in Devon.

Absolutely nothing doing in the field, so decided to walk the circuit and check under the nest itself to see what, if any, evidence is left.
Answer: nothing. No bones, feathers, pellets...just a whitened nest.

As I got to the furthest corner I found the young Hobbies sitting amongst new stubble - combine harvester still busy - in another field. They sat like nesting waders for an hour, occasionally shuffling or peering at the sky where hirundines caught machine-disturbed insects, Sparrowhawks amongst them once or twice.
The female was up hunting briefly above them, and, as I left the area I flushed her from the usual pylon - from which she flew in a twisting action I surmise was to confuse/confound me. The action was a little like the whiffling of geese - quick seesaw-ing wing movements until a little way off when normal flight resumed - and calling.
The juvs. remained where they were.

This thread, should the birds be still around, will continue on Sunday.

 

[joannec]

We could go to California Joanne!
H

33

I've been unlucky with finding the juv hobbies in the area where I know they are nesting despite being up there several times in the last week.......and to add insult to injury, while out birding elsewhere today my husband saw a young hobby on our patch ....this is only the second time ever for a hobby here for us. Grrrrrrr!!

 

[halftwo]

Young Hobby on your patch - could mean nest in your patch too!

Just got back from the vet's after getting home from Devon to find one cat - Daisy - has been run over, possibly (we've left her there to be stitched & X-rayed tomorrow)- so I might not be able to go Hobby watching tomorrow.

 

[deborah4]

Hi H

First time I've had a chance to read this thread all through and bring myself up to date with it .... Great diary and interesting reading.

Best bird of the day yesterday for me was a juvenile Hobby looking fairly sedentary (posted a report on 'four wheels) but I think I'll keep the exact locality to myself though for now

(Great to hear from you Sue O ... hope all is well on the Rock)

Ps sorry to hear about Daisy, H .... hope you're insured!

 

[halftwo]

Thanks, Deborah,

Yes, fully insured! (Unlike the other couple who had taken their absent neighbours' cat in - wonder who'll finish up paying for that!). Will be phoning for news just as soon as Mrs.H gets up.

I wouldn't mind betting, had you stayed watching the young Hobby long enough, you might have seen one of the parents come in with food. (Or seen Joanne peering over a hedge!)

H

 

[joannec]

Sorry to hear about Daisy, H. Hope she recovers well.

 

[halftwo]

Thanks, J.

Just heard she's comfy - examinations/investigation later, this pm.

H