birdman
Орнитол&
After a couple of evening strolls it was time for an early trip around the Outback again.
Same route as usual (we will do something different eventually!!!), and unexpectedly added three more to the running total of species.
I committed the cardinal sin of forgetting to take a field guide with me this morning (!!!) but fortunately the absence of any guide didn’t make any difference today. (Phew!)
This morning it was cloudy at 8.15ish when we set off with a threat of drizzle that never really materialised.
Very evident this morning was the number of young Great Tits. We came across one small group of 6 or perhaps more noisy youngsters. I don’t know whether these will be unrelated fledglings taking their first adventures together, or whether it is more likely they are a single brood. Perhaps the latter, as I did see one example of some very hungry wing-fluttering going on, which, although I didn’t see an adult bird, I assume was immediately prior to receiving a nutritious morsel!
As usual on the morning trips, there was plenty of birdsong that I didn’t recognise – and one sighting of a warbler that is still beyond me. At the minute, any greeny-browny-creamy warbler that I see is logged in the memory banks as “poss. Chiffchaff” (as there are clearly plenty of those about) unless it opens its beak and tells me otherwise. You might have guessed this one didn’t!
However, in my attempts to keep an eye on it for a more definite identification, I stumbled across, perhaps the same Goldcrest as in a previous trio. (Same tree!) As I was trying to track down the warbler, Partnyorsha noticed our today’s first new addition – although it wasn’t until we arrived back home did we found out we hadn’t recorded Dunnock on our patch before.
Approaching the area where we have previously heard Turtle Doves – but not for a little while – we were pleased to hear at least one again.
Actually, in spite of what I wrote earlier, me and Partnyorsha split up to take slight different routes home (she could hear the coffee and croissants calling and so took the shorter route!). Just as we set off on our separate ways, we saw the second new addition, as a Jay flew across a little way ahead of us.
I took a slightly longer route, and after a while I could here the now recognisable singing of some Whitethroat in the shrubbery. Although these little chaps seem quite common now that I have managed to track them down, I still like to get as good a look as possible. So I focussed my attention (and binocs) on one of the bushes whence I could here a song emanating.
After a few unsuccessful minutes, I decided the song must be coming from the area directly behind the bush, and so I moved to check out the tall spindly plants behind. Even without binoculars, it was obvious there was a bird sitting prominently on one of these plants. So I looked through the binoculars, and saw my third new addition, a Reed Bunting.
I was a little surprised, although subsequent reading has suggested I shouldn’t be, but the sighting of this male does lend a little credence to the strikingly marked, but nonetheless LBJ that I have on my garden list from during the winter. The best candidate I could find was female Reed Bunting. Maybe I was right after all!
Anyway, the list of 29 birds seen or heard (*) today is as follows:
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff *
Collared Dove *
Coot
Dunnock
Feral Pigeon
Goldcrest
Great Tit
Green Woodpecker *
House Martin
Jackdaw *
Jay
Lapwing
Long-tailed Tit
Magpie
Mallard
Moorhen
Reed Bunting
Robin
Skylark
Starling
Swift
Turtle Dove *
Whitethroat
Wood Pigeon
Yellowhammer
Same route as usual (we will do something different eventually!!!), and unexpectedly added three more to the running total of species.
I committed the cardinal sin of forgetting to take a field guide with me this morning (!!!) but fortunately the absence of any guide didn’t make any difference today. (Phew!)
This morning it was cloudy at 8.15ish when we set off with a threat of drizzle that never really materialised.
Very evident this morning was the number of young Great Tits. We came across one small group of 6 or perhaps more noisy youngsters. I don’t know whether these will be unrelated fledglings taking their first adventures together, or whether it is more likely they are a single brood. Perhaps the latter, as I did see one example of some very hungry wing-fluttering going on, which, although I didn’t see an adult bird, I assume was immediately prior to receiving a nutritious morsel!
As usual on the morning trips, there was plenty of birdsong that I didn’t recognise – and one sighting of a warbler that is still beyond me. At the minute, any greeny-browny-creamy warbler that I see is logged in the memory banks as “poss. Chiffchaff” (as there are clearly plenty of those about) unless it opens its beak and tells me otherwise. You might have guessed this one didn’t!
However, in my attempts to keep an eye on it for a more definite identification, I stumbled across, perhaps the same Goldcrest as in a previous trio. (Same tree!) As I was trying to track down the warbler, Partnyorsha noticed our today’s first new addition – although it wasn’t until we arrived back home did we found out we hadn’t recorded Dunnock on our patch before.
Approaching the area where we have previously heard Turtle Doves – but not for a little while – we were pleased to hear at least one again.
Actually, in spite of what I wrote earlier, me and Partnyorsha split up to take slight different routes home (she could hear the coffee and croissants calling and so took the shorter route!). Just as we set off on our separate ways, we saw the second new addition, as a Jay flew across a little way ahead of us.
I took a slightly longer route, and after a while I could here the now recognisable singing of some Whitethroat in the shrubbery. Although these little chaps seem quite common now that I have managed to track them down, I still like to get as good a look as possible. So I focussed my attention (and binocs) on one of the bushes whence I could here a song emanating.
After a few unsuccessful minutes, I decided the song must be coming from the area directly behind the bush, and so I moved to check out the tall spindly plants behind. Even without binoculars, it was obvious there was a bird sitting prominently on one of these plants. So I looked through the binoculars, and saw my third new addition, a Reed Bunting.
I was a little surprised, although subsequent reading has suggested I shouldn’t be, but the sighting of this male does lend a little credence to the strikingly marked, but nonetheless LBJ that I have on my garden list from during the winter. The best candidate I could find was female Reed Bunting. Maybe I was right after all!
Anyway, the list of 29 birds seen or heard (*) today is as follows:
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff *
Collared Dove *
Coot
Dunnock
Feral Pigeon
Goldcrest
Great Tit
Green Woodpecker *
House Martin
Jackdaw *
Jay
Lapwing
Long-tailed Tit
Magpie
Mallard
Moorhen
Reed Bunting
Robin
Skylark
Starling
Swift
Turtle Dove *
Whitethroat
Wood Pigeon
Yellowhammer
