Northumbrian Birding (2 Viewers)

[June Atkinson]

Eider off the Wynding, Bamburgh

We arrived at the Wynding, in Bamburgh village, to find about a hundred eider, both male and female, in the water, either at the edge or just off-shore, in lines.

Images show groups.............. clearly no young yet. When the Eider ducklings are born, the fathers beat a hasty exit and the females, mothers and aunties, form creches, to care for the littl'uns.

June

 

[woodhornbirder]

erm pic 2, middle duck= ?? its shorter than the rest.....long tailed duck?

 

[The Liverbirder]

Red-throated Red Herring?

Not quite!

Was at Low Hauxley from 07:30 today. Aside from the lack of target species, the place was simply exquisite - warm, sunny, slight breeze, ebbing tide, no traffic and no pedestrians. What a little oasis! :t:

I spoke with the lady who reported said bird last night. She had it in her garden on the fence at tea time and was not aware what it was. After consulting a book (Thorburn's), she rang it in.

The bird was not seen by her this morning, nor by me for that matter. :C

The bird was in the rear gardens of the row of wooden 'chalets' running south from the free car park to the north of the village.

 

[Adam W]

erm pic 2, middle duck= ?? its shorter than the rest.....long tailed duck?

Just an Imm Drake Eider i think just the angle its at makes it look short.

 

[vanellus]

Just an Imm Drake Eider i think just the angle its at makes it look short.

Agree, Eider. Head shape looks wrong for LTD; beak too heavy.

 

[June Atkinson]

Wynding duck query

I've cropped it. You can tell the shape of the head, I think, even though the focus isn't wonderful.

June

Agree, Eider. Head shape looks wrong for LTD; beak too heavy.

 

[woodhornbirder]

mate of mine thinks it MIGHT be 1st winter king eider.....doing some diggin on it atmo....

http://www.birdlist.co.uk/images/kingeider.jpg

white on breast is right, but bill is wrong shape. it does have the 2 tone head colour tho!! am sure it has shorter body length, dont think its just the angle.

Opinions?

more pics....

http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/07/young-king-eider-now-reaches-norfolk.html

http://www.breaksbirdphotography.co.uk/holidays/ireland09/kingeider1lissadell.jpg

 

[woodhornbirder]

June hope you dont mind, but i might post the pic in the id section of the forum.?

 

[martin kitching]

I've always thought this to be the case...until yesterday when I watched three broods of eider ducklings swimming around with 4 adult females and 5 drakes. By the middle of next month I'd expect the drakes to be forming moulting flocks though.

cheers
martin

When the Eider ducklings are born, the fathers beat a hasty exit and the females, mothers and aunties, form creches, to care for the littl'uns.

June

 

[martin kitching]

If it has the same head/bill profile as the Common Eiders around it...then it's a Common Eider.

LTD is a very small bird; with the largest LTD ~15% shorter than the smallest Common Eider.

cheers
martin

mate of mine thinks it MIGHT be 1st winter king eider.....doing some diggin on it atmo....

http://www.birdlist.co.uk/images/kingeider.jpg

white on breast is right, but bill is wrong shape. it does have the 2 tone head colour tho!! am sure it has shorter body length, dont think its just the angle.

Opinions?

more pics....

http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/07/young-king-eider-now-reaches-norfolk.html

http://www.breaksbirdphotography.co.uk/holidays/ireland09/kingeider1lissadell.jpg

 

[June Atkinson]

Heart's a'flutter - is it or isn't it?

Just shows one shouldn't post without double-checking. The fact that there were, as far as I could make out, no young, led me to post my bit about the creches!! Clearly a rethink is needed!

But I'm pleased that my pics posed some questions...................thanks for your comments, Adam, Andrew, Woodhorn Birder and Martin.

June

If it has the same head/bill profile as the Common Eiders around it...then it's a Common Eider.

LTD is a very small bird; with the largest LTD ~15% shorter than the smallest Common Eider.

cheers
martin

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

mate of mine thinks it MIGHT be 1st winter king eider.....doing some diggin on it atmo....

http://www.birdlist.co.uk/images/kingeider.jpg

white on breast is right, but bill is wrong shape. it does have the 2 tone head colour tho!! am sure it has shorter body length, dont think its just the angle.

Opinions?

more pics....

http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/07/young-king-eider-now-reaches-norfolk.html

http://www.breaksbirdphotography.co.uk/holidays/ireland09/kingeider1lissadell.jpg

Hi Stephen,

I don't think there's any doubt this is just an Eider; as I am sure you are aware you can get many shapes, plumage features, etc on Eider. I have seen birds very similar to this in the past and as Martin has pointed out the bill is just like surrounding Eider ducks and it doesn't really jump out as anything special.

If this bird were a King Eider it certainly isn't a drake. But the bird here is a drake. If you look at the photos you have provided its bill profile matches Eider perfectly but not King Eider.

Cheers,

 

[woodhornbirder]

I agree about the bill, it does look too long for king eider.

`If this bird were a King Eider it certainly isn't a drake. But the bird here is a drake.`

Not quite following ur meaning. Its clearly an immature bird, would there be any diff between imm females and imm males? I mean in a first winter bird, would they not look all the same?

http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/07/young-king-eider-now-reaches-norfolk.html

you saying this is an imm female

http://www.breaksbirdphotography.co.uk/holidays/ireland09/kingeider1lissadell.jpg

imm male? this could be 1st summer or older....

I assumed the second bird is more mature than the other pic.

tbh ive never really studied eiders this close before, have a tendency to gloss over them at newbiggin.

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

Immature female King Eiders don't really have any "colour" on them at all. Drakes do; if you look at the images you have given of 2 different drakes in different stages of plumage you can see they are nothing like the bird that is being supposed as a King Eider. You are aware that on the second link the image shows female and male King Eider yes?

The bird under conversation is clearly a drake; but not a drake King Eider. As others have pointed out the bill is all wrong for a drake King Eider and therefore the bird is a drake Eider.

This image should settle any doubt as it shows a bird pretty similar to this bird: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4612939499/in/photostream

Cheers,

 

[Mark Newsome]

I agree about the bill, it does look too long for king eider.

`If this bird were a King Eider it certainly isn't a drake. But the bird here is a drake.`

Not quite following ur meaning. Its clearly an immature bird, would there be any diff between imm females and imm males?

http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/07/young-king-eider-now-reaches-norfolk.html

you saying this is an imm female

http://www.breaksbirdphotography.co.uk/holidays/ireland09/kingeider1lissadell.jpg

imm male?

I assumed the second bird is more mature than the other pic.

tbh ive never really studied eiders this close before, have a tendency to gloss over them at newbiggin.

Both birds in your links are 1st summer males (2nd calendar year). You can also age males in their 3rd calendar year but they are clearly more advanced than these birds. Females, both 1st summer and adult, are basically wholly brown with no white on the breast. From memory, there are differences in the amount of pale fringing on the wing feathers to help age females.

The bird in the original photo is a 1st summer male Common Eider, with the bill structure being the most obvious difference between it and a King Eider (as has already been said by Martin and Andrew).

Its a good idea to look closely at common birds like Eiders and try sex/age them. It adds more interest to your day at the coast, and how are you going to find a King Eider (or Stellers!) if you don't look at Eider flocks?!

Mark

 

[woodhornbirder]

14:14 21/05/11 Spoonbill Northumbs Druridge Pools 13:58
four still mid-afternoon

must have asked the teeside avocets of a good venue to luncheon on their hols up north )

 

[degsy_safc]

Couple of pictures of the Spoonbills at Druridge Pools this afternoon with a Stonechat from East Chev and Spotted Flycatcher in the big tree in the corner of the car park opposite the causeway at Cresswell Pond

 

[_pauls]

Missed the spoonbills - looked at East Chev first thing but didn't have time to try Druridge Pools, much to my regret having narrowly missed spoonbills several times in the UK.

While I was at East Chev I did notice what I thought was a particularly small tern with the sandwich terns. I assumed a small arctic tern but I posted a couple of pics on the ID forum and there is a suggestion of whiskered tern but the concensus seems to be arctic.

Just in case anyone wants to look for themselves and hasn't seen the thread on the ID forum :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/_pauls/5744310670

http://www.flickr.com/photos/_pauls/5743456005

 

[woodhornbirder]

YOu should have got better shot of the tail.

Not clear from this pic, either way. Why is the pic so dull?

The bill does look dark red, but it could be the poor lighting. Inconclusive (

did you watch the tern in flight? thats ur best id, assuming you have seen marsh terns before?

 

[_pauls]

YOu should have got better shot of the tail.

Not clear from this pic, either way. Why is the pic so dull?

The bill does look dark red, but it could be the poor lighting. Inconclusive (

did you watch the tern in flight? thats ur best id, assuming you have seen marsh terns before?

Yes the light wasnt great at the time and the shot was only with a 300mm lens and this was as good as I could get.

I've never seen marsh terns so I wasn't really expecting anything out of the ordinary. I was just struck by the size difference and assumed - as seems to be the consensus on the ID forum - that it was just a small arctic, and took a few snapshots to take a look later. I didn't stick around too long and all the time I was there it was just sat in that pose.