Colour ringed godwits and egret

A family wedding in north Norfolk in August gave me a rare opportunity to grab a few hours birding along the coast between Stiffkey and Cley. A strong south-westerly ensured that the mouthwatering selection of rares and scarce migrants that I had been hoping for failed to materialise (other than a probable Richard's Pipit west over Stiffkey early one morning). Nevertheless, compared with the norm at East Lothian, I was impressed with the Mediterranean feel that the Norfolk coast now has with its smattering of Eurasian Spoonbills, Little Egrets and Avocets. Quite a change since my more regular trips there in the late eighties and early nineties.

One of the nice things about birding in north Norfolk is how easy it can be to observe large numbers of birds at relatively close range without disturbing them. One advantage of this is that it increases the chances of noticing and reading colour ring combinations. At Stiffkey Fen on 22 August I noted a couple of Black-tailed Godwits colour ringed above the 'knee'. Using the colour ring website, the relevant ringing group could be tracked down easily.

I heard today from Vigfús Eyjólfsson in Iceland that LO-OR (left leg: lime above orange; right leg: orange above red) was ringed as a pullus (chick) in northern Iceland in 2004, spent the winter of 05-06 at Wexford Slobs, was seen in Friesland in the Netherlands the following spring before being noted at Frodsham in Cheshire the following autumn. In winter 08-09 it was seen at Marshside in Lancashire, before being seen in the Netherlands again the following spring. Since late summer 2010 it had been seen at Titchwell and Cley on thirteen dates before this sighting at Stiffkey Fen. Of course, from ringing studies we know that all Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits make equivalent journeys to this bird, but it always seems especially remarkable to find out this sort of history about any individual bird observed in the field.

LO-OR may well be in the foreground of the above pictures. Note the 'action shot' of the Spoonbill in the lower image...

The same morning I had seen this Little Egret which had been standing in a pool on the public coastal footpath near Morston Quay. Its colour ring combination was Left: orange 6; right: yellow F. This bird had been ringed in Terrington St Clement, Norfolk, earlier in 2010 as a nestling. I had seen a similar dispersing juvenile at Aberlady Bay in East Lothian on 11 August, one of several that moved through the county this year. How long until they decide to stay I wonder?

A buzzard's tail

I have been trying to get a photograph of this Common Buzzard's uppertail for quite a few weeks. After having seen an intriguing buzzard at Barn's Ness earlier in the autumn, I thought I would try spend more time studying the plumage of the local birds.

This regular bird in the Hermitage of Braid, Edinburgh, caught my attention with its clean white underwings. This feature, combined with its apparently rufous uppertail, is more typical in eastern forms (vulpinus). Of course the plumage of Common Buzzard is very variable and the compact structure of this individual tells us that it is likely to be a local bird (buteo). That it is not particularly massive suggests that it is possibly a male.

This photo was taken in early December. The pale flight feathers with fine bars may be more typical of vulpinus than buteo, but the dark brown rather than reddish coverts along with the diffuse border of the dark trailing edge of the wing are more typical of buteo. Structurally it appears to be a perfect buteo, with no suggestion of vulpinus. Notice that it has lost the tip of primary 9 on its left wing.

 

I next managed to see the same bird a month later - its missing primary tip obvious as it passed over. The pale flight feathers were emphasised by the dark trailing edge but the uppertail and upperwing was not visible.

 The following day it drifted past again over a ridge.

 This time I glimpsed some complex upperwing detail.

 Then it lost some height and gave a quick hint of a rufous tail before disappearing behind trees.

The next sighting was earlier this week. The buzzard was the target of this mass mobbing event by 20 Carrion Crows, 6 Rooks and 4 Jackdaws. I left them to it as I felt that the bird already had enough problems without me adding to them.

Finally, today I managed to get a reasonable view of the uppertail as well as a couple of record shots. My suspicion that the bird had some rufous in its tail proved correct.

The shots with the spread tail show that the outer web of each feather has darker pigmentation, whereas each inner web is reduced in dark pigment and appears whiter and allows the underlying rufous colouration to show through. This, I think, is a fairly common tail pattern in buteo. Nevertheless, this tail, when combined with strong pale bases of the primaries made for a surprisingly contrasty upperpart colouration - well worth the patient stalk in my opinion.

Here's hoping...

So, a Slaty-backed Gull has finally been seen in Britain, with a bird found in Rainham, London, yesterday and confirmed today. Well done to Dominic Mitchell of Birdwatch magazine for being the first to find this long-awaited Pacific species. Since it is unlikely that I'll be making my way down to London to see this bird, I'm hoping that it takes a shine to capital cities and heads up to Edinburgh (though I do hope it hangs around for those who are travelling to see it this weekend).

For gull seekers there are still plenty of species that haven't yet been seen in Britain. With every new addition, the list of possibles somehow seems to increase, as the vagrancy potential of the larger and more robust species is underlined. One species that appears to be spreading in this direction is the Kelp Gull, a southern hemisphere species that has colonised coastal Senegambia and now been recorded in Morocco. How long before the first European record I wonder? That said, it would be fairly easy to overlook... Here are a couple of shots of a moulting adult and a first winter along with some other species typical of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. All pictures taken in April 2007.

This adult bird is re-growing its outer primaries so it has an atypically blunt-winged look. Note also that the fresh feathers have much larger white tips than on the birds illustrated in Olsen and Larsson's Gulls.

 

The full length of the primaries of the first winter (2CY) Kelp Gull can be seen in the first shot of this below. Note the typically dull leg colour of this species, which is greenish grey in the adult.

Of course, I didn't quite manage a decent shot of this admittedly rather grotty looking gull as I was having much more fun photographing the awesome African Penguins at their Boulders Beach breeding colony.

 

 

All the birds in the area, including the Black Oystercatcher, Common Fiscal Shrike or Red-winged Starling below, seemed to have had the same make-over - all monochrome with an accent colour or bit of artistic shading!

 
And finally, what could be more appropriate at the Cape of Good Hope?

Unusual tail pattern in first winter common gull

This first winter (1CY) Common Gull was another bird that I photographed on 28 December at Nimmo's Pier, Galway. One of its pair of central tail feathers (T1) lacks the normal wide black subterminal bar. Instead this pattern is replaced by a much reduced area of pigmentation. The reason for this pattern is unknown but it is possible that this feather has been lost at some point and then regrown.

Anvil! The Song Thrush Anvil

If you thought that Anvil was all about heavy rock and headbanging, then this is for you...

I took these photos in the Hermitage of Braid, Edinburgh, on Saturday morning. With so much snow on the ground, stones suitable for use as anvils must have been at a premium and two Song Thrushes were competing for access to this rock, one of which is shown below. The snail is a banded or grove snail (Cepaea nemoralis) - a very common prey item for this thrush. With a few well-aimed sideways flicks of the head the thrush cracks the snail's shell on the rock, gives it a quick wipe and then swallows the defenceless prey. On a cold, crisp and dry morning like this the snails seemed to be a good supply of both food and moisture.

From the photos it is clear that the Song Thrush closes its nictitating membranes at each moment of impact. These translucent third eyelids have a protective function - in the photograph below notice the shell fragments in mid air.

More rounded tail feathers feathers on this bird indicated that it is an adult - something that appears to be confirmed by the efficiency with which it was able to both find and dispatch a snail. This is a learned behaviour - young Song Thrushes attempt to smash snails on non-anvils and non-snails on anvils before they get the behaviour right. The shot below shows the final blow, before the snails body was tossed deftly into the gullet.

After a quick pause, the bird was back with another banded snail. Notice that this snail is of a different colour morph to the one above. Studies since the 1950s have found that Song Thrushes tend to select the most conspicuous morphs preferentially, and this predation seems to be a major selection pressure for colour polymorphism in the snails. The yellow-banded forms appear to better camouflaged in grassland habitats, whereas the darker forms are better camouflaged in woodland habitats. In addition, it is likely that there is also a major environmental influence. Exposed habitats and sunnier climates tend to have more pale morph snails as these shells are less likely to overheat.

A quick pause and then off for more.

More shots of odd blackbird

A careful repositioning of the baited area drew the odd looking Eurasian Blackbird out into the open today. So, with good views now I am beginning to wonder whether I managed to age it correctly, or indeed sex it correctly. Could it be an odd stockamsel bird or a bird showing signs of both genders? No, as it happens, it is a run-of-the-mill female Eurasian Blackbird, with maybe slightly heavier spotting than normal! See this thread for a discussion of this bird (thanks Mafting). 

These two flying images show a growing outer left tail feather - is that a black feather? Are those uppertail coverts black centred?


These two perched shots are the best I have of the left hand side. Is that a black area of coverts or scapulars visible at the edge of the mantle? Or shadow?...

Female blackbird spotted...

I responded to a Surfbirds ID request this morning concerning a female Eurasian Blackbird. The bird shown in that thread looked very like a bird I had photographed a couple of days ago in the Hermitage of Braid, Edinburgh.

In bright sunshine this bird's breast showed rich tones with dark spots whereas the flanks and belly seemed noticeably greyer. Apparently birds in this plumage are probably first winter females.

At lunchtime I looked out into the garden and was surprised to see this bird - possibly the most spotted female Eurasian Blackbird that I have ever seen. Though, given how easy it is to ignore common species, I can not really be sure. Almost Song-Thrush-like in its breast, flank and belly spotting, this bird had the classic Eurasian Blackbird jizz - a rounded pot-bellied look. It was noticeably dominant over those first winter females (with plumage like that shown above) yet gave way to adult males, behaviour that is consistent with aging it as an adult female.

Sadly the combination of distance, poor light and snowy background mean that the shots are very poor although, if it hangs around, I may get more. Is this plumage common in female Eurasian Blackbirds? As always - I must look more closely in future.

Not to be outdone in the poor picture stakes, here is a first winter male Eurasian Blackbird in the garden today. Brown coverts and primaries will be replaced as he matures.

Dipper

I was back in the Hermitage this morning, again hoping for redpolls. With Lesser Redpoll, Mealy Redpoll and exillipes Arctic Redpoll in Lothian this week, I thought it was worth a try even after drawing a blank yesterday - they are mobile birds and there is no reason why some couldn't have dropped in over the last 24 hours. Well, as it was, I did have at the least eight Redpoll sp. fly-bys today, but try as I might I was unable to identify them to species in flight!

As I checked areas of suitable cover I was tempted to think what a difference some tape luring would make. At Fair Isle Bird Observatory in October, an MP3 player plugged into a speaker lured something like 60 Mealy Redpolls into nets in a single morning. Not sure about the ethics of it, or whether my neighbours would be overly pleased if I played redpoll calls on continuous loop out of the bedroom window?

Even without decent views of of the target species there were quite a few decent birds on show. Another Waxwing trilled overhead as I watched about 20 Yellowhammers and 4 Tree Sparrows lining up to drink in pools of melt water near Liberton Tower.

Down in the Hermitage of Braid, far fewer Siskins today, but one of the White-throated Dippers was on show once again. It is clearly a British bird (subspecies gularis) with a really nice broad chestnut border to its bib.