Birding with Flowers

Sunday, 19 February 2012

After the Big Freeze

Last week saw quite a thawing out after the bone-chilling previous week. Most of the wetland habitats were still frozen over, so were largely devoid of birds, so we tried to find birds in woodland. The Tuesday & Wednesday groups went looking for Bullfinches, which came up trumps again, although the courtship scene observed the previous week was not repeated. Other birds seen were Treecreeper, Redwing, Long-tailed Tits, Great Spotted Woodpecker, & Stock Doves.

The Thursday & Friday groups went to our only fragment of ancient woodland. Here, the most fascinating birds watched were some over-excited Great Spotted Woodpeckers. There were at least 2 females & 1 male, but another individual may also have been involved. One bird drummed on one resonant piece of wood, then there was a short pause, then it drummed on a different stump, which emitted a sound at a quite different frequency. One of the birds drumming was definitely a female, so it isn't only male birds which drum.

On both visits Common Buzzards were seen, which is a new bird for this particular area. It is unlikely that they will breed in the fragment of ancient woodland, as it is a very popular area with noisy ramblers & dogwalkers, so they are unlikely to settle down long enough to breed in peace. However, there are a couple of suitable copses nearby, so hopefully we will have some breeding in the area this summer. Other birds seen included: Blue, Great, Coal & Long-tailed Tits, Treecreepers, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Rooks, Carrion Crows, Wrens, Dunnocks, but only one session obtained decent views of some genuinely wild Bullfinches.

Bullfinch

ditto

Bullfinch [female]

ditto

Robin

Goldcrest

Record shot of Goldcrest

Treecreeper

ditto

Saturday, 11 February 2012

Rarely Seen Bullfinch Courtship Dance

Yesterday afternoon's students were rewarded with an amazing display of what appears to be a courtship dance between a pair of Bullfinches. The various stages of a Gannet's Courtship display & pair bonding has been well documented, but I've never seen the courtship of this much more widespread species depicted or even mentioned in bird books. This could be partly due to the size and prominence of the Gannets on their breeding sites, whilst Bullfinches are relatively secretive in their habits, and spend most of their time in deep thickets. Research has revealed that the courtship is described in the massive scientific tomes entitled Birds of the Western Palearctic.

This would have made a great little film, but I had to make do with taking 80 or so still photographs. During the whole of this performance the male made gentle almost purring sounds, but didn't break into the full wheezes and squeaks of its rarely heard song. At one point the male brought his bill into contact with the females (not caught on camera), which almost seemed to replicate a human kiss, and I heard a gasp escape from some of my students behind me.

Meanwhile, one of the top local bird photographers had also arrived, and once the birds had moved on admitted that he'd seen nothing like it himself. Even though the light dusting of snow the previous evening almost deterred some people from attending, those who did make the journey were rewarded with a rarely seen aspect of our resident bird life. Our birds are sometimes decried for their dull plumage, but there was nothing dull about these Bullfinches' feathers or their behaviour on this occasion.

What follows below is a few highlights of the dance with my interpretation of what seemed to be taking place.

Male Bullfinch (right) bows down to the female

Male becomes upright & female begins to raise her head back

Female raises her head further, making herself look tall, and male looks away appearing subservient

male turns back to female steps closer, whilst female faces away from him, brings her head down & also flattens her crown feathers

female looks towards male, but moves her body away from his

female moves further away from male

male sways from side-to-side, whilst singing softly & female raises her head towards him again

male still singing, whilst female pulls her head back

female pulls her head even further back, (imitating a sky-pointing Gannet) displaying her black bib to the male

female's head pulled back to its furthest extent, while the male still swaying side-to-side

female brings her head back down towards the horizontal, whilst male continues to sway

the female's head almost returns to normal, whilst male bows even lower, at the same time his tail is jerked to an angle approaching 90 degrees

Friday, 10 February 2012

Bullie for You!

This has probably been one of the most difficult weeks for viewing birds since the classes started in 2004. The wetland habitats that we normally visit at this time of year have almost iced over completely, so the water birds have deserted in droves or are very difficult to see without telescopes. The answer has been to revisit nearby locations that we no longer usually visit, which still hold something decent to see at close quarters. The answer yesterday was for extremely close views of Bullfinches. Some of these birds came within 3 feet of participants.

A new member saw his first Bullfinch only a couple of weeks ago & yesterday remarked that it was an absolute privilege to get this close to such stunningly beautiful birds - a species which puts a lie to the claim that all British birds are dull brown and unremarkable.

Where to go next week if there hasn't been a major thaw, and everyone has been to the Bullfinch location?...

Bullfinch [male]

ditto

ditto with Blue Tit

ditto

Bullfinch [female]

Coal Tit

Record shot of Great Spotted Woodpecker [male]

Great Spotted Woodpecker [female]

Reed Bunting [female]

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Surprises in the Snow

A heavy fall of snow always causes surprises to turn up - quite often in birder's gardens. People who don't normally get Fieldfares or Redwings in their garden do find them after snow. Another of the most frequent surprise visitors are Reed Buntings, and there have been recent reports from the middle of Beverley, in South Cave and in Nafferton. The Nafferton Reed Buntings may be seen here: http://idiocybirding.blogspot.com/2012/02/wee-bit-chilly.html

A male Brambling turned up in a South Cave garden - & was a lifer for at least one of the inhabitants.

We haven't seen a Lesser Redpoll in our garden for over 20 years, but on Sunday a drab female turned up. It was only when I was processing the pictures that I noticed it had been ringed. However, it wasn't a standard aluminium ring, so I wasn't sure if this had been ringed as part of some scientific study. Unfortunately, the more mundane explanation is that it is almost certainly an escaped bird from someone's private collection. The ring is red which indicates if it is a UK bird it may have been ringed in 2006, which in Redpoll terms makes it a very old bird indeed! [Thanks to RB for this information].

However so far the laurels go to Chris Cox. He found a Bittern up a tree in Burstwick, which was surprising enough, but this was mirrored at RSPB at Bempton on Sunday when another was photographed by several people. Yesterday, Chris walked 100 yards of a hedgerow near Keyingham and saw 10 different Woodcock - the highest total he's ever seen. One of these can be seen below & this was taken without his usual long lens!

Although the heavy snow is good for birdwatcher's, if it lasts more than a few days, it can have a devastating effect. Barn Owls can't find their prey under the snow, and Kingfishers can't find fish in frozen streams. This is just a small example, lots of other birds have trouble finding enough food the longer a cold snap lasts. Supplementary feeding & watering of birds in your garden can help some small passerines survive for a few extra days.

Lesser Redpoll

Red Ring 8.....FB - ringed in 2006? escaped from a bird fancier's cage?

Sunday, 5 February 2012

Before the Main Snowfall

On Friday all but one class participant made it to Tophill Low, but the Hornsea 'lads' had to fight their way through 3 inch snow drifts before getting there. Things were so bad in Hornsea, they even thought the session would be cancelled, but there was no snow around Beverley & only a covering elsewhere away from the coast.

In all we saw more than 40 species. The Pintail & Smew were new to some, but most of the other birds had been seen before. Unfortunately, the Cattle Egret was no longer a voluntary prisoner in the compound, so that remained unseen.

A very annoying microlight kept flying low over O reservoir & disturbing all the ducks. It is to be hoped this doesn't continue in really cold weather when the birds will have lower energy levels, and can do without being deprived of much needed feeding time by senseless joyriders.

A male Tawny owl hooting at lunch time near the Visitor Centre was a surprise, but the varied birdsong was pretty much as expected in the glorious sunlight. There was even an amateur attempt by a Chaffinch attempting the central trill of what will soon be its complete rollicking song.

The bad weather has caused unusual behaviour in some birds, and I'm hoping to include a blog soon with a round-up of some of these.

Smew [Redhead]