Raptor Rapture

Star of this Afternoon's Class

Short-eared Owl (c) 2010 Marcus Conway

Marsh Harrier [male] - with water droplets
Marsh Harrier - male - with gleam in eye

Marsh Harrier (c) 2010 Tony Robinson
Marsh Harrier [female]

Goldfinch

Long-tailed Tit

Reed Bunting

Robin

Dunnock

Black-headed Gull - injured, and dying?

It was a day of excitement in the 1st ten minutes & in the last 15 minutes with yawning gaps of nothingness inbetween, or am I romancing? 3 Marsh Harriers gave great value for money as they danced over an area of reedbed. There were 2 males and 1 female, and they were either fighting over the favours of the female, or sparring over a specific area of reedbed. We heard a Cetti's Warbler singing in the distance, and some alarm calls of another closer to our viewpoint, but we failed to see either of them. We carried on round the reserve, and saw a variety of wildlfowl, but probably less than you expect at this time of year. One highlight was a flock of c.20 Wigeon on the Humber. I had my lunch next to the feeders, and managed close views of most of the usual suspects, but didn't see the Willow Tit. The afternoon class went to a new location, and for the 1st hour or so, we hardly saw a single species, although we did have a Kestrel as we drove to the car park, and a Marsh Harrier as we were about to start. Later, we saw a flock of Redshank, some distant Lapwings, and finally a Buzzard near the railway line, but very little on the way back to the cars. We waited for a snow shower to abate, and then walked along a drain bank. We saw some distant Reed Buntings, plenty of Magpies, some Carrion Crows, and a pair of Mute Swans, but very little else. Some of the morning group who came on to this site had a brief glimpse of a Snipe, and though I heard one in the afternoon we couldn't spot it. We were on the way back and it looked as though we were heading for a miserable 2.5 out of 10, but we watched a male Kestrel flying low over the rough grassland. The Kestrel didn't appear to be carrying any prey, but a Short-eared Owl burst out of the grass and gave chase. The Owl then lunged for the falcon, which twisted & turned to try to escape, but the Owl kept up its chase for several minutes. Once the chase was over the owl settled on a fencepost at the edge of a conifer plantation. It then permitted us to get closer, until everyone had a fantastic view of all its plumage detail. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car during the snow storm, so I'm extremely grateful to Marcus Conway for allowing me to use his SEO to illustrate this blog entry. Hope our future visits to this site will be as exciting. Carol's final session mark: 11 out of 10!

AWOL Bittern

Bullfinch

Dinky Wings
Hopping GSW

Treecreeper

And again...

All remaining pics (c) 2010 Mike Williamson

Reed Bunting [female]

Shoveler

Teal

Little Grebe

We had great views of Lesser Repolls in the morning, with better glimpses of Siskins in the afternoon. We had a very confiding Treecreeper early doors, with its place taken by a female Blackbird in the afternoon – not an adequate substitute! The morning also saw 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Willow & Coal Tits, but no sign of Water Rails, Bitterns or Jays – apart from distant views of the latter at Huxter Well in the pm. There were plenty of Bullfinches feeding on buds in the sun, but they were difficult to get clear views of, as they were obscured by a tangle of twigs. We did see plenty of wildfowl: Shoveler, Shelduck, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon with a few Pochard. Raptors were represented by at least 2 different Sparrowhawks, with 2 fairly good sightings of a male, plus a distant Buzzard (almost over the M18) and a quickly-disappearing Kestrel. The morning was spoiled by the photographers blocking the Willow Pool Hide, preventing all but one class member from having an unhindered view of the feeders, and then holding an impromptu Canon massive lens tuition session. They had gone by the afternoon, but there weren’t the variety of birds visiting the feeders then. Hope things will be better on Friday.

3 Out of 4 Ain't Bad

Bittern (c) 2010 Maurice Gordon

In Flight (c) 2010 Tony Robinson
Smew [ Redhead] (c) 2010 Tony Robinson

It was quite wet this morning so for the first time we had an indoor session. Initially, the class watched a female Brambling under the feeders, as well as Tree Sparrows, a Coal Tit, and a scattering of other species. We discussed 10 definitions of Birdwatcher: Birder, Lister, Twitcher, Dude, Ornithologist, Robin Stroker, Patch Worker, Seawatcher & Viz Migger. Then we examined some sounds & images to look for during Jan-April - using new Birdguides iPod applications, field guides & BirdMike. Surprisingly, everyone said the session was enjoyable, and very worthwhile. The rain had almost stopped for the afternoon session, so we walked to SME & saw 41 Wigeon, a pair of Goldeneye, several Shoveler, plenty of Teal & a few Gadwall. Other marshes were pretty much the same, so we went on to Watton Borrow Pits. Here, were 11 Curlew, 7 Redshank, some Pochard and a female Smew on the far right. We thought this was good enough, but suddenly a large brown bird appeared flying over Barmston Drain at eye level & only a few feet in front of us. This was the best view of a flying Bittern any of us had ever seen. When it saw us it turned 90 degrees to the right & landed in a scanty fringe of reeds under the new Little Owl box. We then watched it for over half an hour as it paced up & down this tiny reedbed, pushing aside the reeds as it moved. It regularly craned its neck right out to stick its bill into the water - probably drinking, rather than fishing. 4 different locations this week with 3 of them resulting in Bittern sightings - not bad going! Probably the easiest bird to see of the week! I wonder why we failed to see one in East Park?

B-Day

B-B-Bittern (c) 2010 Jan Davie

Water Rail (c) 2010 Jan Davie
B-B-Bittern (c) 2010 Margaret Richardson

It's in the centre - honest!

B-B-Bullfinch (c) 2010 Maurice Gordon
Lesser Redpoll
Treecreeper (c) 2010 MJF

Great Spotted Woodpecker (c) 2010 Margaret Richardson

Reed B-B-Bunting (c) 2010 Margaret Richardson

Things didn’t look too promising at first, with at least 5 people dropping out because of the weather, but for those who braved the conditions, today shaped up into rather a special event. Less than 5 minutes after starting we encountered a flock of 9 Bullfinches (6 males) feeding in the middle of the path. There were a few Goldfinches among them, and a smaller, more unobtrusive darker bird – a Lesser Redpoll. Eventually, we managed to count 4 of these, 2 of whom had a noticeable pink blush on the breast. At Willow Pool hide there were visits from Jays, a Willow Tit, and plenty of Reed Buntings. We went on to Piper Marsh, but it was almost stuffed to the gills with photographic & video equipment, so we could hardly get in. The marsh was frozen, so we cut our losses & retraced out footsteps. The afternoon wasn’t as misty as the morning, & the Bullfinches were still around, but the Redpolls had gone. However, Sally spotted a Treecreeper, which showed briefly, as did a Bank Vole. We crossed the track to Childers Hide, but only a Coot & Pochard showed. Angela, from the morning session rang to say a Bittern was showing well in front of Willow Pool hide. This is Ken’s bogey bird – he’s missed one on about 10 occasions – so we frogmarched for 10 minutes until we got there, only to find all expectations were overturned – the Bittern was still there, & what was more showed amazingly well for another 20+ minutes, as it wove its way through the very small reedbed – completely changing its shape from a ball of fluff, to skypointing & most unusually of all, stretching its neck out at a very unusual angle. Everyone from the afternoon session would like to thank Angela for letting us know about the Bittern’s performance – a very memorable experience. They didn’t even mind missing the Water Rail! We skipped Piper Marsh, where the photographers had waited for over 5 hours to only spot 2 Sparrowhawks flying by, and apparently no other birds. We went to the 1st hide overlooking Huxter Well & saw Shoveler, Shelduck, Gadwall, Teal, Mute Swan and 2 Herons. The only question is, what is Ken’s new bogey bird!

Urban Birding 3

Female Goosander

Coming Down
Undignified Landing
Safe on the Water

Record Shot of Lesser Redpoll

Record Shot of Redwing

Redwing

Coal Tit

Blue Tit (c) 2010 Aileen Urquhart

Ol' Red Eyes

Ol' Red Eyes is Back

& Its Pins (c) 2010 Aileen Urquhart

One for the M.A.S. President

Carrion Crow

We went to a safe location in case the snow arrived early – it didn’t! The 5 Redpolls were an early bonus. Anthony spotted a Kingfisher, which everyone managed to see, but it was distant so no pics. I think it was Miles who 1st saw the Little Grebe – apologies if I’ve got that wrong. There were at least 19 Goosanders, and 18 Redwing. Other birds seen included: 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers chasing each other, plus a long-sitting female Sparrowhawk, Long-tailed Tits, Coal, Blue & Great Tits, Greenfinches, Goldfinches & Chaffinches & the usual duck species. One Cormorant flew over in the afternoon, but the Heron seemed to be absent this time. The Shoveler also seems to have moved on.

Winter Warbler

Cetti's Warbler (c) 2010 Ron McCombe

Record shot of Bittern in flight - like all today's views
Dirty, Filthy Great Tit, possibly with deformed Bill
(c) 2010 Vince Cowell
Reed Bunting (c) 2010 Vince Cowell

The forecast wasn’t brilliant today, but we went ahead anyway, and just slipped out of county. We were rewarded with brilliant views in fairly dim weather of a Cetti’s Warbler in the Main Hide. This came out a couple of times allowing all but the person sat in the best position to see it fairly well! As it was drizzling I left my camera in the car, so the above pic was taken in nicer weather at a different location. As the Cetti showed a small raptor swooped past (not seen by me) & it went quiet for about 15 mins, but it did sing again eventually, phew! Barbara spotted the 1st Bittern of the day - it was seen twice more in the morning, and possibly a different bird was flushed from very close to the path in the afternoon. Several duck species were getting frisky including: Teal, Gadwall & Mallard. A pair of drake Shoveler seemed to be scouring each pool for some females without success. Unlike North Cave Wetlands we did manage to find single examples of both Great Crested & Little Grebes, but numbers of all wildfowl are still down on what is expected at this time of year. The quantity of Pochard had increased, but there were very few passerines away from the feeding station. At the feeders there was an incredibly dark Great Tit. At first it almost looked black, but when it was stationary you could see all the markings under what seemed to be a thick layer of dirt. It was too dark to photograph it today, so above is a pic taken at the same site a short while ago.

Hey, Little Hen

All pics (c) 2010 Vince Cowell

Bar-tailed Godwit - tug of war
contd...
Success!

Record shot of Hen Harrier

Record shot of Hen Harrier

Yesterday, I’d just transcribed the latest batch of HVWG sightings when Vince asked if I was free. The excursion started well with a Peregrine scattering the pigeons on a local place of detention. We went to Tuesday’s location, but it was fairly quiet with only a Marsh Harrier quartering the saltmarsh. There were good views of Brent Geese, Knot, Grey Plovers & Dunlin. We met a couple of Knaresboro’ birders in the car park, who had just been watching a male Hen Harrier disappear behind a long string of Hawthorn bushes – we were about 2 minutes too late. They had been to Stone Creek where they saw 6 Stone Buntings & where a male Hen Harrier had been seen earlier that morning. We dropped off at Stone Creek on the way back. We didn’t see the Buntings but there were excellent views of winter-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits. We decided to do the Keyingham Marsh loop and among the Common Gulls was a similar-coloured bird flying quite differently. And lo, it had black wing-tips with no white mirrors, and it had a white rump. It flew along a hedge throwing up many pigeons, and clouds of distant sparrow-sized birds. Its flight wasn’t as methodical as a Barn Owl quartering a field edge, but it continually changed direction before flying across the road we were on - only a few yards ahead of us. It seemed to be heading in the direction of Cherry Cobb Sands. That was by far the best sighting of the day.