It's snowing!

Jack Hammer!!

This is the same Jack Snipe as featured in my last post only it was caught for a second time 3 weeks later. Thus proving that this bird is at least staying around Bedfordshire for a while! A bit of habitat management was carried out to provide a roosting area & good access to feeding grounds for this and other Jack Snipe.



Above & below: Jack Snipe in profile & 'in flight'.





Above: Jack Snipe from behind.



Above: A Yellowhammer.

This yellowhammer was one of many that we ringed. This particular bird is an adult male.

Jack Frost

Jack Frost has been visiting us quite a lot recently. The ice on the water was nearly an inch thick! But we braved the cold for my 62nd species on the ringed list. A big thank you to Mark for this opportunity (sorry I accused you of being a Utd fan - I didn't mean to! I knew better but just didn't engage my brain before I spoke).

Above: A Jack Snipe. My camera & photographic skills aren't up to much but I may have more to post later.

Barnacle Geese have been on my ringed list for nearly 1 year & 6 months. This flock (photographed above) could contain birds with colour rings on them that the Ivel Ringing Group placed on them (they are only a couple of miles from the site where we ring these birds).

A restaurant for birds

This 'restaurant' is exclusively for birds - but does get raided by the occasional hog (of the spikey hedge variety) during the night. Regulars to this feeding table at my dad's house are many. Here are but a few:



Above: This coal tit grabs a take away (they never eat in).



Above: Many years ago, my dad would be gardening and would be visited by Snowy - a blackbird with a few white feathers. He even got Snowy to feed from the hand. The blackbird above is not Snowy, but we presume one of several descendants. Son? Grandson? Great Grandson? Who knows, but a regular visitor none the less.

There were at least 6 different blackbirds visiting the garden (5 seen at once + the one pictured above). Across the road, between 15 and 20 blackbirds were seen (all at once) underneath 2 apple trees eating the fallen apples.



Above: A relatively new visitor to the table. This Pied Wagtail, being the first of this species (that we know of) to visit the garden, was noted by my dad for its unusual yellow face. In fact, this bird is experiencing its first ever winter and the yellow face is typical of Pied Wagtails of this age. It will, at some point this year, replace the yellow with the white found in adult birds.

Pied Wagtails are not alone in having yellow faces (while in juvenile plumage). Blue Tits and Great Tits have this too, although they have lost this feature almost entirely by the autumn.

Last year I went on a walk with my dad in the Cotswolds near his house. I saw a flock of 200 + chaffinch & some brambling & some yellowhammers & 200 + Fieldfare & Redwing all in one place. This year a walk in the same area revealed 200 + chaffinch (mostly male & including some yellowhammers). Maybe when (if) I get my C permit, I will get to ring these. Assuming that they are there next winter!

Rock-a-bye baby!

Below: Me cradling an Oystercatcher after I put a ring on its leg.

Wash Wader Ringing Group November weekend

My 3rd trip to the wash (all this year) brought my first experience of a no catch session on Saturday morning. Undeterred, we went mist netting for waders.




Above: A view of the outgoing tide on Snettisham Beach




Above (right wing) & below (left wing): Both wings of an Oystercatcher with an abnormal moult pattern. Both wings began moult as normal but at some stage must have stopped and started again out of sequence. The brown feather is old, black feathers are new. In addition, the moult is at different stages on each wing (normally birds do the same on each wing). This bird was clearly not in a good condition & was only therefore replacing feathers when it had the energy to do so. There were odd feathers on other parts of the bird that had not moulted either. This oystercatcher also only had 2 toes (instead of 3) on each foot - could this mean that it has had trouble feeding and this is why it is in a bad condition?







Above: This Knot has travelled all the way from Norway to the wash. How do I know? It had a Norwegian ring on its leg!

Jigsaws

A couple of jigsaws I completed recently.



Above: Game birds such as Capercaillie, Snipe, Woodcock & pheasants.

Above: Owls by James Hamilton (you may see more jigsaws in future by this artist - I am intrigued by them as puzzles.

Buckton - Flamborough Head

Buckton is on the cost and most birds found there in spring/autumn are migratory. All photographs thanks to Mark Thomas (www.bucktonbirder.blogspot.com).

Apart from 1 new species ringed - Linnet (my 61st species), ringing conditions (weather) were poor most of the time. Slow trickles of newly arrived birds but no major fall. So we treated ourselves to a lot of bird watching - i.e. checking goldcrest after goldcrest for the odd pallas's warbler + firecrest - goldcrests seriously outnumber these birds! Perserverance paid off and I saw a number of species I have never seen before.



Above: Firecrest



Above: Pallas's Warbler



Above: Snow Bunting



Above: Subalpine Warbler




Above: Waxwing - simply stunning.

Also seen were Ring Ouzel & Rock Pipit (not seen before). On the seen already list - Woodcock, Jack Snipe, Snipe, Long Eared Owl & many more of lesser note.

A weekend visit to the Wash Wader Ringing Group was productive. This was only my second ever visit.

Saturday morning brought a catch of c.150 Oystercather and c.15 Bar-Tailed Godwits. For my first time, I ringed 15 Oystercatcher and 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit.



Above: Bar-Tailed Godwit



Above: An Oystercatcher in the 'ringing position.'



Above: An oystercatcher in a plastic tube (this is safe and does not hurt the bird), it is now ready for weighing.

A night time Mist netting session brought 190 + birds. Night time mist netting and catching waders this way was a new experience for me. I sucessfully extracted a couple of Dunlin, a Bar-Tailed Godwit and a few Redshank. I part extracted 4 more including a Turnstone).



Above: My first time ringing a Black - Tailed Godwit.



More photographs to follow as I ringed a Grey Plover for the first time. Knot, Dunlin and Redshank were the other species I ringed. Dunlin was the only species caught on Sunday morning tide - I didn't ring any this time as I was getting some experience of processing wading birds (taking measurements of bill & head and bill length + weighing).

An early night tonight as I am very tired!

16/10/08

A full day at Priory Country Park brought a lot of birds. Greenfinch (as below) were the most numerous.