Summer (gull) loving

It's definitely that time of year where if you're not up for a bit of birding boredom, you start looking at flowers and the like. And here in London, it's not exactly full of breeding birds either. I watched a pair of Oystercatchers today and yesterday at Crossness, feeding their single young copious amounts of worms while Shelduck ducklings in their 'nurseries' are always nice enough. So the highlights of a couple of visits to Crossness this weekend - a 3rd-summer Yellow-legged Gull and a Little Egret. Pretty slim pickings.

But, as usual, there is always something to be found amongst London's skanky non-breeding, immature gulls that loaf about places such as Rotherhithe and Crossness at this time of year. Nothing yet in the way of interesting species (but I'm grilling all those Black-headed Gulls at Crossness) but the rings are starting to come in again after a dearth of sightings in April/early May.

Great Black-backed Gull KK2T - photographed in Rotherhithe on 17th June 2012. Looks rather more mature these days...

Along with a handful of locally ringed 1st-summer Herrings Gulls, I saw a 3rd-summer Great Black-backed Gull at Crossness last Sunday. Seems like I've been stalking this bird. LK2T was ringed at Rainham as a 1st-winter on 17th December 2011. I saw it for the first time on the mud off the Hilton Hotel, Rotherhithe on 16th and 17th June 2012, then at Crossness on 7th September 2013... with nobody else having reported it at all. This either shows the lack of observers watching gulls in London (away from places like Rainham and Beddington), or that most people probably have better things to do with their time. Make your own mind up I suppose.

Short-toed Eagle in East Sussex

When I'm abroad and a big bird turns up (a mega, not literally), I'm always relieved when it's a species I've seen before. This was the case a couple of weeks back when Britain's third Short-toed Eagle was found on a Dorset heath. It lingered there for most to see it, while the intervening period saw a case of 'I've seen a Short-toed Eagle', 'no, I've seen a Short-toed Eagle', 'no I've seen a Short-toed Eagle' from East Sussex to Essex to Cambridgeshire. Most of these, inevitably, stink of the proverbial.

Anyway, as it turned out, the bird seen in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex earlier this week had probably remained there all along because early afternoon today, it was still there and news was whacked out...

When news broke, I was not primed to go straight away. Heading in the wrong direction in fact - up the M11 with Karen in the direction of her parents. However, having done what was necessary there, Karen and I were heading back south and around the M25, hitting Ashdown Forest at 5.30pm. This wasn't a place I was too familiar with, and bizarrely the first time I'd ever been to this beautiful part of southern England. Lucking out on pulling into a car park just as a group of birders were zooming off to Long car park, we tagged along, then parked and made our way across the heath to where the bird was perched.

Short-toed Eagle Ashdown Forest, East Sussex 15th June 2014. The same bird as seen previously in Dorset and Hampshire.

A lovely evening twitch to be honest - ended up tracking the bird for an hour or so, watching it rotate its head around almost full circle as it tracked everyone. The bird seemed pretty faithful to the small valley to the west of the Long car park, and as far as heathland habitat goes with a load of reptiles and small birds, I imagine it has once again found a decent place. 

Short-toed Eagle Ashdown Forest, East Sussex 15th June 2014.

Just like last weekend's Spectacled Warbler trip, I'd also seen this species before in Britain - I remember the nervous wait as the first British record of Short-toed Eagle, on Scilly, rose over Great Ganilly before seeing it later on over the boat between St.Mary's and St.Martin's. In certain ways, these 'non-pressure' twitches for species I've seen before are the best. Or perhaps I'm just getting old and hardcore twitching is either a young or a severely autistic man's game!

Enjoying the Spectacle

1992 seems a long time ago. That was when the first Spectacled Warbler was at Filey. I didn't see that one (though I did see a Sardinian Warbler there the following year),. The Porth Meudwy car crash seems like another life time, and so does my only previous British Spectacled Warbler - a mad dash to Landguard in 1997 while I was doing my GCSEs. So, yes, it has been a while... and like many other species these days, Spectacled Warbler doesn't carry the aura it once did 'back in the day.



Spectacled Warbler Burnham Overy, Norfolk 8th June 2014

However, having had two really dross days at Crossness - with highlights being 3 Teal and a Peregrine - and having missed the Short-toed Eagle twitch while I was in St Lucia, I really needed to see something half decent. The annual June/July build up of 1st-summer gulls has started to get me going, but they're not ticking all the boxes just yet.  So venturing out of London just after midday I headed up through the sunshine to the North Norfolk coast where, after a pleasant walk eastwards along the seawall from Burnham Overy Staithe, I clapped eyes on this vocal, diminutive warbler in the dune slack.

Spectacled Warbler Burnham Overy, Norfolk 8th June 2014

To be honest, I really enjoyed it - no pressure, a small Sunday afternoon crowd and a naturally showy bird. It's relatively scratchy song and scolding contact call was good to hear too.

Birds on St. Lucia

It's not the type of place I usually go, but once in a while I suppose it's nice to relax. So it was that I've got a week in St. Lucia; a lovely island full of nice beaches, tropical seas and lush vegetation. And a few birds too - in fact, the endemic and near endemic species are all relatively straightforward to see - St. Lucia Parrot, St. Lucia Black Finch, St. Lucia Warbler, St. Lucia Oriole, St. Lucia Pewee and White-breasted Thrasher. Here are a few photos to keep things going on this blog.

St. Lucia Warbler Gran Anse May 2014

St. Lucia Oriole Gran Anse May 2014

Magnificent Frigatebird Soufriere May 2014

Zenaida Dove Pigeon Island May 2014

American Kestrel Cap Estate May 2014



St. Lucia Parrots Des Cartiers Trail, May 2014

 

Sunshine birding

I much prefer it to be overcast with rain. Apart from the fact you avoid getting burnt in this nice weather, there are generally more birds. That said, walking around is far more pleasant. And after a hectic week, I decided to pay an evening visit to Crossness on Friday and it paid off - a couple of Black-tailed Godwits distantly in Barking Bay were located an hour or so later off the outfall, and with better views, confirmed my earlier suspicions that they were nominate, 'Continental Black-tailed Godwits'. A pair, extremely leggy with a peach/beige hue to their breasts and then pale underparts with extensively long, orange-based bills. I had one in spring a couple of years ago, but these are under-recorded as overshoot potential from the Low Countries is pretty high.

And so to yesterday, and it was a dawn session at Crossness where all was quiet and then I checked a few places out in southeast London. The Common Terns were back on Surrey Water, and during my rounds a really forlorn looking 1st-summer Black Redstart was singing away. Not too sure how this species is doing this spring, as I've not received too many records (in my role as Inner London recorder) from the sites in The City.

Black Redstart 17th May 2014

Today, I headed out east with news of the reappearance of Black-winged Stilts at Cliffe RSPB. People who know me will realise I don't really have a soft spot for this species - raucous and common everywhere you go outside of the UK, as well as being so territorial that they'd drive a Pterodactyl away if it landed near them. But I succumbed and saw four of the heinous beasts distantly in the sunshine at Cliffe RSPB this morning; three together (including a male) on the flood near the coastguards and then another roosting on Flamingo Pool. An adult Mediterranean Gull and a couple of Cuckoos provided more pleasant diversions while back at Crossness, a juvenile Stonechat (not sure where that's come from?) and a Sand Martin were the highlights as what feels like the summer doldrums are about to set in.

Red-rumped Swallow in Thamesmead

Thank goodness for a fish and Sunday opening hours, that's all I'll say.

John A gave me a lovely trout that he'd caught (that'll I'll be eating shortly), but with no dill or fresh lemon to cook it with, I had half an hour to kill between finishing off our unproductive river walk (just a Dunlin and 6 Ringed Plovers) and the nearby Morrison's to open. So with inclement weather and knowing the only place where swifts and hirundines gather on the patch would be Southmere, I headed there. It's a proper grim place at the best of times, nestled between tower blocks and roundabouts where gypsies graze their horses. But on a grey day like today, it was at its aesthetic worst - that is, until I realised there were loads of hirundines and swifts patrolling over it...

Five minutes of scanning, thoroughly enjoying the numbers of birds - including Swallows and Sand Martins that don't breed in the area - while either hopefully or intuitively (??) waiting for something better what with the numbers of birds about. And then after about ten minutes, a bloody Red-rumped Swallow flew through my bins view... and then that adrenalin pumping feeling took hold. John A got called within a few seconds, and then having only really seen the bird for 20 or 30 seconds, all the usual calls/texts were made. But not being a great multi-tasker in this instance, I'd lost the bird...

Red-rumped Swallow Southmere Lake, Thamesmead 11th May 2014

However, as the 15 minutes it'd taken John A to return approached, I picked it up again and the rest is history. A fair few people came to see it, and it was good to see the likes of James L, Barry W, John T, Keith H and Mick S on the patch again. From finding it at 9.50am, the bird was aparrently last seen at 12.50pm.

Red-rumped Swallow Southmere Lake, Thamesmead 11th May 2014. Note the slight streaking confined to the upper breast, indicating the European subspecies rufula. 

It'd only been this morning that John A and I were discussing how regularly the Crossness area drew in crowds. It'll probably be a while til it happens again.

Nature's finest creations - American wood-warblers ranked

This was one of the hardest blog posts to put together. Ranking all of the wonderful American wood-warblers. I contemplated just posting a load of photos and saying how fantastic they all were - because they were - but I wanted to challenge my own thought process of what genuinely makes me appreciate a bird. Colour, character, abundance and prior desire to see it all certainly came into play. And given that (nearly) each and every one of the 35 American wood-warblers I saw in Texas last month was a) colourful b) showed well and c) would make a year in a British context, this was going to be a hard call. So I'll give it a try here and I'd be interested to hear what you think...

1. Yellow-throated Warbler - close encounters with a stunning male on breeding territory in riverine vegetation was a complete experience. A handful seen in total, so scarce (as it's one of the earliest migrants on the coast).

2. Blackburnian Warbler - three seen in total, including a showy male on High Island. Lives up to all the hype for once. Just need one in the WP now!

3. Golden-cheeked Warbler - a restricted range species, full of contrast and one male in particular showed well in the dry woods of the hills surrounding San Antonio.

4. Nashville Warbler - diminutive and seriously under-rated. I loved these little chaps - with their eyering, a subtle cinnamon dusting to the crown with a high-pitched metallic call - and despite being relatively common on a couple of days, loved each and every one I saw!

5. Hooded Warbler- an inquisitive dash of yellow in the darkness. A real lover of the dark understorey, and despite being common, always a pleasure... and look forward to the day I see one in one of those ribeiras on Corvo.

6. Kentucky Warbler - bouncing about on woodland floors (so a complete pain to photograph), nice and distinctive with several seen, but not enough to lose their value.

7. Black-throated Green Warbler - regular in small numbers at coastal sites, and the males are smart, contrasting things. Often needed to crane my neck up to see them - just like the one on Corvo last autumn - but worth the effort on every occasion.

8. Blue-winged Warbler - bold and brash, often vocal. Every one I saw brought back memories of that manic day on Cape Clear back in early October 2000.

9. Golden-winged Warbler - having only seen this quality species in Costa Rica a decade ago, it was nice to see a few on migration at High Island. Lovely birds, intricate and showy too.

10. Cerulean Warbler - quite regal really, with not a splash of colours but with intricacy winning over. At least half a dozen seen on the trip, so a good tally for this relatively scarce species.

11. Canada Warbler - one lovely, showy bird seen on High Island. Vivid colours, bubblegum legs and once again, the memories of the only one I'd ever seen before this - on a windswept Irish headland - came flooding back.

12. Colima Warbler - any bird you're going to walk ten or so miles for must be worth it. And it was; not one of the most colourful of the family but the close views that one bird gave meant it has got to be ranked highly.

13. Palm Warbler - much better than you'd imagine given the hard time I've heard this species get. It wasn't the first time either that I've enjoyed this species, following a showy bird in California last year. Continually tail-bobbing too added to the character.

14. Prothonotary Warbler - bold and bright. Seen as a migrant and on breeding territory. The gloss taken off this species by seeing one get hit by a car on breeding grounds, and having to dispose of the body.

15. Northern Parula - common, colourful and always a delight. If it was rare, it'd be much higher up but guess you can have too much of a good thing?

16. Black-and-white Warbler - like the species above, seen virtually daily and in good numbers. A mint humbug clambering up and down trees.

17. Prairie Warbler - seen only on breeding territory just as a thunderstorm passed over. May have ranked higher up if the sun had been shining.

18. Townsend's Warbler - only seen at Big Bend on the Colima Warbler hike, but having seen this species fairly often in California and Washington the last couple of years, perhaps its stunning plumage is something that I now take for granted too much?

19. Wilson's Warbler - just a couple seen in Big Bend, and like the species above, it's a bird I've seen a lot of in recent years. Of course this includes one on Dursey Island, Cork last September :)
20. Worm-eating Warbler - just a couple seen, and both were elusive. Sturdy and distinctive - perhaps if I'd have had one crawling around me then it'd have been ranked higher, but pretty special birds all the same.
21. Yellow-breasted Chat - this pseudo-warbler is admittedly pretty smart, and I feel slightly ashamed to rank it in the bottom half. Perhaps as it's a little bit more sluggish that the true warblers reduces its appearance somewhat.

22. Chestnut-sided Warbler - just a little bit too much going on with the adults. Having seen juveniles in New England over a decade or so, they're much more my cup of tea. The two adults I saw in Texas were still smart though.

23. Blackpoll Warbler - one seen on High Island. A large warbler, and nice to see an adult as opposed to the few transatlantic first-winters I'm more used to seeing.

24. Painted Redstart - perhaps you can overdo it? So gaudy with its black and red plumage, just the one bird seen in Boot Springs, Big Bend.

25. American Redstart - like several of these species, I can't believe that it has to be ranked so low. However, I guess some birds just get you going more than others and having seen a lot of them on past trips to the northeast of the US in summer, perhaps this has an impact.

26. Swainson's Warbler - two birds seen, and both extremely elusive. One singing male at Big Thicket did eventually show nice enough, but with the camera back in the car.
27. Ovenbird - several seen as migrants, skulking in the undergrowth on High Island and Sabine Woods. Characterful, though like a few other species, I've seen a fair few previously including on Scilly and the Azores.
28. Louisiana Waterthrush - enjoyed seeing this species, as particularly in the early part of the trip it was the only waterthrush on migration.

29. Northern Waterthrush - just the one bird seen, by the grandstand on High Island. Having seen several previously, I suppose that's why I ranked it below the above species.
30. Tennessee Warbler - a common sight on most days, flitting about and calling frequently. Nice to see so many.

31. Common Yellowthroat - commonly seen, and certainly being numerous does devalue the males which are a pretty stunning bird.
32. Yellow-rumped Warbler - having visited California the last couple of winters, I had probably had enough of a good thing. Once again, this species (Myrtle on the coast and Audubon's at Big Bend) was numerous.

33. Pine Warbler - encountered only on breeding territory in forests where I'd been targetting other species so essentially a sideshow. And all seen were high up in relatively poor light unfortunately.
34. Orange-crowned Warbler - the closest you get to the warblers we're used to over in Europe. But still, with its harsh call and yellowish undertail, pretty distinctive and seen in decent numbers particularly early in the trip.

35. Lucy's Warbler - after almost giving up in the wind and intense heat, a pair were found by the Rio Grande in Big Bend. Non-descript and being blown about, and not behaving too well for photography.