Ed Forum birdwatching 2008

[Kotatsu]

No, I thought about that as well, but the wings were considerably darker, and the white spot was at the distal end of the arm covers, around the lower tip of the rust-coloured patch on your picture.

I am more and more inclined to believe it was a young Moorhen, which seems to fit with the colouration, size, and the fact that I know there were Moorhens at the same location last year. However, I have been unable to see a good picture of their wings when flying (or, indeed, very many pictures of flying Moorhens at all), so I can't be sure. Do they "wing" themselves (and is there a proper term for this behaviour in English?)?

 

[Kotatsu]

The Syrian Woodpecker I reported has, after listening intensively to records of this and other species, turned out to be a Middle Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopus medius, which is still a new species for me and for the list.

 

[EHocking]

<snip>
C) I noticed that the magpies of Bavaria differed from those of Sweden, in that they seemed duller and had considerably short tails.<snip>I am thus asking, more out of curiosity than out of need to distinguish them for the purposes of the list, if anyone has experience with this? The morphological descriptions of the three races do not mention a difference in tail length in European magpies.

There's no way of putting this without appearing to insult your birding experience, I can only put it in the context as me seeing these for the first time after 10 years in the UK.

Have you considered the possibility that you only saw juveniles?
I say this because a pair managed to raise 3 in the gardens at work and at the moment, while they have full plumage, it is still a little dull. Also, 3-4 weeks ago their tails were easily 1/2 length. About the same proportion as a Blackbird. I nearly commented at the time as the birds' proportions were so odd. I only throw that up as an alternative consideration.

As for the list. Just tag on what you've got and send me the Excel sheet. I've tracked the thread up to your Germany list (and it's all in 2007 format), so it'll be easier to paste your additions and then shoot the entire list back to you for checking.

Oh, and for the rest of you - apologies, I've had an extremely busy month so have not been able to get to some HTMLing but will try after the weekend. Haven't had any free and am off to Paris this one to watch the last stage of the Tour de France. Will try next wee 'cos the weekend after I'm off again.

ETA, last weekend in Mallorca I saw a Hummingbird!
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Hawk Moth. Even knowing the birds don't occur in Europe, it took quite a concentrated peer to satisfy myself that the "bird" did indeed have antennae. I can understand how non-birders could make this mistake (and they do regularly, apparently)

 

[PetersCreek]

ETA, last weekend in Mallorca I saw a Hummingbird!
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Hawk Moth. Even knowing the birds don't occur in Europe, it took quite a concentrated peer to satisfy myself that the "bird" did indeed have antennae. I can understand how non-birders could make this mistake (and they do regularly, apparently)

I was first taken in by one of those when I lived in Germany. They were a regular visitor to the balcony at my flat.

 

[bruto]

Just checking in. Lots of birds around, but I haven't seen anything new to report in quite a while. Actually in this season, owing to the density of the foliage, I tend not to see as many birds, but hear them, and I'm not at all good at identifying them that way.

I do, however, have one observation. We have a great many crows around here, and as expected, most of them make the usually "Caw Caw" sound that instantly identifies them as crows. But recently I've been hearing some making a much higher, less hoarse call. I"m not sure they're all doing it, but at least a group of them, especially when flying around chasing things, are sounding different enough that I thought at first I was hearing a heron or something else. When I saw crows, I was quite surprised. Do you suppose we have a local crow subculture with its own dialect?

 

[Kotatsu]

There's no way of putting this without appearing to insult your birding experience, I can only put it in the context as me seeing these for the first time after 10 years in the UK.

Hah, no worries^^.

Have you considered the possibility that you only saw juveniles?
I say this because a pair managed to raise 3 in the gardens at work and at the moment, while they have full plumage, it is still a little dull. Also, 3-4 weeks ago their tails were easily 1/2 length. About the same proportion as a Blackbird. I nearly commented at the time as the birds' proportions were so odd. I only throw that up as an alternative consideration.

I did consider this, but it seems to clash with the fact that once I noticed more consciously that the tails were shorter, I started looking for longer-tailed ones, but never saw any. It seems odd that I would have seen nothing but juveniles. Then again, I don't know when adults moult their plumage (is this the correct term?); maybe it was a combination of short-tailed juveniles and adults which had quite recently moulted?

As for the list. Just tag on what you've got and send me the Excel sheet. I've tracked the thread up to your Germany list (and it's all in 2007 format), so it'll be easier to paste your additions and then shoot the entire list back to you for checking.

Okay, I will do that as soon as possible.

am off to Paris this
ETA, last weekend in Mallorca I saw a Hummingbird!

Man, you're EVERYWHERE!

 

[Elizabeth I]

Help, U.S. birders!

The barn where I take riding lessons (South Texas) has a nesting pair of hawks in one of the trees outside of it and I am losing my mind trying to figure out what they are.

The front looks most like a rough-legged hawk (creamy with dark bars), but the back, wings and top of the head are brown. I don't think it has feathers all the way to the feet like the rough-legged hawk, and anyway the Cornell Ornithology page shows their nesting range to be way north of here (like Canada), and their migratory range isn't very close to here either. Their call is like a quiet scream. Of course, I guess you could say that about a lot of raptors.

The one I am assuming to be the female seems to be pretty accustomed to having people around - I got within 15 feet of her when she was sitting on a fence this morning (very cool!) - so next time I am going to take my camera and see if I can get a shot of her. In the meantime, if anyone has any idea what these birds could be, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Kotatsu]

The barn where I take riding lessons (South Texas) has a nesting pair of hawks in one of the trees outside of it and I am losing my mind trying to figure out what they are.

The front looks most like a rough-legged hawk (creamy with dark bars), but the back, wings and top of the head are brown. I don't think it has feathers all the way to the feet like the rough-legged hawk, and anyway the Cornell Ornithology page shows their nesting range to be way north of here (like Canada), and their migratory range isn't very close to here either. Their call is like a quiet scream. Of course, I guess you could say that about a lot of raptors.

The one I am assuming to be the female seems to be pretty accustomed to having people around - I got within 15 feet of her when she was sitting on a fence this morning (very cool!) - so next time I am going to take my camera and see if I can get a shot of her. In the meantime, if anyone has any idea what these birds could be, please let me know.

Thanks!

I'll have a look in the books when I get to work today.

 

[sphenisc]

Peregrine - Corrie Fee, Angus, Scotland 27/07/08

 

[RedIbis]

Fishing off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida yesterday I spotted a Magnificent Frigate. This is a large, black bird, split tail and orange pouch under its beak. Quite a sight.

ETA: This is also known as a Man O' War bird.

 

[Big Les]

Great Spotted woodpecker, on a bird feeder in my neighbour's garden (Midlothian, Scotland, UK), about a week ago.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/greatspottedwoodpecker/index.asp

I'd only seen Greens til then.

Oh, and about a zillion European Buzzards. I used to think they were fairly rare when I lived in Somerset 15 years ago or so.

 

[Kotatsu]

I have added all my German and Danish sightings to the list and sent it to Eric. I have also finally got specific dates on when I'll be away this autumn. So as soon as I get the updated list from Eric, I can resume handling the list until the 11th of September, when I go to Japan. It seems I will be visiting two different localities on Hokkaido, as well as both Miyagi and Niigata prefectures on Honshu. Sadly, no trip to Kyushu or Okinawa will be undertaken. I will then be away until the middle of December some time, but I don't know when yet, and I assume that it will take a few days to add all my sightings during these three days after that. I'll be in London between the 28th of November and the 1th of December, probably, in case anyone wants to meet up.

 

[Darat]

Hadn't noticed the work that had gone into this. If you would like I could see if we can host the website you've created on the JREF Forum server?

 

[Naughtyhippo]

I'm gonna follow Elizabeth I lead and ask the birders - do thrushes steal bird eggs? Because I'm pretty sure I saw one today with an egg skewered on its beak.

@RedIbis: That sounds like a magnificent sight.

 

[Mercutio]

Woohoo! Nearly 700 replies, and it looks like I still have a couple of birds not yet on the list!

First up... The largest of the pelican species (roughly the size of a convenience store), the Dalmatian Pelican (Pelicanus crispus):

Next, I am surprised that I do not see on the list yet, a Common Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia):

Both photos taken June 18, 2008, at Lake Kerkini in northern Greece, just south of the Bulgarian border. The lake is touted as an unexpected success story, where an irrigation dam created a nesting habitat for over 200 species of birds. Our guide, however, told us that the lake has an expiration date. The trees in which the birds nest are flooded each year, experiencing as much as a five-meter change in water level; great for today's birds (like these Cormorants):

But not great for the trees. In ten years or so, the trees will be dead. (These are just treetops in this photo--the trunks are under water.)

(BTW, I have a few pics of birds I cannot identify--heron types of things, mostly--if a birder here wants to take a stab at it I can give the addy for my flickr account and let you go nuts.)

 

[BillyJoe]

FINALLY, some pics of birds again!

 

[Kotatsu]

Hadn't noticed the work that had gone into this. If you would like I could see if we can host the website you've created on the JREF Forum server?

I'll leave that decision to Eric, once he gets back from his trip to France. Regardless of what he decides, I extend my thanks for the offer!

As a general note, I have refrained to add anything to the list the last couple of days, as I want to get Eric's list which includes the observations recorded when I was away first. However, either Eric or (more likely) I will add them as soon as possible, so please continue to post them.

I will be away towards the end of the week on a small fossil-hunting trip with some friends, partly to get my mind of my recent break-up. I don't know if I'll be able to see any new birds, but one of Sweden's best localities for birdwatching (Lake Hornborga) is just around the corner from where we're going, so maybe I'll demand that we pop in and get some new additions. It has, among other things, Sweden's largest populations of all five European grebe species, large amounts of Bitterns and Thrush Warblers, and lots of other things. It's most famous for the large amounts of cranes (>15000 this year!) that stop over there every spring. It's amazing to see so many cranes, especially as you can get quite close. I heartily recommend this for anyone who has the possibility to go. If anyone is interested next spring, I would be glad to show you around there, as I've got extensive knowledge of the area, having visited it several times a year for the last ten years or so.

I'm gonna follow Elizabeth I lead and ask the birders - do thrushes steal bird eggs? Because I'm pretty sure I saw one today with an egg skewered on its beak.

Hmmm. I don't think so. However, did you see if the egg was whole or broken? I know some birds carry away the egg shells after the chicks have been hatched; could that be it?

Woohoo! Nearly 700 replies, and it looks like I still have a couple of birds not yet on the list!

I blame the fact that apart from the UK people and me, there's been hardly any interest in this at all among the European parts of the forum. I believe we have one record from the Netherlands, but otherwise Europe is represented almost exclusively by UK and Swedish records...

(BTW, I have a few pics of birds I cannot identify--heron types of things, mostly--if a birder here wants to take a stab at it I can give the addy for my flickr account and let you go nuts.)

Certainly! Just show them and I'll have a go.

FINALLY, some pics of birds again!

I will eventually send about a zillion photos to Eric from my trips to Lapland and to Germany, but I haven't sorted everything out yet. I am still behind in sending him my pictures from Gothenburg and Umeå this spring, and soon I'll be off to Japan and Australia, which will mean thousands of new pictures. I am required to take photos of all specimens I get lice from, as a sort of voucher, so I expect there'll be a few hundred species more this year alone... I don't think I'll be able to transfer it all to Eric before New Year's^^...

The barn where I take riding lessons (South Texas) has a nesting pair of hawks in one of the trees outside of it and I am losing my mind trying to figure out what they are.

Sorry, I forgot about this until now. I'm not at work at the moment, so the only book I have access to is Johnsgard's guide to North American birds of prey. This may seem excellent at first, until you learn that it has very few pictures. I will have to break into my co-worker's room and use her North American field guide tomorrow, because this one is quite useless when you want to identify something...

Fishing off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida yesterday I spotted a Magnificent Frigate. This is a large, black bird, split tail and orange pouch under its beak. Quite a sight.

ETA: This is also known as a Man O' War bird.

As so often before, I am deeply jealous. There are so many amazing birds out there, and we hardly get any of them here in Sweden...

 

[Mercutio]

I blame the fact that apart from the UK people and me, there's been hardly any interest in this at all among the European parts of the forum. I believe we have one record from the Netherlands, but otherwise Europe is represented almost exclusively by UK and Swedish records...

Certainly! Just show them and I'll have a go.

Cool! I get to actually start the Greek birdlist! Which is convenient, since most of these birds are Greek to me--especially the Latin.

You saw the Dalmatian Pelican and the Spoonbill; you also saw a treefull of Cormorants, but just to be safe, here's one posing for the camera (Phalacrocorax carbo):

And this guy should be a Black-crowned Night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax):

And then things get fuzzy. We have storks of some sort:

...and more unknowns in another post...

 

[Fiona]

Ooh, such good pictures! I know it is not the main focus but I do like the pictures in this thread

 

[Mercutio]

...this guy is cute--a heron of some sort, I am thinking:

I do not know if that is the same as this bird:

I think this one is different, but it might just be the angle:

...
And is this cutie:

the same as this cutie?

If so, they have different haircuts.

Then, there's this guy:

And this fellow (who may be another night heron?):

If you need a larger image to tell, all of these are available in full size (I took them with a ten megapixel Nikon D80).