Going off the Rails

With a freshwater creek at the bottom of the garden our daughters place in Australia attracts a few water birds. Last year I was lucky enough to see two fully fledged Buff-banded Rail chicks feeding out in the open  - see here.

After some particularly heavy rain one day I noticed an adult rail hanging around long enough to run back inside and get the camera. The reason for its reluctance to go far was revealed when it started softly calling and a small black fluffy chick joined it. Both birds disappeared under the fence separating the garden from the surrounding Crown Land and vanished into the long vegetation.

Realising it was coming to feed in the early mornings, before the garden got to busy, I staked it out and spent a happy hour watching this normally skulking denizen of creeks, dams and wetlands meander around the vegetable patch!

They're beautiful birds and remind me a bit of Water Rails in the UK in the way they become habituated to human disturbance and become quite confiding.

Of Galahs and other parrots.

Australia is justifiably famous for its parrots. I'm lucky enough to visit here almost annually but its only since retirement I've managed to do more birding!  A lot of the commoner parrots and lorikeets are common garden visitors but they still make me smile when they turn up.

The commonest ones we see here are the Galahs. A gaudy confection of pink & grey that fly round making a racket or can be seen feeding in local paddocks. Sulphur -crested Cockatoo's are also regular as are 'Yellow' Rosellas which are a sub-species of Crimson Rosella.

Galah

Yellow Rosella

For comparison heres a photo of a crimson Crimson Rosella.  

Red-rumped, or Grass, Parrots are also fairly common but very flighty and generally had to photograph.

Red-rumped Parrot

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

By far the commonest are the Eastern Rosella's 

Eastern Rosella.

Theres a site not to far away where Turquoise parrots can sometimes be seen but so far I've not had any luck (I've only been once!) I also took a short drive to see some local Superb Parrots - an endangered species which this area seems to be a local hotspot for. I saw three but they were too far away to photograph. I've also seen two Little Lorikeets at the local dam and several Little Corella's flying into roost in the evenings. 

Little Lorikeet

Its amazing to see these generally large and brightly coloured native birds flying around and I'm hoping to add a few more species to my Australian list.

Honeyeaters & local rarities.

Australia is home to many species of Honeyeater ranging from the positively gaudy to the drab 'little brown jobs'. I've found myself a temporary local patch within walking distance of our daughters reserve. Its a remnant of protected bushland designated Chiltern I85 Bushland Reserve and has a dam adjacent to the road leading to the local cemetry. If you've birded in Australia you'll know that dams are natural water run offs that are dammed to hold water when it rains. Along a small water course you'll find loads of dams and the water is used for irrigation and livestock. This one has the added benefit of being adjacent to the bushland and is a magnet for thirsty birds coming to drink.

I walk the site most days and submit all my records via eBird to the local breeding bird portal. I've already had three species 'flagged' as either being rare or out of range which shows the benefit of working a small local area. In particular the dam attracts loads of honeyeaters and so far I've recorded Brown-headed, Yellow-tufted, Black-chinned (locally rare), Fuscous and the ubiquitous White-plumed Honeyeaters.

Black-chinned Honeyeater

Black-chinned & White-plumed Honeyeaters

Brown-headed Honeyeater

Fuscous Honeyeater

Black-chinned & White-plumed Honeyeater

Above & below: Yellow-tufted Honeyeater

Brown-headed Honeyeater

As well as these smaller Honeyeaters the dam has attracted some of their larger relatives  - both of which are pretty ugly to be honest - Noisy & Little Friarbird.

Little Friarbird

Noisy Friarbird

Other species I've had 'flagged' include Satin Bowerbird as the area is apparently out side the usual range (although they're known to be 20km away) and Double-barred Finch which, again, I've seen where Amy & Jeremy used to live:

"The species you reported was flagged for review and is unusual for this date and/or location. Could you please edit your checklist to add field notes or a description of the bird in question and other information about how you identified this species? Essential things to cover include size, shape, color pattern, behavior, vocalizations (if heard), and habitat. Notes on how similar species were eliminated are especially important".

In all cases I've gone back and attached photos to my eBird submission.

Female type Satin Bowerbird

Double-barred Finch (sometimes called Owl Finch)

I've also been lucky enough to see several Diamond Firetails. These are really stunning little birds and extremely photogenic.

With the temperatures hitting a blood thickening 37 C here by midday most of my birding is finished by 11 am with perhaps an evening walk before it gets dark.

Christmas in Australia

We unexpectedly found ourselves travelling to Australia just before Christmas to help our daughter and her family after she'd had a traumatic and dramatic brain injury. Thankfully she's making a good recovery and there aren't expected to be any long term problems - apart from not being able to drive for 6 months. And heres me thinking the taxi of mum and dad had been banished forever! 

The good news is theres an abundance of birdlife where they now live and I've taken to walking a small bushland reserve near the house daily as my new temporary local patch. Theres also a good local Facebook group giving updates of birds seen locally in other birding spots and I'm making sure all my sightings are being submitted via eBird for the local breeding atlas.

Arriving the day before Christmas Eve (my wife had already been here two weeks!) meant I was jet-lagged and getting ready for the 'big day' meant I couldn't go much further than the garden. But what a garden  - a creek flows through the bottom which is full of frogs and small fish. These in turn attract a variety of birds to come and hunt or just to drink. Its the middle of the summer here and even the birds suffer with the heat.

One of the morning treats is waking up to the sound of the male Rufous Whistler who's taken up residence in the garden. Parts of the song are very reminiscent of our Nightingale.

The male is  really beautiful looking bird butI struggled to get a clear photo until I tried 'pishing' at which point it flew straight over my head and then flew back again before landing in view.

Another common bird is the Red-browed Finch. A family party of these come down to the creek to drink most days and sitting quietly in the shade of an ornamental pear allows good views.

Superb Fairy Wrens are another common species here and every garden seems to have its own family group. They're extremely active and never stay still. The males have gorgeous iridescent plumage with an electric blue that seems unreal.

The creek has also been attracting a White-faced Heron and an Australian White Ibis. The latter is a much maligned bird due to it s scavenging habits. Colloquially known as 'Bin Chicken' or 'Tip Turkey" they're a common sight scavenging in urban environments. There's a pair nesting a few hundred metres away that have three well grown chicks in their nest and they come to catch frogs that they carry back to the raucous young. We can hear them from here!

Of course one of the most famous aspects of the Australian avifauna is their abundance of parrot species. Here is no exception and we regularly have Eastern Rosella, 'Yellow' Rosella (the yellow sub species of crimson Rosella, Galah's, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and Corela's either flying over or visiting the garden. The nearby town of Albury also has a spectacular evening roost of Rainbow Lorikeets! 

Yellow Rosella

Eastern Rosella

Rainbow Lorikeets

Goodbye 2022

The end of 2022 found me unexpectedly in Australia. Our daughter suffered a brain haemorrhage on 12th December and had to be air-ambulanced down to Melbourne for surgery. We got my wife a flight the day after we heard but I had to wait until the 21st December. Thankfully our daughter is making a remarkable recovery and the surgeons don't anticipate any long term repercussions. We were coming over early in the New Year anyway and will stay until the last week of January to help out.

At both ends of the year we've had family trauma. Last Christmas my lovely mum in-law was to ill to make Christmas day and died on the 9th of January. The previous Christmas was spent under lock down restrictions so that's three years running our plans have drastically altered.

Anyway, 2022 was relatively quiet year for me. Four lifers  - starting with Kents superb Eleanora's Falcon in June. See here for twitch detail here.

I had to wait until our annual trip to Shetland for my next tick in the form of a first for the UK's  - a delayed flight to Fair Isle meant we were on hand to see the moribund Least Bittern at Spiggie. See here

It was great being back on Fair Isle again and see the new Observatory taking shape. Hopefully we'll be staying there soon.

My third lifer of the year turned up whilst we were on our way back from Shetland and by the time we reached Aberdeen I'd made arrangements with 'The Stig"to travel down the same day! I was at home for three hours before setting off for Hayle and ultimately Bryher to see what was probably the most twitched bird of 2022. The long awaited and long staying Blackburnian Warbler! See here for details.

 My fourth lifer of 2022 came in the form of an armchair tick with the belated acceptance of a Moltoni's Warbler at Burnham Overy Staithe in 2007. Widely touted at the time as a Moltoni's it was only submitted as such in 2022.

Most of my birding is done locally around my village 'patch'. This year I added Quail to the patch list with a singing male present for at least three days. I only added one new specise to my county list in the form of the elusive Penduline Tit at Woolston Eyes.

Ringing wise  I carried on with Hilbre Bird Observatory although I couldn't get over as often as I liked. I spent my 12th Consecutive season ringing seabirds on Puffin Island with SCAN as well as taking part in a number of canon netting sessions for waders along the N Wales coast.

The end of the year saw a prolonged cold spell over much of the UK and a good local movement of Blackbirds & Fieldfares. Mindful of the cold conditions I only ringed for a couple of hours a day using walk in traps but it that period I ringed 43 Blackbirds including a 'control' that had been ringed in Holland. I'm still awaiting the original ringing details.

I also fulfilled a bucket list ambition to go on Safari in the Masai Mara. Something we should have done in November 2020  just prior to my 60th birthday in January. As with many plans covid scuppered that and we finally got in 2022. What a fabulous trip  - two birds off the bucket list in the form of Secretary Bird and Southern Ground Hornbill! Following the safari we had a week in Zanzibar where I had another unexpected world tick in the form of Crab Plover.

So what will 2023 bring? After our recent experiences I'm hoping for a year where family trauma's don't exist! Happy New Year everyone.

Hilbre and the return of the Purple Sandpipers

Fresh from our travels to Africa and the warmth of the Masai Mara I ventured across to Hilbre to spend the day on the island over the tide. Although the weather was quite balmy for November (encouraging a Common Frog and Red Admiral to put in an appearance) I still felt the cold! 

A good day for overhead migration with lots of finches and Starlings passing over in small groups all day. Wader numbers are picking up as most have now returned from their breeding grounds. Purple Sandpipers have declined massively over the last few years so it was good to log an early winter of 16 birds roosting on the west side. Some of these birds will undoubtedly move on leaving us with a small wintering population. Its always a treat to see these little waders close up and Hilbre provides one of the best opportunities to do so in the north west.

Purple Sandpipers on their roost - 16 birds are visible in this photo.

It was nice to also see Red-throated Divers back on the sea and we also had a party of Goosander, that were originally seen flying past Seaforth, pitch in opposite the Obs before continuing down the estuary.

Little Egrets can be seen regularly off Hilbre hunting for small fidh and crustaceans in the rock pools. This one was particularly unperturbed by the Landrover driving past.

A great day that was made even more enjoyable by the superb sunset as we drove off after the tide had ebbed.

Colour flagging Knot on the Wirral

A few years ago I was involved with a scheme flagging Knot as part of an international project (see here and here) at Formby. The aims of the project are outlined below:

The aim of catching at Formby Point is to colour mark a sample of Knot as part of a long running study in Norway and Iceland trying to show the differences in migration routes to Greenland and Canada of the Icelandica knot.  Typically in spring and autumn very few Knot on the West coast are being seen with colour marks.  This increases over winter and drops again in spring.  Colour marking birds in Autumn, along with recording moult, should provide an insight into whether these birds generally migrate via Iceland rather than the more traditionally studied route via Norway.

The project has expanded with Knot now being flagged in North Wales and more recently on the Wirral. Originally blue or green marker rings were used depending on the year but the blue rings are now only used in North Wales.  Green rings are now the marker for birds caught in Liverpool Bay. The green colour ring goes on the left leg, below the orange flag that has a three letter alpha numeric code, wit ha BTO metal ring on the right leg.

The Merseyside Ringing Group (MRG) have been looking to mistnet Knot off the Wirral and I was asked to assess the flag fitting so the ringers concerned could then get an endorsement on their permits to fit flags themselves. Unlike canon netting mist netting is done at night and is very much dependent on the wind. Too much breeze and you can't set the nets. 

Luckily weather conditions were perfect recently and the team assembled at 21.00 and quickly set four nets. Two parallel and two perpendicular to the beach. As the tide began to rise birds could be heard and seen at the tides edge with the thermal imager. As the tide reached the nets (set high above the water so caught birds don't get wet as the water level rises) we made a good catch of Knot and Dunlin - including a Swedish Controlled Dunlin! 

Once all the birds were extracted they were held in keeping boxes to keep them safe and warm and in the dark before they were ringed and processed in Janes front porch. In all 28 Knot were colour flagged and there have already been re-sightings at Thurstaston, Meols and Seaforth - it goes to show the worth of colour ringing / flagging birds. They can be identified in the field without having to recapture them.

With bird flu very much at the fore of everyones minds the BTO have issued guidance to be followed by ringers when catching and handling birds including disinfecting equipment with a DEFRA approved disinfectant. Everyone was very aware and if there'd been any signs of birdflu in birds we'd caught, or on the beach prior to setting the nets, the relevant authorities would have been informed and the ringing session abandoned.

@Alan Hitchmough

It was a pleasure to b invited along on this first Knot flagging project and I hope the birds we've flaggged help in someway unravel there migrations and help future conservation measures.