Bird Call Luring - who's the smartest?

Tuesday 21st October, and Gill, Christine and I decided to have a short walk round Attenborough. Despite being half-term it was surprisingly quiet, as indeed was the seating area for lunch.

Not sure about the others, but I ticked off 30 species, none of which were new.  An early sighting was near St. Mary’s church at Attenborough, a Green Woodpecker flying passed in its traditional bounding way.

Our route was quite short today, and we finished up at the Tower Hide. I should have realised being a Tuesday, that it would be volunteer day, and 7 volunteers were doing a sterling job in thinning and cutting back the reed bed in front of the Tower Hide, which hopefully will encourage the Bittern to come back for the winter.

The disturbance meant no Waders, but at the far side of the water, with my scope I was able to pick up 3 diving female Goldeneye, my first for the 2017/8 winter.

Almost immediately when we entered the Kingfisher Hide, a Kingfisher flew left into the reeds. Some children in the hide saw the bird, and as it was still just visible through the reeds, perched on a stake, they were really thrilled and excited to see the bird through a scope.   I love to see that level of excitement.

Sunday 29^th October, and I dropped in to Carsington Wildlife Centre to empty the bird-food donations box, which is in the form of a bird table. I’d added a mini-poster on the box stating that we could get bird food with now unusable old £ coins… and already counted 4 such coins in the box. Compensation for some strange coins that have been donated in the past!

Pat, Amanda and Mac were on duty, and Mac told me that he had checked his 2017 sightings, and was able correct his total (upwards..) to 185!!  He ticked off a Jack Snipe at Attenborough Kingfisher Hide…. more than I did.

Some nice sightings this morning. Nuthatches are not seen frequently at the bird table, but there appear to be a pair who have taken a liking to the fare on offer, and they were defending the stock from Coal Tits and Willow Tits.  Four smart looking Ruffs (Not Scruffs!!) dropped in whilst I was there.

I wish I had taken my camera. The Volunteers had a good day on Tuesday, and have well cut back Horseshoe Island (not evidently an island with the res. only 75% full) ready for nesting in 2018. And they have cut back reeds to give a good view of the Sand Martin Bank, and clear views of the 3 Kingfisher posts on the water edge.

I got drawn into a discussion/debate recently about bird luring which I thought I would share with you. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t for a moment mean trapping, I’m talking about the proliferating habit of playing bird calls and songs on mobile phones. These apps are so cheap, and are a great aid to help birders improve their knowledge of bird songs and calls, and to confirm identification of what a birder thinks he is listening to. I have done it myself with a Garden Warbler buried deep in a bush. That situation I am wholly with.

But the earlier debate started when one person said that they had played a bird song, and the tempted bird did in fact make an appearance. When they tried again 5 minutes later, the bird did not re-emerge. Let’s call the bird Jo, so as not to be sexist.

My Theory. I suggest that Jo would have heard the first call, and emerged to see which relative was around. But because the recording was repeated, in Jo’s head and not having found a relative the first time, Jo would have heard the same bird, so why bother to come out again. Had the recording been followed by a recording of the same species, but by a different recording company, then Jo may have come out to see who the other bird was.  

Sounds quite logical to me, and is supported by my experience with a bird group in Markeaton Park ¾ years ago with a Goldcrest. The first time, the Goldcrest came out and circled round my head.. but when I played the track again, there was no reaction.

Or maybe Jo thought it was a game of knock down ginger!

You can make up your own mind about my theory. But please respect what we should all accept, and that is that when birds are breeding/nesting there is no justification for doing anything to disturb them, including playing bird calls. If you must, then use headphones. 

This week?   I’m looking for Cirl Bunting, seen in Majorca but not England. Carsington BWB as usual, on Sunday 5^th Nov 10.00am.  

Happy Birding

  

Quiz Time

Tuesday 17^th October, and as Mary was away to Nottingham with our daughter for some retail therapy, I spent the morning at Attenborough Gravel Pits.   I’m still hoping to add a Bittern to my 2017 list, but it is very much a matter of being in the right spot when the bird decides to emerge from the reeds. Which was not to-day.

However, it was chilly but sunny, and I had a good count of 33 species, the hi-lights being a pair of Ruff and a pair of calling Ravens. I love hearing that deep throated “cronk” from a Raven, which is always enough to make me look up to see where the bird is.

Attenborough was very much a run of the mill day but the beef and mushroom casserole in Guinness was good (as always), and as half-term in Notts is not until next week, all was calm!!

Amanda, as you will appreciate is absolutely ethical about what birds she has and has not seen. Having been on North Ronaldsay earlier in the year, and having witnessed the major twitch for a red-winged blackbird, she waited until the sighting was ratified by the BTO before adding it to her 2017 list.  And now it has been confirmed, it can go on her year list, (probably in pole position!), giving her 220 to date. Catch that if you can!

Harking back to my other interest Micro-Tibialism, I’ve spent most of this week, fitting out a multi drawer wooden tool box, as a display cabinet to hold the 101 items in my leg collection. So my birding activity has been zilch. I did intend to go to Carsington this morning, but it was windy, cold and raining, so I decided to leave it to the dedicated team of Pat, Mac and Amanda.  An e-mail from Pat will let me know if I’ve missed anything.

I was recapitulating on my blog this week, and realised that today is my 89^th diatribe since I started in December 2015, encompassing  a total of c60,000 words, at an average of 680 words per post.  The blog has been viewed 7,000 times, of which 4,160 were from the UK, 350 from the USA, 440 from France, and……1,460 from … Russia… I wonder why or were they just computer generated hits?

In the absence of any significant bird news, her follows my the first ever blog test, to see how much you have learnt from my articles, or indeed learnt in other ways whilst birding.

The following is a list of 14 bird nicknames, contractions or names from folklore or local custom. See how many you know, and the answers are further down the page.

1 1. Spink

2 2. Dabchick

3 3. Bumbarrel

4 4. Cuddys Duck

5 5. Gropper

6 6. Yaffle

7 7. Windhover

8 8. Harry Redcap

9 9. Fudge Duck

110.  Storm Cock

111.  Spuggy

112.  Barwit

113.  Bonxie

114.  Sprawk

OK? Answers below.

I’m adding a small poster to the bird food donation box in the Wildlife Centre at Carsington. It reminds visitors that as they cannot use the old £ coins for shopping, if they are dropped in the donation box, WE have ways of converting them into bird food for the Carsington birds.. So please save any you happen to find, and drop them in the donation box when you are next there.

Thanks.

Diary wise, the next Beginners Bird Walk will be in two weeks, on Sunday November 5^th, at 10.00am, as usual.

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1. Chaffinch

2. Little Grebe

3. Long Tailed Tit

4. Eider

5. Grasshopper Warbler

6. Green Woodpecker

7. Kestrel

8.Goldfinch

9. Ferruginous Duck

10. Mistle Thrush

11. House Sparrow

12. Bar Tailed Godwit

13. Great Skua

14. Sparrowhawk

Happy Birding.

Mr J.S.Nail RIP

When I was in Articles training to be a Chartered Accountant, I used to carry out an audit at a vewy posh Girls School in High Wycombe. With my staff we were only allowed to audit during the summer hols, but we were still finishing the work when the Rollers and Bentleys brought the rich little darlinks back for the Autumn term.

They were met by the education Head Miss Fisher, and the large cheques (this terms fees and last terms extras) were paid to the Head of Admin, known as the Bursar. I remember it was a surprise to find that the admin head of the next girls school down from Roedean could not say Certificate, but said Sustificate.

This all came flooding back when I paid a post-holiday visit to my GP to see whether the continuous leg and thigh pains were a by-product of my Pneumonia. He told me I had a Bursae!!

“Bursitis is a painful condition that affects the joints. Bursae are fluid-filled sacs that act as a cushion between bones, tendons, joints, and muscles.  When these sacs become inflamed it is called bursitis. Tennis elbow is a common form of bursitis.

Remembering the lady in question, “to have a bursar on my thigh” is not a memory I want to relish.

Sorry for the digression. So what about the Avian world?

Candidates for the 200 club are making good progress, and Severn Trent Volunteer Lorna has breached the 200, now on 204, and Mac has accelerated from 171 to 183 due to a week in Norfolk. Amanda? She just keeps going! She is on an incredible 219 (probably more as I type!)

Mary and I are in Exmouth (again!) at the end of the month, and whilst I don’t expect to add much to my year list, I am staying in Hunstanton for a couple of nights at the start of November, so Mary’s I-Pad and I will be tracking what is around Norfolk coast for 60 hours.   

Markeaton Bird Walk for Beginners this morning was not very productive, but as the trees are starting to shed leaves, and the tree tops are becoming more visible, deciduous woods should be more productive in November.   A couple of young Goosanders and 5/6 Goldcrest were the pick of the crop.

Some sad news, I’m afraid. It was in the news this week that Jeremy passed away last Wednesday.       However, he very recently sired 56 young, and he is to be preserved for students of genetics.

Sorry it’s a sad news, but the press article did say that he died “not without a smile on his face!”

I’ll finish with a picture of a bird which I still need for 2017, a Purple Sandpiper, but as he can only say Ola and Gracias, and is Spanish, he does not qualify for the 200 club!

 Oh……………… had you not heard about Jeremy?

He is, sorry was, a lovelorn “lefty” snail that could not find a mate with the corresponding anti-clockwise shell with which he could mate, and as they mate by sliding past each other, the wrong combination becomes a head-on crash, with nothing to show for it!

  

Initial efforts were made to breed Jeremy with 2 lefty snails, one from Majorca and one from Ipswich. They both shunned Jeremy, in fact in favour of each other. (You don’t need me to draw pictures, do you?)

Researchers finally announced that Jeremy did actually produce 56 eggs and the experts have somehow worked out that an estimated 19 will belong to El Caracol (and thus Anglo/Spanish) and 37 will be Gippeswykians (Anglo – from Ipswich).

Ed: Bad news day?

Happy Birding

16 days in Majorca

I apologise for vanishing off the blog scene, but the last 20 days have not gone to anything like the intended plan.

Saturday 16 to Saturday 30 September was supposed to be 2 restful weeks at the Thomson hotel, the Picafort Park in Ca’n Picafort, which readers may recall we visited last May. This was the 5^th time we had been there, and we find the friendliness of all the staff, from the GM and ALL the staff, a welcoming that makes us realise we are amongst friends. We rate as newbies, with one couple there for the 30^th time (and others on 27 and 25), but you are sure to see a face you’ve remember – maybe not the name, but certainly the face. We met about 12 familiar faces including a couple we knew we would meet as we knew it was their Golden Wedding Anniversary. So, we helped them celebrate their Gold at a Gold hotel.

But the bad news, was that on the 11^th day, I was to find I had caught Pneumonia, and had to be blue-lighted to the Hospital in Palma. The medics did a good job analysing the problem, and we managed to avoid being hospitalised and got back to the Hotel by 9.00pm. The bad news?  Antibiotics negated the free drinks benefit of the All-Inclusive holiday terms, so Mary had to compensate. Ed: I coped!

Fortunately, the hotel was not full, so the excellent GM and Head Receptionist Leslie allowed us to stay in our room, for the extra 2 nights. Thomson Rep Jez did the biz with flights and transfers, and managed to avoid transferring us to a Monarch return flight!!!  This meant that for the first time we had a 16-day holiday.

We did make our mark!! We won the quiz 5 times = 5 bottles of Champagne; Mary won a case strap, I did the quiz twice, and I accompanied Chrissy the local Interest Rep, on a morning walk to Albufeira Nature Reserve. The   thrill for the 14 guests was to see the Osprey on a tree, happily tearing a fish apart.

Apart from the Osprey sighting, not a lot to report bird wise. I went for a short walk along the coast and picked up Thekla Lark (A Lifer, but on the O/S list) and an Isabelline Wheatear, a very erect Wheatear I’ve only seen once, in Cyprus, in October 2006.  

The Other good spot was whilst we were having a nice Paella lunch at the Ca’n Picafort Sailing Club, an Osprey flew over being harassed by 2 Audouins’ Gulls. Probably the resident rather than one on passage.

One of the consequences of coming home late was that I missed the Carsington Bird Walk on Sunday 1^st October. Amanda, Gary and Keith filled the gap, despite the rain, but 13 people were rewarded with views of a Rock Pipit among the Meadow Pipits, which was a good new addition to the BWB life list.

A few text messages went to and from the UK to Majorca, and I heard that Amanda was involved in finding a Wryneck, the strange member of the Woodpecker family, which she pointed out to many birders. A text message from Pat said "she gave a lot of men a lot of pleasure" (??) The Wryneck was not new for Amanda, she having seen one earlier in the year on her memorable trip to Ronaldsay. 

Anything else?     Markeaton Bird Watchers Walk in 10 days, Sunday 15^th October, at 10.30.

A nice picture to end with. We saw it flying around our heads as we sat listening and watching the evening entertainment at the hotel.  A Preying Mantis which kept picking off any passing moths.

Happy Birding

David