best birds: July 2010

Another Herring Gull see

I cut the the big hedge this morning and took stuff to tip, on the way back dropped Niki of shopping and went for a nosy on the sea front in Ramsey. Couple of oldies were feeding the gulls down on the Harbour wall, so i went to check for Darvics and there was T1XA coming to bread the first sighting since it was ringed . This Herring Gull was ringed on June 22 2010. Also T1XB was seen again today on the promenade by the pier .

July comes to an end

Still having work done to the house but nearly finished now so not many early mornings for ringing. More for making up teen cups of tea for Plumber, Gardeners, and roofers. Managed to get net up in garden and the Siskin numbers are doing well with 31 being ringed so far.

July has been a good month for me with 317 new

birds ringed

Yesterday was back at the Sandmartin colony and 59 new birds were ringed and i got a control

ring number L159213 Kevin tells me it is not one of the Manx ringing groups ring strings so will be interesting to see where it was first ringed.

Mark Fitzpatrick is a ringer who has been ringing on the isle of Man since the 70s he has spent time on the Calf and comes every year for 2 weeks with his family.

Today i met up with him at one of the sites

he found and continues to ring at every year. A nice piece of reed bed

and Willow scrub a bit boggy but a few planks here and there and it would be great.

In the last few days Mark has ringed 24 Sedge Warbler here.

Watch this space with his permission and the owners i can see a bit more ringing going on there.

I was down at Port Moar yesterday as well and set a few spring traps for Rock pipit within 10 minutes i had ringed one . The first of many i hope.

The Herring Gulls with the colour rings are getting reported, they are staying local but people are seeing them, check this map out Kev has made also see his blogg for his movements from the south of the island.

TX3B A Herring Gull Andy ringed in my garden on the 22 July was seen at Hibernian on Wednesday.

End of week

A great end to a busy week, another 26 birds ringed in my garden yesterday mainly finches

Siskin 8 all young birds

Goldfinch 6

Chaffinch 3

Greenfinch 4

Dunnock 2

Blue Tit 1

House Sparrow 2

Then off to Peel , Wife wanted to go to St johns shopping , so i dropped her off and took the Gull Trap to Peel .

3 more Herring gull ringed and a Darvic put on left leg. Plus a female Mallard ringed.

So Far 54 Herring Gulls have been colour ringed.

Black Guillemot

Me and Andy went down to Peel at 7 this morning and had a go at catching the Black Guillemots on the harbour wall . Twenty minutes later we had our Guillemot . I have spent many an hour watching and photographing these little birds they are truly magical. Thanks to Chris and Kevin for giving us permission. On the way out of Peel we stopped up by the river and set the spring trap for Herring Gulls another two ringed and darvics placed on left leg.

Andy has gone back to Yorkshire tonight , and i know this little island has left a great impression on him .

Last few days

Had a great late night out with kevin, catching Storm Petrel at Fort island. 8 Stormys caught 5 new and 3 controls. Then my old mate Andy came to stay for a few days. A great couple of days showing him this great Isle and of course ringing a few birds. 5 more Herring Gull ringed today and a Lesser Black Backed Gull plus a Ringed Plover Chick and 10 more Sandmartins.

Another GBBG

Met up with Kev this afternoon to ring a few more Gulls. We spent a good hour searching in an area where there had been up to 10 young on Friday and all we found was a GBBG that was nearly ready to lift off. Better than nowt. 3 more juv Siskin and a Willow Warbler ringed at Port Lawaigue this morning.

JUNE 2010: Notable bird sightings in Extremadura

Pato colorado (Netta rufina). Macho nupcial. Por Javier Prieta.

-Red-Backed Shrike: One male at Puerto de Tornavacas, Ávila, on the border with Cáceres, on 06/06 (Dave and Sammy Langlois)
-Green Sandpiper: First post-breeding dispersal observations, 9 birds in Galisteo ricefields and 2 in Galisteo lake on 15/06 (Sergio Mayordomo)
-Lapwing: First post-breeding dispersal observations, 3 birds in Galisteo ricefields on 15/06 (Sergio Mayordomo)
- Rüppell's Griffon : One immature at Salto del Gitano, Monfragüe, on 5/06 and 6/06 (Jesús Porras, Ernest García, Manolo García del Rey, Sergio Mayordomo et al)
-Long-Legged Buzzard: One second-year bird in Llanos de Belén, Trujillo, on 11/06 (Ernest García), and other or the same bird on 22/06 in Los Cerralbos, Trujillo (Martin Kelsey)
-Spoonbill: 12 birds on the lakes of La Albuera, Badajoz, on 22 and 27/06 (Juan Carlos Paniagua)
-Whiskered Tern: At least 10 birds on the lakes of La Albuera, Badajoz, on 22/06 (Juan Carlos Paniagua)
-Egyptian Goose: One bird on 16/06 in a livestock pool in Parque Natural de Cornalvo, Badajoz (José Ledo)
-Black-Headed Gull: First post-breeding dispersal observation in Galisteo ricefield on 04/06 (Sergio Mayordomo)
-Crane: One over-summering bird in Oliva de Plasencia on 12/06 and 18/06 (Ricardo Montero)
-Red-Crested Pochard: 2 drakes at Arrocampo reservoir on 20/06 (César Clemente)
-Rock Thrush: 2 males at the mountain pass of Castilla, Gata, at about 1100 masl on 13/06 (Sergio Mayordomo)

Busy Day

Started yesterday at the Point of Ayre as there was no wind , this gave me the opportunity to set up for Sand martins, i caught 12, then had to meet up with Chris, Adam and kate.
We visited 2 more Harrier nest sites and rang 2 more chicks. Got back at 5:30. Then set off to the point again and set 2 nets for Sand martins and Swallow.
18 more Sand martin ringed and 9 Swallow and 1 Meadow Pipit.

It's third time lucky for White-tailed Plover

So, after travelling more than 1700 miles in search of White-tailed Plover in the UK I finally got to put this bird on my British list today. I was kicking myself for not going to see the bird at Rainham Marshes a few days earlier, thinking that Spain v Germany in the World Cup was a suitable substitute (how wrong I was). Anyway, when this bird turned up at Dungeness RSPB yesterday I decided to drive down over night and look for the bird at dawn. After watching the World Cup Final, I set out from Norwich and arrived at Dunge at 02.00am. I tried to get some sleep, but the heavens opened and I spent the whole night in a noisy thunderstorm not getting any sleep at all. Anyway, after a rather worrying start, when I couldn't find the bird for half-an-hour from dawn, I finally found it feeding on the edge of an overgrown pool. I watched the bird for an hour and a half and then again later on. Some nice photos and video of the bird below.
Not sure what was going on with RBA this morning though - I phoned the news out at 5.05 and again at 6.30, but the news didn't go out until about 7.30. Oh how a bird loses it's 'mega-status' so quickly these days (it is, after all, still only the 5th British record).
I also managed to see the pair of Purple Herons that are nesting on the reserve. They should have well grown young now which will be fledging over the next week or so
Below are some photos and video of the White-tailed Plover. Enjoy!

Siskin

A Nice mornings ringing in garden this morning 24 Birds caught mainly House Sparrows.
A Carrion Crow in the mist net was a nice surprise also a cracking juvenile Siskin.
14 House Sparrow
1 Carrion Crow
1 Siskin
3 Goldfinch
2 Coal Tit
2 Greenfinch
1 Gt Tit
2 More Herring Gulls ringed as well on Friday

The Gull Production line

Catch Gulls and take back to ringing Hut {Garden Shed}

Ring with BTO Metal Ring on right Leg

Place Individual Darvic on left Leg and check age and moult

Measure wing

Weigh the birds

and Release

Pictures courtesy of Victoria Gray BA

New Species for me

The Hooded Crows that visit my garden from time to time are very nervous of the woosh net and keep well clear normally .
Today an adult female decided to come in for some bread.
They are a stunning bird in the wild and in the hand

T4TV

I got a message from Adam at Manx birdlife that one of the Gulls i had put a Darvic on T4TV was seen feeding in a garden in Ramsey on Tuesday
This is the first sighting of any of the Gulls i have placed Darvics on.
39 Herring Gulls so far have been individually marked
T4TV was ringed on 19 June 2010 as a full adult (over 4 years old}
2.5 KM travelled, no great distance but good to know the darvics are working.

Gull Chicks

A Great morning out with Kev ringing Gull Chicks . 9 Lesser Black- backed Gull Chicks 1 Herring Gull Chick and Two Great Black- backed Gull Chicks ringed along with 2 Oystercatcher Chicks and another Little Tern chick. Also ringed another Oystercatcher chick at Port E Vullen yesterday. Thanks to Kev and to Chris from the gravel Pits for letting us have a look round

Gt Black-backed chicks

Lesser Black-backed Chick

SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE. DOWNWARD TREND IN EXTREMADURA?

We have just received the results of the Environment Ministry's 2009 Spanish Imperial Eagle census (Aquila adalberti). These figures have not yet been cross checked against official sources so they should probably be taken with a pinch of salt.

It is promising to see that the Spanish population of this threatened raptor, which is just about the worldwide population, put in a good showing again this year. The following graph shows this upward trend, with 12 new breeding pairs and a doubling of the figures from only 10 years ago (from 133 pairs in 1999 to 261 in 2009).

On the other hand we are saddened to see Extremadura bucking this bright trend, with a 16% downturn, 8 pairs fewer, in only two years. No other region has seen a reduction in any year of the last decade; Extremadura has now plunged from the region with most Imperial Eagles to last place.

It would now be enlightening if the authority responsible for the conservation of this species gave more information to bear out or rebut these figures. This is unlikely to happen, however, since little or no information is given on the monitoring of threatened species, despite the general interest. Little or nothing was said about the sudden increase from 40 to 49 pairs in two years and we have no idea how it came about. Now we know just as little about this decline or its causes. At least census figures are forthcoming for Monfragüe, showing that the population has held steady at 12 pairs in recent years.

The following table shows the complete breakdown by region from 1999 to 2009. The figures have been taken from the Environment Ministry (figures sometimes differ from one source to another so this one source was chosen for the sake of consistency). Figures are also available from other sources in other regions: Castilla y León (with a detailed map), Castilla-La Mancha (there is a magnificent book and an article about Toledo in Ardeola) and Andalucía (with excellent official information in internet on the monitoring of threatened species). Unfortunately there is nothing similar in Extremadura, despite the existence of a website for this purpose and the public funds pumped into the much vaunted "information society".

Down on the beach

A Nice afternoon ringing

3 Oystercatcher chicks
2 Little Tern chicks
1 Adult Ringed Plover

Another Nest found

A nest of Hen Harrier i thought i couldn't get access to turned out OK today. With 1 Chick ringed sometimes the Adult Female gets a bit annoyed when approaching the nest which is understandable and the Male, if about normally in my experience clears off or looks on from afar . Today wow the male was the one who took offence and stayed near me all the time until i had left a good 50 meters away.Good dad