best birds: January 2011

Last minute birding at Warriewood

Today, the last day of my holidays, I woke early and headed off to Warriewood Wetlands. This is one of the few places in the general Northern Beaches area where there are still lifers to be found. Unfortunately, Warriewood was quite quiet today, and the more interesting birds restricted me to brief glimpses, like this Black-faced Monarch. Despite at least 20 minutes of persuasion, he would not come down for a nice photo.

January makes it now one year since the last time I saw a Powerful Owl in Irrawong. I'm now thinking the resident bird has either been fatally injured or moved out (hopefully the latter). One good thing, I did finally see the resident Superb Lyrebirds I'd heard about, which was nice, but brief.

After checking briefly for the elusive Lewin's Rail at his supposed "haunt" (now so overgrown I can't imagine I'd ever see him there), I headed across Garden St into the main wetlands. It seems the Grassbirds, Reed-warblers and Snipes didn't show up this year, as I haven't seen any here all season, nor heard reports of them. A pair of White-throated Treecreepers and a Red-browed Finch allowed great views, as did a very hot Diamond Python, who I found lying in a muddy puddle on the track behind the shopping center.

Today

Chris had some friends staying this weekend Jeremy and Neome. Both of them ringers so this morning we decided to go down to Castletown and try for Rock Pipits. Yesterday the weather was great very calm , today we pulled into Castletown and a strong SW wind was waiting for us. After a coffee we decided to head back up North to Port Mooar which we thought being on the East would be out of the wind. As we got out the car we were met by an Easterly Wind ???

10 minutes later we were in Ramsey catching Mute Swans. Only 17 Mute Swans seen today in the harbour

2 Swans caught 1 a new bird and 1 a control with no colour ring so a colour ring added.

15 of these Swans now all ringed and showing colour rings 1 Swan still to ring and 1 Swan still needs a colour ring added

We decided to head in land to the Sulby garden site .

2 Hours later 54 birds caught

Gt Tit 16 new birds 3 retraps

Blue Tit 15 new 5 retraps

Coal Tits 4 new

Long tailed Tit 4

Robin 2 new

Chaffinch 2 new

Greenfinch 1 new

on the way back home i stopped off at Ramsey Harbour and noticed 2 colour ringed Herring Gulls

TIXB ringed in my garden 9 July 2010

T0XA ringed in my garden 22 June 2010 first time seen after ringing

RSPB | Big Garden Birdwatch - update

Well things did not go to plan for me this weekend with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

Saturday morning, and full of good intention, I settled myself down with pen and paper, plus of course tea with 2 sugars and a little milk, and with a good lookout onto the rear garden.

Starlings started to appear almost immediately and I realised how difficult it is to count so many birds when none of

weekly update

A steady week with 2 visits to the woosh net site. Me and Kev met there on Wednesday and caught another 25 Linnets 15 new birds and 10 retraps

I went up again on Thursday and caught another 6 new Linnets with 2 retraps
no sign of Twite

(469 Linnets ringed since August)

8 Chough were also seen, 4 of which i got colour combinations off

Kev came back with info on them, all were ringed on the same day

03 June 2008 from 3 different nest sites. From the Point of Ayre to where they were ringed varies
from 22km to 35km

Yesterday was spent up at one of the plantations for Redpoll and Crossbill

no Redpoll seen 8 Crossbill by the net for at least 2 hours but no joy

a spot of garden ringing in the afternoon with 6 Long Tailed Tits 2 more Siskin
{161 Siskins now ringed in my Garden}
1 female Chaffinch

TWO TYPES OF DIPPER IN EXTREMADURA

There are two current taxonomy trends: (1) the recognition of new species by splitting traditional species and (2) the dwindling number of valid subspecies. The concept of subspecies is much fuzzier than that of species, and a vast number of ostensible subspecies has been built up on the basis of tiny size or plumage variations. In species of a wide range the usual process is a progressive clinical variation on a continental scale. There are many examples. In the case of the larger mammals, all well studied, the scores of described subspecies of wolves or leopards have been whittled down to a handful (even the "Iberian" wolf has lost its status though the term "signatus" is still sometimes used by inertia). The same goes for birds. Witness a recent study (Campos et al., 2010) on the White-Throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus), with two recognised subspecies in Spain according to the usual textbooks and guides: cinclus in the northeast and centre and aquaticus in the east and southeast. The supposed distinguishing feature is the colour of the underparts below the white bib: blackish in cinclus and chestnut in aquaticus. But the authors of this work, after capturing 301 Dippers in 37 rivers from 10 different areas in Spain from 2000 to 2007, have shown that there are in fact individuals of both types in nearly all regions; three of the ten birds recaptured even showed both colour patterns on different dates. Neither were any biometric differences recorded. The conclusion is that the underparts colour is not a sufficient condition for differentiating Dipper subspecies in Spain. Nonetheless, although the range of both forms shows no clear pattern, the cinclus type was more frequent in the centre and north of Spain and was not observed in the southeast. In Extremadura only one river was sampled, for which no details have been given. In the set of six rivers sampled in Gredos a total of 55 birds were observed, 86% of them cinclus. To illustrate all the above we print below two photographs taken on the River Jerte by the colleagues of Objetivo Verde (our thanks go to José Luis Rivero).

White Throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus): cinclus type (black underparts beneath the white bib; top photo) and aquaticus type (chestnut colour; bottom photo). River Jerte, Cáceres. Author: José Luis Rivero.

Source: Campos, F., Hernández, M. Á., Arizaga, J., Santamaría, T. & Corrales, L. 2010. The White-throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus subespecies in Spain. Ringing & Migration, 25:3-6.

RSPB | Big Garden Birdwatch

A reminder for those of you in the UK about the Big Garden Birdwatch organised by the RSPB. I do it every year and email my results in.

The following information is from the RSPB

How to take part:

If like us, you love birds and want to help them, then the Big Garden Birdwatch is your chance to do something that really counts.
All you need is a pen, some scrap paper (or, a printout of our

Collared Dove pencil sketch

I have started to make some sketches of my garden birds. It is early days yet and I have not practised drawing for quite some time, hopefully my efforts will improve.
Collared Dove This is a sketch of one of the regular Collared Doves that visit our garden. Of course it is nigh on impossible to identify individuals with any certainty, but in the afternoon a lone Dove feeds on the bird table then

ANOTHER CÁCERES GOOSANDER

A couple of weeks ago we duly reported the first ever Extremadura Goosander record (Mergus merganser) (click here), with further general information on this rare vagrant and the unprecedented Spanish "irruption" this year compared to the dearth over the last 25 years. The star of that entry, a first-winter female, stuck around in the same Plasencia lake until at least Sunday 23 January (Javier Gayo and Sergio Mayordomo). But it wasn't the only one to get here; on 21 January J. M. Benítez observed a first winter female in Torrejón-Tiétar Reservoir, right in the middle of Monfragüe nature reserve (communicated by Ángel Sánchez). There was some doubt about whether or not it was the same bird, since there is a distance of only 26 km or so between both sites. Thanks to the detective work of S. Mayordomo, however, we now know they are different birds, since he saw both in one morning on the 23rd (the Monfragüe bird was also seen by Manuel García de Rey and Martin Kelsey, among others).

Last week

A good day out with Kev on Thursday. We were looking at a few new sights and decided to put a couple of 2 shelve nets up down at Pooil Vaaish.

A couple of Chough bounced and clip the nets which left us with a few ideas

2 Rock Pipits caught and colour ringed and a Dunnock

We decided to head for Castletown to ring the Mute Swans

5 Swans ringed and a colour ring placed on left leg.

Friday i spent up at the Point of Ayre .

The new woosh net site is getting a lot of attention now from Linnets

33 New Linnets caught

5 Retraps some from August 2010

3 Retrap Twite

Another Machrehanish Twite was controlled on Monday

50 Twite ringed so far at this sight and

2 controls from Machrehanish

Ticking 2011

A trip out to western Sydney today with fellow birders Max and Henry today proved very productive. The day stared well when we fluked a female SPOTTED QUAIL-THRUSH at the very start of the Blue Gum Swamp Track, near Winmalee. She gave some awesome views as she waddled away from us and picked her way up the rocky outcrop (no camera with me...) Some LARGE-BILLED SCRUBWRENS were located in the gully, plus a hoard of other species, but alas no Pilotbird. Or at least no identifiable Pilotbird as we did see a Pilotbird-like something fly across the track at one stage...

The Richmond Turf Farms was a bit of a let down, but we did see a Brown Goshawk, Australian Hobby and Yellow-billed Spoonbill (lifer for Henry). Mitchell Park, summed up in a quote from Max “too many cicadas and not enough cicadabirds”. We did get great views of a Brush Cuckoo, a bird which I haven’t seen very well before, but that was about it.

Another spot near Mitchell, Hidden Valley, was also quiet in terms of birds, but there was a strange cow with very short legs that had us laughing for a few minutes ;) Scheyville was last, where we saw another couple of birds, including great views of a Peaceful Dove.

Overall, a great start to Aus birding for 2011, with about 40 year ticks crammed in, plus two lifers. Here’s to a successful year!

An Overnight Frost

An overnight frost had painted the garden white, the air was still, the sky clear, and it appeared to be very cold outside. Like yesterday, the bird bath was frozen and I could see from the patio doors that the bird table was empty, no food there for my garden birds.
I made ready the food and water, donned my coat and boots and braved the cold of another January morning. It was apparent that the

Misty Morning

My Garden birds

Today started out as a cold, frosty and foggy morning. The first birds I saw in my garden were the pair of Collared Doves as they came to feed and drink. The water appeared to be frozen so I would have to attend to that ASAP.
Soon the House Sparrows were around the feeders and the male Blackbird was scratching around on the garden where we scatter the mealworms. Unfortunately for him it seemed

JUVENILE DISPERSAL OF BONELLI'S EAGLES IN IBERIA

Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata). One of the two adults currently tracked by satellite in the province of Badajoz (Ángel Sánchez).

Satellite tracking is giving us enormous insights to the movements of birds. One single tagged bird produces more information than hundreds or thousands of birds marked with the traditional metal rings (or bands in US). It is also much more informative than distance reading of colour rings, above all in species hard to get close to, like raptors. Although the results are more eyecatching in migratory birds (see Egyptian Vulture), they can also be revealing in the case of sedentary birds like the Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata). At the moment there are two satellite tracked adults in the Extremadura area called "La Siberia". Given that their movements are restricted to their nesting zone (Ángel Sánchez, pers. obs.), the detailed information has obviously not been made public. Applied to juvenile birds in dispersal, however, the system is less hermetic. We have found two studies of this dispersal, one from Portugal, which could be perfectly extrapolated to the Extremadura population,and the other from the Spanish Mediterranean arch.

In the first case four Bonelli's Eagles chicks were tagged in the nest and then tracked for three to seven months afterwards. The two born in the Duero moved on to the Rías Baixas en Galicia. One was shot dead and the signal was lost from the other, maybe due to a technical fault. The two eaglets born in the Tagus area (one on the border with the province of Cáceres) also moved north as juveniles, to Galicia and Asturias. After a few months the signals were lost; in one case death is suspected due to unknown causes; the other case is put down to a technical hitch.

Movements of four satellite-tracked young Bonelli's Eagles (Aquila fasciata) from Portugal [in yellow, the movements of a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)].

The Mediterranean area study was conducted on 14 young birds from 9 nests between Barcelona and Murcia. During their first year these birds stuck pretty close to the nest; then they dispersed over much of the Iberian Peninsula before settling down for varying periods in one or other dispersal area. A total of 16 areas were identified in prey-rich farming areas with no breeding adults. None of these dispersal areas was in Extremadura, though two birds did make brief stopovers in the province of Cáceres (Sierra de Gata and Llanos de Trujillo).
.

Juvenile dispersal areas of 14 birds (top) and first-year movements of seven Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) juveniles born in the Spanish Mediterranean Arch (bottom).

Sources:
- Portugal: Seguimiento de aves via satelite. Aguias (eagles).
- Cadahía, L., López-López, P., Urios, V. & Negro, J. J. 2010. Satellite telemetry reveals individual variation in juvenile Bonelli's eagle dispersal areas. European Journal Wildlife Resesearch. - Cadahía, L., Urios, V. & Negro, J. J. 2005. Survival and movements of satellite-tracked Bonelli's Eagles Hieraaetus fasciatus during their first winter. Ibis, 147:415-419. - Bibliography on Bonelli's Eagle in PDF format.

Last few days

Twite still hanging around with 53 counted today none caught but a nice shot of some of the 36 we have

colour ringed.

Tuesday i met up with Chris and Kev and went to look at a new ringing site, after the recce me and Kev

went and caught 2 juvenile Mute Swans in Ramsey Harbour.

Good to get the Juveniles they have only been around for the last 3 weeks.

Also two Herring Gulls caught in Douglas.

IBATD Scenery

OK, here's some of the scenery I left out of the birding report

The Remarkables - Queenstown

2/3 as high as Mt Kosciuszko... straight from sea level - Doubtful Sound

Cool Mountain - Doubtful Sound

Another Cool Mountain - Doubtful Sound 2

Two Cool Mountains - Doubtful Sound 3

Nugget Point Lighthouse

Near Franz Joseph

Franz Joseph Glacier

More Franz Joseph Glacier

Mt Tasman (L) and Mt Cook (R)

Rob Roy Glacier

Why so many New Zealand birds are endangered... lol jokes ;)

IBATD Haast and Wanaka

Day 13
Drove south to Haast. Normally the beaches here would be great for Fiordland Crested Penguins, but it was the wrong time of year, as it was in Doubtful Sound. We did some walks off the Haast Pass Rd, hoping yet again to see Long-tailed Cuckoo and Yellow-crowned Parakeet. Double dip. By now I had heard Long-tailed Cuckoos 6 times without seeing them... This was also my last chance for the elusive Blue Duck. Dip. At least I finally got a photo of a Fantail.

Day 14
Had a relaxing day around Wanaka, swimming, eating, shopping, etc. I had an unexpected tick in the form of four CALIFORNIA QUAILS near our lodge. 1 male, 2 females and a baby.

Day 15
Did a four hour walk out to Rob Roy Glacier. This was now my last chance for Parakeet and Cuckoo. 4 hours and two sore feet later, dip and dip. Spent most of the time here getting better photos of birds I'd seen previously, namely Rifleman (the good photo from this day is shown in the Eglinton Valley report).

Day 16
Home. Well, after a long 10 hour transit we got home.

Male California Quail

Female California Quail

"New Zealand" Fantail

Conclusion
New Zealand. Fantastic in thousands of ways. The scenery is spectacular everywhere, (not that I mentioned it much in the report, but it was), and the birds, while sometimes outnumbered by introduced species or confined to predator-free offshore islands, are often amazing just because they are so unique.

Overall, I saw around 40 species and got 29 lifers. In my opinion, a great place to visit, even if you have to limit the birding you do because of the family ;) I think one day I'll have to get back there and find all the birds I missed, namely Fernbird, Blue Duck, Wrybill, Weka, island birds, plus the Parkeet and Cuckoo...

Thanks to;
The Family - for putting up with the birding, however minor it was...
Okarito Kiwi Tours - I have to thank Ian for that fantastic experience!
Birding NZ - for helping me put together all the birding aspects of the trip :)(http://www.birdingnz.net/)

IBATD Franz Joseph and Okarito

Day 11
Another driving day. No Blue Ducks, yet again. Thought I saw a Weka on the side of the road, but didn't tick it. Arriving at Lake Manipouri I was given 30 minutes to look for Weka. Not really enough time IMO considering this was the only spot I'd be able to see them... At one point 3 Weka were calling, one within 20m of me, but due to thick undergrowth finding it was impossible. Even so, this was a nice spot with Grey Warblers, Brown Creepers and Bellbirds all showing well.

We arrived at Franz Joseph and went for a short walk up to the glacier. No Long-tailed Cuckoo, yet again. No Yellow-crowned Parakeet, yet again. It was starting to seem like I’d miss those 2 common (or at least reasonably common) birds…

Day 12
The morning was taken up by a guided tour onto Franz Joseph Glacier. This was fantastic, looking at all the ice caves, crevasses, etc, etc. This took up most of the day.

Next came the highlight of the trip. At 6:00, my mum and I headed out to Okarito, to go on Ian's Okarito Kiwi Tours. The Rowi is the worlds rarest Kiwi, with only 350 left in the wild (it used to be a lot lower, around 100). Now, I didn't realise how difficult finding a Kiwi would be until I went on this tour. Ian had a tracker, so he could get the locations of all the birds in the area who were radio tagged. His tour operates on the basis of seeing a Kiwi as it would be naturally, so he doesn't use tapes, and he doesn't let the birds know people are watching them.

The trip started great, as Ian had tracked a Kiwi to just 3m off the path! The group of 8 people sat on the ground and waited... and waited... and waited some more... We could hear him rustling in the bushes 3m away, and we had to sit making no noise so he would come out. I had hay-fever, and since I couldn't blow my nose, or sniff, or make any noise whatsoever, I sat on the ground with my hand holding my nose... After 20 minutes the Kiwi walked away without showing. lol. This shows how difficult it is to observe these birds, when you can not see one that is 3m away from you.

Ian headed back up the path, and quickly found a pair. Everyone stood in a line, listening to more rustling in the bushes, then an OKARITO BROWN KIWI ran across the path in front of us! Wow can they move quick! Less than a minute later, the second Kiwi poked it's head out of the bush and ran across the path too. About an hour later, we got much better views of one them, as it foraged just off the path in some vegetation. The whole time, it didn't know we were there (we observed him with a red torch without making a sound). If anyone is in that area and hasn't done this tour, make sure you do it! Unfortunatley, cameras aren't allowed or you get a hefty fine from DOC, but this is such a great experience you don't need cameras to remember it ;)

Brown Creeper

Juvenile Kea

New Zealand Bellbird

IBATD Mt Cook and Arthur's Pass

Day 9
While my sister was horse riding, I was driven out to Shag Point. No lifers, but I got much closer views of Spotted Shags, and there were a few NZ Fur Seals around.

After a long drive inland, we started to get into Black Stilt Habitat. Looking at every braided river we passed, I couldn’t spot any. Since we were pushed for time today, I was allowed to pick one spot to go and look for the Stilts. I chose the river area behind Glentanner Airport, which is meant to be quite reliable and it was just off the road we had to travel on to get to Mt Cook. After ticking a tame COMMON PHEASENT at the office and getting permission to enter, I headed down, checked out the promising sign that warned people about nesting Black Stilts in the area, I walked through the gate and…

If you remember I said at the very beginning of the trip report, we arrived in Queenstown just after the massive amount of rain? Throughout the trip we had noticed the odd flooded river, or lake with a tree growing 10m out into the water, showing it was flooded. Well, as it happened, my one and only Black Stilt location was also flooded, and to get anywhere near where the stilts were, I would have had to swim. Well, that’s a big dip :(

We kept going (stopping ever now and then to scan the area next to the road for stilts, but the combination of rain and no scope meant we didn’t see any), and arrived at our accommodation in Mt Cook. Maybe as a consolation for dipping on the stilt, a New Zealand Falcon had decided to wait out the rain on our roof. As it was raining, I took a few shots and went inside before I broke the camera. When it stopped raining we went out on a walk, where I finally ticked GREY WARBLER.

Day 10
Driving day. The only birding I got in was checking every (and I mean every) river we went over for Blue Duck. No cigar… We arrived at Arthur’s Pass late, where I had been hoping to sit outside at night and listen for Great Spotted Kiwi (not expecting to see one). Due to the rain and wind, I didn’t go outside at all after we’d unpacked the car.

Common Pheasant

Grey Warbler

New Zealand Falcon

Spotted Shags

IBATD Nugget Point and Dunedin

Day 6
Short drive to Nugget Point. Ticked SPOTTED SHAG and got fantastic views of a YEPenguin on the side of the road. NZ Fur Seals were also around, plus a large breeding colony of the rare Spoonbill, normally a rubbish-bird for me, having them in my backyard an all ;)

Day 7
Dunedin. A short stop at Sinclair Wetlands produced no Fernbird, but a large flock a CANADA GEESE kept me entertained. Late that evening we headed to Tairo Head, the only mainland breeding colony of albatross in the world, in this case the Northern ROYAL ALBATROSS. This was a great opportunity to get shots without the pitching of a boat, despite the cloudy conditions.

As a bonus, a large nesting colony of STEWART ISLAND SHAGS were below the albatross viewing hide.

Day 8
Relaxing day. While shopping in Dunedin I found a brochure on the Black Stilt Visitor Hide we were visiting the next day... and realised the birds there were captive, not wild. Oops! Spent a frantic 30 minutes with my IPod and Maccas free WiFi getting some locations for this critically endangered wader.

Northern Royal Albatross

Stewart Island Shag nesting colony

Close-up Yellow-eyed Penguin from the car hide

IBATD Doubtful Sound and South Coast

Day 4
Woke to the sound of a Long-tailed Cuckoo (didn't see it), year ticked a Wood Pigeon and saw a REDPOLL. We caught a boat across Lake Manapouri, and went for our overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound with Deep Cove. This was a fantastic experience, only marred by the lack of birds.

If the trip was 1 month earlier or 1 month later, there would have been Fiordland Crested Penguins everywhere. However, being the 31st of December there were none around, all it at sea, closer to Australia then where I was... A spot of fishing caught many fish plus a shark! Crayfish were brought up in pots, and fireworks marked the end of 2010, with my year list totalled at 440 (441 if you include the NZ Fantail).

Day 5
Fantastic weather, great views and Kelp Gulls woke me up. Our guide had a go at finding Blue Ducks but of course we didn't, a trend to continue for the rest of the trip despite looking in every mountain stream we drove over. Briefly saw a NEW ZEALAND FALCON flying over.

After a while on the road (and after ticking SOUTH ISLAND PIED OYSTERCATER) we arrived at Slope Point, the southern most point of the NZ mainland. Stewart Island was tantalisingly close, but unfortunately we wouldn't be going there. YELLOWHAMMERS were in abundance, and a walk down to the Petrified Forest to looks at fossils yielded a couple of YELLOW-EYED PENGUINS, my third target bird ticked. What amazing birds these are, though painful to watch people walk right up to and disturb the rarest penguins in the world (despite the DOC signs). I know most birders would say there are some times where they get a little bit too far into a birds comfort zone (me included) but this was still agonising to watch. Also spotted some WHITE-FRONTED TERNS flying around, which I still have to see in Aus.

Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Crayfish

School Shark

Yellow-eyed Penguin

Yellow-eyed Penguin and Chicks

IBATD Milford Sound

Day 3
Played another birding card and got the family up and moving before 9:00. We were headed towards one of the big tourist attractions of NZ, Milford Sound. Of course, being a birder I wasn't looking at the scenery, rather looking for a bird up in the mountains on the way in, the Rockwren, one of my main targets for the trip.

Getting up early didn't help, as it was raining when we got there, and the chance of finding a thornbill-sized bird in a boulder field while you can't hear it's high pitched call is pretty slim... I did meet another birder there, Angus from Cairns, who had been there for a while without finding the wren.

Down at Milford Sound, I ticked NEW ZEALAND BELLBIRD and year ticked Variable Oystercatcher. Angus left before us to try for Rockwren again. We headed back up into the mountains after 30 minutes or so, and I ticked another target, the KEA.

Back at the Rockwren site, it had stopped raining, but I couldn't see Angus so I went off in search of the bird. After 10 minutes I heard a single high-pitched tweet. I strained my ears and after a few seconds heard it again. I scrambled over rocks towards the call ad found Angus packing away his camera, then pointing to a rock, from under which a stunning ROCKWREN appeared! While admiring its beauty, the male came out and immediately all my attention was diverted. In Angus's words "like a little pitta". So true!

Angus went off to where I said the Yellowheads were, and I decided to try my luck at seeing a Blue Duck. After 30 minutes of driving along beside rapids, trying to spot a blue-grey duck among blue-grey stones I gave up, although an obliging pair of Paradise Shelducks showed well. The rest of the day was spent driving.

Female Rockwren

Kea

Male Rockwren

Paradise Shelduck

Rockwren Habitat