A Hudsonian Whimbrel and Kestrel Pulli

For the second time this year the British Isles has been graced by the presence of a Hudsonian wader. In May I twitched the Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset, which was a cracking bird and not a species I thought that I would ever see in the UK. This week news broke of a possible Hudsonian Whimbrel at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex. It was not long before it was confirmed and so being only 25 minutes down the road I had to go. 

Hudsonian Whimbrel is a species I have seen many times in the USA and Canada, but this was only the 9th record in the UK, so not a species I had expected to see, and so close to home. It is a cryptic species, that is very similar to Eurasian Whimbrel, but with good views is actually quite straightforward to identify.  In flight the back, rump and upper-tail coverts are concolourous with the mantle and therefore very different from Eurasian Whimbrel that has a white rump and the distinctive 'V' up its back. The underwing, auxiliaries and flanks are also densely barred with a ground colour that is warmer than that of Eurasian Whimbrel. When not in flight the striking head pattern should be the first clue to a bird being a Hudsonian Whimbrel, since it is much stronger, with the pale/white supercilium and crown stripe contrasting strongly with the darker feathers. 

I nipped down to see this bird on Wednesday morning, and it was interesting to see how obvious the head markings were. I was unable to get any photos of it unfortunately but as it is still there I hope to pop down again for a second look and may get some.

Today (12th June) I popped into Manor Farm Country Park to check the Kestrel boxes and see how they were getting on. If you remember, two weeks ago the chicks were too small in one box so I didn't check the other. Today, the chicks in the first box were doing very well, and we were able to ring four very healthy chicks. There were five much younger chicks in the second box, one of which was half the weight of the others, and may not survive, but they were all big enough to ring, so fingers crossed they will all fledge.

A brood of four Kestrels - Manor Farm Country Park

A brood of five (smaller) Kestrels - Manor Farm Country Park

After ringing and a quick stroll around the woods I headed home and opened a net in the back garden. It had been a dull and humid morning and by mid afternoon, when I got home, there was a little bit of moisture in the air but no wind, so almost ideal. I only ended up catching about ten birds, which included juvenile Blue and Great Tits and Great Spotted Woodpecker, also adult Greenfinch, Robin and Nuthatch. In recent weeks I have had four Stock Doves feeding in the garden, today one strayed into my net, as did a Wood Pigeon for comparison. The iridescent green on the side of a Stock Dove's neck really is quite striking and it lacks the white that is present on Wood Pigeon. Note also the iris and bill colour.

Stock Dove - Funtley

Wood Pigeon - Funtley

Whilst waiting for birds to fly into the net I worked my way through the moth trap, that I had left out overnight. I had caught over 100 moths with nothing particularly of note. The highlights for me were Marbled Brown, which is not that regular in my garden and a few migrant species, Diamond Back Moth and Rush Veneer. The main highlight though was a Dusky Cockroach, a species that I have occasionally caught in the past, but never that frequently. This is one of three native cockroach species in the UK, the others being Tawny and Lesser Cockroach. There are of course pest species that have colonised so it is always worth checking if you find one in your house, to make sure it's not a native species.

Dusky Cockroach - Funtley

Winter Bird Ringing - 18th November 2012

With the autumn migration pretty much over, bird ringing at the usual ringing area at Titchfield Haven has now finished. Typically that would be the end of ringing at the Haven for me and I would move to other sites, but this year there is a back up plan in place. Over the last couple of years a nearby field has been sow with Quinoa, the crop failed last year due to the dry weather, but this year the crop did very well, and subsequently a decent crop of bird food is present.

Field of Quinoa

Over the last few weeks the numbers of reed buntings present have steadily increased to the point where over 100 were present, so we thought we would try and catch them. The weather was amazing this morning, a crisp, clear, still and frosty morning, so we met up early to set the nets before first light. The weather conditions were ideal for bird ringing and as the sun got up the birds began to arrive, reed buntings were first, followed by brambling, lesser redpoll, chaffinch and bullfinch.

Female Reed Bunting

The session began well, with a handful of reed buntings, a dunnock and chaffinch. Sexing reed buntings is generally straight forward since male birds have white visible in the collar, a largely olive or greyish rump, a black band on throat feathers and around two-thirds of each crown feather is black. But despite handling quite a few reed buntings some of them can be quite tricky to age.

Juvenile Type Tail Feathers

Adult birds usually moult completely post breeding and replace both wing and tail feathers from the end of July to September. Adults therefore tend to have fresh primary tips and tail feathers, whereas juveniles are worn, in addition the feathers in juvenile birds are narrow and pointed. However, the variability in the pointedness of tail features and extent of abrasion on individual birds is great. The image above shows juvenile type features, they are pointed and worn, whereas the tail below has broad and rounded tail feathers that show little wear and therefore are indicative of an adult bird.

Adult Type Tail Feathers

The session was going well and it was not long before we had ringed over 20 reed buntings, four chaffinch's, two dunnock a robin and a superb adult male common kestrel. This bird was in fantastic condition, and looked stunning with his grey head, and tail with its black sub-terminal band.

Adult Male Common Kestrel

An interesting footnote for this blog is the re-capture of a reed bunting that I ringed in my garden on 11th March 2012. This bird was re-trapped at Titchfield Haven on 30th October at Titchfield Haven, not a massive movement but still its always nice to have one of your birds controlled.

Titchfield Haven Bird Ringing 4th August 2012

It was a bit of a blustery start to the day this morning, but nonetheless we popped down to the nets to see whether ringing was possible. Fortunately our ringing area is set within an area of tall scrub and so the nets were hardly moving, however no sooner had we opened the nets and the heavens opened. After a short, but heavy downpour, the sky began to look less ominous so we decided to carry on.

The first net round was pretty poor, only two Grasshopper Warblers, a few Reed and Sedge Warblers and a couple of Blackbirds. The second round was not much better, although we did catch an adult Garden Warbler, a few more Sedge and a Song Thrush. The next round was much the same, only this time we retrapped an adult Garden Warbler, that we first ringed as an adult on 26th July 2011. 

Adult Retrap Garden Warbler

An interesting retrap, and since this species does not breed at The Haven, we presume it must be a local breeder, possibly from Botley Wood, which is the nearest known breeding location.

Abraded Wing tip

It is always good to catch a bird of known age because it gives us the chance to reaffirm the ageing criteria. This adult bird had bleached and abraded wing tips, and the tail feathers were broad and less pointed at the tip.

Broad and not so Pointed tail Feathers

The number of birds being captured had now dropped right off, so we thought we would do one final round before furling. in the meantime things must have woken up, as two Willow warblers, one Chiffchaff, one Whitethroat, four Sedge Warblers, a Dunnock and a Cetti's Warbler, were in the nets. We ended the day on 48 birds of 13 species, Sedge Warbler was the most numerous with 16, Reed Warbler with 10 and surprisingly seven Blackbirds. Once again it was a slow day, and nowhere near the numbers of last year.

After popping home for a quick break I picked up Izzy, one of my trainees, and headed up to a site near Greatham, where there was a late brood of Kestrels in a box. There is a camera in the box and so we knew there were two chicks, and they were the right size for ringing. On reaching the box I was surprised to see that there was only one chick in it, the other must have fledged this morning.

Juvenile Kestrel

The one chick that was left was a feisty little thing and had real attitude, but eventually calmed down a seemed to be content to watch the proceedings as it was ringed. 

Juvenile Kestrel

This is the latest brood of Kestrels that I have ever ringed, and it was a shame to miss the other bird, but nice to ringed our third brood of Kestrels of the year.

What's in the Box?

Had a busy day planned today checking nest boxes at Manor Farm and then doing some dormouse monitoring at Titchfield Haven, and so a 5:30 start was the order of the day.

There are eight owl boxes at Manor Farm, which are situated in a variety of locations, and many have been used over the last few years. We started down near the farm museum and were instantly rewarded with a brood of six Common Kestrels. The chicks were very well advanced and had almost fully grown wings, but we still managed to ring them.

Juvenile Kestrel

The weights of the different birds ranged from 189 to 210 grams so they were all healthy, the parents must have worked so hard to rear six chicks.

A Cosy Brood of Kestrels

The next box that we checked is located in the farmland in the middle of the park and last year there was evidence of a roosting Barn Owl but no sign of breeding. However during the early spring, when in search of Woodcocks, we had heard Barn Owls calling, so I was quietly hopeful that we would be in luck. Sure enough as I looked in the box there were two chicks nestled in the bottom. The larger chick weighed 380 grams and was beginning to grow its feathers but the smaller one weighed only 300 grams, but it did have a very full stomach. It must be so difficult for Barn Owls to provide enough food when we have weather as bad as we've been having in the UK recently. I will go back and check on them in a couple of weeks to see how they are doing.

Barn Owl Chicks

The next box we checked had been occupied by Grey Squirrels in previous years, but this year there was another brood of Kestrels. Well when I say a brood, one chick, one long dead chick and an addled egg. So a much smaller brood than in the other box, but success all the same! This chick was smaller than the smallest chick in the other brood, but only just, weighing 182 grams.

Juvenile Kestrel

The next two boxes were empty, but then success again, this time a brood of two Stock Doves. These birds were just starting to grow their primary feathers but one was still quite downy, and weight wise they were very similar at 238 and 242 grams. I have not ringed this species at the park before so it was a nice addition to the ringing list.

Stock Dove Chicks

The final box was also occupied by Stock Doves, but the eggs had not hatched yet. Before leaving we popped into the stables to check on the resident Barn Swallows. Five chicks were in the nest but they were too small to ring so we will have to go back next week. 

My next stop was a visit Titchfield Haven for some dormouse monitoring. I have been helping out with the monitoring for a couple of years now whilst also training the rangers towards a Natural England licence. We started at a site to the west of the main reserve where 30 boxes are up, and had several other rodent species, Yellow-necked and Wood Mouse and Bank Vole, before we found our first dormouse. The nest was classic, stripped bark on the inside with very fresh, green leaves around the outside, it was so clean and tidy we felt bad disturbing it .

Dormouse Nest

The animal inside was a female and she was a good size, weighing 18.5 grams, and seemed to be quite unperturbed by the handling experience.

Female Dormouse

In fact, she was so relaxed that she seemed to find it a struggle to stay awake.......bless!

Sleepy Female Dormouse

Our final stop was Titchfield Haven and the boxes around the bird ringing area. There is a mix of nest tubes and boxes here, but only around 20 in total. We found a couple of nests which had been made this year, but no animals other than another Bank Vole, a nest with young Bank Voles in and another Yellow-necked Mouse.

Bird Ringing During May and Early June 2011

The poor weather conditions in May, particularly on days when I was off, made mist netting very difficult, and even when I was able to net the number of birds caught was low. However I still managed to get in a few sessions and ended up catching 64 birds of 16 species. The usual species such as Blackbird, Blue Tit and Great Tit were present in the totals but so were a few migratory species including Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and Blackcaps. Several retraps were also captured, the most interesting being a female Garden Warbler, who had returned to the same site 363 days after the original capture, and a Eurasian Jay, again at the same site 3 years 121 days after original capture.

Three new Common Nightingales were the icing on the cake so to speak, with two females and a male captured, but unfortunately the old bird I was hoping to catch, evaded my attempts. 

Common Nightingale May 2011

I also found an active nest with three eggs in, but when I returned two weeks later it had been predated. Interestingly, a pile of Muntjac dung was present right next to the nest, I know that Roe Deer will readily feed on the contents of the bird nests that they find, but I haven't heard the same of Muntjac, but guess that it is very likely.

Predated Common Nightingale Nest

All of the Common Nightingales I capture are marked with individually identifiable colour ring combinations, with the aim of identifying individuals without the need to always capture them. This year I was unable to get complete combinations, nonetheless I did continue with the colour ringing, so keep your eyes peeled for my birds when watching Common Nightingales. 

Common Nightingale wearing BTO Metal Ring and Colour Rings

Common Nightingales are relatively straight forward to age. Adult birds carry out a complete post breeding moult, whereas juveniles carry out a partial post juvenile moult. This means that  juvenile birds returning for their first summer, should have retained juvenile feathers. These show as feathers with obvious pale tips to the primary coverts and some of the greater coverts. In the image below, the pale tips are clearly visible on the primary coverts and also on the first six greater coverts, thereafter they are adult feathers. In addition note the more pointed shape of the primary coverts.

Wing of First Summer Common Nightingale

In contrast to the image above, the image below shows the wing of an adult bird. Note the uniform colouration of the primaries and greater coverts with no pale tips present. In addition note the rounded tip and broadness of the primary coverts.

Wing of Adult Common Nightingale

Other ringing activities included a brood of three Common Kestrels whose parents had taken up residence in one on my barn owl boxes. These three chicks were very relaxed about the whole ringing thing and seemed quite undaunted by the episode. The female bird sat on a post with a vole in her beak, she waited for me to put the chicks back in the box before flying in the feed them, presumably I have ringed chicks of hers before.

Three relaxed Common Kestrel Chicks

The European Nightjar is another species that I don't get to ring very often, in fact the last one I captured was in June 2002. So this individual was a real treat, but I had to work my way through Baker (1993), in order to age it correctly. Baker states that 'juvenile birds undergo a complete moult in their winter quarters, the primaries moult descendantly and the secondaries have at least two moult centres, usually retaining one or two juvenile secondaries'. Apparently adult birds can show two generations of feathers within the secondaries, but the pattening on these feathers is very similar. Sexing is by way of the presence of white patches on the primaries and on the tail feathers.

European Nightjar 

In the first instance it can be seen that this bird is clearly a male, with obvious white patches in the primaries and tail feathers. I aged this bird as a first year for three reasons. 

Wing of European Nightjar

Firstly there appears to be a retained juvenile greater covert, which can be seen in the image below. This covert stands out since it is mainly brown with a pale white tip and is located towards the right hand end of the greater coverts.

Close up of Wing of European Nightjar

In addition there is an obvious break in the secondaries, where a juvenile feather is present. This feather can be seen in the image above, being slightly longer and showing a pale off white tip to the inner web (partly obscured).

Tail of European Nightjar

And thirdly the amount of white on the outer tail feathers is limited mainly to the tip and does not extend up the feather, this patch is much more extensive on adults birds.