Seeds produce a good harvest.

David and I went again to Hampshire this week for the Spanish sparrow. We left early and arrived just before dawn. The bird was in someone's garden. It seemed too early on a Sunday morning to expect them to let people in so we went first to the dark-eyed junko a few miles away. I put some seed down on a tree stump a few metres away. Eventually, the junco landed nearby and climbed onto it to feed. Good views were had by all!

Dark-eyed junco. An American bird

After that we went to see the Spanish sparrow (which I had seen in Israel). As luck would have it, the house-owners were both birdwatchers. We took our shoes off and joined those already inside. I was able to sit by the patio doors and soon the Spanish sparrow appeared. It seemed happy among the British sparrows and had, apparently, bred with the locals. Remember that these pictures were taken through double glazing.

Spanish sparrow (male) taken through double glazing.

After that we went to Blashford lakes for the ferruginous duck and then to Wyke Regis, Weymouth for Hume's leaf warbler. We dipped both again so the less said about that the better. In compensation, it was nice to see redpoll, siskin and goldfinch all on the same feeder at Blashford, and about 400 Mediterranean gulls and a young kestrel at Wyke Regis.

Redpoll

Song thrush

Siskins (male)

Kestrel - (male)

Thanks, David, for your company.

Israel trip with Birdfinders - Day 3.

Day 3. Thursday, 24 March, 2011


Next to our hotel was Shulamit Park, a magnet for migrants. On other days, several of the others had gone birdwatching even before breakfast. I decided to go as well today. The park is planted with many trees, and the lawns are watered every day. At the top of the central mound, where the winos sleep, there is a very attractive bottlebrush tree which attracted most of the migrants. Wryneck, eastern olivaceous warbler, eastern Bonelli's warbler, blackcaps, lesser whitethroats and Spanish sparrows were all in evidence. However, I was not in the park. A small heron had been seen in the marina and I got up before 6 AM to see it before it flew away. I saw it only briefly and distantly and against the light of the rising sun. It was a striated heron.

After breakfast we left at 7:45 AM as usual and drove to kilometre 33 to look for Dunn's lark. On arrival at this desert site there was a solitary car. Nearby, a photographer had set up a hide and a small battery driven water fountain to attract the birds. I wondered what he thought of 16 birdwatchers suddenly descending on his remote watchpoint! In the event, we only saw desert larks, a bar tailed lark, a woodchat shrike and a flyover short-toed eagle. We also flushed a large Cape hare, which bounded off into the distance.

Bar-tailed lark

Cape hare

We moved on to Yot Vata. On a nearby site of acacia forest we hoped to find Arabian warbler, one of the "big five" most wanted birds. Arabian warbler is a very localised bird, but it is resident and sedentary. At first we saw eastern Bonelli's warbler, hoopoe, a couple of very nice blackstarts, etc before the Arabian warbler eventually appeared and showed well for several minutes. We also saw a scrub warbler and a gecko, and some people saw a couple of sand partridges in the distance. Flyovers included a black stork and booted Eagle.

Arabian warbler

Geckoey thing

Next stop was the Yot Vata sewage ponds where we found our first cattle egrets, reed warbler, squacco heron, woodchat shrike and, further on, citrine wagtail and Dead Sea Sparrows. A little further on we heard our first turtle dove and a masked shrike performed for several minutes nearby. On the way back an amazingly confiding wryneck performed on the path in front of us.

Masked shrike

Black-eared wheatear

Wryneck

It was only a short hop to the cafe at Yot Vata where we had lunch, followed, for me, by the now traditional large ice cream! As it was fairly warm, we went up into the mountains to the Shizzafon sewage ponds. These were sewage ponds with a difference! There wasn't much water and the ponds were landscaped with attractive vegetation, bushes, reeds, etc. Here we enjoyed squacco herons, linnet, bluethroat, citrine wagtail, Northern wheatear and a solitary white stork.

Citrine wagtail

Black-winged stilt

Northern wheatear

White stork

Having found no hooded wheatears we made our way back to the fields at Yot Vata. This yielded several firsts for me including a small number of Cretzschmar's bunting, an ortolan bunting, large numbers of white wagtails, greater short-toed larks, bimaculated larks, desert wheatears and yellow wagtails. There were also smaller numbers of red-throated pipits, water pipits, Siberian stonechat, woodchat shrike, masked shrike, and kestrel. One kestrel caught a quail and proceeded to eat it on a roll of straw in full view! Finally, a couple of tawny pipits were another first for me. A fitting end to another good day!

Cretzschmar's bunting

Desert wheatear

Ortolan bunting

Tawney pipit

Kestrel with quail (alive when we first saw it)!!

A good weekend photographically

The bad weather this last week brought many good migrants to ground. Sadly, I had to work so missed them all! Aaahh!

Well, on Saturday, I went to Beddington where ring ouzels, and all manner of rare migrants had been seen in the week. I saw none of them! After a walk round the whole site, I decided to go to Barnes WWT. Here I saw sand martins, sedge warblers and reed warblers. Also, a kestrel caught something and came down on a nearby post to eat it. I never got to see what it had caught, but I managed to fire off some of the closest and best shots of a kestrel before he flew off. Here is the best picture:

Male kestrel, Barnes WWT.

On Sunday I went to Elmley Marshes on the Isle of Sheppey and then to Oare Marshes near Faversham. Elmley is great because during the 1.25 mile drive from the road to the car park you often see more than at the hides (which involve another 1.25 mile hike). Also the car is a perfect hide. By waiting patiently, I got a lovely yellow wagtail at close range....

Yellow wagtail (male), Elmley marshes.

.....and a pair of skylarks - one shown here, displaying .

Skylark, Elmley.

Shortly afterwards, a redshank appeared. With the sun behind, his red legs appeared an even more vivid red.

Redshank, Elmley

I started on my walk to the hides but, after about 500-600 metres I met another birdwatcher who had already been down there and pronounced that there was very little apart from avocets and shellducks. I decided not to put in the effort of a long walk and turned back to go to Oare. On the way back I heard the distant call of a corn bunting. Scouring the middle distance revealed it on a gatepost, but too far for a shot that I could dare to post on this blog.

At Oare, there was a single little stint and a whimbrel on the mud in the Swale, again too distant for any decent shots. There was a nice drake garganey at the back of the lake, and I managed some practice at flight shots when a mute swan made a couple of circuits of the lake.

A little egret afforded some close views while touring the lake in search of fish.

Little egret, Oare Marshes.

All in all, an enjoyable weekend photographically even if I didn't make much headway into David Campbell's formidable lead in the year list.

Now, here's a riddle for you. Whose face is this Disney looking character? Those Goofy eyes, that black hair, that funny bearded mouth like the bully in Popeye (I can't remember his name). Who can it be?? Answers on a postcard please...... Well, you can email the answer to me if you can guess. Answer in next week's posting.

Whose face???