Golden Eagle.

No not a Golden Eagle but there is a link with the White-tailed Eagle in the story below, this one Mike Watson saw and photographed at Hortobagy National Park in Hungary 2007....Thanks for the pic Mike.  This news is something we should never tire of hearing about although you'd be hard pressed to know what we as individuals can actually do about this tragic situation in the 21st century.

A young Golden Eagle has been found poisoned at Truskmore Mountain on the Sligo/Leitrim border in Ireland, the bird was 10 month old and had been reared in an eyrie in Donegal last year. This bird had been tracked and found using a sophisticated satellite tracking device fitted to the birds back and the corpse was recovered on 18 February. A post mortem was carried out and revealed the young male to be in excellent condition prior to its death, subsequent tests proved the bird had been poisoned by Nitroxynil poured over the fleece of a dead newborn lamb.

Last year another satellite-tagged Golden Eagle was found poisoned with Paraquat just a day later than this years discovery on 19 February 2009 in West Donegal. In total 9 White-tailed Eagles, Golden Eagles and Red Kites have been confirmed poisoned in Ireland over the last two and a half years and recent monitoring by the Golden Eagle Trust proves that up to four different poisons have been used illegally in four different areas in Ireland but the same trust believes that over 95% of landowners in Ireland do not use poison. Its a case of the 'old story' of the Irish Government who - like some other governments who are members of the EU - are failing in the need to implement legislation protecting these rare scavenging birds of prey.  

Tragically much good work in educating farmers has been undone by the publication in an Irish farming journal which advised sheep farmers that....'Alphachloralose is mixed with mincemeat and fat placed alongside a fresh stillborn lamb'....this appalling advice on a reckless use of a poison appears to indicate a total disregard for regulations and from a voice of Irish farming no less.

Birdwatch Ireland have commented that it can only be hoped that public anger over this sad event will ensure that the barbaric practice of leaving out meat-based poisons by a tiny minority of farmers can be a major contribution to finally eliminating this unacceptable behaviour.

            

On a lighter note Ian Tallon sent me this excellent image of a Waxwing he saw this week at Dalton-in Furness in Cumbria....once Lancashire! Thanks for this Ian and for your interest in Birds2blog, it is much appreciated. And even more good news to end with is that of a Little-ringed Plover on Frodsham Marsh in Cheshire today, not many more miles as the LRP flies and it could have been on Conder Pool. 

On Cue!

With the last bird I found today in mind as far as I'm concerned its spring and the pic I took last year - in a private wood I was kindly given access to - is worth a reminder of whats around the corner. It was bloody cold still today and the aforementioned bird and the pic will help put us on for a while yet.

At Conder Green 2 Spotted Redshank today, a Greenshank, the Common Sandpiper - how much longer will we be able to call this bird 'the' - on Conder Pool 2 Little Grebe, 16 Wigeon, and a Snipe to note, and no more than 50 Teal in the creeks seems to bear out the opinion that numbers have been/are down here this winter. I had set a programme and decided to skip Glasson Dock and went on to Jeremy Lane where there was 12 Whooper Swans and 2 Bewick's Swans, on Moss Lane another 9 Whooper Swans and a Little Egret having a change of scenery from Jeremy Lane. I did the circuit at Cockersands but ended up wondering why, the tide was well up by now so the place was void of waders of significance and I finished up with just 4 Goldeneye and a Red-breasted Merganser noted for my efforts.

At Fluke Hall I found a flock of at least 60 Linnet which - void of a records search - represents the best number of the species for me in a long time. Bird of the day - and right on cue with the date - was the male Stonechat returning from 'the south' and hopefully the first of many, this was the very bird I had gone to Fluke Hall for and my hunch turned out to be the right hunch....next bird up will be the Wheatear unless the Sand Martin beats them to it.

I met three people today who - in the case of two of them - informed me of a Stoat just coming out of ermine on the far bank of Conder Pool, and in the case of the other of a Grey Wagtail seen here early in the morning, the significance of this being that I've not seen a GW at Conder Green in something like 9 months.  

'The Walk'

Two definite things about the pic....its definitely one I took and its definitely been on Birds2blog once before but I deleted it accidentally probably before anyone got to see it so its here again, its title is 'Coming to Bread'.

I did the walk from Skerton Bridge to Conder Green again, it was a brilliant day and its a brilliant walk and will be even more so in the coming weeks when it'll be alive with birds, today not quite so but here goes....

Despite checking through several hundred 'gulls' all the way to Conder Green I could locate not a single Med Gull. I counted 6 Goldeneye distant and all upstream from Skerton Bridge toward the weir but the rest of the way to Freeman's Pools resulted in a nothing of significance. At the pools the Smew was soon seen but with my lingering limited I noted just 3 Goldeneye, 2 Gadwall, a drake Shoveler, and a Little Egret. Up to 60 Black-headed Gulls with Lapwings and Oystercatchers were all showing interest in the island perhaps as a breeding ground....Mmmmm!

On Aldcliffe Marsh 2 Little Egrets to note, and something put c.3,000 Pink-footed Geese up off Colloway Marsh, and I noted 26 Moorhen around the main wildfowlers pool. From the path to Conder Green, 15 Blackbirds, 4 Song Thrush included one in full song at CG, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Robins, a single Wren, and c.180 Curlews were noted in a field close to the picnic area at CG.

Green Sandpiper courtesy of Brian Rafferty.

At Conder Green on a much more brief visit than is my norm produced the Common Sandpiper, 2 Grey Plover, 3 Snipe, and singles of Back-tailed Godwit, Goldeneye, and Little Grebe. The last - and best - bird of the day five hours after leaving Lancaster was initially thought - briefly at a distance - to have been the Common Sandpiper until it flew to show the white rump of a Green Sandpiper.    

Simply the best......

....Tina Turner....not an avid fan but this one was quite good.

But I'm talking about Brian Rafferty's image above and I'm tempted to claim this is simply the best Barn Owl photograph you're ever likely to see....thanks Brian.

And beat this for an excellent image of the White-tailed Ptarmigan. I recommend you visit Mike Watson's Diary - which can be linked from my sidebar - to see the story behind this bird. Recommended reading about exactly where this bird was found, not to mention some other exciting events on this trip to Colorado in 2007.

Here is a run down on some of my birds in February.

Conder Green continued to support the wintering Common Sandpiper though it goes unnoticed for days on end, also Spotted Redshank and Greenshank were seen regularly and its always a good idea to be here on a high 10m+ tide as it pushes out into the open birds like the Jack Snipe and Rock Pipits which are much more difficult to find otherwise, I watched 23 Snipe come up off the marsh here on 1 February and six Rock Pipits were found on the tide wrack at Cockersands as was the wintering male Stonechat on just about every visit here throughout the month. I did the Skerton Bridge to Glasson Dock walk one day and was interested in finding at least 300 Black-tailed Godwit off Marsh Point, the redhead Smew was seen on Freeman's Pools on more than one occasion as was Green Sandpiper. Brief visits to Morecambe rewarded me with an adult Mediterranean Gull, 2 Scaup female off Broadway and a reasonable count of 130 Eider, up to 500 Black-tailed Godwit were also here on another visit, and on 17 February another adult Mediterranean Gull was at Teal Bay. Bewick's Swans and Whooper Swans were seen in varying numbers on every visit during February at Glasson Dock/Jeremy Lane/Moss Lane and a Merlin was seen on some of the visits to the marshes around Conder/ Glasson and also at Cockersands. Little Egret sightings are commonplace these days and one is often seen now on Jeremy Lane and another in the Cockersands area. The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock continued to support up to 2,500 Bar-tailed Godwits as it did the Goldeneye with the best count being 140 on 15 February and remains by far the best area for this species in the recording area and beyond. Two Ruff were seen from Fluke Hall Lane on 5 February and a tundra Bean Goose was with around 4,000 Pink-footed Geese on 15 February.

The down side of this month was the conclusive evidence that for the first time in more than 10 years no Stonechats were found at any of the upland locations I visit and I have reliable information that the Bowland birds are also absent with one observer having seen not a single bird this year. 

Looking forward to the progression of March and seeing my first returning Stonechat/Wheatear and Sand Martin....and others perhaps before the month is out.        

The 9 o'clock News....

....well nearly 9 o'clock. And now take a good look at the pic above and be really honest with yourself about your ID skills until you reach the end of my post....and if it makes you feel any better I think it would have taken me a while too.

A change of days for us today as I was out with JB/BT instead of Friday, as a consequence my weakening brain will tell me its Saturday tomorrow. We also changed the schedule because of the state of the tide but at least that went towards easing the monotony of the same routine, though the birds are never monotonous.

At Conder Green - where once again the place was rapidly becoming entirely water - a Spotted Redshank, a Goldeneye, and c.135 Common Gulls were all on Conder Pool, and by the way JB's records won't tally with mine again today as they will be much more in depth. On Jeremy Lane 10 Whooper Swans, and on Moss Lane 9 Whooper Swans, these swan numbers are rarely the same two visits alike.

As we sped down the A588 - I think BT thinks he's Jenson Button sometimes - a Barn Owl was hunting the field opposite Wrampool House, and in a field opposite a Barnacle Goose was in the company of 2 Mute Swans and I was later to be reliably informed this was a case of AWOL from somewhere or other. At Braides scrapes a disappointing emptiness save c.100 Curlew in the distance below the embankment, plus 2 Little Egrets in flight, and 2 Brown Hares, another 3 Brown Hares were seen from Gulf Lane as was a Merlin and 2 Little Owls....do these LO's ever breed in these 'boxes'? Off Pilling Lane Ends 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese flew west at around high tide.

John Batemans image of the Little Owl....thanks John. Someone said to him on the LDBWS website that it was good to see he was back birding again to which John replied that it was....if only at slow speed. We had a good day John, thanks for your company. 

I would never have believed I would ever....not ever post a picture like this and certainly not on Birds2blog but this blew me away when it was placed in front of me on the table this evening by three birds I've known for ages.

OK so its my birthday, big deal....but the cake is brilliant....isn't it? And by the way the bird at the head of this post is a hybrid drake Mallard x Pintail with my thanks to Chris Batty for both the pic and the ID.  

  

Todays Birding....

....never really got off the ground.

When I arrived at Conder Green I hadn't realised it was about 30 minutes from a very high 10m + tide and also what I hadn't realised was that being stood on the viewing platform overlooking Conder Pool I needed to move myself or I was about to get stranded there for quite some time. It was quite a revelation to see the tide spilling on to the road, coming up and from underneath the road - yes it does - and coming out of the gutters on the opposite side of the road from the River Conder....talk about time and tide waits for no man. So I abandoned any thoughts of birding in this area - the Lune estuary would be entirely under water.

OK so nothing went right today but above is an excellent study of one of Knott Ends resident Twite from one of the Fyldes resident birder/ringer Phil Slade....thanks Phil.

Before my escape from Conder Green I had managed to note the Spotted Redshank, a Little Grebe, and up to 160 Redshank were high tide roosting on Conder Pool. So I got to Jeremy Lane to try to get my four hours Monday birding allowance off the ground but wait a minute its all going wrong again as Mr Farmer is checking out his sheep and lambs on his 'four wheeler' and disturbing all the swans in the process but I did manage to count 6 Bewick's Swans and 17 Whooper Swans before they departed and flew off into the great unknown. From an undisturbed Moss Lane I counted another 12 Whooper Swans.

Though I never thought it a good idea I went off to Cockersands just to prove it and noted the Little Egret in its favourite ditch, 3 Meadow Pipits on the tide wrack at the caravan park end, 7 Blackbirds and a Song Thrush were in the Banks Houses horse paddock. Plover Scar had completely disappeared under the sea and that was my lot despite the 1.5 hour circuit....shouldn't I be doing something else?

A drive to Fluke Hall Lane in the hope the waders would have taken to the stubble fields here on this high tide turned out to have been another bad idea but I noted circa 1,800 Lapwing, 900 Dunlin, and 420 Golden Plover....I give in!

White-throated Toucan. Venezuela February 2010. Colin Bushell.

Worth an edit if only to add a little colour to an otherwise relatively dull post....Thanks Colin.

A Red Herring....

....and a Black bird.

On Friday 12 February my pager alerted me to a 'wholly unconfirmed report' of a Black Woodpecker in Cumbria and the following story eventually emerged which created a much welcome touch of humour into the occasionally too serious business of birding and 'roughly' went like this....A lady was descending the lower slopes of Ling Fell in Cumbria when she noticed a 'woodpecker' on a telegraph pole, there appears to be not too much else mentioned about the sighting though - upon questioning - this woman did state the bird never moved but that when she had done her research into what she had seen she was quite convinced after much study of books that the bird had been a Black Woodpecker. Well skip any other details about this story to move on to the conclusion which is that BT informed of the practice they had undertaken which was to place models of the Great Spotted Woodpecker on telegraph poles in this area to deter the real birds from damaging them....Mmmmm!

A couple of gems from Colin Bushells travels the first of which I would regard as a little gem. This is the Frilled Coquette, the smallest of the Brazilian hummingbirds.

 

....this one could only be regarded as a huge gem and is the Harpy Eagle. This bird is considered to be one of the worlds largest eagles and has a body length of up to 41 inches, a wingspan of 6.5 foot, can weigh up to 20 pounds, and has hind talons up to the size of a Grizzly Bears claws. The Harpy Eagles feed primarily on animals like monkeys, sloths, opposums, and some reptiles and birds. Colin was observing the bird in this image just 'a couple of weeks ago' in Venezuela. Please take a look at Colins website 'Ribble to Amazon!' which you can link to from my sidebar. 

Thanks for the pic's Colin which have gone towards keeping Birds2blog not just alive but interestlingly so  until I can get myself back on the birding road.

Stop The killing.

I really don't want Birds2blog to become a political/petition platform but here's another article all birders, anyone interested in birds, and visitors to my blog should read from the link below.


The RSPB: 200,000 say: Stop killing birds of prey!

Another lethal season looms

Sorry (not really) but we need to take another look at this as I don't think we can ever see enough reminders of this terrible situation in Malta and if I can play a part I'm going to do so on Birds2blog using the link below but be prepared to be shocked at the sight of the poor Hoopoe.

Another lethal season looms

Rain Stopped Play.

Not the most original title but the rain did stop play so lets take a look at a popular bird and a bit of its history.

Well this is one of my pics so definitely not the best in the world of the Little Owl seen one day at Cockersand Abbey Farm and not seen there before or since in my records book.

The Little Owl isn't a native of this country and has been introduced to England on more than one occasion mostly unsuccessfully. Suggestions are that most of today's birds are descendants from the ones brought over from the Netherlands by one Lord Lilford during the 1880-90 to which I am bound to comment....why didn't Lord Lilford leave the poor creatures alone in the Netherlands.

By around the 1950's just about all the areas in the country had been occupied by the Little Owl, though it remains scarce in Scotland and there are only four records from Ireland. There are suggestions that dispersal is modest both in Great Britain and on mainland Europe with very few beyond 40 miles and it seems first-time breeders are usually within a few miles of their birthplace. The lack of records from the Northern Isles supports the sedentary nature of the bird and interestingly there are more records of Scops Owl than Little Owl in Shetland. There are a few recoveries from ringing within Great Britain but none have left here, neither have any overseas birds been recovered within Great Britain.

I'm always excited by the sighting of a Little Owl and this is another of my moderate photographic efforts of the obliging Gulf Lane, Cockerham Moss bird. When I was a delivery driver for a car parts company I spent many hours over the years having my lunch break in company with a bird regularly on a small barn on a back road to Ingleton from Bentham....halcyon days and the perfect position to be in an employment which accommodated to perfection my then growing passion for the birds....and still growing.