6 Likes
Looks like a very rare Nonchalant Woodpecker
Flock of sparrows in back garden update: think a hawk attack may have happened to spook them. The bird feeders were empty (as expected being away for a week) but they are being much more cautious in coming out of the undergrowth and noticeably quieter.
We also had a dead juvenile inbetween some plant pots with a wound on its neck, where I wouldn’t think a cat would have the precision needed.
A couple of Bonxies (Great Skuas) squabbling over an unidentified morsel floating in the sea, today.
11 Likes
A juvenile Tirrick (Arctic Tern) at Brough Lodge, this afternoon.
7 Likes
A couple of Sanderling and a flock of ~25 Shag on the west coast today
8 Likes
More juvenile Tirricks in somewhat better light today.
7 Likes
Couple of interesting (to me…) birds shown-up in the last 24 hours, sadly no pics due to lack of suitable camera/competence/&c.
A vocal raptor turned out to be a young Marsh Harrier which had come quite a few miles upriver from its usual haunts. They’re pretty common around the shores of The Wash for obvious reasons, but this is the first I’ve seen/heard here.
The rain earlier flushed a lot insects into activity, and with them a fleet of robins and dunnocks, but with those were a couple of elegant, almost silver underside / tan-through-almost greenish birds which proved to be Garden Warblers - my first time sighting them actually in the garden.
Someone else’s pic:
The bird-song app on Sam’s phone fairly often identifies blackcap song, but given how similar the songs are, plus the fact I’ve yet to set eyes on them in the garden, I wonder if the GWs are in the frame instead?
The app certainly isn’t foolproof - Max starts whining pretty much the moment you stop walking (e.g. stopping to use a bird app on a 'phone… 
), and that’s been identified as all manner of exotics! 
2 Likes
I would be surprised if the app couldn’t separate Garden W from Blackcap.
They convert the notes into sonograms and ID from them.
Blackcap left, Garden Warbler right.
So although they sound similar, the sonograms are markedly different.
2 Likes
Yep, you’re right - we played samples of both and it was 100%
But in the real world here you have LOTS of ambient noise (whining saluki, fighter jets, massive tractors, Sam farting constantly, load of other burbs, &c &c…), and both sp. tend to sing in very brief bursts.
But funndamentally you’re probably right - seems likely Blackcaps are around too, they’re hardly rare 
1 Like
Indeed. Nor are Garden Warblers but they’re much more frequently heard than seen, being quite secretive birds.
The ones you’re enjoying now may well be birds starting to move south, post breeding.
1 Like
That seems likely - for all that they’re not that distinctive, they really stand out from the everyday garden fauna in appearance, plus this was very obviously a pair sticking together, so I’m sure you’re right 
Whatever their backstory, it was lovely to see them.
1 Like
Always.
We get them regularly, but only on passage. This one from 21st May
3 Likes
Probably not a clear enough picture to tell but this fellow appeared on a fence post next to where we were camping at the weekend. (Hampshire) Bigger than a sparrow/robin but probably not quite as big as a thrush. Any ideas?
Pigeon?
3 Likes
Indeed 
Zooming in doesn’t help a lot but a wild guess would be Wheatear.
1 Like
Your application to join the British Birds Rarities Committee is under consideration.
Meanwhile, don’t give up your day job…
1 Like
Want
1 Like