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Birding Year List


chrisjpainter
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25 minutes ago, JDog said:

A red footed Falcon flew in off the sea at Huttoft Bank yesterday. I was there two days earlier when I saw an almost black Cuckoo.

Hard luck with the Falcon.......when I read  you saw an almost black cuckoo, I had to check on the Black Cuckoo ( Cuculus  clamosus)...........but unfortunately only resident in Sub Saharan Africa.

White spotted Bluethroat still at WWT Slimbridge (25/6/21).........but ultra elusive, many hours between sightings in the acres of reeds.

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Inundated with small birds this morning as I sat in one of my cabins. Marsh tits at least five youngsters, chaffinches (whole family) dad and mum feeding the youngsters from the seed I spread on the ground, pair of bullfinches again, a warbler of some sort almost came in the cabin to join me, possible wood warbler, tree creeper up the tree about a yard away, plus five woodpeckers and numerous blue and great tits. Of course 4 or 5 blackbirds searching the area infront of me which I keep cut very short.  The ever present robin.   They have all settled down since the last two days. I think the sparrow hawk had been through as all the birds where very jumpy.  Looks like a good breeding season so far.

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37 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

put a name to this one please ....   marsh or willow ?

026.JPG

Most likely to be a Marsh Tit, They frequent mature and semi- mature deciduous woodland, whereas willow tits prefer wet woodlands (alder).........if you can get a close up in the binoculars, the Marsh tit has a white spot on the top mandible of its beak.

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9 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Thanks for that.  There has been a bunch of youngsters flying around the last two days.  I know they are difficult to determine one from the other.

Pulled the picture in a bit but the bill is shiny on top

026.JPG

More clues to a Marsh tit in this closer shot, the two tone white/buff cheeks, and the wide black untidy bib...........Willow tits have a wider white cheek panel, and a neater "Goatee" bib.

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On 20/06/2021 at 14:17, Walker570 said:

Very happy to see a hen Bullfinch on our house feeder this morning stuffing food very quickly then flying off hopefully to feed a new family.  Masses of just hatched tit family groups both at home and on our woodland feeders.

We've still been getting the cock and hen Bullfinches every day pretty much, I'm still waiting for them to bring chicks to the feeder but it's not happened yet. 

 

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On 30/06/2021 at 20:52, Walker570 said:

put a name to this one please ....   marsh or willow ?

026.JPG

Got to be the hardest two birds to separate,  so similar. 

20210527_173015.jpg.cdfa5cc3673c8f56ae609f2230099d94.jpg

I can't load the video of these Willow tits,  the thing is the wood isn't particularly wet, I've had them positively identified from videos I put on a FB Willow tit group.

Still seeing more thrushes around as well. 

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6 hours ago, Mice! said:

Got to be the hardest two birds to separate,  so similar. 

20210527_173015.jpg.cdfa5cc3673c8f56ae609f2230099d94.jpg

I can't load the video of these Willow tits,  the thing is the wood isn't particularly wet, I've had them positively identified from videos I put on a FB Willow tit group.

Still seeing more thrushes around as well. 

Was the nestbox in the picture being used by the Willow tits ? I only ask because they are known to excavate their own nests in rotting treestumps, and would not take an ordinary nestbox, unless it had been filled with a material that the Willow tits can excavate, eg, damp sawdust, 

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46 minutes ago, twenty said:

Was the nestbox in the picture being used by the Willow tits ? I only ask because they are known to excavate their own nests in rotting treestumps, and would not take an ordinary nestbox, unless it had been filled with a material that the Willow tits can excavate, eg, damp sawdust, 

Yes mate, the boxes are supposed to be for Doormice but they are normally filled with birds, they glow in the thermal,  I've got videos from that morning with the parents outside the box trying to get the chicks out, it was the singing of the parents that helped ID the birds.

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55 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Yes mate, the boxes are supposed to be for Doormice but they are normally filled with birds, they glow in the thermal,  I've got videos from that morning with the parents outside the box trying to get the chicks out, it was the singing of the parents that helped ID the birds.

Great stuff, you are very lucky to have Willow tits on your ground.........a red list bird, of concern.

All the best.

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9 hours ago, twenty said:

Great stuff, you are very lucky to have Willow tits on your ground.........a red list bird, of concern.

All the best.

Agreed. I have seen neither Marsh nor Willow tits.

 

A Baillon’s Crake has been at Alkborough Flats. What are the chances of seeing that in acres of reed beds?

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5 hours ago, JDog said:

Agreed. I have seen neither Marsh nor Willow tits.

 

A Baillon’s Crake has been at Alkborough Flats. What are the chances of seeing that in acres of reed beds?

Same as the Bluethroat at WWT Slimbridge, some people have been visiting the grounds daily, and have still to see it, with the amount of cover available to it..........the Baillon's Crake is only the size of a starling, so very slim chances of a view, as you say.

All the best.

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This evening between 7.30 and 8.00 I laid out on a bench in the garden listening to and watching birds flying overhead. 

I saw my first Swiftlets of the year, two young House Martins and heard competing Blackbirds and Song Thrushes. I could also hear the wing beats of many adult Swifts as they searched the sky for flies.

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On 02/07/2021 at 13:16, Mice! said:

Got to be the hardest two birds to separate,  so similar. 

20210527_173015.jpg.cdfa5cc3673c8f56ae609f2230099d94.jpg

I can't load the video of these Willow tits,  the thing is the wood isn't particularly wet, I've had them positively identified from videos I put on a FB Willow tit group.

Still seeing more thrushes around as well. 

It's great you have got willow tits. Especially if they are breeding. As said very rare now! Used to see/hear them a lot in old osier beds on a couple of farms. They liked nesting in soft willow stumps. BTO boi's that ring on the farms were saying it is thought they don't breed in Suffolk now. Squirrels a big predator of them. Some think each pair needs 7hec for a territory. Seems a lot.       NB

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8 hours ago, NatureBoy said:

It's great you have got willow tits. Especially if they are breeding. As said very rare now! Used to see/hear them a lot in old osier beds on a couple of farms. They liked nesting in soft willow stumps. BTO boi's that ring on the farms were saying it is thought they don't breed in Suffolk now. Squirrels a big predator of them. Some think each pair needs 7hec for a territory. Seems a lot.       NB

Well I've definitely had an impact on the squirrels here so that can only help.

I pretty much know that I'll see the Willow tits at a feeder, they obviously know there is guaranteed food.

That nest box was probably only 5mtrs away from the footpath as well, I was just in the right place at the right time to see the parent birds trying to encourage the youngsters out.

The Willow tit group I follow on FB pretty much all the sightings they get are on old coal mining land around Leigh and Wigan, then pushing out further to Warrington and Lostock.

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