Thursday, October 2, 2014

A Sunny Stint

After a few days absence I finally found my way to Conder Green this morning. The sun shone brightly and it proved to be a fine morning for a leisurely look through the waders on offer. 

I spotted a Little Stint feeding next to a Snipe, the Snipe towering above the tiny wader, the stint that has a fitting scientific name of Calidris minuta. Although I could find just the one stint there were more Snipe feeding in the creeks and the pool, a total of 14 in all. Other waders - 120+ Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 8 Lapwing and 6 Curlew. 

Little Stint - Photo credit: jvverde / Foter / CC BY-NC 

At the pool a Kingfisher fished from the island rocks, splashing in and out of the water, 12 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Wigeon, 1 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron and just 6 Little Grebe. 

All seemed quiet so I drove to Glasson Dock where another Kingfisher sat on the edge of the sunken boat, its head turning left and then right before spotting the approaching car. Off it went in the direction of the canal and into a slight mist that hung over the water, and I lost it from view. Conder Green and Glasson Dock are Kingfisher hot spots in the recent months of fine weather and productive fishing. 

There was little else, the 30 or so Tufted Ducks distant on the far side, so I took a walk along the cycle path and back towards Conder Green and hoped for an autumn goodie. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough or perhaps the fine weather is not conducive to raining small passerines into the bushes I bashed. Whatever, all I found were finches and a mixed flock of titmice, mainly 18 or more Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Meadow Pipits, so no obvious signs of migration. 

It’s difficult to miss the flock of 100+ Goldfinches because they stick so close and consequently make so much chattering noise. There are Linnets mixed in but their numbers dwarfed by the Goldfinches. 

Goldfinch

Linnet

On a limited budget of time I gave Fluke Hall a quick shot, maybe too hurried as the best I could muster proved to be a Goldcrest. There was and an obvious build-up of Woodpigeons on the cut wheat field, in excess of 140 of them clattering off through the trees when disturbed by a tractor. 

It was mid-morning and by now quite warm, the reason perhaps that four Buzzards appeared from the direction of the marsh where they may have crossed the bay. They circled around for a minute or two before continuing south and towards Pilling village. 

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

 Buzzard - Buteo buteo

In 2014 I’ve not been seeing as many Buzzards as in recent years and I hope it’s not because of more persecution, like this BBC story from 2nd October where 6 Buzzards have mysteriously disappeared.

Hands off our Buzzards you morons!

Just as well I made hay today because the forecast for weekend looks dire. But as ever Another Bird Blog will be looking for a sunny day and keeping an eye on those Buzzards.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

18 comments:

Germán Ibarra Zorrilla said...

Bonito post Phil, saludos desde España.

Linda said...

Absolutely beautiful!

Hootin Anni said...

What beauties...the stint is a bit similar to a godwit? Maybe it's just me.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

fantastic shots of the Buzzards, Phil. Have a great weekend.

Wally Jones said...

Wish I had been there with you, Phil! I'd be quite thrilled with a large flock of Goldfinches (European or American!).

Superb photo of the Little Stint.
(For Hootin Anni: Along your Texas coast, the most similar species would be one of the "peep" Sandipers, e.g., Western or Semipalmated.)

Glimpses of Buteos always make my day better. I hope your Buzzards survive the idiotic branches of our human family tree.

We have been having daily monsoons here but a cold front is promised tonight and will hopefully bring us a few waves of migrants.

Have a great weekend!

eileeninmd said...

Gorgeous variety of birds and photos, Phil! The Linnet is one of my favorites.. Happy Birding!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Hey Phil: I have fond memories of seeing my lifer Little Stint at RSPB Titchwell. It's barely bigger than the Least Sandpiper we see here.

Bob Bushell said...

Fantastic photos, especially the Buzzard, excellent.

eileeninmd said...

Good Morning, Phil. Just stopping back to say thanks for linking up, have a happy weekend!

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

I will get 5 or 6 goldfinches at a time feeding off of the sunflowers in the back and knowing the racket that they make I can't even imagine hearing a flock of 100. LOL!

Lovely bird photos as always here, along with interesting information ...I enjoyed this post : )

Rajesh said...

Beautiful birds.

EG CameraGirl said...

Really nice photos of the flying Common Buzzard!

A Colorful World said...

What a beautiful, peaceful (and successful!) day there. Love the photos! And the buzzards are really beautiful! I hope they will be left alone!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

You probably already know that "buzzard" is a slang term here in the western part of the US for the vultures we see (black or red-headed). (if you were as old as I am, you would think of old western movies with the hero's friend dying out on the desert while the 'buzzards' circled ominiously above...) Anyway, I didn't know there was a bird really called that; guess i makes sense. Your photos of it are just beautiful (I envy good flight shots so much.) And as always I love all your birds.

Janice said...

Phil, such perfect shots of the lovely birds.

Unknown said...

Wonderful photos of the buzzards. They're gorgeous.

Noushka said...

Fantastic shots of the Goldfinch and the Linnet!
They are both such gorgeous birds!
Congratulations Phil, keep well!

Anni said...

As I mentioned above while visiting in my Hootin' Anni's blog admin, that looks so similar to godwits.

If I could see 120+ of ANY bird at one time, I'd be thrilled...and yes, "HANDS OFF you MORONS". Anytime, any place in the world.

Thanks for sharing this link at I'd Rather B Birdin' this weekend. Always appreciated!!

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