Sound Recordings - 18th and 19th April

With very little time and lots of work to catch-up with between my two China trips I have not been out birding and I feel like spring in the UK is slipping me by. I have taken to carrying my sound recording kit with me when carrying out bird surveys and here are a selection of recordings from the 18th and 19th April.

I added a number of sound recordings to this post linked to uploads at the Internet Bird Collection (IBC). With the subsequent transfer of data from IBC to the Macaulay Library the links to these became broken. I have therefore subsequently uploaded these sound files to eBird and the recordings for Guildford can be viewed here and those for Dorchester can be viewed here. I have retained the sonograms from these recordings on this post.

This Blackcap near to Guildford, Surrey was energetically singing and calling with the two often mixed together. Singing from deep within a Blackthorn thicket, this was one of my first migrants of the spring. The top recording is a sequence of song while the spectrogram shows three 'tack' calls followed by a burst of song.

This Coal Tit near to Guildford, Surreywas singing emphatically from a stand of pine and came to investigate me as I wandered by. The top sonogram is a song sequence while the bottom is a burst of seven calls showing the broadband 'pit' element of the note and the near constant frequency of the 'chu' element.

This is the song of a Goldcrest near to Guildford, Surrey. The top recording is a full song sequence while the lower sonogram shows a single song sequence followed by a single call. A lot of energy goes into this seemingly simple song.

This is a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming on a dead oak snag at the edge of its territory in an oak woodland near to Guildford, Surrey with a Blue Tit singing in the background.

This Chiffchaff near to Dorchester in Dorset was avidly defending its territory against other Chiffchaff in the area. The top recording is a long song sequence while the image below shows the structure of the notes used in the song - the 'chiff' being higher frequency with a maximum intensity at around 4.6Khz while the 'chaff' is lower at around 3.9Khz.

This male Yellowhammer near to Dorchester, Dorset was perched in a hedgerow giving an undulating call sequence rather than its classic 'little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese' song.

Mongolia - 10th May (Day 3) - Mungunmorit and Gachuurt Areas

While the temperatures outside our tents at Mungunmorit on the eastern edge of the Gorkhi Terelj National Park sank well below zero we were remarkably warm and snug and as the light rose at 04:45 we were all up cleaning teeth on the edge of the Taiga Forest and wondering what the unusual calls were coming from the Larch forest – they were actually mainly Willow Tit which were remarkably abundant. After a coffee and chocolate wafers we headed into the forest above the camp site. On the climb through the forest we encountered Little Bunting, Long-tailed Rosefinch and Daurian Redstart before the pops and clicks of our main target were audible. After sneaking around a shallow slope and emerging onto a small plateau the black bulk of a stunning male Black-billed Capercaillie appeared through the larch. The black plumage was adorned with large white spots and the red facial skin framing the large black bill. A second male appeared, this one pumped up and strutting with tail fanned. In total there were five male birds here and we obtained good views of the birds. We were watching one male as he displayed from close to the top of a Larch when suddenly from nowhere it was bombed by a female Goshawk, after a brief tussle the Goshawk chased the Capercaillie through the forest for a short distance before giving up the chase.

Male Black-billed Capercaillie - Mungunmorit

Male Black-billed Capercaillie, this bird has lost some of its facial feathers presumably during aggressive encounters during lekking - Mungunmorit

We spent the rest of the morning birding in the forest seeing Two-barred Crossbill, Red Crossbill, Pine Bunting, Red-flanked Bluetail, Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Three-toed Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Eastern Buzzard. There was clearly some visible migration in progress with around 30 Olive-backed Pipit, 60 Red-throated Thrush and two Dusky Thrush north over. Our descent back through the forest produced two obliging Three-toed Woodpecker on the same tree as two Great-spotted Woodpecker. The highlight though was a stunning Ural Owl which showed very well amongst a stand of more mature Pine, Larch and Willow.

Grey-headed Woodpecker of the subspecies jessoensis which is overall paler and greyer on the back then the nominate European race- Mungunmorit

Black-billed Capercaillie - Mungunmorit

Male Great Spotted and Female Three-toed Woodpecker - Mungunmorit

Male Three-toed Woodpecker - Mungunmorit

Male Great Spotted and Female Three-toed Woodpecker - Mungunmorit

Ural Owl - Mungunmorit

Ural Owl - Mungunmorit

Ural Owl - Mungunmorit

Daurian Redstart - Mungunmorit

Female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Mungunmorit

Willow Tit of subspecies baicalensis - Mungunmorit

Larch forests at Mungunmorit

Pine and Larch forests at Mungunmorit

Pine and Larch forests at Mungunmorit

There were few plants in bloom at Mungunmorit but this iris species was fairly common

As was this Pasque Flower which is said to be a food of the Capercaillie

A surprising find in the vegetation, a Russian AK-47 which Tumen assesses, he thinks it 

may have been lost by hunters

Packing up the campsite at Mungunmorit

After breakfast we packed up camp and headed back towards the main road as the wind gathered strength and picked up loose materials and scattered them across the desert, the dust was lifted into swirling clouds and battered the car entering any open windows and vents. We took shelter for lunch in a traditional Ger and ate freshly prepared lamp dumplings and soup. We drove the c.160km back towards Ulaanbaatar before turning north and heading off road through the village of Gachuurt and to the south-western edge of the Gorkhi Terelj National Park. We began a steep climb through mixed Larch and Pine forest and it became evident that the storm had brought a fair snow fall. After parking we climbed through the mature pine forests to a small plateau where we began looking for our two main target species. Siberian Tit was found fairly quickly and a pair gave excellent views while we failed to see the second target, Siberian Jay. The time was pushing on so we walked back down the hill seeing a pair of Hazel Grouse which showed well if somewhat obscured in the canopy of a pine. Lunch was had in a tent before we did battle with the traffic of Ulaanbaatar to check into a hostel where showers and a beer were very welcome.

On the road towards Möngönmorit 

Sheltering in a Get with from left to right, Lorand, Jon, Duncan, Barry and Richard

Traditional lamb dumplings being made for lunch

Outside the Ger

As we approached Ulaanbaatar it started to snow

Climbing through the Birch and Pine Forests to the birding area north of Gachuurt

Climbing through the Pine Forests to the birding area north of Gachuurt

Birding the Pine Forests to the birding area north of Gachuurt, it was bitterly cold

Pine and Larch Forest near north of Gachuurt

Dipping Siberian Jay but still happy to be birding

Siberian Tit of subspecies sayanus - North of Gachuurt

Siberian Tit of subspecies sayanus - North of Gachuurt

Siberian Tit of subspecies sayanus - North of Gachuurt

Poor views of male Hazel Grouse of subspecies sibirica as the light faded - North of Gachuurt

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

Day 1 and 2 – International flight then Ulaanbaatar to Mungum Sum

Day 4 - Drive to Dalanzadgad

Day 5  – Gurvan Saikhan National Park

Day 6 - Gurvan Saikhan National Park

Day 7 - Gobi Desert and Khongor Sand Dunes

Day 8 – Gobi Desert to Bogd

Day 9 - Baga Bogd Mountain and Kholboolj Lake

Day 10 - Kholboolj Lake and Barig Mountain

Day 11 - Barig Mountain and Sangiin Lake

Day 12 (Part 1) - Sangiin Lake and Bayan Lake

Day 12 (Part 2) - Sangiin Lake and Bayan Lake

Day 13 - Hustai National Park and Terelj National Park

Day 14 - Terelj National Park and Gachuurt Area

Day 15 and 16 - Gachuurt Area, Tuul River and International flight

Pennington Marsh - 12th September

I had a couple of spare hours on Friday morning so had a quick walk around Pennington Marshes covering the old landfill and Fishtail, Keyhaven and Butts Lagoons. The wind was more or less easterly  and light and while there was a thin mist first thing the sun soon broke out. There had been a further increase in Teal and Wigeon numbers since my last visit with now at least 120 Wigeon and around 270 Teal, these were mainly congregated on Keyhaven and Butts Lagoon. A large number of the Wigeon were males in their eclipse plumage, even in this more sombre plumage the males are fantastic looking birds with their rich chestnut tones.

 Wigeon - Eclipse males

Teal

Pintail numbers are still low with only five birds seen. I am not entirely sure how simple it is to distinguish females from juveniles but the latter are said to be more diffusely spotted and barred, while I am not entirely sure I believe that most of the birds are currently juveniles.

Pintail - Probably a juvenile

The tide was rising but still fairly low and so there were few waders on the lagoons. On Fishtail Lagoon there were two Little Stint and on Keyhaven Lagoon there were five Little Stint and 15 Ringed Plover. Otherwise there were no waders of any real note. Off Butts Lagoon there was a flock of 38 Mediterranean Gulls, these were mainly adult winter with approximately ten 2nd winters. A single Sandwich Tern was roosting amongst them.

Curlew

 Part of flock of 38 Mediterranean Gull of Butts Lagoon a single Black-headed Gull is the left hand bird

There were relatively few birds in the bushes but I didn't spent long looking, two Whinchat were on the old dump, there were a handful of Whitethroats and Reed Warbler and a single Lesser Whitethroat in the bushes beside Shoveler pools. There were around 20 Yellow Wagtail in the area and a single Tree Piptit flew east. A very lost looking Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the bushes between the old dump and Fishtail Lagoon. It was looking decidedly lost with no trees present and would fly high and circle round before dropping back into the bushes. At one point a passing Peregrine chased it for a short distance but it seemed to readily out manoeuvre the Peregrine.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker looking a little lost in the Elders on the west side of the old dump