Short-toed Eagle - Bishops Dyke, Beaulieu Road Station!!! And a nice mornings birding in general.

What a superb day (8th June 2014) in the Beaulieu Road Station area I had today. I started at 06:00 at Shatterford and spent a little time watching Hobbies hunting between Shatterford and Denny Wood before heading south to Shatterford Bottom where a pair of Stonechat were feeding chicks and Woodlark and Curlew were displaying in the distance while Snipe drummed overhead. As I continued south a male Dartford Warbler showed very well singing atop a Silver Birch sapling while its mate carried food to nestlings below.

Shatterford Bottom

Stonechat

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Female Dartford Warbler - Shatterford Bottom

Two male Cuckoo were very vocal and conspicuous in the Silver Birch generation at the transition between the heath and Denny Wood, as I watched the Cuckoo's their attention switched between chasing one another to chasing a Buzzard which had appeared from the woodland and was flying towards the railway line. As I followed the Buzzard in my bins my attention switched to a large pale bird perched in an Oak and as I focused, there, before me was a massive pale raptor. Immediately my mind rang 'what the *** is that' and at that moment I dropped my scope to the ground to try to get some digi-shots half knowing what I was looking at without confirming it conclusively, but in my panic the settings on my camera were out and the shots were crap. The bird then flew and circled the clearing and it was evident that it was a Short-toed Eagle - bloody hell!! The pale undersides to the wings with hardly any markings on the underwing coverts with the exception of a string of black 'pearls' on the inner greater coverts and some speckling on the lesser coverts were spot on for the Dorset bird from last weekend. The bird landed out of site in a Silver Birch, I looked around me and called the only visible birder, David Cuddon. There was no sign of it from where we were viewing and so I ran back down the main path and around a bog to get the correct angle to see where it had landed. And there it was, the Dorset Short-toed Eagle last recorded on the previous Sunday! I composed myself and took some acceptable shots, called David and we watched the bird for around 40 minutes before it took off circled about 20m above our heads and then headed east towards Pig Bush. The first two birders arrived and we managed to put them onto the bird before it became a distant speck. Brilliant, I just wished I had had my SLR when it was circling overhead!

Short-toed Eagle, Bishops Dyke - 8th June 2014

This is the only picture I got of the bird in flight, taken 

through my iPhone as it was circling overhead

I then continued my walk west through the woodlands, mire and heath at Bishops Dyke but I could hardly focus on the birding at hand so after an hour or so I turned and headed back to the car. I made a short stop at Matley Bog to photograph some Southern Marsh Orchids that were visible from the road and saw good numbers of Keeled Skimmer in the bog as well as a number of the usual bog denizens. Now, off for a celebratory bevy!

Southern Marsh orchid

Round-leaved Sundew

Meadow Thistle

Agelena labyrinthica

Keeled Skimmer (teneral)

Return to California and Arizona - Part 2

Following our leg in California we flew from San Francisco to Las Vegas, we had considered driving this leg but with Tobias in tow we thought it easier to fly. We spent the first night in Las Vegas seeing the sites that the city has to offer which in my opinion are pretty limited and reminiscent of a giant arcade-come-theme-park - pretty trashy! So after escaping Vegas we headed to the Grand Canyon with a short stop at Hoover Dam during the five hour drive. We spent much of the following day at the Grand Canyon in awe of the shear scale of it. A few birds were seen but they were pretty elusive in the pine forests flanking the canyon with the highlights being Juniper Titmouse and Black-throated Grey Warbler.

Grand Canyon (obviously!)

We then moved on to the Mojave Desert where there were two possible ticks and also the sight of the Joshua Trees for Sarah. After spending the night in a dive of a hotel at Primm Valley we started early to avoid the desert heat. The first tick fell fairly quickly with good but a little distant views of a male Gilded Flicker. Other desert birds included smart Black-throated Sparrow, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Scott's Oriole and Bendire's Thrasher. The walks through the largest Joshua Tree forest on Earth at the Mojave National Preserve Loop were outstanding. However, the final tick was to elude me until the final minutes of our time in the desert but after a last blast of the tape a Le Conte's Thrasher hopped onto a Joshua Tree long enough to get a decent scope view and then we were off back to Vegas for a final night before our flight back to san Francisco and then home - three ticks and a splendid first 'big' family holiday under the belt.

Black-throated Sparrow

Joshua Trees on Cima Dome, Mojave National Preserve

Scott's Oriole (adult female)

Cactus Wren

Venice at the end of our trip, oops no, its cheesy Vegas!

Part 1 of this post can be viewed here.

Return to California and Arizona - Part 1

Sarah and I took our first major international holiday since Tobias was born 13 months ago. While some birding was done there were not many ticks in California/Arizona for me as I had birded it previously in 1996 and hence the emphasis was on a family holiday with some birding thrown in.

We started our trip in San Francisco spending a couple of nights to recover from the flight and allow Tobias to acclimatise. We chose a hotel on the north side of San Francisco bay over looking the Golden Gate Bridge and with extensive grounds supporting a range of more common species:

Male Annas Hummingbird

Bewick's Wren

California Towhee

While in San Francisco we visited Alcatraz, this was an amazing experience and the tails of daring escapes and the life of the prison was gripping - so much so that I didn't do much birding and I think I spent more time in the cells than in the field.

Western Gull (1st Year)

Western Gull (2nd Year)

 Western Gull (Adult)

Californian Sea Lion

After San Francisco we headed down the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey for a two nights stay. We spent some time birding around Point Pinos and Point Lobos State park where highlights include Black Oystercatcher, Heerman's Gull, Western Tanager, Californian Thrasher and Pygmy Nuthatch. However, Monterey Bay Aquarium was perhaps the most memorable with the jellyfish displays simply astonishing.

Black Oystercatcher

Californian Gull (Adult)

Heerman's Gull (2nd Winter)

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Wandering Tattler

Pigeon Guillemot

Lincoln's Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Western Tanager

After Monterey we headed along the spectacular coast of the Big Sur stopping at various places on route. A stop at Andrew Molera State Park produced many birds particularly along the river trail where highlights included Wrentit, Song Sparrow, Swainson's Thrush, Wilson's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Northern Flicker and my first lifer of the trip, an adult Californian Condor soaring over the hillside. 

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Racoon foraging within the river

Wrentit

A highlight of the Big Sur was the colony of Northern Elephant Seal at Piedra Blancas which is said to support around 7,500 animals. During our visit there were few big males present and the famous battles had subsided however the site of thousands of animals lounging on the beach was an impressive sight, sound and smell.

Northern Elephant Seal

After a four hour drive inland from Morro Bay we arrived at Sequoia National Park for a one night stay which we found a little too brief to take in the park. I found birding fairly difficult here because of the height of the trees and saw relatively little although the Fox Sparrows which were relatively common were stunners with their massive bills and rich plumage coloration.

Fox Sparrow

Steller's Jay

Hammond's Flycatcher

We then drove on to Yosemite National park for a two night stay. My main target bird was Great Grey Owl but I considered my chances pretty low due to our limited time in the park and because I would not be able to be in the park at dawn and dusk on either day. So when we arrived at one of the main sites on the road to Glacier View Point and a birder showed me a photograph of one he had seen an hour earlier, firstly, I was gutted that breakfast had taken so long and we had not arrived at the site earlier, but I was a little more optimistic for seeing the bird the following day if a dawn start was initiated. The dawn start came and we got to the clearing fairly hopeful of a repeat of the preceding day but there was not a sniff of the owl. I plotted a visit to Finland in 2015 in my mind to see this, one of my most wanted ticks having come so close on this attempt. 

We proceeded to Glacer Point and enjoyed the stunning view of the Yosemite Valley and El Capitan. This is surely one of the most amazing views in the world:

View from Glacier Point

Part 2 of this post can be viewed here.

Return to Norfolk

After four years without a visit we decided to spend a long weekend on the north Norfolk coast and re-visit some of my favourite birding sites. The weather was beautiful during our stay but not conducive to large numbers of migrants. I also got to trial my new Sony RX100Mk2 and Turbo Digi-scoping adaptor on my Kowa 883 scope. I started by birding Titchwell at dawn on all three days and didn't venture much beyond here but for rather quiet visits to Holkham and Cley where little was seen beyond those species already recorded at Titchwell.

Titchwell reedbed at dawn

Avocet were as conspicuous as ever giving excellent views at close range from the Parrinder Hide and the West Bank path. They were fully into their breeding cycle with much courting and defending of nesting territories but I didn't notice any incubating birds during the weekend. 

Avocets feeding in the dawn light

Avocet with small fish fry prey

Pair of copulating Avocet

A walk along the beach produced good numbers of Sanderling, Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit feeding on the sand amongst thousands of dead Razorclams while offshore a flock of approximately 150 Common Scoter contained at least 11 Velvet Scoter. There had been up to 8,000 scoter offshore over the early part of the year but certainly during my visit numbers were much decreased although I did record around 5,000 birds from Holkham. While good numbers do summer off the Norfolk coast the majority will have moved on to their northern breeding grounds of Iceland and Scandinavia. The shallow sandy seabed and large numbers of bivalve molluscs provide ideal feeding grounds for scoter and North Norfolk is an excellent place to see large numbers although they are always a little distant for photography.

Pair of Common Scoter offshore at Titchwell

Mixed flock of Common and Velvet Scoter approximately 1km offshore at Titchwell. Can you spot the Velvet Scoter.

Back on the scrapes there were good numbers of both species of godwit. Many of the Black-tailed Godwit are entering their rufous summer finery while most of the Bar-tailed Godwit were still in their sullied winter plumage, a few with some brick red rufous scaling along the flanks. Our wintering Bar-tailed Godwit depart in February and March for moulting grounds in the Wadden Sea and therefore do not usually acquire their summer plumage before they depart while the African wintering birds that arrive later have largely acquired their summer plumage.

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit showing moult contrast showing worn winter coverts and fresh summer scapulars and flank feathers

Ruff are always a pleasure to see, rather gawky and hyperactive weaving between the legs of the more sedate godwits. On Sunday a flock of 55 was present although at least 30 of these departed after first light. Appearing patchy in their tortoiseshell dress one or two males were beginning to show the beginnings of the formation of a ruff.

Ruff

A Jack Snipe showed well on Sunday appearing to be somewhat surprised as it found itself in the open on one of the islands, it crouched and flattened itself to the ground before skittishly running for cover amongst the Groundsel growing on the islands.

Jack Snipe

There were relatively few large gulls in evident, this Lesser Black-backed Gull is in its 3rd calendar year and shows the typical replacement of the body feathers and the retained immature wing features which will be replaced later in the spring.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

A pair of Little-ringed Plover were present, my first of the year, these were well underway with their breeding preparations with one bird seen forming a nest hollow with the belly.

Little Ringed Plover

Up to eight Red-crested Pochard have been present at the reserve and I saw up to seven together. The origins of these birds are not known, it is probable that these come from feral UK populations although it is conceivable that these are continental birds.

Red-crested Pochard

Shoveler are one of my favourite ducks with their metallic heads and huge bills with comb-like edgings to the bill used for sifting through fine sediment for their prey.

Shoveler

Within the reed beds at Titchwell were the usual Bearded Tits which showed well on occasions from the West bank path as well as regular sightings of Barn Owl and Marsh Harrier and booming Bittern was heard. There were a few migrants around including my first Sedge and Willow Warbler of the year plus fair numbers of Chiffchaff, Swallow and Sand Martin.