Bird of the day!

[GuyF]

Thanks for that Aeshna, sounds like an interesting and useful thing to do.

Today the highlight was a drake Goldeneye, close in to the shore in Poole Harbour with four females. He really was looking spectacular. Also Mergansers, GN Divers and a distant Kingfisher.
Giu

[glsammy]

I'd been out this morning on a thankless task to try and see an American Wigeon, supposedly seen at a local gravel pit. The weather was dull and foggy, so I wasn't too bothered when I never managed to spot it. We did see a group of 5 Whooper Swans in a nearby field, so that made the trip worthwhile.
This afternoon the sun came out again, but too late to go anywhere, so I was looking out of our rear upstairs window, when I spotted this bird sitting on a fence..




My first ever sighting of a Sparrowhawk, and it's from my bedroom window!

Correction: It's not my first sighting.. I got a shot at the National Water Sports centre a few weeks ago...

[nightshade]

Serendipity or what,nice shot

[mrs fish]

That is a superb photo G, he/she is resting, I can see the talon up
I disturbed a sparrowhawk feeding to-day, I went and checked what it had been eating and saw a headless collared dove.

I cleaned out my nest box to-day, there was a dead great tit in there, the whole of the nest was made up from my pets hair and a bit of moss.

The bird of the day for me was the dunnock (again) there are a pair who seem very interested in the passion flower which is grown over my cotoneaster and looks a good place for a nest

[John]

That is an incredible, well detailed shot Graham. I missed my chance of something equally as good myself when I decided to not bother going to the hide at Whitacre Heath. Instead I waited to see if I could get any more images of the LSW. After about an hour a mate of mine came from the direction of the hide and as we got talking he casually dropped into the conversation that a Sparrowhawk had dropped in by the hide, only a few feet away, and stayed there for ages (about an hour I think). You should have seen the images he has got. grrrrrr.

Having said that, he would be hard pushed to get a better shot than yours Graham. Quality.

John

[Oscar2006]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Shame I didn't realise the other WAB guys were there, but they'd have probably wanted to avoid me as I was part of a large RSPB group!

Maybe we did avoid you!
We certainly noticed the large group, "it" was wandering back towards the centre as we were heading out to see the sea and seawatch you see.
Were you the ugly one in the blue hat or the skinny one with green wellies?
Hope you had as much of a great day as we did.
Boddie and Fourwings took some great images to remember some of the more interesting moments by.
Just did not manage to get an image of "the triangle's" speciality! - a no show for us again!

[matt_xyz]

I had 3 birds of the day today. I went to a nearby spot where Short-Eared Owls had been reported, although I didn't get there until after 4:00pm. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take my tripod, I thought it was in the boot Anyway, after a few minutes I spotted the SE Owl flying low over a field and managed one or two shots from distance:



The bird then disappeared over some trees. There were a few other birders there and they had by now spotted a Tawny Owl (it is a Tawny isn't it?) perched on a post. The light was terrible so I needed ISO 1600 for this one (and it was handheld ):



Amazingly, there were also 2 Little Owls nearby in a tree. I managed to spot them but no chance of an image, too dark and they were obscured by branches.

Assuming no-one tells me that the above aren't a Tawny and a SE Owl then, in the space of 30 mins and in 2 neighbouring fields, I spotted 3 birds that I had never seen before. I don't know what was in those fields that owls liked so much!

Matt

[GuyF]

Sorry to ruin it for you Matt but the owl on the post is a Short-Eared Owl. But, that is still 2 great birds in one day!
Guy

[matt_xyz]

Originally Posted by GuyF

Sorry to ruin it for you Matt but the owl on the post is a Short-Eared Owl. But, that is still 2 great birds in one day!
Guy

Do you know, that is what I thought. But there seemed to be a couple of more experienced birders there who were insistent that it was a Tawny. Actually, in some ways I'm even more chuffed that I got a close-up of an SEO (well, relatively close up). Thanks for the clarification Guy.

Matt

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by John

That is an incredible, well detailed shot Graham. I missed my chance of something equally as good myself when I decided to not bother going to the hide at Whitacre Heath. Instead I waited to see if I could get any more images of the LSW. After about an hour a mate of mine came from the direction of the hide and as we got talking he casually dropped into the conversation that a Sparrowhawk had dropped in by the hide, only a few feet away, and stayed there for ages (about an hour I think). You should have seen the images he has got. grrrrrr.

Having said that, he would be hard pushed to get a better shot than yours Graham. Quality.

John

Thanks John.. A very obliging bird, It allowed me to go down stairs to get my camera, open the windows and get the shot. It was a fair distance away, but was perfectly lit which helped a lot.
Your situation is usually what happens to me! Although I can't complain this past few weeks, I've had some of my best sightings ever.