Bird of the day!

[Gaina]

We have suddenly aquired a HUGE number of Fieldfares and luckily for me they have found a bush laden with berries that grows right outside my bedroom window .

[Dan Salter]

Bit of a top bird and a first for me today.....this little sweetie (appologies for poor pic) has been hanging around at Elmley RSPB reserve (where i am on work placement) for a week or so....


Grey Phalarope

Also managed to grab a shot of one of the many Short Eared Owls on the reserve at the moment



Dan

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Bit of a top bird and a first for me today.....this little sweetie (appologies for poor pic) has been hanging around at Elmley RSPB reserve (where i am on work placement) for a week or so....


Grey Phalarope

Also managed to grab a shot of one of the many Short Eared Owls on the reserve at the moment



Dan

Love that Owl photo Dan.
Good stuff!
Doug

[Deer Stalker]

Nice one Dan.

Many Short-eared Owls you say?

Couldn't shu one down this way could you?

[Dan Salter]

Thanks mate....there are plenty around so i plan to get a decent gallery worthy shot at some point.

[Reptilian]

Today my bird of the day was the Kingfisher.

I was stood by the river Teifi in Cardigan killing some time waiting for my bus. In the space of five minutes two shot past me chasing each other, the were going so fast it just looked like a mix of green, blue and red flashes.

Then as i was looking down over the Jetty another shot out, spotted me and shot back into hiding. I stayed waiting then it flew back out, hovered in Hummingbird fashion looking at me not more than 10 feet away before deciding to cross the river.

The only camera i had was my mobile phone which is useless, maybe if my reactions were quicker i could have got a half decent photo of it hovering. The only pic managed to get looks like a blue smudge as it darted off.

I have to go back there, that river must be teeming with them.

I also saw two very small diving birds, light was all wrong and the distance was a bit far to make any ID.

What slim looking, small diving birds could they have been? Grey or black in color. Maybe a little bigger than a blackbird?

[Gaina]

Originally Posted by Reptilian

I also saw two very small diving birds, light was all wrong and the distance was a bit far to make any ID.

What slim looking, small diving birds could they have been? Grey or black in color. Maybe a little bigger than a blackbird?

Is the water fast-flowing? What about a Dipper?

[Reptilian]

Originally Posted by Gaina

Is the water fast-flowing? What about a Dipper?

The river is tidal and not very fast flowing and i believe quite deep. I've seen a dipper fairly close up once before not long ago and i don't think it was one but i can't be 100% without going back and getting another look.

[GuyF]

Originally Posted by Reptilian

I also saw two very small diving birds, light was all wrong and the distance was a bit far to make any ID.

What slim looking, small diving birds could they have been? Grey or black in color. Maybe a little bigger than a blackbird?

Maybe one of the grebes? Little Grebes are the commonest of the smaller grebes, and the most likely to be seen on a river. I suppose that Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes are possible, but they are much scarcer winter visitors.
Well done on seeing the Kingfisher, they're such beautiful birds.
Guy

[Reptilian]

Originally Posted by GuyF

Maybe one of the grebes? Little Grebes are the commonest of the smaller grebes, and the most likely to be seen on a river. I suppose that Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes are possible, but they are much scarcer winter visitors.
Well done on seeing the Kingfisher, they're such beautiful birds.
Guy

I'm not familiar with any of the grebes other than the great crested. I just had a look at some pics of the little grebe but they look too plump and the others are off as well. I've got to go back there soon anyway so i'll take another look and hopefully get some pictures providing my parents are back from their holidays, they took my camera with them.

[ianrose82]

Hi Reptilian.....heres a very distant shot of a Dipper taken last Saturday - did your bird look like this?
Dipper

[dunlin]

Hi reptilian kingfishers are always a bonus in my eyes . I was fishing with my dad a few years ago on the severn at hampton lode a few miles south of ironbridge and a kingfisher landed on my fishing rod... absolutley fantastic sight.kingfishers where flying up and down the river all day. could the diving birds you refer to be one of the diving ducks ie ...female tufted duck perhaps, or goldeneye.?

[dunlin]

My bird of yesterday was a purple sandpiper on the sand road at marshside southport the same bird i saw last thursday so its still around . Today male and female bullfinch near brinscal woods and two red grouse on the moors above the white coppice cricket field near chorley.....ps my dad tells me when he was a lad the moors contained black grouse. And red grouse where that common they used to fly out from under your feet. (in the good old days)

[Reptilian]

Originally Posted by ianrose82

Hi Reptilian.....heres a very distant shot of a Dipper taken last Saturday - did your bird look like this?
Dipper

I think i can rule the Dipper out of this, nice photo and thanks for trying to help. The birds i saw from the distance and lighting i had were all one color and very slim looking.

Originally Posted by dunlin

Hi reptilian kingfishers are always a bonus in my eyes . I was fishing with my dad a few years ago on the severn at hampton lode a few miles south of ironbridge and a kingfisher landed on my fishing rod... absolutley fantastic sight.kingfishers where flying up and down the river all day. could the diving birds you refer to be one of the diving ducks ie ...female tufted duck perhaps, or goldeneye.?

Fantastic, I'm a sea fisherman myself and the only thing i can slightly relate to that was watching a gull fly right into my line, bounce off hit the water, shake it's self off and try again.

Again on the ID, I'm unsure. I keep saying no to all these suggestions which makes me think i didn't see them as well as i thought i did. They came across slim, more like a miniature cormorant or shag. Juveniles maybe? How small am i likely to see juvenile shags or cormorants feeding out on a river?

[Ralph Hancock]

Originally Posted by Reptilian

I'm not familiar with any of the grebes other than the great crested. I just had a look at some pics of the little grebe but they look too plump and the others are off as well.

Little grebes look quite slim when they have just surfaced and still have their feathers held flat in diving mode. Soon they fluff up and about double in volume. They look darker when flat, too, as most of the fluff is pale.

[Reptilian]

Originally Posted by Ralph Hancock

Little grebes look quite slim when they have just surfaced and still have their feathers held flat in diving mode. Soon they fluff up and about double in volume. They look darker when flat, too, as most of the fluff is pale.

Thanks Ralph, this sounds more like what i saw. I'll have to get back down there to confirm it though, it'll be a first for me if they are little grebes. I'll have a thread up as soon as i have some decent photos. Hopefully of kingfishers too!

[dunlin]

Hi reptilian cormorants are not really small diving birds but sometimes they appear small because they keep the majority of there body submerged.however the longer snake like neck usually gives them away.little grebes are tiny in comparison and when diving dont appear as fluffy as they do normally......how small was your diver compared to a mallard for instance?

[Reptilian]

Originally Posted by dunlin

Hi reptilian cormorants are not really small diving birds but sometimes they appear small because they keep the majority of there body submerged.however the longer snake like neck usually gives them away.little grebes are tiny in comparison and when diving dont appear as fluffy as they do normally......how small was your diver compared to a mallard for instance?

I'd say nearly half of mallard size in length and width at my best guess. Try not to take these descriptions too seriously. As i said, the birds were small, the distance for the size of the bird was quite far and the worst factor being the light, the sun was shining at me and also some glare off the water. If my Collins guide has taught me anything recently it is how differently birds can come across with bad light.

[dunlin]

Hi reptilian my best guess would be little grebe.I know what you mean re bad light. sometimes all you get is a fleeting glimpse,thats what makes birding interesting.
I watched a programme some years back on bird watching and someone reported seeing a nightjar lying down in a field. once word got out a small group of eager birders started massing to see the recumbent nightjar.
on closer inspection the nightjar turned out to be a cow pat......youve got to laugh . you would never live it down (sort of thing id do)

[Jez]

My bird of the day was not 1 but 2 Jays now up in the the tees where i live. Blow me there such illusive birds but should be common to these parts. Which a good time ago where & have now decided to resettle for the Mo. I have seen them playing up in the Oaks where i have seen Magpie who have seen me ,and fled. The Jays were so engroced elst maybe they would have done the same? But for now i'm just happy to see them once again! The other bird who comes in early is Greater Spotted Woodpecker who has had a few heavy pecks but realises that the food source is good but the trees where he has jibberjabbed are to small to make satisfactory roosts. But i have an incl-in he/he won't be too far away.'s

[andywolves]

I have had a mad splurge on putting as many types of food around the garden this week, and already I have had a goldfinch and a bullfinch (infrequent visitors to my bit of green) but my bestest one today was a great spotted woodpecker, on my fatballs then hopped onto the bird table. I have told everyone else I know so now you all know too! Trub is, I am now spending far too much time watching the garden and not enough time working! Hard life intit!

[austringer]

my bird of the day was a lanner falcon as i see them every day ha ha

[Ralph Hancock]

Originally Posted by Reptilian

Thanks Ralph, this sounds more like what i saw. I'll have to get back down there to confirm it though, it'll be a first for me if they are little grebes ...

Here's a recent picture of mine showing what little grebes look like when just submerging and just emerging. I'm a novice on this list and don't know whether I can insert URLs directly or need to do an HTML link, sorry.

http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~hancock/littlegrebes.jpg

The birds, in dark summer plumage, look even darker than they actually are because the picture was taken straight into the light. The curious shadow with sparkling edges at the front of the submerging bird seems to be the result of the sunlight passing through the corona of splash.