My Birding Blog

My Birding Blog

The Birds I Have Seen And The Experiences I Have Had

Canada Geese

Last Friday we went over to Lopwell Dam to have pasties for tea that my wife made (they were lovely!). We didn’t park in the usual area right next to the Dam but instead went further down the estuary to another small parking area which overlooked a wider part of the river.

The tide had just turned when we arrived and it was just before 5pm so a good time for birds and other animals to come out, but we didn’t really see anything apart from some ducks, a couple of Cormorants and lots of Canada Geese. And when I say lots, I mean there were 40+ of them flying down the estuary every now and again in groups.  I think the biggest group must have been about 10-12 and the smallest just a couple (I assume a pair).  We were there for about an hour and a half and every now and again we heard the sound of them coming down the estuary and another few flew by. It got quite funny in the end as we couldn’t believe how many kept flying by!

I had a look afterwards and Canada Geese are resident in this part of the country (Dartmoor) all year round and we do often see them at Lopwell Dam, just not in these numbers. They are quite large (bigger than a Mallard) and have a brown, white, cream and black colouring with their head being mostly black apart from a white strip on its throat. They also have a very distinctive call which can’t be missed.

Here is a picture from the RSPB website of a Canada Goose.

Canada Goose
Canada Goose, Image copyright RSPB

Oystercatchers at Wembury Bay

Oystercatcher

A few weeks ago in January 2013, my family and I went to Wembury Bay to have a play on the beach and in the many rock pools there. When we parked up overlooking the Bay we got out and walked to the path on the cliff edge and looked down and saw lots of birds sitting on the beach. The tide had only started going out an hour or so ago so the beach that they were sat on was clean and soft and damp and must have only appeared a short while ago.

From the top of the cliff we couldn’t make out what birds they were so I got my camera and my extra zoom lens and had a look. We also had our bird watching book in the car so after looking at them through my camera and looking through the book, we found that they were Oystercatchers! We hadn’t seen these birds before so we were very pleased to see them and couldn’t believe how many there were. There must have been at least 25+ of them!

I managed to take several photographs of them (which you can see below) and tried to go down to the Bay and sneak around the cliff later on in the morning to try and get a closer view and closer photographs, but they had disappeaered by then, which was quite a shame!

I had a look at some information about them afterwards and they were there eating the cockles from the many rock pools. Although I had been visiting the Bay for over 20 years, I had never seen them there before so perhaps I have just been very unlucky each time or they have only just started visiting the area.

A general description of them is that they are quite large and have an orange (sometime reddy) bill with their legs usually being the same colour. There body is black on top and white underneath and breed on almost all of the UK coastline, but especially where there are plenty or rock pools and so plenty of Cockles and Mussels to feed on.

Here are my photographs of the Oystercatchers at Wembury Bay.

Here is an image from the RSPB website of an Oystercatcher.

Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher, Copyright RSPB Website

Screeching Jay

Last Sunday I was popping over to B&Q with my boys and whilst we were walking to the car, which was parked near to some small woods, we heard this awful screeching noise!  At first I though it was a crow making a strange noise but when I managed to spot the offending bird, it wasn’t black like a crow and a bit smaller.  I watched and listened to it for a few seconds until it crossed my mind that it looked a similar size to a Jay and I had heard somewhere before that they can make a screeching noise like we were hearing. Though I had never seen a Jay before so I was going off prior knowledge and not experience.

Luckily, I had a pair of binoculars in the car so I whipped them out and had a look.  I was correct!  It was a Jay jumping about on the branches, looking quite agitated at something.  I think it must have been a pregnant female as it was huge in the mid-drift so perhaps it was being harrassed by another bird, although I couldn’t see another one anywhere near it. If there were any, they would probably have been scared off by the horrible noise it was making anyway!

My two young boys were interested as well so they had a look in our bird book that we kept in the car for these sorts of occasions, so they should now know what a Jay looks and sounds like.  Ben, my 4 year old, tried to have a look through the binoculars but the Jay moved further away at that point and was hidden behind several more trees and branches, which was a shame!

But I was very pleased to see my first Jay and now know that there must be at least one, and possible a breeding pair, in our nearby woods.  I will be keeping an eye out for them from now on, that’s for sure! Hopefully, next time I see the Jay, I will have my DSLR camera on me so I can try and get some good photographs of it as that would be fantastic

Here is an image from the RSPB website of a Jay.

Jay
Jay, Image Copyright RSPB

Treecreeper

Whilst at work last week, I was looking out of my window at some nearby trees and noticed lots of birds flying around. It was quite unusual as there were so many of them, compared with other days when there are just the odd one or two.

When I looked at them with a bit more concentration, I found that one was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, some were Great Tits and also a couple of Treecreepers!

Great Tit
Great Tit, Image Copyright RSPB

I had seen the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker before in another location, and we have an abundance of Great Tits near our house, but this was the first time that I had seen a Treecreeper.

Treecreeper
Treecreeper, Image Copyright RSPB

At first I wasn’t sure that it was a Treecreeper as it was in the shade so I couldn’t pick out any colours, but when it finally did move into the light I could see that it had a white chest and a curved beak. It was also climbing up and down the trunk of the tree and upside down under branches, which is why I thought it was a Treecreeper in the first place. It was great to watch as it was different to other birds. I also found online that Treecreepers tend to hang around with other smaller birds such as Blue Tits, Marsh Tits and Great Tits, which fitted in with the birds that were around it.

Needless to say, I am keeping an eye out my window at the trees a bit more often now!

Male or Female Kingfisher

To those of you who have been lucky to spot a Kingfisher perched by or hovering over a small river, have you ever wondered if the Kingfisher was a male or a female?

The way you can tell if from the colour of the underside of their beaks. The female Kingfisher has a red underside whereas a male has a black underside.  As the colours are so contrasted, it is very easy to spot if it is a male or female.

So next time you come across a Kingfisher, have a look at the underside of the beak!

Adult Female Kingfisher
Adult Female Kingfisher, image from the RSPB website