A Brit abroad

Garden watching

Tying off loose work ends and preparation for the imminent move to France have prevented me from any birding expeditions lately, so I was very appreciative when a female Green Woodpecker graced my parents' garden this morning. These birds can be skittish, so I digiscoped these shots from the lounge - not bad considering there was about an inch of double glazing between me and the bird!

Encouraged by these results, I went on to photograph this pair of Blackbirds through my bedroom window.

If only a Jay would follow suit!

Update: and as if by magic, the heavy overnight frost bought the Jays out of the woods and into my neighbourhood - here are a couple of shots, again through the bedroom window.

The sun came out for long enough to go for a walk today - nothing spectacular, but nice views of a male Green Woodpecker...

... and a confiding Eastern Grey Squirrel (probably won't be so confiding when the proposed culls start).

Pitsea Waxwings

It wasn't raining this morning, so I took the bus to Tesco's in Pitsea to watch the Waxwings. All 31 of them were present, and putting on a good show. I'd like to thank whoever it is who has set up a feeding station of apples for these birds - this will hopefully keep them around for a while after the berries run out. I also stopped by the hide at Wat Tyler Country Park, where I heard 2 Cetti's Warblers, a Water Rail, and saw oodles of gulls over the landfill. Here are the best of the Waxwing shots.

Southend specialities

Today was supposed to be a break from the grey, rainy weather we've been having recently, so I decided to bird my way along the Southend seafront. My first stop was Hadleigh Castle Country Park, where I spotted 2 birds sitting in a distant treetop. First thought was Fieldfare and Redwing. Lifted bins, and 'Redwing' appeared to have no bill! Finally got scope on them, and couldn't have been more wrong - it was a male Sparrowhawk being mobbed by a Jay!

The clouds were so dark at this point I could only manage 1/8 second shutter speed - fortunately it brightened up later in the day!

Next on the agenda was the annual pilgrimage to see Rossi, the Ring-billed Gull which has wintered on the same stretch of the seafront for several years now. Sometimes, the bird is nowhere to be seen amongst the masses of gulls. Today, Rossi was the only gull present!

Since Rossi was so obliging, I had no need of the loaf I had taken as bait, which went down a treat with the local Sanderlings.

A brisk walk eastwards took me past Southend Pier, where a distant Great Northern Diver was briefly visible off the lifeboat station. I then turned my attention to a large mixed roost of Dunlins, Sanderlings and Ringed Plovers...

... amongst which was a lethargic Purple Sandpiper.

Also in the vicinity was the Snow Bunting flock I first encountered on Christmas Day.

They looked a little bedraggled after the morning rain and spent much of the time I observed them preening.

Fri 13th - lucky for some...

Just 3 weeks after I left California, 3 of my regular birding buddies (Joan, Sami and Betty) are driving in Solano County, just south of Davis, when they see a harrier fly in front of the car chasing a large white bird. That large white bird turned out to be a SNOWY OWL - the first recorded in California in my lifetime! I was thrilled to bits that my friends have made a bit of birding history, and found a bird that many hundreds were able to enjoy over its two-day stay, though obviously am feeling a bit jealous too! Steve Hampton was 'kind' enough to send me some gripping digiscoped pictures of the bird...

... and here's one of Joan managing the assembled crowds.

On the same day in Solano County it was possible to see Snowy Owl, Ovenbird, Blue Jay and Northern Shrike, as well as some Californian winter specialities including Mountain Plover. Obviously the place to be at the moment!

East Anglia Ross's Gull and other goodies

No sooner had my train come back through the Channel Tunnel when I had a text message from Neil to see if I was free to chase the Lowestoft Ross's Gull early the next morning! I of course agreed, and off we headed at 5:30am. The bird is presumably roosting in the docks, and had been disappearing within the first hour of daylight, making a dawn visit essential. In fact, we first had the bird in the harbour lights way before the sun came up!

Perhaps due to the chilly start to the day, the bird lingered a little later than usual, giving good views both in flight and on the water, albeit in less than ideal light.

The bird was in a much tattier condition to the lovely rosy-hued bird I saw in Plymouth many moons ago, and its secondaries in particular were incredibly worn.

This was our last view of the bird before it vanished over the sea wall - note the red legs and distinctive diamond-shaped tail.

There were many other distractions in the docks that morning, including this lovely drake Red-breasted Merganser,

a pristine-plumaged Herring Gull,

and a Common Seal.

Unfortunately this Shag was a little camera-shy!

Just around the corner at Ness Point, we had great views of 3 Purple Sandpipers.

Amazing how well they blend in with the rocks when they're roosting.

Ruddy Turnstones were obliging as ever, though I dread to think that the latter bird is eating!

Nearby at Herringfleet, we wandered down the the marshes and had excellent views of 5 Tundra Bean Geese.

Two Egyptian Geese provided an exotic splash of colour.

After a few wrong turns we found ourselves in the Horsey area dipping a Rough-legged Buzzard, but we did have flight views of 30 distant Cranes, a few Marsh Harriers and this lone (presumably injured?) Pink-footed Goose by the roadside.

We thought about walking out to watch thousands of geese, swans, raptors and cranes come in to roost, but decided it was far too chilly - guess I haven't totally reacclimatised yet!

Grey Paris

Last week I headed off to France to explore Paris, find somewhere to live, open a bank account etc etc. I didn't expect to have any spare time for birding, so didn't pack my bins... so of course I run into a flock of 6 (Bohemian) Waxwings in Putney on my way to the Eurostar! Being optics-free, my bird photography was limited to birds within about arms reach, which included this Black-headed Gull apparently trying to eat the Eiffel Tower,

and this Grey Wagtail, the first I've seen in quite a while.

For reasons unknown to me, the Eiffel Tower seemed to be competing with Blackpool and Las Vegas in terms of outrageous illuminations.

It even fired out a 'death ray' over the city at night!

My future home town of Orsay is set in a river valley, surrounded by wooded hills. During my visit I came across a fairly standard set of European woodland birds (Siskin, Green Woodpecker, etc) - though one of my colleagues informs me that Black Woodpeckers are on campus so will be keeping my eyes peeled! I found an apartment with a great hill-top vista over the town and surrounding woodland...

... but which unfortunately involves a marathon hike up a 350-step stairway from the station - at least I should get in shape!

During my brief visit, the most exciting visitor to the yard was a Jay, but I have visions of adding Hawfinch and Goshawk to the yard list when I move in in February - watch this space!

Common birds

Well, I've been starved of birding for the last two weeks, thanks to frantically running round the UK visiting friends, drinking and eating (the chocolate fountain on new year's eve was a definite highlight). In fact, the only birding I've managed was a walk around the block from my parents' house to the nearest playing field. A few days after 25th, we really did get a white christmas:

Since I only acquired my digital camera after my arrival in California, I don't have any photos of any of our regularly occurring UK garden birds. Leaving the UK for a while puts a good perspective on these birds; our backyard birds are often much more colourful than the streaky brown Sibes we race halfway across the country to see, and yet through their sheer abundance are largely ignored. Here are my first attempts to digiscope them: I hope to improve on these, as well as to nail the local Jays and Green Woodpeckers which posed beautifully until my finger touched the shutter release...

Blue Tit (these put the US chickadees to shame!)

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Fieldfare

Redwing (and to think we drove to Washington to dip one last year!)

Blackbird

... and a 'real' Christmas Robin. Sad that he chose to face the other way at the critical moment!

Off to explore Paris next week, and not taking bins, but a flock of 19 Bohemian Waxwings found today in Pitsea will be on my agenda as soon as I get back...