A Brit abroad

Much the same as last week, only better

Today Romain and I decided to take our combined lunch break/birding trip/English lesson at the Etangs de Saclay, to find the Ring-necked Duck (Fuligule a bec cercle) showing just a little closer than usual.

I'd noticed on my previous (even worse) photo attempts that the bill seemed rather oddly shaped, but put this down to camera 'noise'. In fact, it turns out that this bird has a nasal saddle, fitted earlier this winter at the Lac de Grand-Lieu on the French Atlantic coast! I wonder where it will decide to summer...

After several minutes of struggling, this Great Crested Grebe (Grebe huppe) finally managed to swallow this big fish.

Since the sun was out and I had my optics handy, I decided to do an after-work ramble around the campus. On revisiting last year's Hawfinch (Grosbec casse-noyaux) roost spot, I found this smart singing male (although I had to assume several very uncomfortable positions to get photos through the branches). Note the lead-grey bill pointing to breeding condition.

The bird often seemed to flick its tail and droop its wings while singing - is this part of a visual display?

Equally pretty (though in less pretty light) were this male Greenfinch (Verdier d'Europe) and a Red Squirrel (Ecureuil roux).

The same male Black Woodpecker (Pic noir) who flew past my office window and onto my life list last year had its first international visitors this weekend (Mike and Rosemary from the UK) - they braved rain and hail over a two-hour vigil to finally nail the bird coming into roost (good effort). They kindly let me know its arrival time (620pm), so this evening I arrived in plenty of time to train the scope on its roost hole. Sure enough at 6:23 a 'kruk-kruk-kruk' call heralded its arrival, and I was treated to scope-filling views. This star performer is a bird I never tire of!

Just another manic Monday

Yesterday dawned bright and sunny, so I decided to take my scope into work for a spot of 'digiscopie' on the campus. This turned out to be a good decision, as that afternoon Sylvain Vincent found a drake Ring-necked Duck (Fuligule a bec cercle) at the Etangs de Saclay, just 10 minutes away by car! I persuaded Romain to give up work for the afternoon and within the hour we were watching the bird. While this species is annual in some numbers in the UK (and perhaps these days in France), it is a rare treat for one to show up so far inland. Unfortunately, like all the good birds at Saclay, it stayed as far away as possible from the causeway, and often hid for long periods in the reeds. Even after a return visit this morning, these are the best shots I could muster.

A Great Crested Grebe (Grebe huppe) posed in perfect light on glassy smooth water was a tempting photo target - but predictably as soon as my camera appeared it went to sleep!

Back on campus, I searched in vain for Hawfinches (apparently not using last year's roost site), but struck lucky with this roosting Black Woodpecker (Pic noir).

Better than my usual Monday!

Mostly mammals (and Mandarins)

After a couple of manic birding trips, I decided to stay local this weekend and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. Several Chiffchaffs (Pouillot veloce) and my first migrant Blackcap (Fauvette a tete noire) were in full song on the campus. Several butterflies are out including the Brimstone (Citron) and Comma (the wonderfully named Robert-le-diable).

A pair of Nuthatches (Sitelle torchepot) were busy inspecting a nest box opposite my department - could provide a fun photo project in the summer months...

This Red Squirrel (Ecureuil roux) caught my eye as it fed on fresh buds.

I spotted good numbers of Water Vole (Campagnol aquatique) along the Yvette...

... as well as an introduced Muskrat (Rat musque).

I headed on to the Bures basin to scan the wooded hills for raptors - no Goshawk, but plenty of displaying Buzzards (Buse variable). Here I spotted my first French Mandarins (Canard mandarin). They can't help but look out of place among our more modestly-attired European ducks - but a smart bird nonetheless.

The wintering Water Pipit (Pipit spioncelle) again gave me the runaround, and I only managed one 'record shot'.

In the Coupieres basin, I found a pair of Stonechat (Tarier patre) and 3 Fan-tailed Warblers (Cisticole des joncs), making this surely the best place to look for this species in the Ile-de-France.

On Sunday I rather crazily decided to look for Long-eared Owls on the Saclay plateau, and predictably drew a blank. On the walk home in the dark I was somewhat surprised to be able to see the Eiffel Tower, a good 30km from here.

Camargue clean-up

At the end of February I headed south again, where I was joined by Neil, with whom I've been birding for the last 18 years (ugh, that makes me feel old). Just before Neil's arrival I went ostracod-hunting in the Aude, where a brief seawatch from Cap Leucate produced a few offshore Razorbills (Pingouin torda) and 3 Black-throated Divers (Plongeon arctique).

Even better, I had the good fortune to chance upon a singing Thekla Lark (Cochevis de thekla) inland of Fitou. I didn't mark the exact location, but here's a photo taken near where I saw the bird, giving a general idea of the habitat it was in.

Neil arrived at Nimes airport Saturday mid-afternoon, and things got off to a great start when his hold luggage (containing his scope and tripod) failed to appear. While trying to trace it at the Ryanair desk, the Europcar rep decided to head home early, leaving us with no way of retrieving our rental car! Fortunately the nice man at the Budget desk took pity on us and managed to get hold of a Europcar employee at Nimes TGV station, who drove out and got our car to us 1.5 hours after Neil's arrival. We headed straight up to Les Baux, where (you guessed it) we dipped Wallcreeper (Tichodrome echelette), but at least Neil got great views of his second (and third, and fourth....) Alpine Accentors (Accenteur alpin).

Our luck improved considerably when we arrived at Le Destet at dusk to a chorus of 3 Eagle Owls (Grand-Duc d'Europe). The first was easy to spot against the skyline...

... but this second bird really tested the low light performance of the scope.

We decided to start off Sunday morning at Les Baux again where finally - hallelujah! - I located a Wallcreeper feeding on the southern rock face I'd scanned so many times without success. We both had decent scope views of the bird until strong wind and heavy rain forced us to take shelter in a cave! After what seemed like an age, a break in the cloud allowed us to head off to nearby La Caume. The hike up to the radio station is extremely scenic, enlivened by great views of an adult Bonelli's Eagle and a singing Dartford Warbler.

Having seen our target birds for the Alpilles, we headed down into the Crau to bird around Eyguieres airfield.

This yielded many Red-legged Partridges (Perdrix rouge) and my first Little Bustards (Outarde canepetiere) for several years.

Neil obliged my whim to twitch the long-staying Green Heron (Heron vert) at Berre L'Etang. The bird showed extremely well in the ditch next to the water treatment works, and in fact seemed a little too tame in comparison to birds I saw in the US...

Whether or not the bird is plastic is debatable, but its surroundings most certainly are!

Other birdy bonuses here were a smart Red-necked Grebe (Grebe jougris) almost in full summer plumage...

... and oodles of Black-necked Grebes (Grebe a cou noir). This is the first time I've seen this species out of the water, and this pair provided great amusement as they jostled for space on a slippery rock.

Black-necked Grebe or Rockhopper Penguin?

And the winner is....

We ended the day with a series of stops in the southern part of the Crau, picking up a Southern Grey Shrike (Pie-grieche meridionale) and best of all, a flyover flock of 23 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Ganga cata).

In the last of the light a few Stone Curlew (Oedicneme criard) got up and flew around, but were surprisingly cryptic on the ground.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, and we headed over to the Petite Camargue in search of Moustached Warbler (Lusciniole a moustaches). Our chances were scuppered by an strong gusts of wind and the appearance of this noisy reed-cutter, which was attracting a mixed flock of egrets and a few Water Pipits (Pipit spioncelle) in its wake.

In consolation we saw a whole lot of Little Gulls (Mouette pygmee) and had great roadside looks at Penduline and Bearded Tits (Remiz penduline; Panure a moustaches).

Driving south via Syvereal we had the good fortune to come across a pale adult Booted Eagle (Aigle botte) flying across the road. We arrived at Consecaniere in search of raptors, but the wind and heat haze meant that most soaring birds were way out of ID-able range. Two Lesser Flamingos (Flamant nain) stood out like sore thumbs amongst the Greaters. It seems that a few have been present in the Camargue for many years (and have even attempted to breed), but no-one seems to know where they came from.

And the more regular variety.

Driving north we had distant perched views of the wintering Long-legged Buzzard (Buse feroce) from Mas Neuf, but soon after had really great flight views of this attractive bird at Mas d'Agon.

In ever-increasing wind we dipped Lanner and Moustached Warbler near Le Sambuc. Rather optimistically we decided to seawatch from the Plage de Piemanson, but left after five minutes of being blasted with stinging sand, with nothing more than a few distant Gannets (Fou de Bassan) for our efforts. My time in California taught me that when the wind starts blowing, it's best to forget about birding for the next few days, or if that's not an option, head to the hills in the hope of finding shelter in a canyon. Following this logic, I persuaded Neil to head back to Les Baux, where indeed the southern rock face was entirely sheltered and sure enough, we got second helpings of Wallcreeper. While a little more distant than the day before, we both got prolonged scope views and were able to fully appreciate those fabulous butterfly wings.

On our last morning Neil's scope finally arrived! A return visit to the Petite Camargue paid off, with adequate views of song-flighting Moustached Warblers and a heard-only Purple Gallinule (Taleve sultane) tooting from the reeds. With less than an hour's birding time left the birding gods smiled on us again, and we finished a phenomenally successful weekend with a soaring Spotted Eagle (Aigle criard) at Consecaniere, seen here dwarfing the harrier that repeatedly mobbed it.

Dutch birding

The unusually warm weather so far this year has overall made for lacklustre birding around Paris, but further north in Holland has enabled several vagrant passerines to successfully overwinter. Armed with some phenomenally precise online information on where to find these birds, Stephane Maquinay and I hatched a plan to beat the winter blues with a whistle-stop weekend tour of the Netherlands. The trip was extremely successful for both of us - I notched up 4 new species over the 3 days and Stephane got at least 6 - but the spectacular numbers of wintering waterfowl made the trip worthwhile in itself. I don't think I've ever drank so much celebratory beer and wine over the course of a birding weekend before!

After a long drive our first port of call was a small allotment in Katwijk in search of a wintering Little Bunting (Bruant nain). Within ten minutes of arriving, we were watching the bird creeping stealthily through the grass.

Soon after it was joined by a second bird - amazingly, another Little Bunting! This bird was overall much drabber, less boldly marked and grey-toned than the first - an adult and first-winter perhaps?

We had this delightful pair to ourselves for about an hour. In contrast, we arrived at the site of the wintering Red-flanked Bluetail (Robin a flancs roux) to find it crawling with birders, many of whom were beating the bushes rather than waiting for the bird to appear in its usual spot. In these conditions we thought it unlikely that we'd see the poor bird so we headed north to look for a Pallas's Warbler (Pouillot de Pallas). A group of birders was grilling a small cluster of conifers where the bird normally hangs out without success, so I decided to wander off to scan a neighbouring cluster. I've missed many species (notably Wallcreeper) by straying from the crowd, but this time it paid off and I refound the bird. Everyone present had crippling views of the bird feeding alongside an equally pretty Firecrest (Roitelet a triple bandeau). This was a lifer for Stephane, and the occasion was duly marked with a celebratory beer.

Since it was now lunchtime, we reasoned (correctly) that there would be less birders at the bluetail site, and indeed we managed to get a prime viewing spot in its favourite clearing. The clicking of a digital SLR heralded the bird's appearance and suddenly - oh my God! - there it is, 2m away from us, flashing its cobalt-blue tail. Ornigasm! This is one seriously cute bird. Even better, after dancing its way around the appreciative crowd, it settled on a nearby branch allowing us some fantastic scope views.

After spot of lunch and another celebratory beer, we had the dubious pleasure of seeing our first House Crows (Corbeau familier) - an introduced species which has established a small colony at the Hook of Holland.

A number of Oystercatchers (Huitrier pie) were present here. I'm often guilty of not paying enough attention to common birds, and in fact I never realised that adult birds are distinguishable from immatures by the presence of a white neck collar.

We decided to push our luck and drive inland for a wintering Ring-billed Gull (Goeland a bec cercle - oh, the shame! But it was a lifer for Stephane). After brief, unsatisfying flight views, we decided to chum for the bird with a heady mix of chips, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce.

Unfortunately it was late enough in the day that most of the gulls were flying to roost, so I ended up scoffing the rest of the chips. Following more beer and a bottle of dry white wine, we fell asleep listening to the sound of the amassed White-fronted Geese (Oie rieuse) and a loud but mercifully brief blast of techno music (and I thought raves were soooo nineties).

Next day dawned foggy, and we sacrificed our breakfast croissants to chum in the Ring-billed Gull. Since we had seen most of our target birds already, we decided to bird our way north via Oostvaardersplassen. This site was packed with wintering waterfowl, including decent numbers of Smew (Harle piette). I was particularly pleased to catch up with some adult males, as it had been a while.

We also located a smart hybrid Ferruginous Duck/Pochard hybrid.

Other goodies on show included a fair few Whooper Swans (Cygne chanteur), a Merlin (Faucon emerillon), a male Ruff (Combattant) already obtaining his white breeding collar and a pair of Hawfinches (Grosbec casse-noyaux).

We drove the amazing causeway separating the Waddenzee from the Ijsselmeer, the avian highlights of which were my first Eider (Eider a duvet) in a few years, and this enormous raft of Greater Scaup (Fuligule milouinan) - we estimated at least 3000 birds to be present.

Late in the day we searched for an adult Glaucous Gull (Goeland bourgmestre) at Den Helder, and were treated to great views of it bathing and preening before it headed off to roost.

Our last morning in Holland was dedicated to finding Lesser White-fronted Goose (Oie naine). I was initially pessimistic having watched a large flock of White-fronts depart to the north in glorious weather the previous evening, and on top of that the first goose flock we quickly disappeared into thick fog. We decided to drive a few quiet country roads whilst waiting for the fog to lift, and miraculously stumbled across a mixed goose flock close to the road, containing at least 4 Lesser White-fronts! The following shots aren't great, but illustrate most of the field marks separating this species from White-fronts (namely a tiny beak, extensive white forehead and obvious yellow eye-ring on the adult, reduced belly-barring and long wings extending beyond the tail).

With plenty of time to kill we headed southwest of Rotterdam to scan the hordes of Barnacle Geese (Bernache nonnette). This enormous flock contained what at first sight appeared to be one of the 'small' Canada Goose forms, but the white forehead, extensive black on the neck and contrast between the back and flanks revealed its true identity as a Canada/Barnacle hybrid.

In the same flock we also discovered this small, dark-bodied Canada.

Not far away we found another individual much closer to the road. It was equally dark-bodied, and showed evidence of a limited white neck-collar.

Extensive searching for a wintering Red-breasted Goose was to no avail, though we did find a single Pink-footed Goose (Oie a bec court). We decided to end our weekend checking the goose flocks at Strijen. In addition to an (overwintering?) White Stork (Cigogne blanche), we found a group of 4 small Canada Geese - a family party?

At first I was convinced that we had found some 'wild' Canada forms (i.e. vagrants originating from the US), but according to several Dutch birders these birds are all Cackling Geese (form minima, normally wintering in CA) and thus surely of feral origin. In the field it seemed to me that the first two birds were of a different subspecies than the last four, appearing darker-bodied, a shade larger than the accompanying Barnacles with a lankier, longer-necked impression. Perhaps this was all down to differences in posture and viewing conditions - I obviously have much to learn! Given that these birds associated closely with the wild Barnacle flocks (which contained a Canada/Barnacle hybrid), I'd be interested to know if these Cacklers breed locally in Holland, or follow the Barnacles north to their breeding grounds - comments on this would be most appreciated.

Overall, an exceptional weekend of winter birding, greatly enhanced by the friendliness of the Dutch birders we met - I hope to get back to the Netherlands soon!

Loonatics

Finally the sun came out in Paris! Faced with the prospect of 90 minutes of tedium in the departmental budget meeting, labmates Romain and Gwynael didn't need much persuading to go looking for the first-winter Black-throated Diver/Arctic Loon (Plongeon arctique) wintering on the lake at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Following all the fuss over the appearance of a Pacific Diver in the UK, it was instructive to get such good views of this individual, showing the classic white thigh-patch and no hint of a chin-strap.

I added 3 species of diver to my French list in the space of two weeks - time to look for a White-billed!

Weekend in the Baie de Somme

Last weekend I headed out with Orsay Nature to look for wintering birds in the Baie de Somme. We experienced a mixed bag of weather, from howling wind and rain, through to a picnic on the beach in brilliant sunshine.

The bay holds large numbers of wintering Curlew (Courlis cendre), Oystercatchers (Huitrier pie) and is an internationally important site for wintering Shelduck (Tadorne de Belon).

Other shorebird species were thin on the ground (our visit was at low tide so the birds were very dispersed), but included Dunlin (Becasseau variable), Avocet (Avocette elegante) and a single Grey Plover (Pluvier argente). A few wintering Rock Pipits (Pipit maritime) and a singing Cetti's Warbler (Bouscarle de Cetti) provided passerine interest. At the nearby Hables d'Ault, unfortunately hunters abounded (even though the season is officially closed), and consequently the plastic hunting decoys outnumbered real ducks. Bathing gulls at this site included a couple of Yellow-legged (Goeland leucophee). A beautiful female Hen Harrier (Busard Saint-Martin) treated us to an overhead fly-by, while passerines included a few Stonechat (Tarier patre) and a Water Pipit (Pipit spioncelle).

My personal highlight of the weekend was the excellent views of Fulmars (Fulmar boreal), which were already frequenting their nesting cliffs at Ault.

You can see why they're called tubenoses!

They often seemed to be jostling for the available ledge space.

A late afternoon seawatch was rewarded with a distant flock of Common Scoter (Macreuse noire), Red-breasted Merganser (Harle huppee) and a few Red-throated Divers (Plongeon catmarin), but many in the group were happier with close-up scope views of a singing Song Thrush (Grive musicienne).

After a raclette, red wine and nutella crepe-fuelled evening, we spent most of our Sunday in the Marquenterre bird reserve. The park has a large collection of tame wildfowl, living alongside their wild counterparts.

Personally, I dislike this part-zoo, part-reserve mixture. The mixed flock of White-fronts and Greylag Geese (Oies rieuses et cendree) feeding with the Lapwings (Vanneau huppe) and Golden Plovers (Pluvier dore) were probably wild, but the lone Whooper Swan (Cygne chanteur) on the 'wild' side of the fence? The caged Night Herons (Bihoreau gris) looked none too happy either. Nevertheless, the reserve preserves a great area of wetland habitat, and was packed with wild birds including fly-by Spoonbills (Spatule blanche) and Great Egrets (Grande Aigrette). Shorebird highlights were wintering Spotted Redshank (Chevalier arlequin) and a large flock of Black-tailed Godwits (Barge a queue noire). Amongst the throng of ducks were a handful of Goldeneye (Garrot a oeil d'or), and best of all, a close female Common Scoter (Macreuse noire) sheltering from the savage winds battering the Bay.

This groggy-looking frog came out of hibernation just a little too early.

Before heading back to Paris, we took our lunch break in the tree-lined car park, where a mixed tit flock contained a wintering Chiffchaff (Pouillot veloce).

Window birding

Another trip down to the south of France, and yet another Wallcreeper dip.... this time in the stunning location of the Hortus, just north of Montpellier.

Consolation birds were the usual suspects of Alpine Accentor (Accenteur alpin), Crag Martin (Hirondelle de rochers), Blue Rock Thrush (Monticole bleu) and a bonus Peregrine (Faucon pelerin). It was a surprisingly warm day, with many Red Admiral butterflies and Hummingbird Hawkmoths seen, the latter often frequenting this native narcissus.

The rest of my birding time was limited to staring out of Andrew's window. His garden birds are very different from what I'm used to seeing in Orsay at this time of year. An ivy-covered tree is constantly attended by a noisy flock of wintering Blackcaps (Fauvette a tete noire).

Refreshingly, Tree Sparrows (Moineau friquet) still seem to be relatively common in these parts.

The roof opposite is a favourite perch of Black Redstarts (Rougequeue noir)...

... and White Wagtails (Bergeronnette grise). This bird was enjoying a good preen.

Fudge, Diver and the perils of lunchtime twitching

Birding buddy Yves Massin found a great duo of Parisian rarities following a recent cold snap - a Great Northern Diver/Common Loon (Plongeon imbrin) and a Ferruginous Duck (Fuligule nyroca), both on the same small lake a stone's throw away from an RER station. Having received this information at around 11am, I decided to sneak out of work for a long lunch break....

An hour later and I was watching the birds. The diver put on a splendid show, often fishing at point blank range. I reeled off a camera battery's worth of shots in dismal light, the best of which are included below.

The Fudge Duck, a pretty male, generally kept his distance and hung around with a flock of Tufties and Pochard (Fuligules milouin et morillon).

Fully-winged!

A ray of sunshine transformed the bird from a dark blob to a handsome chestnut contrasting with the brilliant white eye.

By the time I got back to Orsay, it was pushing 3pm, so I decided not to return to the office and make up for lost work time in the evening. Unbeknownst to me, when I slipped out of work before lunch, I locked out my office mate who had left her keys, wallet and mobile phone on her desk. Having failed to reach me by my landline and email, and English mobile (which I never switch on), I finally learned of her plight late in the evening, by which time one of the technicians had broken into the office and replaced the lock! After much grovelling and box of chocolates, I think I'm just about forgiven, though my workmates are taking great delight in not letting me forget about it...

Local wanderings at the end of January

After a relatively warm start to the new year, a light sprinkling of snow was enough to convince me that a walk through the campus would be worthwhile.

The trees pictured above held a vocal male Black Woodpecker (Pic noir) - if only the sun had come out!

It was a bumper day for woodpeckers - this Great Spotted (Pic epeiche) was drumming on campus....

... this female Lesser Spotted (Pic epeichette) was typically uncooperative at the Coupieres basin...

... and this female Green Woodpecker (Pic vert) was busy gorging on ants in Bures.

A singing Crested Tit (Mesange huppee) hung around for long enough to get a couple of shots.

This smart male Kestrel (Faucon crecerelle) was hunting voles right next to the footpath.

I spent a lot of time trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph a Water Pipit (Pipit spioncelle) wintering in the Bures basin, but as consolation got this Grey Wagtail (Bergeronnette des ruisseaux) sneaking through the vegetation.

The relatively mild winter has resulted in fewer wintering passerines on the campus than last year, with no sign of any Siskins or Bramblings. In contrast, I found a couple of Firecrests (Roitelet a triple bandeau) and a small flock of Serins (Serin cini) - neither of which were present last year.

The berry bushes continued to support a flock of rather chubby-looking Bullfinches (Bouvreuil pivoine).

A break in the clouds brought out the iridescence in the wings of this Magpie (Pie bavarde).

Other good birds recorded were a fly-by Kingfisher (Martin-pecheur) at the edge of campus, and a vocal female Tawny Owl (Chouette hulotte) heard from my office.

New beginnings

Welcome back Surfbirds! Looks like I've got my work cut out for me catching up on the last month's entries (and re-writing the missing entries for November and December). Nice to see the comments section back up and running too. More to come very soon!