March 3, 2007
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.
Posted by rjhall at March 3, 2007 9:09 AM