May 15, 2008
Desperately seeking Red-foots
Something's going on with Red-footed Falcons. The number of individuals seen up until last week in France was conservatively estimated at 550. There has been a flock of 60(!) in Switzerland. Cambs has recorded this species annually for several years, and with the first British sightings trickling in, I decided to bike here there and everywhere last weekend to try and find my own. My first evening's birding in appropriate habitat at Teversham Fen, yielded a Marsh Harrier and reeling Grasshopper Warbler. Friday evening I got to Milton Country Park and squeezed in an hour's birding before the Cambs bird club meeting.
My efforts were rewarded with my first of the season Garden Warbler, a purring Turtle Dove and renewing some old friendships with Cambirders.
On Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn to cycle out to Fen Drayton, and came across my first Cambs Cetti's Warbler - a species which seems to have flourished since I was last here. To my surprise, this one actually sat out in the open for a bit.
Sedge Warblers were abundant.
Common Terns were hawking over the lakes, and a couple of Avocets a single Oystercatcher were also seen. Walking the footpath along the river produced a pair of Egyptian Geese, one with an abnormally white head.
Grey Heron with freshly-caught eel.
I got back to Cambridge in time for lunch, by which point it seemed way too hot for any more bike-birding. I had another early start on Sunday morning and got out to Swaffham Prior Fen just before 7am, where this Barn Owl was still out hunting.
7 Grey and 4 Red-legged Partridges were out foraging in the freshly-ploughed fields.
The Cam Washes had a large feeding flock of Mute Swans...
... amongst which was a Black Swan.
Other wildfowl included another pair of Egyptian Geese, many Shelduck, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and best of all, a drake Garganey.
A bright male Yellow Wagtail landed on the path in front of me.
Kingfisher on the River Cam.
I biked along Wicken Lode, where at least 4 Cetti's Warblers were singing, a Grasshopper Warbler reeled and Turtle Doves purred while a Marsh Harrier and Hobby wheeled overhead - fantastic place.
Baker's Fen has had a good run of waders, and on my visit had 4 Greenshank and 2 LRPs, plus calling Redshank and Lapwings engaging in their tumbling display-flight.
A Reed Warbler posed relatively out in the open here.
In the midday heat of my bike-ride home, few birds were active. This Rook was sweating it out on a lamp-post at Stow-cum-Quy.
Ironically, the following Monday a female Red-foot was seen briefly at Fen Drayton. Still, new Red-foots are turning up every day and I have the feeling that more will be showing up in the county over the next few weeks..
May 9, 2008
Dotterel dash
After several consecutive early mornings in France, when John dropped me home from Stansted airport I fully intended to have a siesta and relaxing evening. Instead, about 430pm while checking email, I noticed that 2-3 Dotterel were being seen at the county boundary near Royston. It had been many years since I last saw breeding-plumaged Dotterel, and it sounded like too good an opportunity to pass up. I decided that if I jumped on my bike, I could still make the 455 train to Royston - fortunately I hadn't unpacked my birding bag from the French trip and so everything was ready to go! A short train journey, a bike ride, and a long walk along a footpath which crossed the main line train route to London and the dual carriageway A505, and I found myself having distant views of Dotterel heads occasionally popping up above the pea plants.
The birds seemed to be moving painfully slowly towards the south-east corner of the field, and the penny finally dropped that if I stood on the east edge of the field I could look between the parallel rows of peas and hope to see a little more of the birds.
As luck would have it, the male came out to feed along some tractor tracks, offering full-body views.
Along with singing Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers, Skylarks and both partridge species, it was a memorable end to the bank holiday weekend. Needless to say as soon as I got home I fell into a very deep sleep!
La Dombes
Following our descent from the Alps, we attempted two more birding stops as recommended by the 'where to watch' guide for France. The first, l'etang de Haut-Jarrie, is a small reedbed surrounded by farmland, and apparently has nesting Little Bittern. However, when we arrived mid-afternoon we found the site overrun with picknickers, and very little bird activity save for adding heard-only Short-toed Treecreeper (Grimpereau des jardins) to the trip list and decent views of 2 Short-toed Eagles (Circaete Jean-le-Blanc). Our next attempted stop was the Lac de Miribel-Jonage on the outskirts of Lyon, which boasts an impressive list of breeding and passage birds. Unfortunately a sunny bank holiday Sunday evening is most definitely not the time to visit, and we found all the car parks full and cars double-parked all along the approach roads! After a brief moment of panic we decided to head for the lake-filled region known as La Dombes 30km to the north-east. This turned out to be an excellent decision, and a few minutes standing out in the hotel car park yielded flyover egrets, Purple Heron (Heron pourpre) and Night Heron (Bihoreau gris).
Nesting White Storks (Cigogne blanche) could be seen from our hotel window.
We got up at first light next morning to maximise birding time before the drive back to the airport. One of the first lakes we visited was teeming with herons and shorebirds in the early morning light (Great White and Little Egrets in the first photo, Wood Sand/Chevalier sylvain in the second).
As the light improved, we picked up a flock of about 30 Ruff (Combattant varie).
A few Black-winged Stilts (Echasse blanche) looked to be on eggs, and the Lapwings (Vanneau huppe) already had chicks.
Amongst the Ringed Plovers (Grand Gravelot), John picked out a Temminck's Stint (Becasseau de Temminck) and another, and then another up to a total of 7 birds - the most I've seen in one place.
A single Curlew Sandpiper (Becasseau cocorli) was looking dapper in breeding plumage.
A lone Black-tailed Godwit (Barge a queue noire) and a couple of Greenshank (Chevalier aboyeur) at a nearby lake completed the wader tally. A few Whiskered Terns (Guifette moustac) were flying around.
Both Common and Red-crested Pochard (Fuligule milouin, Nette rousse) are local breeders.
2 breeding-plumaged Black-necked Grebe (Grebe a cou noir) and a distant male Golden Oriole (Loriot d'Europe) added a splash of colour.
We were able to add Reed (Rousserolle effarvatte), Sedge (Phragmite des joncs), Grasshopper (Locustelle tachetee) and finally a couple of Great Reed Warblers (Rousserolle turdoide) to the trip tally.
It was particularly nice to see Europe's three large herons side-by-side.
Since we had allowed plenty of time to get back to Grenoble airport, I suggested driving the back roads nearby in the hope of adding a couple more birds to the trip list. Our prayers were answered when I glimpsed a male harrier which I called as a Hen Harrier (Busard Saint-Martin). Shortly afterwards John picked up what he was sure was a male Montagu's (Busard cendre). For once, the two-bird theory turned out to be true, and we enjoyed great views of the two, occasionally in the same scope view!
These birds took our total trip list for the weekend to a very respectable 127, inlcuding some real stunners. I got on the plane feeling very satisfied with the preceding days' birding, but little did I know the birding wasn't over yet...
May 8, 2008
French Alps 2008 - best of the rest
While Rock Partridge and Eurasian Pygmy Owl were undoubtedly the icing on the cake, other excellent birds were seen at the different habitats and altitudes on the Termignon-Bellecombe road.
Our Friday evening scan from the car park yielded calling Citril Finch (Venturon montagnard) and and Black Woodpecker (Pic noir), plus a smart male Ring Ouzel (Merle a plastron).
On the Saturday morning snow hike we were often accompanied by Willow Tits (Mesange boreale), singing a very different song from that we hear in Britain.
The first Rock Bunting (Bruant fou) of the trip was seen close to where we first heard Rock Partridge.
Both Red-billed and Alpine Chough (Crave a bec rouge, Chocard a bec jaune) were feeding in the snow-patch meadows, with the latter species being by far the most numerous.
Interesting mammals included Mountain Hare, Alpine Ibex and many Chamois.
Following our success with Pygmy Owl, we got up at 4am to try our luck with Tengmalm's Owl (Chouette de Tengmalm), and sure enough, we enjoyed killer looks at one by torchlight. We drove the road hoping for Hazel Grouse or Three-toed Woodpecker, but no joy. A short and very cold walk in the forest did yield a singing Firecrest (Roitelet a triple bandeau), Common Treecreeper (Grimpereau des bois), a few calling Nutcrackers (Cassenoix mouchete)...
... and a female Black Woodpecker (Pic noir).
We were able to hear the bubbling call of lekking Black Grouse (Tetras lyre) while watching Rock Partridge the previous day, but it wasn't until Sunday that we were able to see a lone distant. This truly awful digiscope is nonetheless an improvement on the photo I got two years ago!
Back in our base of Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis birds around town included nesting Crag Martin (Hirondelle de rochers), Black Redstart (Rougequeue noir), White and Grey Wagtails (Bergeronnettes grise et des ruisseaux) and Serin (Serin cini). A distant male Rock Thrush (Monticole de roche) to the east of town was the only one we saw. Since all the high mountain passes in the area were closed by snow, the bulk of our remaining birding was limited to the stretch of road between Termignon and Bonneval-sur-Arc at the foot of ascent to the Col de l'Iseran.
Many Water Pipits and a few Tree Pipits (Pipits spioncelle et des arbres) were seen close to Bonneval, as well as our only sighting of Dipper (Cincle plongeur). The road just beyond Bonneval yielded the first of a handful of Pied Flycatchers (Gobemouche noir)...
... and an extremely obliging Western Bonelli's Warbler (Pouillot de Bonelli).
The wildflowers all along the valley were stunning.
A random stop in a place where we had heard a Wryneck (Torcol fourmilier) proved fruitful, playing host to a Fieldfare (Grive litorne) colony, Whinchat (Tarier des pres), numerous finches and a Common Redstart (Rougequeue a front blanc).
This male Red-backed Shrike (Pie-grieche ecorcheur) was the only one recorded.
A drive up towards the Col de Mont-Cenis produced our only Golden Eagle (Aigle royal) in display flight before landing on a stone cabin (very distant, but note the huge size).
The meadows surrounded by pine forest looked ideal for Citril Finch, though we never had a confirmed sighting. Nonetheless we recorded several finch species, including Crossbill (Bec-croise des sapins) and Repoll (Sizerin flamme). I'm being deliberately ambiguous about the latter - according to BWP only Lesser occurs in the Alps, though one of the males we saw looked like a good candidate for Mealy/Common...
Among the passerine flocks on the drive out was a single Ortolan (Bruant ortolan), a French tick and a very satisfying end to Saturday's mega-birding. After leaving the high mountains on Sunday afternoon, we drove up the winding road to Chamrousse, near Grenoble.
The 'where to watch' guide claims that Ptarmigan and Snow Finch are gettable here, but the sunny weather had brought out the crowds and we didn't fancy our chances. A few Northern Wheatears (Traquet motteux) were looking to be the most interesting birds until we found a car park frequented by many Citril Finches (Venturon montagnard), including this singing male.
French Alps 2008 - corking Pygmy Owl
On the drive down from our Rock Partridge success, we heard Crested and Willow Tits (Mesanges huppee et boreale) close to the roadside. John wanted a better look at the crestie, so we played the call of Eurasian Pygmy Owl (Chevechette d'Europe). To our utter astonishment, in the middle of the day, a real Pygmy Owl answered and swooped low over our heads to investigate - my second lifer of the day! The bird installed itself on the top of a low conifer and was seemingly oblivious to our presence. LOTS of digiscoping ensued.
The two superstar birds of the day were duly celebrated that evening with champagne and delicious raclette - my best birding day in a very long time...
PS This bird was the previous post's Alpine quizbird.
French Alps 2008 - Rock Partridge at last!
Last bank holiday weekend, I met up with former Cambs birder extraordinaire John Oates to search for a bird that we have both heard, but never seen - the Rock Partridge (Perdrix bartavelle). Our plan was to bird a road that runs north from Termignon into the Vanoise National Park, the same road from which Marcel and I had Snow Finch, Lammergeier, Rock Thrush and other Alpine specialities two years earlier. Last time we were there too late in the day to hope to pick up calling Rock Partridge, but the habitat looked good and old reports suggested that birds had been seen there previously. On arrival on Friday evening we headed straight up the road to scout out watch-points for the following morning, and were dismayed to find the road still completely blocked by snow below the tree-line. However, the highest accessible car park offered views over promising-looking areas of patchy snow, and we decided that it might still be possible to pick up a Rock Partridge distantly through a scope.
Fuelled by a hearty tartiflette the night before, early next morning we tried walking a section of the snow-blocked road in the hope of getting a little closer to the good-looking habitat. This was very slow-going, and would certainly have been safer and easier in snowshoes, but after about an hour of trudging we got out to the other side relatively unscathed (although I did rather embarrassingly manage to fall on my backside just as two skiers cruised past us). Amazingly, we soon heard our first calling Rock Partridge, and much closer than we had envisaged. After a few minutes' panciked scanning, I picked up a bird on the nearest hillock.
John, who had dipped them on several previous trips, was over the moon.
We soon located a pair, and another, and a glimpse of a third calling bird just over the ridgeline bought the total to 5 birds.
I was much more impressed by the birds than I expected to be - overall a much smarter, cleaner-looking bird than the Chukars I'd seen. The inaccessibility of the habitat, the bird's scarcity and the fact that we'd both previously looked for and missed it made the victory all the sweeter.
