Recent Posts:

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/30/2008 12:28:00 PM

I caught this series while out braving the cold today. I was strolling around Duchess pond near Star Hill, when this Cormorant circled in and settled into the pond. It then took a couple of dives before climbing onto the bank as the sun played hide and seek. I got as close as it would allow me to, but finally it caught sight of me and took off – follow the action below:

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/28/2008 03:50:00 PM

I was headed to work yesterday and on my way i saw what appeared to be a flock of thrushes. For a moment I thought they were redwings, until one flew up close and called in the typical call of a fieldfare:

My camera was in my bag and I cautiously reached back and retrieved it.

The bird wasn’t too bothered and was more intent on eating berries….as a result I got these pictures.

The fieldfare is a winter visitor to the UK, and is a scarce breeder.

It usually inhabits forests and woodlands but also can be seen in towns. This one that I saw was by the side of a busy road.

Fieldfares feed on small invertebrates and fruits.

An interesting titbit about fieldfares is the way they defend their nests and eggs against egg thieves. It seems they bombard egg thieves with their faeces!

…and for this reason, smaller birds often choose to nest near a fieldfare’s nest.The fieldfares generally nest communally, so I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near an annoyed nesting bird!

In winter the fieldfares form large flocks and their preferred feed is invertebrates.

To identify these birds watch out for the bluish grey head and light brown chest with spots, and of course the unmistakable noisy “tchak-tchak” call.

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/27/2008 02:19:00 PM

As promised I went back to check on the flocking wagtails at my university  and try and get some pictures. Yesterday I made the mistake of leaving my memory card behind, so it was another go today. At 15:45 when I checked, there were no birds to be seen, but by 16:00 they started arriving en mass to flock on the 5 trees in the courtyard.

The light was poor and rapidly falling with every passing minute.

Most of them flew in, stopped by on the nearby buildings, perching on the roof, before descending down onto the trees.

very few of them actually descended onto the ground.

Once on the tree, their main activity was preening.

If not preening, there was quite a bit of bickering and fighting, perhaps to occupy a position of choice.

As the light diminished, they seemed to settle down and become less active.

Even at a high iso, my camera was struggling.

…thus I decided to use the flash.

The first time I used it, the birds went silent…

…the second time, some of them actually flew away, as if frightened by it.

…but they soon got used to it. Don’t they make a treat to watch?

I`ve never seen pied wagtails flock before and so many of them together simply is amazing.

As I mentioned earlier, I do see a few of these birds on my way to the university, and the other day we even saw two near our feeder.

However, I wouldnt have guessed even in my dreams that so many pied wagtails were present in the whole of Bristol!

The birds seemed to be taking their time settling in..

…and even though the lights were switched on, they seemed to be in no discomfort.

perhaps the lights and the enclosed courtyard offered them a warm location to roost, free from fear of predators and chilly winds.

I didn’t hang around long and had to leave soon but I`ll be keeping track. Clearly this roosting place is a recent one. I wonder how long they will roost here.

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/26/2008 02:10:00 PM

What’s the story here?

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/26/2008 12:45:00 AM

Song Thrush	Redwing

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/25/2008 01:27:00 AM

I was returning from my lab today and as I passed a corridor adjacent to the courtyard, I heard the sound of birds chirping. I looked out of the window and saw hundreds of birds jumping up and down the branches of the 4 trees outside.

I went outside fully expecting it to be goldfinches or some other finches, but to my astonishment, I saw that their tails were wagging up and down in true wagtail style.

I went closer and confirmed that they were indeed pied wagtails! Hundreds of them…so many that I didnt even dare start counting!

There numbers were so high that they appeared to be more birds on the tree than leaves!

I have seen pied wagtails in the university campus before, but I wouldnt have guessed in my dreams that there were so many in the whole of Bristol!

Unfortunately, today being a cold and dull day, I had thought I wouldn’t be able to go lunch time birding and thus didn’t take my camera along!

I was getting desperate for a camera and suddenly remembered that my phone had one!

…and thus you see the really blurred images. Yet, I must say, it was about 4:30 PM on a dark winter evening and the light was really poor. It was dark other than the light shining through the windows of adjoining buildings. Considering that, my phone did an alright job. while I was clicking away , there were plenty of students going up and down, but hardly anyone seemed to even notice the birds until they saw me looking up with the cameraphone in my hand!

Anyway, this is the first time I have seen pied wagtails flock to roost. I hadnt thought they flock at all. However, they do roost – some references can be found

here and here and is also mentioned in the RSPB description.

I hope they are there tomorrow again, I`ll be taking my camera along for sure!

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/24/2008 10:49:00 AM

This post is for my loyal readers out there. My Blog on Blogger -www.birdsnapping.blogspot.com  has now changed. I have bought the domain name and thus from now on Bridsnapping.com is where it is! The Blog will now be at www.birdsnapping.com . However, this will mean little or no change for the majority of my readers. I purchased the domain through Google and it has been a smooth transition. All visitors landing on the Blogger page will be automatically redirected here. All old links will also be automatically redirected to the respective links here. You will barely know the difference. For my readers on Surfbirds though, you will also be automatically redirected to the home page.Links from Surfbirds, pointing to specific posts will however only be redirected to the home page. I`m hoping this will not be a problem as the home page will host at least the past 7 or more latest posts. To make matters easier, I`ve included a custom search box on the top:

I hope that will make things easier for people searching for a specific post. If not one can always refer to the previous posts section in the left hand column.

RSS feeds will still be from the same source, however you may wish to update your favourite links.

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/24/2008 04:07:00 AM

The first time I saw redwings, I thought to myself – Wow That’s a lot of song thrushes! I even blogged about it as song thrushes. However, I soon figured out that they were redwings. Here`s a post to know them better.

Although they mostly occur in flocks mixed with other birds such as song thrushes and blackbirds, I`ve come across one or two loners too.

The identifying features one should look out for is the red under the wings and the white streak above the eyes.

A distinct feature to listen out for is the clattering sounds they make:

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I think I wont mistake them for Song thrushes anymore.

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/24/2008 12:19:00 AM

I`ve just checked the ordnance survey map and discovered that Blackberry Hill is not actually Blackberry hill! Technically, the area I birdwatch in is composed of Long Wood, Barn wood, Obelisk, Starhill and a bit of Pond Field wood (see map below). I would hence like to change my references to the area for the purpose of this blog. Henceforth I shall refer to what was formerly Blackberry Hill as Star Hill.

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Posted By Tom to Bird Snapping on 11/24/2008 12:13:00 AM