07/02/14: Scarlet Elf Cup.

It was nice to see a bit of sunshine today and there was the bonus of a light breeze making it feel very springlike. Mistle Thrushes were in fine voice when I took the dog for a walk through Orrell Water Park this afternoon and a Kingfisher positively glowed as it darted over the upper lake. The Chiffchaff was still in its usual spot and easier to locate as it was calling more than it has been; it was clearly making the most of the weather with frequent flycatching forays.

Anyway I was on my way back home when I came across a small display of colour in the form of some Scarlet Elf Cups. Not a lot else you can say about them really, they are the colour of red found on the face of the finest Goldfinches, quite small hence elf in the name and cup shaped. Sarcoscypha coccinea is the scientific name but does not slip off the tongue quite as easily and basically means flesh red or something like that. They are reputed as being more or less edible depending on what you read but I am not in a hurry to try them. If you have the urge to eat some you can read more here.

 

The fruiting bodies are 2 to 5cm in diameter if you don't know and this one is about 4cm in diameter. It was the biggest I came across today. A Nikon battery pack was all I had for comparison.

Fungal foray over I checked out the Black-headed Gulls by the car park. They were a bit flighty but the regular German ringed bird put in an appearance. He or she is getting a bit more colour in the head now. I didn't record this bird in February last year so it will be interesting to see if it stays much longer given it is so mild compared to last year.

DEH IA141745 (Hiddensee, Germany)

 

DEH IA141745 (Hiddensee, Germany)

 

Neck bulging with bread, DEH IA141745 (Hiddensee, Germany)

My next post should be about sexing Goldfinches or not as the case may be. My post on ageing Goldfinches has attracted above average views so I suspect one on sexing will attract even more. Most ringers have problems with sexing Goldfinches whether they wish to admit it or not. If you are interested in my thoughts on sexing Goldfinches come back soon.

Soaking up the rays

This afternoon I noticed 2 Blackbirds in the garden that were taking full advantage of the glorious weather. They spent quite a bit of time sunbathing and adopted various postures in the process. This is not uncommon behaviour but it is the first time if have seen 2 sunbathing in close proximity to each other.

Blackbirds sunbathing

Adult female Blackbird

Juvenile male Blackbird

I haven't done much ringing recently but I did spend a few hours on various stretches of the river Douglas today. There wasn't much moving but I did catch and ring a juvenile Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher. I also retrapped an adult Dipper.

Kingfisher being released.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I saw on the river was a Water Vole. I haven't seen one in ages and it is good to see they are still hanging on.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get up early to go ringing in one of the reed bed sites. There should be a few juvenile Reed and Sedge Warblers around now and hopefully a few interesting retraps or controls amongst the adults.

Waxwing lyrical part 34 - counting down

The number of Waxwings continues to decline each day. The birds have been piling on weight and the weather has been generally favourable for migration so there is nothing to hold them back once they are ready to go. The graph below shows the numbers I have recorded each day since the first bird turned up and shows the trend in numbers. During March there were still plenty of berries around and numbers didn't really take off until the end of March when the berry supplies had been exhausted and the birds also started to fatten up.

The weight increases some of the birds have shown recently is quite impressive - NW31951, a first winter female, weighed 62.8g on 20/04/13 but weighed 74.3g when retrapped this morning, an increase of 11.5g in 7 days or 18.3%.
NW31942, an adult female, weighed 63.3g on 19/04/13 but weighed 78.5g when retrapped this evening, an increase of 12.2 g in 8 days or 19.3%.

Apples may not be a natural food supply in spring but the data is still valuable and a good measure of their ability to put on weight. The birds are actually less dependant on the apples now and are also feeding on the emerging flowers of various trees. I have seen them feeding on Poplar flowers recently and the emerging flowers of Ash today.

There must be significant nutritional and or energy value in the emerging flowers given the effort the birds put in to get at them. I have  also seen quite a few Wood pigeons feeding on Ash flowers in the past few days.

I only caught 1 new and 4 retrap Waxwings today but one of the retraps was my favourite bird if you can ever have a favourite Waxwing. It was the colour-ringed bird from Aberdeen that was first seen in the garden on 18th February. This bird is a first winter female and has been recorded in the garden 32 times since then and has been caught 4 times. She hasn't shown the rapid weight increases of some birds but is making steady progress. She only weighed 49.3g on 30th March but was 63.0g when retrapped today.



NW65022 retrapped today.
She was first seen on 18th February amd her details can be found by clicking here.

This afternoon I dragged myself away from the Waxwings and surveyed one of my river sites as I normally would at this time of year. A Dipper was carrying food but the nest was inaccessible and a net across the river only produced a Kingfisher although they aren't known to nest on that particular stretch. There will be plenty for me to do once the Waxwings have finally gone but I may have a lie-in or two first.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) 27/04/13

Just mooching

I got up this morning to find the Fieldfare was still visiting the garden. It has been coming to feed on apples every day even though the last of the snow melted at the beginning of the week. It has been semi resident for almost two weeks now and has been getting through at least two apples each day. I thought it would have moved on by now and it will be interesting to see how long it stays for.

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

A bit of wing and leg stretching

After taking an excessive number of photos of the Fieldfare I went for a mooch on Orrell Water Park. It was very sunny but there was a significant wind chill making it feel quite cold. I had literally just entered the park when I noticed a Collared Dove collecting nesting material. It was collecting fine birch twigs from the same area but its efforts were interrupted by dog walkers. This is the first nest building I have recorded this year.

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

I wandered up to the reserve area where a Kingfisher showed quite well for a while. Not well enough to get photos of the quality I would have liked but much better than I have managed previously. The sunlight was quite harsh and twigs often partially obscured the view or cast a shadow on the bird. The sun being harsh is my excuse for getting the exposure wrong and it doesn't help that I don't shoot in RAW.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

A helicopter disturbed proceedings on one occasion but at least it was rather colourful whirlybird.