Nest building Collared Doves

It may have been a bit chilly today and is forecast to be colder tomorrow but it has been another relatively mild winter so far.  Many birds are starting to show territorial activity now that the days are getting longer and species like Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Starling and Great Tit have been singing, on and off, for a week or two now. 

Whilst watching the birds in the garden this morning I noticed a Collared Dove flying into some ivy about 6 metres up a tree and I suspected it had joined another that was already there. The ivy clad tree is in the park just across the road from the front garden and I had seen a Collared Dove visit the same location a few days ago, so I began to think it was a pair that could be nest building or at least prospecting.

I watched for a while and saw that one bird kept flying down to the ground and then going back up to the same location in the tree, and although it was a bit too far away for me to be sure I thought it had carried some nest material on at least one occasion. I decided to check it out so I grabbed my camera and went for a closer look.

On entering the park I could see what I presumed to be the male Collared Dove searching for fine twigs along the side of the path. There were loads of fine birch and alder twigs on the ground for it to choose from but it was fussier than I expected. It would pick up a twig and then discard it and then go on to another. This process was repeated several times before it found one it deemed to be suitable which it then took up to its partner at the nest site in the ivy.

The other Collared Dove, presumably the female, stayed at the nest site and arranged the twigs that were brought by its partner. Given that a Collared Dove nest is usually a fairly flimsy platform of twigs there was a lot of careful placement, turning around and treading of the twigs into place. Although the nest is well concealed on a branch in the ivy it appeared to be quite substantial by Collared Dove standards and probably not far off completion.

Collared Doves have been recorded nesting throughout the year where food is abundant, although breeding activity is generally much reduced in winter. Day length probably has a part to play in reducing winter breeding activity in the UK rather than a shortage of food as there is likely to be a greater and more reliable supply of food from garden feeding through the winter than at other times of year.

While it may not be unheard of to find a pair of Collared Doves nest building in late January it is still relatively uncommon in this area and a welcome sign of spring.

Hotchpotch

This post is an assortment of things that I have photographed over the last week along with a short summary of recent ringing activities.

Woodpigeons have caught my attention again but this time it was birds that were in the top of an Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) across the road from the garden. I had noticed birds spending a lot of time there and hadn't really thought much of it as seeing Woodpigeons in a tree is hardly unusual. However, when I got my bins on them and had a proper look I could see they were eating the leaves and that was a bit of a surprise, to me at least. I knew Woodpigeons were partial to the flowers of Ash but I didn't know they also ate the leaves and they have really thinned out the leaves in the top of this particular tree.

This bird is about to swallow a piece of a leaf and you can also see that some of the smaller branches have been stripped of many of their leaves.

In this image you can easily see some of the leaves that have been partially eaten against the birds upper breast..

Another leaf is about to be eaten.

I am not into flowers in a big way but the meadow areas at the Billinge ringing site have some of the most impressive areas of Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) that I have ever seen and they are at their best at the moment. A few orchids are also flowering and while I hadn't gone looking for nests I found a Meadow Pipits while photographing the flowers.

Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) 08/06/2016

Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) 08/06/2016

Marsh Orchid spp. 08/06/2016, probably Southern Marsh Orchid or Southern hybrid.

Meadow Pipit nest 08/06/2016

Back at home the moth trap hasn't produced anything out of the ordinary but variety and numbers are slowly improving.

Lime Hawkmoth 08/06/2016

Ruby Tiger 08/06/2016

Green Silver-lines and Miller 10/06/2016

Pebble Hook-tip 12/06/2016

Peach Blossom 12/06/2016

Scorched Wing 13/06/2016

On the ringing front a very short ringing session at Crawford on the 9th and another there on the 12th produced combined totals as follows (retraps in brackets): Tree Sparrow 20 (4); House Sparrow 2; Greenfinch 17 (2); Goldfinch 9 (2); Chaffinch 2; Robin 3; Dunnock 2; Whitethroat 1; Great Tit 5 (1).
Tree Sparrows seem to be having a good breeding season as I have now caught 33 at Crawford in the last 10 days with 30 being juveniles.

Juvenile Tree Sparrow

Adult male House Sparrow; an increasingly scarce sight these days.
Studies have shown that individuals with larger black bibs are more dominant.

Juvenile House Sparrow 12/06/2016.
While Tree Sparrows seem to be doing ok the same can't be said for House Sparrows. They have virtually disappeared from my garden.

Juvenile Greenfinch 12/06/2016.
The extensive areas of yellow on the tail and outer webs of the primaries mean this bird can be easily sexed as a male.

I am still catching quite a few new Starlings in the garden (mostly juveniles but a few new adults too) and I have now ringed 287 juveniles over the last 5 weeks. Numbers visiting the garden should tail off rapidly now, as birds disperse and form post breeding flocks, so I don't expect to ring many more this breeding season.

Spot the nest

I went for a walk around Abbey Lakes at Upholland this afternoon; lakes being a bit of a misnomer as there is only one small lake. Blackcaps were well represented with at least 5 singing males and a Common Sandpiper was a good record for this small site. I found a couple of nests without really trying including the one in the photographs below.

Spot the nest.

This should make it a lot easier. The female is sat on the nest.

and there she is.

It is not unusual for Mallards to nest in natural cavities in trees and I have even known them use a Kestrel nest box and a basket that had been put up for Long-eared Owls. This particular nest was 3 metres off the ground and may have been used by this female in previous years.

Tree nesting Mallard.

5th April 2015

Although the weather has improved it has thrown another spanner in the works in the form of fog. I went to Crawford yesterday morning and it was grey to say the least. Summer visitors are still thin on the ground but I have been keeping the nyger feeders going there in the hope of a few Redpolls joining the Goldfinches so it was the best option for ringing some birds. I put a couple of nets up as the fog wasn't too thick and more importantly wasn't condensing on the vegetation so wouldn't be a problem on the nets; however the generally grey conditions still made them that bit more visible. A few Goldfinches and a couple of Lesser Redpolls came to the feeders but they all managed to avoid the nets. After a couple of hours and with the fog only lifting slowly I packed up having ringed just 3 birds - 2 Yellowhammers and 1 Dunnock.

A foggy view over the farmland at Crawford yesterday morning.

Male and female Yellowhammers. When you see a pair like this it is hard to believe that some can be difficult to sex.

Male and female Yellowhammers.

The sun came out in the afternoon so I went to have a look at a Nuthatch nest that my son had found the day before. The tree the birds are nesting in is close to a path so they are accustomed to people passing by and I thought that may give me a chance to get some photographs. I wasn't disappointed and the female returned to work on the nest with us standing about 12 metres away.

The birds have picked a natural cavity and at first glance didn't appear to have narrowed the entrance with mud as they usually do.

When the bird went inside I could see she had plastered it up with mud on the inside and had only left a small hole which she really had to squeeze through to get into the nest chamber. The birds wing stretched out over her back as she forced her way in.

Taking a peek while she adds a bit more mud to the already tight entrance to the nesting chamber. There is quite a wall of mud in there.

The bird then squeezed its way out shutting its eyes in the process.

Made it.

Slow going

I am getting bored with this weather as we seem to be stuck between seasons with winter not quite releasing its grip and spring not having the oomph of some southerly airflow to really get going. If we are unlucky it could drag on like this for some time with migration continuing at a slow pace but if we get some decent conditions there is likely to be a sudden rush of summer visitors. Unfortunately the forecast doesn't look too promising although we should have a brief respite this Thursday and hopefully a few migrants on the back of it.

I have only ringed one Chiffchaff since my last post and they are still fairly thin on the ground or absent from my sites. A wintering male Blackcap is still visiting the feeders in the garden each day and I am almost certain it is the bird that was ringed there on 10th January. A second male also makes an occasional appearance and I suspect this is the other male I ringed in January rather than a newly arrived spring migrant.

Chiffchaff ringed 25/03/15

Blackcap in the garden 28/03/15 and the same bird was still present today. I have partially read the ring number from photographs and I am fairly confident it is the bird I ringed in the garden on 10th January and first appeared in the garden on 1st January.

On the plus side I did find my first nest of the spring today. I was watching the ringed Blackcap on a feeder when I noticed a female Blackbird leave the privet hedge below. I had seen one carrying nesting material in that area the other week so went out to have a look. I soon spotted the nest containing at least 3 eggs but I rushed back in the house to get the camera rather than counting them there and then. I was only inside for less than a minute but when I got back to the nest the Blackbird had returned and was sat tight. I didn't want to disturb her so I will have to count the clutch another day.

The privet hedge has a lot of ivy growing through it and the bird has picked a location where a lot of debris from cuttings builds up in the hedge.

..........and a closer view from the same angle.

Unfortunately the chances of this nest being successful are very low. The nest is only a couple of feet off the ground and cats are not infrequent visitors to the garden. Blackbirds usually hatch their eggs but their problems really start when the young are well grown and start to get noisy. Cats generally find the nest at this stage and cause the young to leave prematurely. They either kill them all then or they pick them off over the next day or so. If they are really lucky the odd youngster survives. I do my best to protect nests and have used wire mesh to try and keep the cats at bay in the past but it doesn't always work. If the Blackbirds nested at a higher level it would improve their chances but they rarely do so despite the availability of suitable sites.

Birds nest revisited

I have been following the progress of a few nests recently including a Sparrowhawk nest that was shown in an earlier post. There were 5 chicks which is a fairly typical brood size and when they were ringed I found that 3 were males and 2 were females. Sparrowhawk chicks can be sexed on leg and foot size from about 9 days of age but females are starting to become much bigger overall by that age too. It is good to report that they have been making good progress as can be seen in the images below.

The Sparrowhawk nest was found 24/06/14 when the chicks were about a week old and it was quite crowded then.

When I returned to ring them on 30/06/14 it really was a full nest.

The chick was sexed as a male and fitted nicely in my hand.

This female chick was much more of a handful than the male above.

I returned on 02/07/14 to check them from a distance and they were clearly doing well.
I had been worried about this nest being disturbed or worse still the chicks being stolen because of its location.

I went back this afternoon and this young male was standing proud on the edge of the nest. He has lost most of his down and could leave the nest by the end of the week.

I will go back again to check that they have fledged successfully and when they have finally left I will also check the nest for pellets to see what prey they have been eating. In the past I have found the remains of some interesting prey in Sparrowhawk nests including Swift, House Martin, Sedge Warbler and Brown Hawker Dragonfly but young Blackbirds and Starlings are often the most common prey items. If I do find anything of interest I will report it in due course.