Red Kite in Autumn

I think this deserves a post all to itself.

'Red Kite in Autumnal setting'. Copyright Doug Simpson. Posted with kind permission

OY27 Redkite, Yorkshire

If you read my post on Saturday you may remember that I saw my first tagged Red kite over my parent’s house in Yorkshire.

OY 27 Red Kite, Yorkshire

OY27

I sent off the tag read to http://www.yorkshireredkites.net and yesterday received this reply from Doug Simpson, the Yorkshire Red Kite co-ordinator:

I know this bird well …. It is one of four rather special birds, these being our first-ever brood of four young – see image. What made it even more remarkable was that the parents were a first-time breeding pair. They’d been ‘adopted’ by a gamekeeper at Arthington who made sure that they didn’t go short of food…

He also went on to say that the other three siblings are doing fine and have gone on to successfully breed in the area.

He kindly attached an image of OY27 when it was a chick, which he has said I can post here:

The first ever brood of 4 Red Kite chicks, all have survived. OY27 is second from left. Photo by Doug Simpson, posted with kind permission.

Doug also sent me a photo of the proud father -

Beautiful photo of the father of the four chicks. Photo by Doug Simpson, posted with kind permission

Doug took this photo with a small digital camera through his telescope!!

Sometimes when you’re looking at a bird you kind of forget the history and experiences the bird has been through in order to survive to the point where we get to see them.

The fact that OY27 might not have been born if that gamekeeper hadn’t kept feeding it’s parents – maybe the parents wouldn’t even have survived if it wasn’t for the gamekeeper! makes the sighting even more interesting.

Thanks again Doug for the photos and info, next time I (hopefully) see OY27, it’s going to be a different experience, feeling that I know some of it’s history.

Common Buzzard, Yorkshire

Yesterday me and le famile went for a 7 mile walk (in the constant rain) through Dallowgill Moor, North Yorkshire. We follwed a walk of mosaics placed at 22 points by a group of people calling themselves ‘Crackpots’. If you want to see Red Grouse then this walk is definitely for you, I got about 20 sightings of them, even in the pouring rain.

Today the weather was much better, so I went for a walk around the fields.

I got several Jay sightings, Chaffinches, Long tailed tits, Blue Tits, Rooks, Carrion Crows, Wood Pigeons, Magpies AND…

a Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard

Pale band across the breast, big rounded wings, yellow legs, short neck, short tail length = Common Buzzard, possible juvenile (lack of definite fine cross bars on underwings and lack of dark tail tips).

Close up of Common Buzzard, something I've never seen before

I had been out for a few hours and needed to get back home. I kept an eye out for any other sightings, walked through a tunnel and in front of me was a Buzzard eating a dead rabbit. As soon as it saw me it slowly lifted up and flew away to my huge disappointement. If only I had walked through the tunnel way slower I would have properly seen the Buzzard about a metre away from me.

 

If I had have tiptoed at 0.001mph through this tunnel, I would have fully seen the Buzzard eating this rabbit (mid right)

2 Buzzards, waiting to see if I was going to take their rabbit

I did climb over a fence and wait in vegetation (nettles!) for about 20 mins to see if they’d come back forthe rabbit, but they didn’t, so I headed on.

Red Kite - they must get so tired of being seen off

This one escaped the Carrion Crows

this Red Kite flew over the sheep for a good while and they didn't even look up

Red Kite doing acrobatics, surrouned by 'am I bovverd' sheep

Finally I saw something I’d never seen before, a Red Kite on the ground

A Red Kite on the ground - a first for me

Redkite tags, Yorkshire

Red Kite, Yorkshire

I’m at home in Yorkshire for the weekend, because 40 years ago this weekend my parents were married (in Dublin). Imagine.

I took these photos over our house yesterday. It was the first time I’d ever seen a Red Kite with tags fitted. In Yorkshire they stopped tagging Red kites in 2006 because the project was by then deemed a huge success.

Red Kite, Yorkshire

Worn feathers of a 6 year old Red Kite

 I also saw a possible juvenile flying further away, I’m thinking it’s a juvenile because it’s feathers are in pristine condition.

Perfect Red Kite silhouette, no missing feathers

Primaries and Secondary feathers missing and some tail feathers

Yellow tag = 2004 chick (so this bird is 6 years old), Orange tag = Yorkshire

Tag guide taken from yorkshireredkites.net

All sightings of tagged birds around Yorkshire should be reported to www.yorkshireredkites.net 

I found this really nice article in the Yorkshire Post from April 2010, featuring Doug Simpson, the man behind the Red Kite re-introduction programme in Yorkshire http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-view/Red-kites-flying-high-more.6265807.jp 

  I also saw several Rooks mobbing this Sparrowhawk/Merlin? 

Sparrowhawk? for once mobbing the Rook

Close up - could it even be a Merlin?

All of this was seen from our house at home – amazing. 

Homebirds, Yorkshire

Some photos I took on a walk around the fields yesterday.

Some baby Carrion Crows

An RAF rescue copter flying over

Moorhen going for a walk down the field

bright eyes...burning like fire...bright eyes...burning with myxomatosis..

Redkite in the sky

Redkite in the sky you say? Well if you'll just excuse me, I think I'll just pop over here...

..and hide for a minute or two.

Redkite looking for mid morning snack.

Something else enjoyed some Crow for mid morning snack.

Moorhen with baby chick moorhens

In one of the fields I saw 4 Redkites, all calling to each other, it's a lovely sound.

Redkite

2 baby Swallows who kept getting fed by their parents, all they did was screech, sit and get fed. Happy Days.

Around the fields I also saw a Sparrowhawk three times but failed to get any shots of it. I also think I saw a Buzzard fly over my head, something I’ve never seen around home before. It had flown out of view before I realised what I’d just seen, I ‘think’ it was a Buzzard because it definitely wasn’t a Kestrel, Redkite or Sparrowhawk, it was way too big and the size of it made me think it was a Buzzard.

Walking back home I saw something else I’ve never seen around home before in one of the farmer’s fields.

Bear in mind that where we live in Yorkshire is smack bang in the middle of the country..

It may be the same size as a Magpie and black and white like a Magpie, but that ain't no Magpie

An Oystercatcher, a wading bird, feeding in a farmers field in the middle of Yorkshire?

Oystercatcher, a good 90 miles away from North Yorkshire's coastline.

I did read somewhere, that in England, Oystercatchers have moved inland, but I didn’t realise they’d moved this far inland. North Yorkshire does have a long coastline (Scarborough, Whitby, Bridlington, Filey) but that coastline is about 90 miles away.

I don’t know where inland Oystercatchers live and I wonder if their beaks will re-adapt if their main food is no longer molluscs but insects from the ground?

Also, I wonder if the smashers might soon become rarities because they’ve no need to smash any molluscs anymore… ??

Red Kites at home

These are some photos I took yesterday morning.

Another sunny morning. Arthington Viaduct over River Wharfe.

There didn’t seem to be that much around, the Partridges and their red legs weren’t anywhere to be seen and the trees were quite quiet (except for the Chiffchaff) and this grey squirrel in the tree.

Grey squirrel, eating buds? Wasn't eating acorns anyway.

It stayed in this position for as long as I stayed still, finally I moved and it scrambled down the tree.

As I was taking photos of this grey squirrel, flying right above my head was this silent Red Kite.

Red Kite, right above my head, tumbling away from Rooks.

Red Kite, completely silent in flight.

Red Kite. Double click on this for decent enough close up detail.

Red Kite

Red Kite

Red Kites

Member of the Rook army

Rook taking off to join in the territorial fight against the Red Kites.

Red Kite beeing seen off by the Rooks.

It wasn’t really all that windy again but there were at least 3 Red Kites flying around the house.

I couldn’t stay that long watching them, we had to take my other sister back to Sheffield, but I’m lucky enough to be certain I’ll see them again next time I go home.

Homebirds

Here are some photos from my few days at home.

In front of the red (collapsed) gate on the right were 2 Red Legged Patridges, they disappeared on my approach and I didn’t see them again during the 4 days I was home. Very disappointed.

Can you see the ears in the grass?

These ears were a pretty constant sight in this spot over the 4 days, she obviously had her burrow nearby.

This Dunnock singing in the hedgerow. Lovely song.

Coal tit singing away.

Chaffinch. Its song - an instrument of torture.

In comparison, the song from this little Blackcap was really lovely.

Chiffchaff being blown away by the noise coming from the Chaffinch. White not yellow chest feathers, pale yellow rump though.

Chiffchaff, just look at the detail of its fine dark bill.

Chiffchaff. More experienced birders would be able to tell which part of the world this chiffchaff had migrated from, I'm not sure. It was certainly more brown and greyish than yellowish, which would suggest North or Eastern regions. Very, very pale supercilium, barely even noticeable.

Chiffchaff.

Don't know if you can notice anything in the grass, but this inconspicuous bird seemed to follow me round the whole day.

Who me?

Oh don't mind me..I'm just bobbing along, singing a song..

Double click for his pretty impressive red wattle.

I went into the little woods and there he was again 'quietly' walking around. He might as well have been walking on crisp packets he was so loud.

I left the wooded area and walked into a field, guess who turned up...

You probably can't see him though in the grass.

The detail of the plumage on his back and shoulder is a work of art.

Yes, you're a beaut.

I know, I'm a catch aren't I.

Ok, I've posed enough, you've had your lot, I'm off.

Toodles. I've places to go, hens to meet.

in Yorkshire – first Swallows of Summer 2010.

I’m at home for the weekend, my lil sis Kate is off around the world tomorrow, NZ, Australia, Thailand, Vietnamm, Laos and Cambodia. I’m Not letting my mind worry for her, lil sis travelling on her own for 4 months, she’ll be fine riiiiight. We’ve been doing a final packing of her things for the last few hours, her backpack still weighs 6 times more than she does and she still hasn’t finished- humans obviously don’t migrate with the same ease birds do.

And that (cornily) brings me to my other news which is I saw my first 2 Swallows of the summer today, flying over our garden - a brief sighting for a couple of minutes and then they were gone.

There’s also a couple of Chiffchaffs who must have set up residence in the garden somewhere. I didn’t realise how constant they are - the male hardly takes a break singing through the day and even though the female doesn’t sing, she still calls alot. I say singing – he’s a 2 note bird and his repetition could nearly be used as a method of torture. That, played along with a Chaffinch and I’d be telling my torturers anything they wanted to hear. Lets hope they never read this blog. Gorgeous looking birds though, the Chiffchaffs. Wonder why they have to talk so constantly though? Happy that they made it here?

I took photos but I’ll have to insert them when I get back to Dublin, I forgot my connecter thing and this computer doesn’t want to recognise my SDHC2 memory card. Thank God, I hear you say, no more black or white dots to double click on.

I didn’t wander too far away from our house but still saw and heard quite a bit.

Blackcap singing in the tree, the 2 Swallows, 2 Chiffchaffs, Chaffinches, Blue tits, Coal tits, Great tits, male and female Pheasants, Long-tailed tit (on its own, very unusual), Blackbirds, Rooks, Jackdaws, Robins, Bullfinches male and female. Redkites – although only a couple of times – there’s very little wind, so very little thermals for them to glide on - not sure what they get up to when there’s no wind in the air – they haven’t been low over the house as they usually are anyway.

Thats it really. Not bad for around the house.

Other news maybe of interest is that I bought an ipod touch a few weeks ago and bought an app from Birdguides called ‘Birds of England and Ireland’.

That’s not the news of interest – this is: I’m trying to learn my birdsongs and this app plays birdsongs as part of the bird info section. So today, trying to figure out if a bird I was listening to was a Coal tit or not, I played the Coal tit song on my ipod and the bird which was singing flew right over my head checking me out (it was a Coal tit).

I played the Great tit song from the app and coincidently, or not, a Great tit made itself known in a tree nearby. I did the same for the Chiffchaff (see how you like the sound of your own voice over and over again mister) and again it came over to check out where the noise was coming from.

AND, honestly, when the Swallows were flying over I played the Swallow song and I Swear one of them headed briefly back to check me out.

Me and my ipod challenge anyone to a Pish off.

Obviously though this, as with pishing in general, should be done sensibly. The same bird welfare rules which apply to birding in general apply to pishing – main one being, never bring birds into any danger from humans or birds of prey, like if there’s a eagle behind – you don’t pish the birds into it’s vicinity!

I probably shouldn’t have pished the swallow with the app, but I didn’t expect it to work ! and maybe it didn’t and it was coincidence – nevertheless, if you do have this app, you should probably limit the pishing about with it to your garden birds.

The app is a great buy if you’re wanting to learn your bird i.d’s whilst out birding. It’s never going to rival Collins or anything like that but I love the fact its a decent enough birdguide which is the size of your phone and nearly weightless.

Red Kites and Emmerdale Farm pigs

Red Kite, Arthington Viaduct in the background

I’ve never worked on my birthday – spend the day behind a desk or spend the day in the countryside walking in the fields? Hmmm.

One of the Red Kites gliding above our house

Red Kite over fields.

Red Kite - close up

Red Kite hunting

In some fields, on top of a manure heap there was this little Grey Wagtail searching for insects

Grey Wagtail, often mistakenly called Yellow Wagtail for obvious reasons...

..it's yellow tail wot it wags.

We also saw this little Song Thrush down next to the river.

Song Thrush next to River Wharfe

Freakoid photo of a Blue Tit, River Wharfe

Also saw loads of Coal tits, Great tits, Robins and a flock of about 20 Fieldfares.

Black and white cat, driving Pat's van

In a field next to the road we saw a couple of pigs feeding. They were very cool so I took some photos. When I got home, mum looked at my photos, saw the ones of the pigs and told me they were the Emmerdale Farm pigs.

Wish I had known at the time, I would have got them to roll over and play dead, blow smoke rings and other tricks I’m sure these animals acTORS have to be able to do.

Wharra complete Diva.One of the Dingle pigs. Apparently.

Look at it raising it’s trotter. Ready to sign another 6 month contract. If you see this Diva on Heartbeat you’ll know they offered better money and swill.

Mystery Christmas Day bird

Again, having breakfast we saw a bird outside none of us had ever seen before. Like I said, it’s always a special moment seeing a bird you don’t know.

Mystery bird

Even through the binoculars we couldn't figure it out

White Christmas 2009