Corncrake Whitesands, St Davids Hd

A gloomy, misty morning and the 25th April didn't promise much but it was an opportunity to see if the Western Subalpine Warbler and the Woodchat Shrike were still there - they were. However before getting out onto the headland I followed a Wheatear in an area of scattered brambles, grass and rushes, managed for shooting. As I scanned with bins I noticed another bird at the edge of rank grass along a fenceline about 100 metres away. I was stunned when 'Corncrake' sprung immediately to mind. I made myself be sensible and think through other options. It's brown with darker even lines lengthwise along body (just brown at that distance - grey not visible) so not a Moorhen and not bobbing tail like Moorhen or Water Rail. Tail is stubby, and just looks brown too. Bill is definitely short, sort of triangular. Definitely not a Water Rail then, though similar slender long-necked shape at times. Spotted Crake? Only if an autumn juvenile, the only spring bird I've seen was bright, and the way it's moving is quite different. A juvenile seen two years ago on Tresco, at a distance, was brown in just the same way but methodically moving and feeding quite differently. In the end it just came back to Corncrake again. 

The best bit was that the bird moved along, feeding in the edge of the longer grass for what seemed quite a while. It was completely unaware of me and feeding naturally. The way it behaved was very distinctive and I suspect rarely seen, since it's not mentioned anywhere in the usual books I have access to. The bird would peck at something a couple of times, presumably flies or something on grass stems, then scuttle along a few feet, neck out and giving a strong impression of a rodent as it did so. Then stop, peck at something and off for a little neck-out sprint again. I watched this several times until it was into the longer vegetation and not seen again. It didn't call and this fact and the subdued plumage make me suspect it was a female.

I recall watching an adult and a young bird running/scuttling in a similar way along a pathway in grass, away from me about three years ago, in the Hebrides. That, however was an alarmed or alert bird so not quite the same. Other times I've stood within feet of a calling Corncrake and not been able to see it so I feel quite privileged.

Later view of site, minus Corncrake

Corncrake is a WRP bird, Pembs records since 2000 follow:

Ramsey 21st September 2001 (SA,RS)

Granston 13th Sept 2002(SDSB)

Skomer 27th Sept 2002 (JGB)

Skomer 21st September 2003 (?)

Skomer 29th September 2008 (DB)

Whitesands, St Davids Hd 25th April 2013 (MYP)

Western Subalpine Warbler St Davids Head

Set out to get a good look around in the still and dull but warmish weather; also hoping the Woodchat Shrike would still be around the beach area at Porth Melgan for a third day. Luckily it was still present though was more mobile, moving further up the valley at times. I watched it with Dick Seekins, Wendy James and Karen Mr. As Dick and I moved off along the path to the Head a small bird flitted through the gorse and bracken scrub on the bank in front of us. The shape flight pattern was very reminiscent of Dartford Warbler but it appeared paler blue-grey above and quite orangy below and I called it as A Subalpine Warber. 'That's a brave call.' said Dick but I'd been comparing the two in Spain on a couple of occasions and I was pretty sure, but still thought it best to hedge bets somewhat. There were many anxious moments as the four of us tried desperately to nail it with a clear view of a white sub-moustachial stripe, which would make us all feel happier. Eventually a few seconds 'scope view and there it was! After that it was good fun following it getting good views and some pics eventually. Then we could settle down to enjoy the experience of a rare bird, which as the word 'rare' suggests just doesn't happen that often.

The bird was intensely coloured red-orange on the throat and breast, paler on flanks and belly with a fine white sub-moustachial stripe and blue grey above on upperparts excepting brownish flight feathers and white outer tail feathers. The eye was red and the legs yellowy. It was clearly a male and indeed was heard to sing briefly a little later; the brownish cast to the primaries suggests a 2nd Calendar year bird. The thin sub-moustachial stripe indicated 'Western' as did the orangy underparts, less intense than might be expected for Eastern and more diffuse overall. It was very similar to a male I watched in Granada, Spain early in the month. With both the Warbler and the Shrike present in a small bit of West Wales, who needs Spain? This is the first Pembs record since Steve Votier's Ramsey Record in 2009. It appears also to be the first ever mainland record.

Photo Mark Hipkin

Subalpine Warblers in Pembs since 2000:

Skokholm 2nd-8th April 2001 (GT) and 3rd Nov 2001(GT)
Skomer 16th May 2002 (SD)
Skokholm 4th-5th May 2003 (GT)
Ramsey 23rd-27th May 2006 (GM,LM)
Ramsey 15th May 2008 (JW)
Skomer 19th May 2008 (DB)
Ramsey 23rd June 2009 (SCV)
St Davids Hd (ssp Cantillans) 23rd-27th April 2013 (WJ, KMr,RSe,MYP et al)
Skokholm (female ssp cantillans) 16th May 2013 (EW et al )
Skomer female 29th May 2013 (ES)

Woodchat Shrike St Davids Head

This bird was found late yesterday at Porthmelgan by Bernie Stevens. I refound it this morning (22nd April) and managed a few photos despite the murk and drizzle; obviously the quality isn't great but the best I could manage in the conditions with a compact camera. Can't imagine what it makes of West Wales after sunny Southern Europe.

Given that the dampness only serves to darken the plumage, it seems to me the overall tones are too pale for an adult male, especially the gingery impression, rather than chestnut of the head. The wings appear a bit too greyish also. The poor viewing conditions didn't allow for a check of different generations of feathers so, for me, it goes down as a second year bird or maybe an adult female, though I have a feeling the former is more likely.

The same bird on 26th

And again 

Woodchat Shrike records for Pembs since 2000

Skomer 29th April 2000 (JGB) and 6th May (JGB)

Skokholm 1st May 2000 (JT et al) 

St Brides 10th May (ASu)

Skomer 30th-31st May 2003 (MO)

Skomer 11th-13th Oct 2004 (JGB)

Treginnis 13th May 2008 (DR)

St Bride's 20th May 2008 (LO)

Martin's Haven 8th June 2008 (ST)

Strumble Head 1st July 2009 (RI)

Abereiddy 23rd April 2011 (HR)

St Davids (Whitesands) 25th-26th April 2011 (MYP et al)

Mullock Bridge 15th-19th May 2011 (DB)

St Davids Hd 21st-29th April 2013 (BS)

Galera Photodiary April

                       




Galera is a traditional Spanish village in north-east Granada Province, bordering Almeria about 1000 metres up on the 'Altiplano', an ancient dry lakebed surrounded now by sierras. The village nestles into sedimentary rocks soft enough to create the traditional eco-friendly Cave Houses of the area. Home for Kathy and I is Cueva Abejaruco - Bee-eater Cave (none back in early April though). Some of the characteristic birds in the rocky and desert-like region around the village are Black Wheatears, Rock Sparrows, Rock Buntings and BlackRedstarts, though they haven't all been photogenic this April as it happens. The Rio Galera flows year-round through the valley below the village and is quite heavily cultivated, as is the nearby Orce Valley. Golden Orioles, Cetti's Warblers and Nightingales are common in both. There are extensive prairies in the region, cultivated with cerials and other crops where several colonies of Lesser Kestrels can be found foraging. Great Spotted Cuckoos are common, parasitising the abundant Magpies in the valleys and almond orchards.







Calandra Lark

Yellow Wagtail



Female Lesser Kestrel



Male Lesser Kestrel

The sierras are forested in Pine and Holm Oak until reaching the higher crags. The gorge at Castril allows access to the crags as well as producing typical upland river birds such as Grey Wagtail and Dipper. Blue Rock Thrushes are common and on the day we were there lots of Blackcaps were passing through, as were Black Kites. The sierras are also great for butterflies.

Female Crossbill

Short-toed Treeccreeper

Booted Eagle

Dipper

Male Blue Rock Thrush

And again

A typical pose

In a tree to be different

Female Black Redstart

Crag Martin

Birds of open and scrubby areas are easy to find around the outskirts of the village and out onto the plain again.

Iberian Shrike

Male Subalpine Warbler

Griffon Vulture

Short-toed Eagle

Corn Bunting

Rock Bunting


Feeding time

Griffon Vulture





 











Spring Scandinavian Rock Pipits on Skokholm

I organised to spend a week on Skokholm 23rd to 30th March as a volunteer but didn't get on until Tuesday 26th due to the persistent easterlies. For the second time, I managed to team up with Mark Hipkin, who was great company, as were the new Wardens Richard and Giselle and the other Volunteers. The  horribly persistent, freezing easterlies killed off most migration but the birding was brightened by a chance to really grill a wide range of Rock Pipits Anthus petrosus, some of which appeared to show features of Scandinavian birds ssp littoralis. They turned out to be brilliant value. Bouncing ideas off Richard  and Mark made for a great learning experience. The first inkling of something interesting was when Mark saw a pipit near the Lighthouse where we were working. He described it as very Water Pipit-like with a pink flush on the breast and very clean white underparts. I caught up with what must have been the same bird a little later and was convinced it was a Scandinavian Rock Pipit, a male, at the brighter edge of the plumage range.  It showed a clear grey head, mantle and back tones with neat understated darker lines, contrasting darker brown wings, very clean white underparts with strong dark streaking extending from the sides of the upper breast to rear of flanks. The unmarked throat was pale pink, this striking colour extending onto the upper breast and was bordered by the flank streaks. I was convinced it was a littoralis bird, having seen spring birds previously on the east coast. Unfortunately neither Mark or I got a photo but it led to me spending a lot of time watching and trying to photograph Rock Pipits on the island. The bird below on East Bog was less stunningly obvious than the first, presumed male but is a good candidate nevertheless (accompanied by another very similar individual, which was just as convincing as littoralis).

littoralis bird, one of two very similar birds together

The same bird, very pale underparts.

Unlike general petrosus there is a quite marked difference between winter and spring plumage in littoralis (though petrosus can appear greyer and, paler below in spring and they can also, according to Richard's experience, acquire a 'peachy' wash on the breast, so care is clearly needed. The first, most striking feature of the bird above was the contrast between the brown wings and the grey back, mantle and head. On the whole, petrosus birds don't seem to show much of a contrast between wings and back, though in bright sunlight the back and mantle can appear somewhat paler and show some contrast with worn brown wing feathers, but then soft green tones are still very noticeable. The underparts are generally yellower or buffer with apparently more diffuse, smudgy streaking.  Birds with an obvious cleanly grey back and mantle, without any green or olive tones, and with very pale, whitish underparts contrastingly streaked on the flanks seemed a good prospect for littoralis.

Rock Pipits undergo a full body moult in winter but retain worn wing and tail feathers which become faded brown, thus emphasising the contrast. There is at least one newly moulted tertial in the littoralis bird in the photo below but being very dark still, it seems to me, creates a still strong contrast with the clear pale grey back and mantle giving an effect quite unlike usual petrosus birds. Other interesting features are the strong, bright supercilium and the apparently paler than standard, pinker legs; though this can be a reflective effect sometimes seen on petrosus birds in sunlight, it has been mooted as a feature of at least some littoralis birds. To me, this bird, its companion and the, even brighter, male seen the day before are pretty good for Scandinavian Rock Pipits. At least one other bird appeared to have a darker reddish tint to the bottom of the ear coverts and maybe a little in the upper flank but unfortunately was not photographed.

Other birds seen and photographed were apparently intermediate, maybe bright petrosus or dull littoralis   (there should be many more of these latter than the obvious birds I would imagine) but there was quite a bit of variety generally and a number were difficult to name with any confidence. Maybe there were just three littoralis birds or maybe a more significant passage through the Island during exceptional meteorological conditions, it's hard to be sure. Late March would be pretty much peak time for birds on the Norfolk coast as I recall. 

Here's a selection of some birds seen through the week:

Quite a pale individual

The same bird.

Another quite pale grey bird, back contrasting somewhat
 with brown wing, strong supercilium

White web to outer tail feather?

A very dark above but very whitish below individual.
It may have been bathing.

Bog standard petrosus.

                                 

And again.

        

Northern Chiffchaffs

Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis) is, to my mind, a superb bird with an appearance and call redolent of autumn migration. It breeds in coniferous taiga forest  from the Ural region eastwards and is regular in Britain in autumn, usually late autumn and sometimes wintering here.  Identification has gradually developed over the years and had seemed pretty secure regardless of the counter-intuitive nature of the grey and white Chiffchaff problem. There have, however, been recent developments in the process and therefore a lot of further comment regarding the identification of Siberian Chiffchaff. Martin Garner on his 'Birding Frontiers' site has worked through the visual features using photos and the audio  features including sonagrams. There has also been related material in 'British Birds'.

What are the features of 'tristis'?

• The standard features of Siberian Chiffchaff remain in place. Briefly these are: a basically brown and buff bird with weak olive tones confined to wings, rump and tail. The head pattern is important, having a thick buffy supercilium and tobacco tinged ear coverts. Bill and legs are clearly black.
• The soft, even monosyllabic note with a sad tone (as suggested by the name 'tristis') remains pretty conclusive, if somewhat subjective without a recording.

The problem of grey and white individuals.

• Martin Garner suggests that descriptions of grey plumage tones or brown/buff plumage tones may often be affected by light and posture variations, both in the field and in photographs. It may be that what is considered grey and what brown or buff is variable and extremely subjective and should not rule out 'tristis'. 'Grey and white' birds have generally been considered 'abietinus' or just 'unknown'.
• Some birds are very grey (cf a bird on St Agnes in October 2011 - photo and comment from Alan Deans in a recent edition of  British Birds). These seem to be rare and are, as yet, something of an enigma.
• 'abietinus' often looks very like 'collybita' but the plumage demarcation of this race appears to be very poorly known.

Previously presumed 'abietinus' 2012
St Davids Hd  (Mark Hipkin)

The variety of calls.

• Martin Garner has suggested that various calls are possible for 'tristis' not only the well known call already mentioned. It has been suggested that 'tristis' may use a range of calls other than the characteristic calls of'tristis'.
• 'tristis' can call with a higher pitched 'happier' tone or with a 'collybita' type call.
• However presumably all races can give eccentric or unusual calls.

This is a very brief note  but the 'Birding Frontiers' posts and the papers in British Birds and elsewhere on these topics are thorough and fascinating. They deserve to be read in full by anyone interested in the topic.

Where have all the 'abietinus' gone?

One of the catalysts for the current discussion is a study from The Netherlands. Between 2009 and 2011, 41 samples from birds identified as 'abietinus' or 'tristis' when trapped were sent for mitochondrial DNA analysis. The results were startling, all were 'tristis' (though obviously these results have to be tested and more tests done). So where are the 'abietinus' birds? Two independent studies in The Netherlands and Britain have found no evidence of 'abietinus' DNA in autumn and wintering Chiffchaffs.  Maybe they are the real rarity, perhaps because they have a north-west to south-east migration pattern as with Baltic Gull? Could it be that the 'washed out' autumn Chiffchaffs recorded fairly routinely as 'abietinus' in Britain (including by me and noted elsewhwere on this blog) aren't 'abietinus' at all? Clearly this is all speculation but it does seem that answers may be on the way in the near future.

'Northern Chiffchaff' originally presumed 'abietinus'
Porth Clais October 2011

 Siberian Chiffchaffs in Pembrokeshire

The Pembrokeshire Report has occasionally mentioned 'Northern Chiffchaffs'  ('abietinus' and 'tristis')  but not with much conviction and I don't notice any requirement for descriptions. I don't know if this means there are no descriptions extant, if not it may be difficult to revisit previous records (a good reason for descriptions and initials with records in my view). Other 'tristis' records have not been submitted (including by me). It seems to me that full descriptions of possible 'tristis' should be required by the Bird Recorders, preferably with photos and, where the characteristic 'tristis' call is absent, also with sound recordings? Perhaps it would be best if all Pembs birders sent them in anyway.

The following individual was seen but not heard by Adrian Rogers and Steve Berry at Goodwick Moor in 2008, it would likely have gone down as 'abietinus' but what is it now?

Pale Chiffchaff Goodwick Moor 2008
Photo Adrian Rogers

The same individual

Plurals on Bird Blogs

Ibis or Ibises?

Is it Ibis or Ibises? The answer seems to be - it depends! There almost always seems to be two possible plurals for birds, the 'ordinary' plural and the collective plural. The 'ordinary' plural (Ibises) is for a number ie 'three Ibises at Marloes Mere'. The collective plural dispenses with the 's' (Ibis) but presumably should need a collective noun, so: 'a flock of Ibis at Carew'. That would appear to be the technical side of it. 

Usage

There's a difficulty though (isn't there always?). The difficulty is 'Usage'. Sometimes it sounds completely wrong to use the normal plural even when it is technically correct. Dunlin(s) and Whimbrel(s) are good examples. It feels really strange writing 'seven Dunlins' in fact it almost never happens as far as I can see. Usage has taken over. Is 'Snipe' an example of long term usage or is it an irregular plural? Either way 'Snipes' is just weird.

Where are we now?

It seems normal to write 'three Dunlin' but what about 'three Great Northern Diver'? Yuck! It seems we haven't got that far yet. Maybe if you need the adjectives preceding 'Diver' then it changes things? Well perhaps not that simple, I can't imagine many people writing 'three Robin in my garden' either. It seems the English Language will make its own slightly chaotic path through Bird Plurals but at least we can all be a bit right some of the time.