Today, a quiz: can you name the birds whose feet these are?
Whose feet?
19 Saturday Feb 2022
Posted in birds
Tag Archives: British birds
Med gull on The Marl
16 Wednesday Feb 2022
Posted in birds
I managed to clock up the 89th species on my 2022 patch birding list on Friday after bumping in to the bird’s finder at the Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve. John had, about an hour earlier, spotted a Mediterranean gull among the flock at The Marl playing fields, so I strode in that direction, hoping the bird would still be present. At first I couldn’t find it as The Marl is popular with dog walkers and their pooches were constantly unsettling the large flock of Black-headed gulls prospecting diligently for worms in the lush grass. But, eventually, the birds settled down again and a thorough scan for a white rear end (adult Med gulls have no black on their wing or tail feathers) produced my bird.
An obliging Water rail
14 Monday Feb 2022
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, Water rail
What a lovely surprise I got during a recent walk through Cardiff Bay’s wetland reserve when this Water rail pranced showily out from where it had been sitting preening in the sunshine and along the water’s edge, surprising not only me but also two of the resident Mallards.
Nut stashers
10 Thursday Feb 2022
Posted in nature
Today’s lovely long meander took me to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, where I watched a large flock of Fieldfares and Redwings worming in the west paddock, enjoyed the antics of the almost-tame Crows that are feed daily by a regular visitor and now expect all humans to feed them, and chuckled at the small birds squabbling over which would get the sunflowers amongst the seed I dished out. The Nuthatches won that game most of the time, repeatedly nabbing two and three at a time to take away and stash for later consumption.
Watching you watching me
05 Saturday Feb 2022
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, Mute swan, swan
The pair of Mute swans that reside in the pond at the Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve are always on the lookout for food. No pressure, but that stare!
Marsh tits x 4
01 Tuesday Feb 2022
Posted in birds
In mid December I spent a couple of hours watching and taking lots of photos of Marsh tits, as I was keen to try to work out how many there are living in our local woodland. Two separate birds came to seed at one end of the woodland ride and a single bird came to seed at the other end of the wood. The distance between the two locations, and my photos, led me to believe that these were three different birds. And I had previously seen another bird with a slightly deformed left claw, which had been photographed by a local birder just a week earlier. This all leads me to believe there are now at least four Marsh tits in the woodland, which is excellent news for their ongoing survival.
Non-migrating sandpiper
29 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Common sandpiper, Ely embankment, over-wintering Common sandpiper
One of the highlights of my local walks this winter has been the presence of a Common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), usually seen foraging along the embankment where the river Ely runs out into Cardiff Bay. These birds usually migrate to west Africa for the winter but, each year, a few birds remain in Britain, and we are privileged to have this one, sharing our area during these cooler months. Yesterday, it was feeding well on some kind of tiny crustacean, freshwater shrimps perhaps.
You can read a detailed summary of the life cycle of Common sandpipers on Graham Appleton’s excellent Waderstales blog, Not-so-Common sandpipers, May 2019.
Lighting up the wetlands
26 Wednesday Jan 2022
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve, male Stonechat, Stonechat
A male Stonechat is overwintering at Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve. With his orange breast, dark head and streaky brown wings, all crisply edged in white, he’s a dapper-looking little chap, and he’s rarely still. Eyes peeled for the next tasty titbit, he prefers a lofty perch from which to survey his surroundings, and flits quickly down for the catch, then back up to the nearest best vantage point. He’s like a bright spark on a cold winter’s day.
Redbreast
25 Tuesday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
Little Robin redbreast may look cheery but I’m sure it was feeling the icy easterly chill as much as I was today, judging by its fluffed-up feathers.
Dancing with weeds
22 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in birds
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Great Crested Grebe, Great crested grebe courtship dance, Great crested grebe courtship display, Great crested grebes dancing with weeds
I consider myself fortunate to have seen the courtship of Great crested grebes many times during my years residing in Britain but last Thursday was the first time I’d seen the part of their display that includes them dancing with weeds in their beaks.
I recognised the noises the birds make as they work up to their display and was lucky enough to be very close by, so quickly got my camera out of my backpack. As I did, both birds reached down under the water’s surface before emerging with long strings of slimy weed in their beaks. Pushing rapidly against the water with their feet helped them raise their bodies almost fully out of the water and their bellies bumped together as they moved their heads from side to side, almost slapping each other with the weed.
After a couple of minutes of this strenuous activity, they subsided back into the water, first one grebe then the other dropping the weed, but they continued with their usual display routine of head shaking and dipping from one side to the other. Several more minutes passed before, presumably satisfied that their pair bond had been sealed, they sailed off to carry on with their day. For me, the experience was magical, birdwatching at its absolute best!
earthstar 
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