Wildlife December 2010

[mark smyth]

A farming friend rolls his own for cattle and there is always a lot of chaffinches in his yearyard - goodness that was a terrible spelling mistake. What was I thinking!

[arillady]

Mark I have just read your item on the death of the golden eagle. If only the person who did it sees the report and realises what he has done may save others in the future from the same death which must be horrific.
This thread has reminded me that a few weeks ago there were quite a few bee eaters flying around. The most I have ever seen in our area. I had thought that they were the usual barn swallows that roost here.

[Juan Fornes]

  Not lucky enough to have such bird-life at home, but fortunate to live so very near from two of the most important wetlands in Spain: La Albufera de Valencia, and the Marjal de los Moros - Moorish Marsh (sounds like a tonue-twister in english!), this last one extending from Puzol (where I work) and Sagunto (where I live). It is always worth visiting, but winter is a good time as hundreds of birds come here avoiding colder temperatures from centre and north Europe.I love to go there as often as I can, as you find almost eveyday some surprise: on saturday, a lovely white medal bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) will never know how happy it made me. A small flock of flamingoes (Phoenicopterus ruber) stood, as elegant as only they can be, in a distant shallow pool. A group of more than ten purple gallinules (Porphyrio porphyrio) hid suddenly, like rioters in an unauthorized, illegal meeting when police is seen And lagoons were full of life: coots (Fulica atra), moorhens (Galinula cholorpus) and lots of ducks, mainly mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) but also many shovelers (Anas clypeata) with their showy and distinctive white and brown sides, and wigeons (Anas penelope) with their untirable whistling calls.
   Sorry for the awful qualty of the pictures: not a very good camera (nor cameraman, I should say...)
   Pics are: a) white medal Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica), b) Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), c) and d) various ducks and moorhens (see how distinctive male shovelers are).

[Juan Fornes]

    Mark, I´m very sorry about the death of the Golden Eagle. Here in Spain every year we read of raptors, vultures and carnivores poisoned. Even bears suffer from illegal deaths: today´s population is app. 100 bears. In 11 years, more than 8 bears dead poisoned and a few were found killed or injured by weapons or traps. Wolves are hunted  and lynx (Lynx pardinus) finds his territory more deteriorated. There´s still a lot to do, too many minds to open.
    I watched your link to swifts. Great page! I´ll try to put some nest at home and see if they like it. Every year, especially at the end of their season, we find some almost fully grown chicken on the street. Fortunately, you ust need to pick them up, climb to the highest place you can and cast it as high as you can. Then, invariably, they begin to fly in circles, everyone higher than the former until they dissappear.
    Have you seen Alpine swifts (Apus melba)? Their flapping is so strong, you can hear them approaching even if you are not seing them!
   

[Juan Fornes]

    Sorry: I forgot to include a pic of a fully grown chick of comon swift (Apus apus) just before being released.

[mark smyth]

Juan so good to live beside a fantastic place for wild birds. Male shovelers are very well dressed.
http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?v=1&off=280757&r=1&st=0&q=0
They have a very distinct sound from their wings when they fly

Pat and Juan 10% of our reintroduced birds of prey, sea eagle, golden eagle and red kite, are killed every year. The first golden eagle chick to hatch and fledge in 100 years was killed when only 10 months of age.

[Graham Catlow]

    Sorry: I forgot to include a pic of a fully grown chick of comon swift (Apus apus) just before being released.

Juan,
I hope you didn't take the lemur up as high as you could and throw it into the air.
Perhaps you chose the wrong photo?

[Juan Fornes]

     A real disgrace your golden eagle chick then...
     Well, about my last pick, it´s not an endemic subespecie of common swift as you might have thought  , but a picture of a Red-bellied lemur (Eleumur rubriventer) I took in Biopark (Valencia)
     Send the correct one.

[Bev Olson]

One of our golden eagles has been poisoned. People who do this should be poisoned too!
[url][http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/News/PoisonedGoldenEaglefoundinCoTyrone/tabid/1159/Default.aspx/url]

Sorry to hear that .
Magnificent bird.

[Arykana]

Very good pics Juan!

[mark smyth]

The swift is one of my favourite birds

Juan it is very easy to attract swifts especially if they already nest close to your house. You need to have your nest boxes built and put up before April and play the CD, I can send you a copy, in early May.

[mark smyth]

I saw an otter today which is a rare sight at 2 in the afternoon

[Paddy Tobin]

Fox take away:

As the fields around our garden were planted with wheat this year it has been a bumper year for rats and mice. As I have hens and ducks I don't like using poison to kill the rats and so use traps instead. However, I have to tie the traps to stakes so that when the fox comes to take away the dead rats and mice he doesn't run off with my traps as well.

It's working well, I'm killing the rats and feeding the foxes - hopefully, they will leave my hens and ducks alone. So far, they have failed to get into them.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

photos of some of my goldfinches taken through the window today

[ashley]

A nice group Mark (& serious feeders ).  We have 2-3 goldfinches regularly but greenfinch numbers are well down on previous years, presumably due to disease.  Goldcrest numbers have also collapsed since the harsh weather last January

A group of 9-10 long-tailed tits passed through in the last few days but never come to the feeders.  We've also seen our first blackcap of the winter (male), but no siskins yet.