Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Birdwatch

WEDNESDAY 3 January 2024 began as a fairly ordinary day. With the weather better than expected after the passage of Storm Henk the previous day, I decided to head out to nearby Lofts Farm on my Maldon and Heybridge patch for the first visit of the year. It proved to be rather quiet. I got back home late morning and, having pulled together some of the seemingly never-ending Christmas leftovers for lunch, I settled down to eat. I was suddenly conscious of something moving on the patio visible through the glass door to my right – a small brown-and-white passerine. It was bobbing its body and had pale pink legs, and even though I was sure it couldn’t be, it had to be a Northern Waterthrush! There followed a moment’s…

It was a mixed January on the weather front, with early flooding followed by snowfall and frost, before a return to strong winds and heavy rain. Storms Isha and Jocelyn did their best to shake things up, wreaking widespread damage with gusts at speeds up to 160 km/h. The birding scene proved rather more settled than the month’s weather, though a run of midwinter megas helped to fuel the rarity fire. After the stunning ‘American autumn’, it was only a matter of time before a rare visitor from across the pond was unearthed in a garden somewhere. Heybridge, Essex, proved to be the chosen location for a first-winter Northern Waterthrush, which got 2024 off to a flying start for the nation’s twitchers (see pages 8-9). Events on Inishmore, Co Galway,…

Common Swifts spend more time airborne than any other UK bird, yet when they come home, they come home to us. Diving and spiralling for 60 million years, they adapted from nesting in tall trees to our buildings when we cut primal forests down. Our home is their home and we have welcomed them. I know this because since I launched my campaign, The Feather Speech, asking the government to mandate swift bricks on their behalf, hundreds of strangers have told me the same narrative: as children we became skywatchers in early May, holding our breath until the first swifts returned, bringing summer with them. We gasped at these feathered acrobats, but over the years fewer swifts returned. Now we’re afraid of a summer silent of their screams. There is…

MARCH is a good month to photograph many resident birds and winter visitors as they become increasingly driven by the prospect of the forthcoming breeding season. Great Spotted Woodpeckers are very active this month, with a range of territorial behaviour being shown, including plenty of drumming. With the trees still largely devoid of leaves, this is the perfect time to photograph this sometimes-shy species. As much of their time is spent high in the trees, it can be difficult to get close enough for a juicy portrait. There could be a good chance to try capturing the woodpecker in the context of its habitat if it chooses a photogenic perch, or if there’s blossom or fresh greenery around. Early morning or evening light can really help elevate such images. Great Spotted…

MARCH’S digital edition has bonus content, including: • Video of some recent splits;• Footage of Isle of Wight rarities;• Film of WP sandgrouse species;• Sound recordings of Rock and Water Pipits;• More of the latest rarities and scarcities. The digital edition is available for PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad and Android. Sample issues are free, and subscriptions or single copies can be purchased. Visit www.pktmags.com/bw-digital to find out more. Birdwatch subscriber issues are delivered in a paper envelope so you can easily recycle them in your usual recycling collection.…

BEING the westernmost of the Aran Islands, looming large at the mouth of Galway Bay, Inishmore is superbly positioned to attract transatlantic vagrants. Over recent years, this 12-km-long rocky island has built a formidable reputation as an autumn birding destination and one of Ireland’s premier locations for producing Nearctic passerines. By contrast, its winter potential has rarely been considered – but that changed rapidly in January 2024. In events closely mirroring those off Achill Island, Co Mayo, a year and a week previous (see Birdwatch 368: 9), an interesting-looking female ‘Velvet-type’ scoter was photographed by Chris Gwiazda off the pier at Kilronan on the morning of 6 January. Given the close range of the bird and the quality of the images, it didn’t take long for the identification to be…

Recent years have seen January action dominated by Afrotropical rallids and 2024 proved to be no different. Two Lesser Moorhens on Sal, Cape Verde, on 10-11th continued the island’s bumper spell, though unfortunately one of the birds was found dead. Also in Cape Verde, a juvenile Allen’s Gallinule and an Intermediate Egret were on Santiago, while a showy African Crake at Ponta da Erva, Portugal, on 13th continued the taxon’s meteoric WP rise of recent years and was a national first to boot. Two more African Crakes were taken into care on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, mid-month, with news breaking of another near Dhakla, Western Sahara, in late December. The most unexpected national first of the month concerned a Spotless Starling near Tychy, Poland, from 23rd. This largely sedentary resident…

Another year, another Big Garden Birdwatch (BGBW), where up to a million people count birds in their gardens for an hour. Did you do BGBW in 2024? I did. I do it every year, because I think it is a useful look at bird populations and because, well, I like birds and I like watching them. Is BGBW useful? It has its uses because it has been running for a very long time – since 1979 – and the simple instructions for what you should and shouldn’t count have remained constant. It’s also directed at one heterogeneous but readily identifiable ‘habitat’. The track record of BGBW is pretty good – it spotted Song Thrush declines before the world was alerted to them by the Common Birds Census (the predecessor of…

A bird brain is described in most dictionaries as a person who is stupid, unintelligent or foolish, and as early as the 1600s such a person would be called ‘bird-witted’. The reason for this is probably linked to the small size of a bird’s brain. However, a recent study showed that some birds have twice the number of neurons compared to primate brains of a similar mass and use about a third of the amount of energy that an equivalent mammal brain would need. All of this means that birds in fact have a more efficient brain than we do. The large density of neurons explains why corvids and parrots are known to be the most intelligent bird species, being able to manufacture and use tools, solve problems and recognise…

■ Summer teal Beautiful, scarce and secretive, yet full of character, Garganey is a favourite of many birders. Dan Owen explores the fascinating life history of this long-distance migrant. ■ Shifting spring The arrival of summer migrants, such as hirundines and warblers, always represents one of the highlights of the birding year. But records show that there have been significant changes on this front during recent decades. ■ Birding at the Cape Steve Wing profiles Cape Clear Bird Observatory, taking a closer look at the island’s history, hot-spots and typical birding year, as well as the long list of top rarities that it has produced. ■ A flash of red April is a great time to find a redstart on your patch, with both Common and Black Redstarts on the…

Birders in their twenties may be forgiven for refusing to believe that, not too long ago, Red Kite was on the verge of being lost from Britain. Nowadays, it is once again a thriving and common species in many areas of the country, often seen floating on the wind beside busy motorways or even in sizeable flocks at favoured spots. This belies the history of this magnificent raptor, though, which as recently as three decades ago was a very rare bird indeed. Historically, Red Kite used to breed across much of the country and could be found in both urban and rural areas. In medieval times, the species was well known for being a scavenger and was protected in the City of London for its street-cleaning capabilities. However, public attitude…

WINTER 2023-24 had been exceptional on the Somerset Levels, with vast numbers of duck including unprecedented numbers of Greater Scaup and Ring-necked Duck. A Garganey was hanging on and Common Goldeneye were also more apparent than usual. The exquisite drake Baikal Teal had returned to Greylake RSPB and, with extensive flooding in many areas, birds were moving around frequently. As is usually the case, Eurasian Teal had piled in during December. I often wonder how far east these birds have come from … At midday on 6 January, I slipped into Lows Hide at Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Catcott NR. It was a dry, cold and sunny afternoon, and after weeks of hideously wet weather, scanning the wildfowl was a joy. Decent numbers of Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian Teal dominated the…

For millennia, humans have been fascinated with the seasonal changes in bird species they witness. To modern readers, some early explanations might now seem outlandish, from birds transforming into other avian or even amphibian species, to hibernating in swamps. Over time the actual fate of disappearing birds was established: they migrated. In layman’s terms, migrations are the regular movements from one location to another, where the timings and target sites are predictable. By the 1800s, it was established that birds could traverse huge distances via a rather unfortunate White Stork, which flew from West Africa to Germany with a spear in its neck, only to be shot at its destination. While many species of bird breed in the north and then fly south for the winter, it’s a common misconception…

REVIEW SWAROVSKI OPTIK AX Visio AI-supported binoculars IT appears the wheels of innovation never stop turning at SWAROVSKI OPTIK. Following the development and manufacture of its unique dG Digital Guide in 2019 (Birdwatch 335: 56-57), the optics giant has now produced the world’s first ‘smart’ binoculars. Step forward the AX Visio, the first of its kind in the emerging world of ‘idoptics’ – a seamless combination of bird ID software with optical equipment. The AX Visio was launched in January at the CES Expo in Las Vegas, said to be the most powerful tech event in the world, where it was apparently well received and sparked much interest. After its release onto the market in February, I managed to get my hands on one to put through its paces in…

MARCH is a time of rebirth, renewal and return. Of course, it’s the month when avian migration really starts to click into gear, with the return of many of our summer migrant species. It’s also a time of year for intense growth in the plant kingdom and this can be particularly apparent in your own garden as the greys and browns of winter are gradually replaced with fresh, vibrant greens. Even though snow and frost can of course persist throughout this month, particularly further north, there can be no stopping that surge of new life taking place below the soil and inside the stems of perennial plants, shrubs and trees as the days lengthen. This month is also when many popular spring-flowering bulbs bloom, so it’s a good time of…

MANY birds will be building their nests in March. Some start from scratch, while others will use a nest from previous years, or perhaps one started by another species. Apart from most ground-nesters, which have a simple scrape and little material, many birds build complex nests. These can require precise materials; finding these and building the nest can take a considerable amount of time and effort. The simplest tree nest probably belongs to one of the pigeons. Woodpigeon, for example, makes a simple platform of about 200 twigs, with a lining of thinner ones. The male provides the female with materials and she does the construction, taking a week or so. Common Starlings can rapidly build a nest in a suitable cavity and may take only one to three days,…

SWAROVSKI OPTIK recently unveiled the AX Visio, hailed as the world’s first ‘smart’ binocular (see a review on pages 50-51). Coming in at a buttock-clenching £3,820, these “AI-supported binoculars combine outstanding SWAROVISION quality with digital intelligence” (or so the marketing proclaims). This is the company’s second foray into the world of AI. The first, the dG that launched a few years ago and linked with the Merlin Bird ID app, seemed to flop, but its developers pressed on regardless. Brilliantly, you can use the AX Visio with your eyes closed. Just point your bins at a group of pigeons and the identification function will tell you what they are. Forget all that mucking about with looking or, heaven forbid, thinking, to go birding now you don’t even need the bird…