Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Birdwatch

WESTERN Palearctic (WP) birders had their ears pricked up during March as Mauritania experienced a remarkable run of regional rarities. The West African country is right at the southern extremity of the WP recording area and is thus in prime position to receive exciting vagrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The standout record was a Grasshopper Buzzard, which was found by visiting Polish birders in gardens on the outskirts of Nouadhibou – a town on the Atlantic coast that is crucially situated within the WP boundary – on Friday 8 March. A regional first, it was reported into early April. Grasshopper Buzzard is an Afrotropical species, found from Senegal and The Gambia in the west, east to Ethiopia, migrating south to Sierra Leone, Cameroon, north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Tanzania.…

Egypt is a country full of surprises. The 21st century has already brought a number of startling avian discoveries, with some of the highlights including breeding Saunders’s Terns in the Red Sea, the rediscovery of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse – a species thought long extinct in the WP – and, most amazing of all, a breeding population of Yellow Bittern along the Red Sea coast – increasing the species’ known range by more than 2,000 km. This month, British birders discovered an apparent population of at least 20 Reed Cormorants at Lake Nasser, in the south of the country close to the Sudanese border. A former breeding resident, it was extirpated from the country some 120 years ago and regional listers who hoped to add the species to their WP lists instead…

DETAILED photographic identification guides to seabirds have become commonplace this century, with gulls, petrels and shearwaters all receiving several tomes dedicated to their differences in recent times, often with multimedia supplements. The last time terns received such coverage was in Klaus Malling Olsen and Hans Larsson’s excellent Terns of Europe and North America (1995), but recent taxonomic and ID advances mean that this group was ripe for revisiting. While this new book covers the 19 regular North American species only, many taxa occurring in Europe are found there and almost all the Nearctic species have wandered here at some point or have near-identical equivalents among its avifauna. Many birders will need or want the detailed coverage of Terns of North America in their libraries and there are several reasons why…

In the last year while guiding birders visiting Britain from New York I’ve heard a lot about Flaco, the famous escaped Eurasian Eagle-Owl in Central Park. The male owl had become the best-loved bird in the Big Apple and something of an international celebrity, inspiring murals and poems, with his roost constantly surrounded by crowds. Since being broken out of a small zoo enclosure, dodging attempts at recapture and surviving surprisingly well for a year, Flaco also grew to become a vague mascot for animal welfare and even symbolic of human struggles. You could say things became a bit hysterical in a very American way, but maybe an escaped Great Horned Owl surviving in Hyde Park would become a national ‘outlaw-hero’ too? It took years of campaigning to pass the…

Standing at sunrise in spring on the public road crossing Waalenburg nature reserve, in the centre of the Dutch island of Texel, the sky is full of sound. Eurasian Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Common Redshanks sing their hearts out at this restored wet meadow. The main creek crossing the nature reserve is lined with geese, duck and waders, including stunning summer-plumaged Ruff, often displaying close to the road to the delight of the visiting birders and photographers. But it is the Black-tailed Godwits that steal the show here. Having declined by more than 80% in the Netherlands, Texel remains a stronghold for this wader, with Waalenburg one of the best places to observe them. Everywhere you look godwits are displaying, calling, fighting or chasing each other – or any other…

THE latest addition to Netvue’s birding products is the Birdfy Nest, a so-called ‘smart bird house’ – or, in other words, a nestbox kitted out with cameras so that you can keep tabs on the nesting species in your garden. Made from FSC-certified wood and ‘renewable’ bamboo, the Birdfy Nest joins the Birdfy Feeder Bamboo (see Birdwatch 378: 58) in a line of sustainable products released by the company. As well as being eco-friendly, this nestbox is designed to engage allcomers with birds and birding, allowing the user to watch the progress of nesting birds without disturbing them – in a UK context, these are most likely to be either Great or Blue Tits. In the manner of the Birdfy Feeder Bamboo, the presence of a camera allows the user…

TAKING on the challenge of a ‘big year’ anywhere in the world always involves a great deal of resources being invested – time and money being the most obvious. While year-listing in the UK might involve tens of thousands of miles being driven in pursuit of perhaps 350 species, things take on an altogether grander scale in the US. The continental proportions of this country mean that travelling often involves jumping on planes rather than hopping in the car, and many tens of flights might be taken when pursuing a big year in the American Birding Association (ABA) recording area. In fact, it makes me feel a bit queasy thinking about the vastness of many North American birders’ carbon footprints, as well as the laissez faire attitude to responsible travel…

THERE should be no shortage of birds to photograph this month. Migrant breeding birds will either already be in or will arrive during the month, so they will be busy pairing up and setting up territories. It’s a great time to photograph any of the warbler species that visit the UK for the nesting season, including the extraordinary Grasshopper Warbler. This is an incredibly elusive species for most of the year, but males in song offer the opportunity for good views this month. While they often sing from the middle of dense vegetation, males will sometimes deliver their remarkable ‘reeling’ song from an open perch. They are often most active early and late in the day. Sometimes they seem so preoccupied with singing that they don’t notice any nearby birders, but…

HAVING first seen the adult male White-winged Scoter at Inch Beach, Co Kerry, in early February, I had my suspicions that at least one of the two other birds which were accompanying it may not be Velvet Scoter – perhaps more than one White-winged Scoter was present. These two birds first turned up as juveniles in December, but in early February I was able to see that they were first-winter males, now sporting all-dark heads. Overall, the head shape looked a bit odd on at least one bird, but due to the distance, rough sea swell and overall bad weather, those thoughts would remain suspicions. During that visit to Co Kerry in February I also picked up two first-winter Velvet Scoter with the Common Scoter off Kilcummin Beach, Brandon Bay,…

March was unsettled and wet overall. Persistent north-westerly winds for the first week meant it got off to a cold start, though south-westerlies and mild temperatures mid-month ensured conditions across much of Britain and Ireland took on a more spring-like quality, with many birders scoring their first migrants of the season. Starring among a run of early overshoots was Britain’s earliest-ever subalpine warbler – a male Western – on Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, on 17th. The current earliest accepted Western dates from some three weeks later, on 7 April, while there are five records of subalpine warbler not assigned to species level from the latter half of March. Alpine Swift is a more expected migrant for mid-March. First up were two in Ireland (in Co Dublin and Co Kerry), with birds…

Everyone should have their say on the decision by the American Ornithological Society (AOS) to dump eponyms and rename approximately 150 North American species with more people-friendly and bird-relevant names, as Lucy McRobert did in the February issue (Birdwatch 380: 62). We all use bird names, and it is a matter of such vanishingly small importance that we should definitely be allowed to get overexcited by it. No past wrong will be righted and no noticeable impact will befall bird conservation whatever we call birds in vernacular English. Let us not feel sorry for Alexander Wilson, a Scot (born Paisley 1766, died Pennsylvania 1813) when he loses his official link with the warbler, phalarope, snipe and storm petrel named after him (all of which are on my life list, two…

WE all know that being out in nature is good for our physical and mental wellbeing. In general, though, people are more disconnected from the natural world than ever. This beautifully designed book from The Leaping Hare Press could go some way to fixing that. Divided into months, it suggests various seasonal practices and activities that you can do in nature throughout the year. The activities come under several headings and are very wide ranging. Several are practical. ‘Growing’, for example, includes planting carrots in March and tomatoes in June, with advice on planting, cultivating and harvesting your crops. It also covers tips on container growing for those with limited space. There are also recipes to follow, advice on where, what and when to forage and information on increasing your…

PETER Goodfellow has always been fascinated by how birds build nests, and I well remember reading his first book on the subject as a teenager – Birds as Builders (1977). Then in 2011 he created this book, which was reviewed in Birdwatch at the time, and what we have now is a revised edition with extra material. The various chapters focus on specific nest types, moving from scrapes (waders and terns), to holes and tunnels (tits, bee-eaters, hornbills), platforms (raptors and storks), aquatic (grebes), cup-shapes (thrushes, warblers, finches), domes (wrens, Hamerkop), mud (nuthatches, rockfowl, Magpie-lark), weaves (weavers, hummingbirds) and mounds (flamingos, Malleefowl). If that isn’t exhausting enough, there is a chapter on colonial nesters, and also as a tangent the use of bowers as display grounds. There is also an interesting…

WOW – it’s safe to say that this was one of the best selections of photos we’ve ever had for this section of the magazine! Clearly, Northern Lapwings caught your imagination during March, which is of course a brilliant month to enjoy this charming but sadly declining wader. The number of entries was high and so was the standard, but we’ve narrowed it down two shots to showcase. The first, by Joe Fryer, is a beautiful profile of a bird with its distinctive crest flattened as light rain falls. The headshot works really well to capture the character of this species, and the image is well balanced and sharp. The second photo, by Darren Chapman, depicts a lapwing in the middle of a crazy display flight – the bird is…

SITUATED in the eastern Himalaya, Bhutan is a country that relatively few people have visited, yet it provides an amazing experience in terms of both birds and culture. You can only visit with a tour operator authorised by the Bhutan authorities, but many UK tour operators use these. To see most of the best birds it is necessary to camp much of the time. This adds to the excitement as each day your camp crew travels ahead of the group to pitch the tents at the next site. The scenery is impressive with many dzongs (Buddhist monasteries) dominating the small towns. Two-thirds of the country is made up of steep forested valleys and most of the remainder consists of high peaks and impressive passes leading into yet more pristine habitat.…

THE Birdwatch World of Birds reader tour programme offers a range of exciting birding holidays around the globe. The first of these is our popular spring tour to Herzegovina, which is a guaranteed departure in late May. Based in the beautiful town of Mostar, it is fully inclusive of meals, guiding and transport. As well as a watching a wealth of migrants in beautiful scenery, our key targets include Rock Partridge and Sombre Tit. Another late spring trip will see us in Finland, where we aim to track down the northern owls and woodpeckers for which the country is famous. Encounters with Great Grey, Ural, Tengmalm’s and Eurasian Pygmy Owls, as well as Northern Hawk-Owls, will get the pulse racing. With a supporting cast of Black and Eurasian Three-toed Woodpeckers, Siberian…

■ Undiscovered Caithness The northernmost limits of the British mainland have proven to be surprisingly productive for year-round birding, with several eye-catching rarities found in recent times. Nina O’Hanlon introduces birding in Caithness. ■ What’s in a nest From the simplest scrapes to magnificent eyries, birds’ nests come in many shapes, sizes and forms. Nest expert Nick Williams takes a closer look at some of these extraordinary creations. ■ Searching for honey European Honey Buzzard is likely to be overlooked as a breeding species in some parts of Britain. Jamie Partridge shares expert tips on how to go about tracking down one of our rarest and most elusive birds of prey. ■ Turtle doves for the future A recently launched initiative dedicated to the preservation of European Turtle Dove in…

Walking into the living room one March morning to see my daughter thoughtfully stroking a furry microphone as though it was a kitten was one of the highlights of the spring. The shotgun microphone had sat outside overnight peaceably recording away, noting everything from the rowdy pub-goers to the whistle of a train a mile away. The East Midlands flightpath was crossing overhead for the first hour or two, sending the lower frequencies of the sonogram into a frenzy. This was my first foray into the mythical world of noc-mig (recording nocturnal sounds, particularly bird migration). I recently moved house and this was the first time I’d set up my own feeders, or started a garden bird list. Rural Leicestershire isn’t noted for its biodiversity but having a pair of…