In Search of Birds

Work and other stuff has very much got in the way of birding over the past few weeks, hence updates have been non-existent. I had a day off today and went up to Ventnor Downs to find some migrants. It was foggy up there and birds were not very active.
There was a Whitethroat singing its scratchy song from the top of a gorse bush, plus a couple of Swallows and a Wood Warbler. The rest of what was up there was common resident stuff - Wren, Dunnock, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Robin, Chaffinch, Raven, Carrion Crow, Rook, Buzzard, Jackdaw, Magpie and Green Woodpecker - except for one bird. As I was just about to drive out of the National Trust car park a large dark brown, long-winged long-tailed raptor appeared, mobbed by a Jackdaw. As it was obviously not a Buzzard, I thought at first it was a female Hen Harrier, but it wasn’t. The tail had a fork in it and the bird was very kite-like. The bird soon flew out of sight but as I drove further down the road towards Ventnor it reappeared flying west-south-west, but getting higher, and was soon lost in the fog. Getting home I checked my field guides and a kite article in the latest Birdwatch magazine and I am now positive it is a Black Kite. It was too dark to be a Red Kite and I’m sure it was a Black Kite - these have been seen on the Island and they are not a rare vagrant. Uncommon, but not rare - according to Birdwatch, Black Kites were moved off the British Rarities List in 2005 due to increased sightings.
I have emailed Derek Hale and it will be interesting to see what he has to say. I hope other people have seen it as there’s nothing worse than being the only person to have seen something rare or uncommon!

Mind you, a Red Kite would do me, I have never seen one in the flesh!

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All three of Cunard’s current ‘Queen’ liners were at Southampton last Tuesday and I took the day off work and made a trip over to see them. It’s a spectacle never to be repeated as the QE2 is leaving in November to become a floating attraction in Dubai.

Click the thumbnail to see larger picture.

 L-R: Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 (in distance), Queen Victoria

While I was at work this morning, it started to snow. Rather a shock as there’d been barely a flake all winter and now it was spring, there was a veritable blizzard. Some will blame it on global warming but I just call it the UK’s notoriously unpredictable weather! Nobody did much work as we were too busy watching, and walking around in, the snow.

As I was stuck at work (well not literally ’stuck’, as if it ever came to it, I can walk home, it’s close enough), with no camera (no reason to have one with me) I phoned my aunt at home to take some pics, and there they are (click thumbnail to see big version):

Plenty to cool more than just a dog’s little toes (they’re dachshunds so the snow comes right up to their tummies):

 Joe  My little girl in the snow

  All 3 dogs in the snow.

Sadly, by the time I finished work at 1.30 this afternoon the inconsiderate stuff had all melted, bar a couple of patches on the downs and in dark corners of fields. It didn’t last long but everyone (except the dogs, I think) enjoyed it while it did.

A day off and an amble around the Alverstone area just now didn’t produce that many birds, although there was a lot of activity and birdsong. I had decided to go for a walk as I’m feeling as if I’m getting increasingly lazy yet I didn’t want to take the car anywhere (I am cutting down on my car use as it’s costing quite a lot in fuel, although I drive a small ‘economical’ vehicle. I dread to think what a larger car, like the old Mazda 323 I had until 2006, would cost to run these days) and I took my dog as she’s getting a little on the fat side and could also do with the exercise.

It’s one of those ‘middling’ early spring days where the temperatures are pleasant yet the weather is not that great - it’s overcast and dull. The Chiffchaffs are back and the trees are full of the monotonous ‘chiff chaff’ song which, to me, is a true sign of spring along with the young leaves which are now appearing on some trees. As a fully paid-up, card-carrying ’winter-hater’ I’m always glad to see the spring, it’s my favourite season because it’s full of the promise of ‘things to come’ as well as being a generally very pleasant time.

There were a couple of elderly dog walkers who, some way behind me, let their dog run along with his nose up my dog’s backside which was annoying and upsetting her. A sharp ‘Go away!’ from me was hint enough to the couple and they called their dog back. I like dogs and have no objection to other dogs at all, but people need to keep them under control a bit more (ditto children, although I don’t like them as much as I do dogs!).

Birds: Grey Heron, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Moorhen, Coot, Woodpigeon. Pretty mundane stuff but nice nonetheless.

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My copy of Birds of the Trans-Pecos turned up this morning and will be handy to take with me to Texas next month, along with my North America field guide. An initial flick through shows some interesting, useful-looking info and some nice line drawings. It’s a bit light on the photos but as it’s an area guide rather than a field guide per se, that’s not a problem because that’s what my main North America guide’s for. I’m hoping that the ABA guide to the Rio Grande Valley that I ordered from Wildsounds turns up - I’ve not had an email to say it won’t.

There was some odd stuff with Amazon payments going on. Payments to something called ‘PTI Europe’ went out of my account. Never having heard of ‘PTI Europe’ I checked my online statement against my emails from Amazon and the payments matched exactly, for the Trans-Pecos book and a book I ordered about Sunbirds, Sugarbirds, Spiderhunters and Flowerpeckers, so I didn’t see a problem there, assuming Amazon had changed the name of their payment account or something. However, a few days the payments went back in to my account. Wondering what the hell was going on, I googled ‘PTI Europe’ and found that a lot of people had had the same thing happen to them. What it was, is that Amazon made a mistake and now the payments have gone back out under Amazon’s own name.

I don’t really like stout but I saw this in Sainsbury’s this morning and could not resist. Actually it is quite nice, rather sweet tasting, despite the dubious name! In an anorak moment, I have to point out that the Titanic’s funnels were yellow with black tops, not red with black tops, although the number of funnels shown (four) is correct. White Star Line (who owned Titanic) merged with the Cunard Line (whose ships did - and still do - have red funnels with black tops) in the 1930’s - the reason for this is that White Star never really recovered from the sinking of the Titanic and the government of the day only gave Cunard money to finish the Queen Mary on condition of the merger.

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I have sent off for a couple of West Texas bird guides. One is The Birds of the Trans-Pecos and the other is The American Birding Association Birder’s Guide to the Rio Grande Valley. I’m not sure if the latter is in stock because everyone else (including the ABA) says it is out of print and Amazon list some second hand ones for ridiculous prices (£116 for a 280-page paperback? Insane. And that’s just the lowest price!); I got it from Wildsounds who look as if they have copies, for a more reasonable and sensible £18.50.

I’m looking forward to going to Texas again, doing some dark-sky astronomy, seeing my friends again and, of course, doing some serious birding this time. Looks like the candle will be well and truly burnt at both ends!

 My plans for a long trip to Asia towards the end of this year are looking doubtful due to finances. I had to borrow £600 for the air ticket to San Antonio (that’s the penance for not buying a ticket a couple of months ago) and my car is going in for it’s MOT and service in a couple of weeks’ time. That is not to say that I can’t go sometime in 2009 though.