Ireland/England Birds 2017

I want to share the pictures of the birds I saw while traveling in Ireland and England.  I'm sure they are nothing special, but I like all birds and like keeping a record of what I see while I am out and about.  Ken and I took this adventure with my high school friend and her husband in April, and really enjoyed the trip and their companionship.  It started off a bit rocky as far as the flight connections were concerned, but all worked out in the end.  Our flight from SFO to London Heathrow was delayed 3 1/2 hours because of a loose screw.  This made our connecting flight to Dublin precarious because of having to go through customs and security, but we made it.  It was probably because I was wearing my lucky earrings and necklace!

This was taken in York on April 20th.  I had three weird dreams the night before.  One was that my friend Kristin was pregnant.  I will have to ask her what that means since she belongs to a dream group.  We spent the day walking around the museum park near our hotel and walking over to the Railroad Museum across the river.  This is a wood pigeon.  S/he looks very pleased with the find probably for a nest.  Here is some information on wood pigeons.
The common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) is a large species in the dove and pigeon family.  . It is locally known in southeast England as the "culver".   The common wood pigeon is gregarious, often forming very large flocks outside the breeding season. Like many species of pigeon, wood pigeons take advantage of trees and buildings to gain a vantage point over the surrounding area, and their distinctive call means that they are usually heard before they are seen.  Young common wood pigeons swiftly become fat, as a result of the crop milk they are fed by their parents. This is an extremely rich, sweet fluid that is produced in the adult birds' crops during the breeding season.

This is a coot, and this picture was taken on April 28th.  As usual we arose at 7:30 am and met Marty and Marsha at 8:30 am for breakfast.  This was our last day in London before flying home.  We were all getting a little tired and anxious to return, and get back to a daily routine.  We wandered around London visiting famous sights.  We took advantage of the Underground to get to the various places.  The palaces and parks were beautiful.  Spring was a perfect time to visit.  This bird was hanging out at Kensington Palace and Gardens.  The feet really are quite unique.
An aquatic bird of the rail family, with blackish plumage, lobed feet, and a bill that extends back onto the forehead as a horny shield.OR

a foolish or eccentric person, typically an old man.  Ha,ha - I wonder which it is.  

Coots have prominent frontal shields or other decoration on the forehead, with red to dark red eyes and coloured bills. Many, but not all, have white on the under tail. The featherless shield gave rise to the expression "as bald as a coot," which the Oxford English Dictionary cites in use as early as 1430. Like other rails, they have long, lobed toes that are well adapted to soft, uneven surfaces. Coots have strong legs and can walk and run vigorously. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers, though northern species nevertheless can cover long distances. Ah! mystery solved.

Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals and eggs. They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer.

Here is a magpie.  We saw these birds in both Ireland and England.  They really have gorgeous coloring.  I snapped this photo on April 10th while we were staying in Dublin.  Leaving the hotel around 9:00 am that morning, we all walked over to Trinity College and bought the tour of the campus and library.  Our guide was a student, and he had many interesting stories about the campus and some of the people who had attended. . Tim Westoll 1919–1999 Ornithologist I think is one good person to mention since the focus here is on birds.  A. A. Milne 1882–1956 Writer – Winnie-the-Pooh is another.  Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson 1809–1892 Poet – Maud, In Memoriam Sir Isaac Newton 1642–1727 Mathematician, physicist; MP (Cambridge University) Sir Francis Bacon 1561–1626 Lawyer, philosopher; Lord Chancellor all attended Trinity College.  We had to queue up to see The Books of Kells which is an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels.  Afterwards, we headed over to the Long Library.  There the books are organized from the biggest at the bottom to the smallest at the top.  How could you ever find the book you need?! By this time, we were ready for a break.  We found a very nice cafe - Costa Cafe which I figured out is a chain like Starbucks.  Anyway, we powered up with hot chocolate and coffee heading back out on our personal walking tour.  We spotted Molly Malone who was famous for her "night business".  We also discovered the statue of Oscar Wilde at the corner of a park with a children's playground.  We then ventured over and across the Liffey River, checked out the harp bridge (The harp is the national symbol of Ireland.), and discovered a memorial for the people who left Ireland due to the potato famine.  That was enough for one day.  It was time to find our way back to our hotel for a rest and dinner.
Magpies - one of the most intelligent animals in the world - With its noisy chattering, black-and-white plumage and long tail, there is nothing else quite like the magpie in the UK. When seen close-up its black plumage takes on an altogether more colourful hue with a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers, and a green gloss to the tail. Magpies seem to be jacks of all trades - scavengers, predators and pest-destroyers, their challenging, almost arrogant attitude has won them few friends. Non-breeding birds will gather together in flocks.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/m/magpie/
The information on the first two birds came from Wikipedia

 

Japan Birds

I have been away from this for a long time.  I am newly motivated because a couple of people viewed my blog.  I traveled to Japan with OAT over the summer, and just finished making a slide show of my trip, so there is no good reason I can think of not to post the birds I saw there.  So, here they are:

 This picture was taken at Kenrokuen Gardens on a hot day in July as we walked over bridges and around ponds.

 Heron at Sanjusangendo Temple captured by my camera a few days later.

 This heron was waiting to say good-bye as we parted on a ferry from Ikuchijima Island.
 Here is some information on herons:

The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged predatory wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows.The birds breed colonially in spring in "heronries", usually building their nests high in trees. A clutch of usually three to five bluish-green eggs is laid. Both birds incubate the eggs for a period of about 25 days, and then both feed the chicks, which fledge when seven or eight weeks old. Many juveniles do not survive their first winter, but if they do, they can expect to live for about five years.(This formation came from Wikipedia)

This picture of two cormorants I took along the Katsura River as we got ready to take a boat up the river and a hike up a mountain to visit the Zen monk Obayashi san for macha tea ceremony.

The Japanese cormorant, also known as Temminck's cormorant, is a cormorant native to East Asia. It lives from Taiwan north through Korea and Japan to the Russian Far East. Wikipedia

 

What is a Cormorant or a Darter?

Pity the poor cormorant. There’s scarcely a bird in the world as unfairly maligned, deemed the world over as a bad seed due to its ungainly proportions and reportedly insatiable appetite for bait fish.  But this awkward family is of an ancient lineage, one of the oldest of all the birds and with similar ancestors reaching all the way back to the dinosaurs.  The form is a classic one – long-billed, web-footed, and waterborne – and shared in some sense with the order of birds the cormorants, and their sister taxa the darters, lie within, the newly resurrected Suliformes.  That group consists of the two families treated here, along with the boobies, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds, all highly aerial marine species.  The comparatively aquatic and frequently freshwater cormorants and darters are outliers, both in habitat preferences and panache, but we’re all about the underdogs here.  Let’s take the two families together, and then separately.

Both cormorant and darters are superb swimmers, specializing in pursuing fish underwater before returning to the surface where they sit, characteristically quite low in the water, and swallow them head-first.  Both families use their feet for propulsion, and as such those appendages are uniquely webbed across all four toes, effectively broadening the surface area they use to propel themselves.  It’s a trait they share with the other Sulids, as well as the pelicans.

Cormorants and darters are long-bodied and that, paired with feet at the far end of their bodies, makes them awkward when out of the water.  Though powerful flyers, they’re rather ungainly when taking off from the surface, but it’s on land that we see that most famous of cormorant behaviors.   Sitting atop a cliff face or piece of flotsam following a fishing outing, they’ll spread their wings wide to dry.   It’s suggested that this is because they lack the oils found in other birds to waterproof their feathers, but that’s not true.  Waterproofing is an innate characteristic of feathers due to their physical structure.  No extra oil is required.  But both cormorants and, in particular, darters are unique in having feathers that are less naturally water-resistant than other birds, an adaptation that enables them to forage underwater more easily.  However, this necessitates regular time out of the water to dry sodden feathers and regulate body temperature; the time spent in that classic crucificial position.

March Madness

We have had tons of birds in the yard and at the feeders.

Mourning Dove

White Crown Sparrow

Common Rosefinch

These are some of the birds I captured.  There was also a jay, but it was too allusive.  Sometimes the birds fight over the seeds and fly over to the flower pots for a drink of water. 

• First-year birds tend to disperse further than adults which explains why colonizing birds are almost always dull-plumaged (young) males.
• A group of rosefinches are collectively known as a "bouquet" of finches.
• Maybe this is a house finch.  It's hard to tell the difference, except for their location.
• House finches are natives of the American West, but were introduced in New York City in the 1940's.  Since that time, eastern birds have spread throughout the eastern half of the country, while western populations have also expanded.  The House Finch, like the House Sparrow, is well adapted to living with humans and has taken advantage of their presence rather than suffering because of it.  Today the House Finch can be found throughout the country.  Both a male (left) and female (right) are depicted in the photos to the right.

• Bird Feeders: Sunflower seeds, thistle, and millet seeds.

   
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Cow Birds

I got to go birding again.  This time we started in Suisun City and headed out Hwy 12 and continued onto Hwy 16.  It was cold and foggy when we began at around 8 am.  I drove by myself because, at the time, I thought I needed to be back to pick up parents, but that got cancelled.  So, what did I see?. Well, at first, nothing.  I'm glad I was in the car as the temperature was 39 degrees.  The bad news is I didn't get any pictures of birds.  They were just too far away. The good news is eventually I did see some cool birds. I did get to see goldfinches which there were over 100 lined up winged feathers to feathers sitting on a wire giving off a yellow glow all around them.  It was amazing.  I also saw a couple of red tail hawks. There was a meadowlark and shrike sitting next to each other which was quite a striking site since they both have a completely different look.  Lastly I saw a burrowing owl peaking out of his home in the side of the mound of dirt on the side of the road.I could only see one big yellow suspicious eye looking around at all of us. 

© keefee

This handsome little finch, the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington, is welcome and common at feeders, where it takes primarily sunflower and nyjer. Goldfinches often flock with Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls. Spring males are brilliant yellow and shiny black with a bit of white. Females and all winter birds are more dull but identifiable by their conical bill; pointed, notched tail; wingbars; and lack of streaking. During molts they look bizarrely patchy.

Lake Hennessey

This is my first birding adventure since I retired.  I was very nervous about getting out as I didn't know anyone, wasn't sure where I was going, and had to get up earlier (it's cold in the early morning!) than has been my habit since retiring.  I was on my own.  My thoughtful husband woke me at 6 am to ask me if I was going.  I had talked myself out of it, but decided it was fate if he was waking me.  .  So, I packed up my supplies:  healthy food, warm clothing, and viewing equipment, and headed out the door.  As it turned out, I arrived at the meeting place with 5 minutes to spare after missing the spot only once and making the loop around to Sweeney's in Napa.  After figuring out logistics, I was the designated driver of 4 other birders.  One fellow came from as far as Berkeley.  There were around 20 people in the group as we arrived at Lake Hennessey.  Off we ventured to see what we could spot.  Four or five in the group had scopes and everyone had binoculars.  So, without further ado, these are the birds I was able to spot, snap a picture, and remember the name.

 

© Raymond Lee

The Bald Eagle has been the national emblem of the United States since 1782 and a spiritual symbol for native people for far longer than that. These regal birds aren’t really bald, but their white-feathered heads gleam in contrast to their chocolate-brown body and wings. Look for them soaring in solitude, chasing other birds for their food, or gathering by the hundreds in winter. Once endangered by hunting and pesticides, Bald Eagles have flourished under protection.

This is a great egret.The elegant Great Egret is a dazzling sight in many a North American wetland. Slightly smaller and more svelte than a Great Blue Heron, these are still large birds with impressive wingspans. They hunt in classic heron fashion, standing immobile or wading through wetlands to capture fish with a deadly jab of their yellow bill. Great Egrets were hunted nearly to extinction for their plumes in the late nineteenth century, sparking conservation movements and some of the first laws to protect birds.

The Red-breasted Sapsucker is a denizen of the coniferous forests of the northern Pacific Coast, usually found at middle or lower elevations.  We were lucky to see this one today.

Also I spotted a kinglet (I didn't get a picture) which I noted looked like a hummingbird without the long skinny beak and when I mentioned it to the person standing next to me was told it was a kinglet. I surprisingly identified the same bird again while visiting my brother in Napa.  I felt so proud of myself.  I did learn from my Lake Hennessey adventure - well worth my initial jitters !Now I have to get better at picture taking. Oh, and the bonus was I walked over 10,000 steps that day!

Fall Find

This bird was spotted on our trip to Indonesia while on Komodo Island.  We didn't see many komodos here, but this fellow was worth it.  This is a wallacean drongo.   It seems as unique to me as each of the students I have this year.  They each bring such sweetness and beauty to our environment. 

• Dull blue-black plumage with greenish gloss
• Well developed feathers at base of bill extending forwards over culmen
• Long and deeply forked tail, tips slightly upcurved
• Thick, heavy and highly arched bill, ending in strong downward curve
• Red bill

Sexes similar but females slightly smaller. Juveniles have a dark brown eye.
The different subspecies differ mainly in size, bill size and glossiness. The only drongo in its range. Feeds on insects. Perches under canopy, sallying from a branch to seize insects.
Usually seen singly or in pairs, on Sumba sometimes in bigger groups of up to 10 birds. Often near groups of Crab-eating Macaques on Sumba.
Only a few data about breeding on Flores. One nest was 10m above the ground, eggs were laid from October to December.
A resident species.

Wallacean Drongo

Dicrurus densus


The Wallacean Drongo or Greater Wallacean Drongo (Dicrurus densus) is a species of bird in the Dicruridae family. It can be found in the countries of Indonesia and East Timor. Contrary to the independence of East Timor, the Wallacean Drongo continues to be considered an endemic. It breeds in both countries. Its natural are subtropical or tropical moist lowland , subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Blue Jay of May

 

I've been trying to capture this fellow for quite some time.  He's been hanging out here the last few days.  He makes quite a lot of noise. He reminds me of a couple of my students.  He pulled a baby bird from out cypress trees and ate it.  Here's some interesting information about blue jays:

© MMATM

The “blue jay” of dry Western lowlands, the Western Scrub-Jay combines deep azure blue with dusty gray-brown and white. The rounded, crestless head immediately sets it apart from Blue Jays and Steller’s Jays. These birds are a fixture of dry shrublands, oak woodlands, and pinyon pine-juniper forests, as well as conspicuous visitors to backyards.

Cool Facts

• The Western Scrub-Jay’s calls are a hallmark sound of the open West. Some 20 call types are known, and perhaps the best description comes from naturalist W. L. Dawson in 1923: “No masquerader at Mardi Gras has sprung such a cacophonic device upon a quiveringly expectant public. Dzweep, dzweep: it curdles the blood, as it is meant to do.”
• Western Scrub-Jays have a mischievous streak, and they’re not above outright theft. They’ve been caught stealing acorns from Acorn Woodpecker caches and robbing seeds and pine cones from Clark’s Nutcrackers. They even seem aware of their guilt: some scrub-jays steal acorns they’ve watched other jays hide. When these birds go to hide their own acorns, they check first that no other jays are watching.