Catching a Fieldfare

The winter thrush luck is well and truly in at the moment!

After a nice haul of around 6 Redwing's (probably the most we've ever caught in a year) it was now the turn of only the 4th ever Fieldfare caught on the site to turn up in the net. As mentioned previously, catching the winter thrushes is a difficult task with Fieldfare being the most difficult of the lot. 

We had been tipped off by a fellow ringer on a technique that he had used with great success to catch Fieldfare with on his site. It's pretty simple - just increase the height of the poles you stick your mist nets on. This means that when you put a tape underneath, the Fieldfare are still caught despite being a much warier bird that most often stays high over the tape. You always have to set up in the dark to catch the winter thrushes, to get them as they emerge from their roosts. So there we were, in the dark, frozen fields getting ripped apart by hawthorn in order to get ourselves a Fieldfare.

We then went about setting up the other normal nets and the morning's ringing began. We were catching fairly well (adding 2 Redwing to the year total) and I took time out to nip back home to grab a drink to help me deal with this annoying cough I had developed. When I returned it was getting well into mid morning. Certainly past the time we should be catching Fieldfare. Most definitely. 100%. No chance. Nil. Nada.

Birds don't play by the rules.

Not only had it been caught fairly late in the morning, it had also been caught in one of our normal nets and not the one we had got up in the dark to put up. Birds eh?

Luckily it could be forgiven because, not only is it a ringing tick for me, but it is absolutely beautiful. 

The morning was rounded off by one final birdy bonus in the form of a stunning first year male Sparrowhawk. Two Sparrowhawks in the space of 3 weeks, as well as a plethora of other birds, and it certainly feels like Christmas is coming early for me!

Redwings, Pink Crows and Sparrowhawks.

A couple of Sunday's ago I had one of the best ringing mornings I think I've ever had.

A Redwing is always the best way to start off a morning for a start...

The interesting thing about Redwings and their larger cousins the Fieldfares when it comes to trying to mist net them is that you only really have one shot at it in the early morning. You have to get your nets up and tape under before the sun is fully up and move well out of the way. Even then you may be only likely to catch the odd one or two as, despite traveling round in big flocks, catching more than a couple of Redwing before the chance is over is something I've never seen happen. Those people who say otherwise are just laying down Red (Herr-)wings. I do apologise. Lets move on.

Later on in the morning we were able to catch a bird from a notoriously difficult family of avian brain boxes. I am, of course, talking about the crow family. The crows are probably my favourite group of birds but, due to their intelligence, vigilance and size, are difficult birds to get your hands as they prove masters of detecting, avoiding and escaping nets. Therefore any day that a crow finds its way into the net is a good day in my eyes. Back in September we had a Magpie that had come into the feeding station that we were able to ring, but this Sunday it was time for a crow that I hadn't ringed in over 3 years to make another appearance. - The Jay.

A bird that pretends to not really be a crow at all with its burnt pink and electric blue plumage, the Jay is just as much a corvid as the rest of them. Although it will happily takes chicks and eggs from nests once located, around this time of year you're more than likely to see them gathering up nuts and seeds (mainly acorns) to stash so they have a food source to live off once winter hits.

And finally, on our way back up from net around the feeding station that the Jay had come out of, we passed a net that seemed to have another sizeable bird in one of the bottom shelves. I thought it was likely to be another Blackbird as we had been catching many of them all morning due to an influx of Scandinavian birds but, as we got closer, Dean (a C ringer who was with me) broke out into a sprint and dived on this bird to make sure it didn't go anywhere. When I reached the net to help him take it out the net it was obvious what we had - a Sparrowhawk.

We think of birds of prey to be big birds, but this first year male Sparrowhawk was smaller than the Jay that we had caught moments earlier. The females are a lot bigger (a general rule for raptors is that females are a third bigger) and this means that you have to correctly sex it before putting a ring on as the sexes take two different sizes. Funnily enough me and Dean had ran towards the same net when it was holding a much larger Sparrowhawk (probably a female) that managed to get out earlier that morning. But needless to say, we weren't kicking ourselves for too long with the way the morning eventually panned out.

Finally, I will leave you with this picture of us managing to weigh a Sparrowhawk successfully just by laying it on its back. A trick known by many bird related people, it basically involves making sure the birds wings are tucked securely under its body and it will sit there for some time, unharmed, before its had enough and scarpers.  

A cracking ringing tick and Brent Geese in the mist.

Boom.

Spotted Flycatcher

The first Spotted Flycatcher ever caught at our ringing site and I was lucky enough to stick a ring on its leg! They aren't summer residents on our site, although they can be found in more suitable habitat about ten minutes drive away, but this was a youngster moving through in mid September.

We also did well for 2 members of the Tit family in the past few months that are fairly unusual for us to catch. Marsh Tits, the one on the right, are the species that we more commonly come across whilst Willow Tits, on the left, are more of a rarity. Having the two of them on the same day was allowed for us to compare the defining features of the two species when trying to identify them in the hand.

The Willow Tit can be identified by the presence of a white panel on the secondary feathers once the wing is closed, whilst the easiest feature to pick out on a Marsh Tit is the presence of white on the base of the bill. For more information, this website provides a good breakdown:
http://birdingfrontiers.com/2012/03/23/marsh-or-willow-tit/

Brent Geese out on the sea through the morning fog.

About a month after that glorious day of ringing I visited Spurn Point on a trip with my local bird group. I'd not visited Spurn for about 10 years, and my last memories were of getting a Red Backed Shrike on someone's garden fence, being drowned in Yellow Browed Warblers and then staking out a bush for a couple of hours to get sight of a Radde's Warbler. Unfortunately there was nothing even remotely on the same level upon this visit. After scanning the vegetation in the pub car park to try and find a reported Yellow Browed Warbler and only coming up with a Chiffchaff, we headed along the sea edge to see what we could find.

It was then that the most biblical fog I have ever seen in my life rolled in off the sea and completely blanketed the entire area for a good hour or so. This, as you can imagine, made birding near impossible unless the birds were within about 20 metres of us. Luckily, a few thoughtful birds abliged and we managed to see Brent Geese (to my knowledge a lifer for me), Wheatear and a selection of waders. Then as the mist cleared we picked up Stonechat and Whinchat sat next to each other in the fields as well as my first Fieldfare of the year.

Once the fog cleared up it was a glorious day.

Unfortunately though that was about it for the whole day. We searched for a Firecrest in vain before giving up hope and deciding to head back. It wasn't until I got home and checked Twitter that I saw reports of a Radde's Warbler sighted at Spurn only an hour after we had left.

Typical.

An expedition to Buton Island, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

First off let me apologise for the lack of posts since May. I've been a little... preoccupied.

Y'see for two months this summer I got the chance to go to Sulawesi in Indonesia to work as an ornithologist for Operation Wallacea. It was the best thing I've ever done, and here's the story...

I was based on Buton Island, just off the South East coast of mainland Sulawesi, for 8 weeks in a small forest village called Labundobundo - so nice they named it 1 and a half times. We lived with local people, sharing their houses and using the village as a base from which we went to the forest camps. There were forests camps dotted around the island, some close to the village about an hours walk into the forest and others further away. One, at the Northern end of Buton Island, was a 6 hour drive, 1 hour boat trip and 1 hour trek through the forest. So swings and roundabouts really.

Trekking through the forest to one of the camps

Now when I say 1 hour walk, this isn't a walk like "walk" is normally meant. This is a walk in over 30 degrees Celsius heat WITHOUT the sun even out. Add to that the humidity of 100%, the rucksacks filled with enough gear for a 5 night stay on our backs and the "paths" that we were walking through the jungle and you might begin to realise that this wasn't some casual stroll through the forest. It was hard going. After the rains had been down some of the paths were the hardest walking I've ever done anywhere. But the treasures that lay within the forest made it all worthwhile... and then some.


I was there as I had been employed as an ornithologist for Operation Wallacea, and I was working most days over the 8 weeks collecting data through point counts to survey the bird populations of the forest. This data would then be used to try and obtain better protection for the forest reserves and the birds within them. Let me tell you... some of the birds were stunning! One of the most charismatic species there is the Knobbed Hornbill, a bird that isn't found anywhere else on Earth apart from Sulawesi (as with many of the other bird species). Its a huge bird that you could hear most days in the forest, whether that be its barking like call or the sound of their wings as they glided over the forest canopy from tree to tree.

Knobbed Hornbill

The reason that Sulawesi is so important is for the reason that most of the animals there are so special and unique. Sulawesi is on the Wallace Line, an imaginary line that seperates the flora and fauna of the Asian and Australasian continent. On the left hand side of the Wallace line you get typically Asian species; Tigers, Indian Elephants, Orangutans etc. whereas on the right hand side you get Australasian species; Cassowaries, Marsupials and the like. However Sulawesi has a mixture of both, so in the forests you will encounter Macaques (Asian) alongside Bear Cuscus, a marsupial (Australasian). That's why this area is in need of study and protection.

Indonesia as a whole has the second highest rate of deforestation in the world after Brazil and I saw much evidence that designating somewhere as a national park has little effect on logging. That's why the work that the team of scientists that were out there was so important, to make known the value of the area and to try and get better protection for the region.

Perhaps the bird that is highest up any birders list when Sulawesi is mentioned is the Maleo, an endemic member of the Megapode family. The scientists wanted to try and document presence of Maleo on the island as it would add further weight to the protection efforts. After a member of the team had been sent on a week-long trip to document Maleo nesting sites around Buton Island with very little success, a few days after his return a live specimen was brought into the village by a local man who had caught it in a jungle fowl snare. It was found in the forest on the outskirts of the village and some of the locals said, once they knew that was what a Maleo looked like, they occasionally see the bird crossing the forest road. This may mean there is a possibility that there may be a population of this highly endangered endemic species in the local area. Unfortunately I was at a forest camp at the time so was unable to see the Maleo and witness the events that day!

But I did manage to see some fantastic birds. I finished on over 80 species for the trip, which admittedly isn't a large number for such a length of time but that was due to the dense forest vegetation we were working in. I did get some crackers though, birds like the Yellow Billed Malkoha, Sulawesi Crested Myna, Rufous Bellied Eagle and Ornate Lorikeet to name a few with many on my list only being able to be found in that part of the world. I also got Oriental Hobby, which was only ever the second record for the island. I saw some other great wildlife too - Sulawesi Wild Pig, Reticulated Python, Sulawesi Tarsier, Black Macaque, Dwarf Cuscus and a probable King Cobra!

Sulawesi Hawk Eagle

However despite seeing all of these incredible animals, the best part of the experience was the people that I met. It was nice to be able to find like minded people to myself that were so passionate about nature and concerned with trying to preserve it and understand it. It was also a fascinating experience to work so closely with local people - something that I embraced and managed to learn a decent degree of Indonesian!

It's a wonderful place and was a truly remarkable way to spend 2 months of my summer. I very much hope I'll get to return next year.

Mudskipper down in the mangroves

Bala camp nestled in a jungle clearing

A little dude of a tree frog

Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher with small birds syndrome

He was gorgeous though!

The rarely seen Dwarf Cuscus

A Large Hanging Parrot caught by one the the mist netters

Pied Cuckoo Shrike

Sulawesi Serpent Eagle

Reticulated Python

Sat in the canopy, watching dawn break over the forest