22/04/2015 Nightingales at Abbots Wood

Wednesday 22nd April 2015

• On the way home from an appointment in Eastbourne I called in at Abbots Wood near Michelham Priory to take in some Nightingales.  Around 17.15 the singing was at its best and I managed to see 2 of them.  This is a real hotspot for this species.

• I then made a flying visit to Arlington Reservoir to see if there were any hirundines around.  Thankfully there were a few with 8-10 Swallows and at least 1 House Martin.  I'm sure there will be more soon.

New additions to BUBO 2015 UK Bird List:
Nightingale   (186)
Swallow   (187)
House Martin   (188)

19/04/2015 Last bird sighting from Richmond - a Pileated Woodpecker at last!

Sunday 19th April 2015
Richmond

The last new bird sighting of the trip came, fittingly, in Adam and Jeans back yard.  Sue and I had just returned with Grace from the coffee shop to find Jean gesturing us to come quietly into the back yard where a Pileated Woodpecker was showing well.  The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest of the woodpeckers seen on this trip, almost crow-sized at 17". 
For the next 5 minutes or so we enjoyed smashing views, from less than 50 metres, of the bird ascending the tree trunk

Pileated Woodpecker
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on the ground



Pileated Woodpecker
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and feeding on insect on a cut log.

Pileated Woodpecker
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and, of course, flying.

Pileated Woodpecker
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What a great way to finish - our 5th species of woodpecker - and all in the same back yard!

12/04/2015 Birding with the Richmond Audubon Society - Bald Eagles and Prothonotary Warblers

Sunday 12th April 2015
Dutch Gap on the James River, Richmond VA
 Richmond Audubon Society Outing



Adam's wife, Jean, joined Sue and I for this outing with the local bird group - the Richmond Audubon Society - on their outing to the James River at Dutch Gap.  From the site map below you can see why this is such a good birding habitat.

Dutch Gap Site Map
Library Picture

Altogether there were 9 of us, including leader Lewis Barnett.   The target bird for the group was the Prothonotary Warbler but Sue and I, being from UK, put the Bald Eagle at the top of the wish list.  Thankfully both species were present. 

• Quite early on we saw a juvenile Bald Eagle perched at the top of a dead tree some 200 metres away but showing well.  

Juvenile Bald Eagle
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• Later on we had a superb view of an adult Bald Eagle flying overhead. 



Bald Eagle
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• The local university has been running a programme for over 20 years aimed at encouraging the Prothonotary Warblers to breed here.  They have provided numerous nest boxes like the one shown below as part of the process.

        http://www.richmondaudubon.org/NewsProthonotary.html

Prothonotary Warbler nest box
Library picture



On the evidence of last year's visit and this year's experience, the scheme seems to be working very well with several birds seen without too much difficulty. 

 

The birds themselves, of course, are quite stunning with their bright yellow plumage very prominent. 

Prothonotary Warbler
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• The other bird species that caught our attention was the Red-winged Blackbird.  Although a very common bird in these parts of the USA, we found the male  to be stunning and so attractive with it's bright red epaulets and yellow margin.



Red-winged Blackbird male
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Red-winged Blackbird male
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By contrast, the female is totally without any red and almost starling-like in plumage.



Red-winged Blackbird female
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•  There were plenty of Ospreys around and we were lucky on 2 occasions to see one catch a huge fish before flying off, presumably to the nest.

Osprey with large fish
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Shown below are pictures of some of the other birds we saw on our tour, in no particular order:

Mourning Dove
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Wood Ducks flying
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 We only saw these lovely ducks in flight; I would dearly love to have seen them on the water so we could have had views like the one shown below

Wood Duck
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Northern Flicker
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This was our fourth different woodpecker species so far on this holiday.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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Pied-billed Grebe
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Ruby-crowned Ringlet
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Very similar to our Goldcrest in size and colour.

Eastern Phoebe
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Dark-eyed Junco
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Tree Swallow flying
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Tree Swallows perched
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Brown Thrasher
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Palm Warbler
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Pine Warbler
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Yellow-rumped Warbler
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Carolina Wren
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Other species seen included the following: 
 (No pictures are shown either because they appear in earlier posts for this trip or they are common in UK)


Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Black Vultures 20+
Turkey Vultures 20+
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow 
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Merlin
Great Blue Heron
Laughing Gull
Canada Goose
American Goldfinch
Brown-headed Cowbird
Double-crested Cormorant
American Coot
Carolina Chickadee
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Bluebird




A couple of teasers to finish with:

• Is this is a Cormorant? 

Cormorant?
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Of course it is but it's different to the UK one in that in that breeding adults show two tufted plumes on head. 

Double-crested Cormorant
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Unfortunately we only saw the first image.  Nevertheless a new species for me.

• What about this one?

Crow ?

 It's another new species - a Fish Crow - nigh on identical to the American Crow and also to our UK Crow.  The only real way to distinguish it from the other types is to hear it's call
Fish Crows have a distinctive caw that is short, nasal and quite different-sounding from an American Crow.

• This was the major birding trip of our holiday and it certainly lived up to expectations with lots of birds around including some "stonkers". 

• As last year we were well looked after by our hosts and made to feel very welcome. 

• Thanks to Lewis and also Gail/Mario who took over for the final part of the proceedings.

10/04/2015 On the Chesapeake Bay at Urbanna 12+ Ospreys

Friday 10th April 2015
Urbanna on the Chesapeake Bay



This was our first chance to go to the Chesapeake Bay.  While Adam did a repair on his boat Sue and I took the chance to admire the Ospreys and look at some of the other birds that were around.

Osprey in flight
Library picture

We managed to see at least 12 Ospreys in the few hours we were there, with at least 5 nests showing clearly - all of them in use.  The nearest nesting pair were less than 100 yards from the boat and the male was coming and going all the time.




Ospreys on nest
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 At one point I could see 5 Osprey in the air at the same time - an awesome sight.




Here are some of the other birds seen:

Buffleheads
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I managed to count at least 20 of these lovely diving ducks.  In the picture above you can see 3 males and 3 females swimming together.

Laughing Gull
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There were at least 25 of these gulls, all in breeding plumage and a far cry from the one I saw at New Brighton a few weeks ago.

Horned Grebe
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There were 3 or 4 of these stunning grebes, just starting to come into breeding plumage.  These are better known to us as Slavonian Grebes.









Great Blue Heron
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There were a couple of these around the bay.





There were also 6+ Turkey Vultures, at least 2 Black Vultures, a couple of Northern Cardinals,  a couple of Double-crested Cormorants and lots of Swallows.





A really lovely morning out, in splendid hot weather, to see the spectacle of so many Ospreys gathered in one small part of the Chesapeake Bay.

11/04/2015 In Richmond VA, USA Volume 2

Richmond Virginia
Family days at home.
Volume 2

Here are some more pictures of birds seen at Adam and Jean's home in Richmond VA, in the garden (or yard as they say here in USA).  Most are not scarce or rare but none of them are normally found in the UK.

American Robin
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This is a much bigger bird than it's UK equivalent - it's as large as our blackbirds!

White-breasted Nuthatch
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Red-breasted Nuthatch
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Northern Mocking Bird
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House Finches  male and female
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White-throated Sparrow
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Blue Jay
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Brown-headed Cowbird
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Turkey Vulture
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Black Vulture
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11/04/2015 In Richmond VA, USA Volume 1

Richmond Virginia
Family days at home.  Volume 1.

Here are some pictures of birds seen at Adam and Jean's home in Richmond VA, in the garden (or yard as they say here in USA).  Most are not scarce or rare but none of them are normally found in the UK.

Northern Cardinal  male
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Northern Cardinal  female
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The Cardinal is the state bird of Virginia.

Eastern Bluebird male
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Eastern Bluebird female
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Downy Wodpecker male
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This is the smallest woodpecker in the USA and closely resembles our Lesser-spotted Woodpecker in size at least.  This species,however, is not the least bit elusive or rare and regularly turns up at the bird feeder.  The female has no red patch.









American Goldfinch male
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American Goldfinch female
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Hairy Woodpecker male
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Similar to the Downy Woodpecker but bigger and with a larger bill.  The female, again, has no red patch.

Tufted Titmouse
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Carolina Chickadee
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This small bird is similar to our Coal Tit/Marsh Tit/ Willow Tit.

Red-bellied Woodpecker male
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This stunning medium-sized woodpecker (about the same size as the Hairy Woodpecker) came to the feeder and was regularly seen in the trees in the yard.