Wednesday 27 March 2024

Wild Bird Wednesday 609 - American Robin

Following on from last week's post about the European Robin, this week we have the American Robin (Turdus migratorius).  This Robin is a Thrush, and as the second part of its scientific name suggests, it migrates!

I saw this bird in Ontario, which I think is more or less at the northern edge of its year round range.  As you go further north in Canada this species becomes a summer visitor.

You can certainly see why this bird was called a Robin!








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Wednesday 20 March 2024

Wild Bird Wednesday 608 - European Robin

The European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) has never been known to me as anything other than just a Robin.

As long term readers will know, I do like a story about the names of birds - and this species has a number of stories attached to it.  One of the traditional names for this species is Robin Redbreast.  Even a casual glance at the pictures below will reveal that it is in fact an 'orange-breast'.  This inconsistency has come about (apparently) because the name Redbreast was given to the bird before the colour orange had been given a name!  Orange seems to have only appeared as the name of a colour in English when the fruit arrived in the country.

Equally interesting is the idea that this is the 'original' robin in terms of its name - but not taxonomy - and in regions that were settled / colonised by the British any bird with a red (or orange!) breast was called a Robin.  Hence North American Robins, and the Robins of Australia.  None of these birds are particularly closely related despite the similar common names.

I found this Robin at Ham Wall RSPB reserve in Somerset. It's a common bird in the UK, but it is demonstrating its calm demeanour around people which is only found in the species in Ireland and the UK. This is different to the behaviour of the species in Continental Europe, where the bird is shy and timid of people.   In the UK Robins will often forage in freshly turned garden soil, often as the gardener is still digging close by.  In the rest of Europe the bird heads for cover at the sign of people.

One explanation for this its that Robin have never been much of a target for hunters in the UK.  The same cannot be said for the rest of Europe.  I have to say, I hope this explanation is true!








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Wednesday 13 March 2024

Wild Bird Wednesday 607 - Zebra Dove.

WBW is brought to you this week by a more conventionally coloured pigeon type bird than last week's bird!

This is a Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata) and it was sunning itself on a branch outside the town of Ubud in Bali, Indonesia.

The  Zebra Dove is a small, grayish brown dove with dark bars on the breast and back, and bare blue skin around the eye. The call is a rapid series of short “coos,” - ie it sounds like most doves! This species is native to Southeast Asia, but has been introduced elsewhere. It is generally quite abundant throughout both its native and non-native range, especially in urban and suburban areas: and this is exactly where I saw it!







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Wednesday 6 March 2024

Wild Bird Wednesday 606 - Gray-cheeked Green-Pigeon

The Gray-Cheeked Green-Pigeon (Treron griseicauda) is a species that is endemic to Indonesia, although it is only found on Sulawesi, Java and Bali.  It is considered 'fairly common' in the lowlands of Bali, and this is where I photographed these birds.

This species is described as having a 'comical' eye ring - and I can understand what this means.

Although I never managed to photograph them we could see this species in the trees around our accomodation, where they were feeding on fruit in the canopy of tall fruit trees.

By pigeon standards, this is small bird -  only 26 cm long.







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Wednesday 28 February 2024

Wild Bird Wednesday 605 - Great Crested Grebe

The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) is one of a limited number of native birds that I can see at home in Australia and here in the UK at present.  Although the birds in these two regions are classified as different sub-species, both European and Australian birds are called Podiceps cristatus, but they have an additional name added as well.

In the UK the Great Crested Grebe is an important bird in the history of conservation as it was its serious decline that prompted the formation of the RSPB.  The birds were being hunted to near extinction so that their head feathers could be used in hats.  Nobody except a Great Crested Grebe needs these feathers, so it great to see that the population has recovered well, and that you can now expect to see these birds (reasonably) commonly in the wild.

The first picture here was taken in the UK, in Somerset.  The remaining pictures were taken in Victoria.












An interesting point about birds and the internet:  distribution map for Great Crested Grebe on Wikipedia seems to suggest that this species is non-breeding in Australia.  Nobody seems to have mentioned this to the Australian birds!

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Wednesday 21 February 2024

Wild Bird Wednesday 604 - Snettisham

Stettisham is a small town on the on the east coast of The Wash in the UK. There is an RSPB reserve there that gives 'views across brackish lagoons, salt marsh and a vast expanse of mudflats'.  It's basically wader heaven.

I was lucky enough to be there on two days when very high tides coincided with the sunrise.  This means that huge flock of Red Knot are pushed off their muddy feeding grounds by the rising tide.  

This does two things - firstly it makes the Knot (and other waders) fly around in huge groups over the mud.  I'm not 100% sure this is technically a murmuration as I think that term may only apply to Starlings - but I sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong.  Anyway, the visual impact in the same - huge groups of birds in the air at once: twisting and turning - and in the case of the Knot, the whole flock flashing pale white as their underwings show.  And the sound they make as they fly over your head - utterly remarkable.

The second thing that happens is that once the birds have been pushed off the mud they roost in there 10's of thousands on a single bank - but those pictures are for another day,










Of course, being out at dawn presents other photographic opportunities as well.





As you will have gathered, I'm in the UK at present.  If anybody wants to see other pictures from this continuing trip you can find me on FaceBook.  

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