Tuesday 8 February 2011

Tick from the Archives

October 2009 brought a very rare bird to Druridge Bay, a Glossy Ibis dropped in for a few days and the tiny hide came a hive of activity for the birding community from far and wide. As it was local I popped down to see the little beauty and was amazed at how obliging it was and sat quite a while for photos.
With all the excitement lots of other more common birds didn't get a look in that day and as I was flicking through some photos this little cracker took my eye. On my all time bird list I have indicated a possible sighting of a Greenshank and I think I have one. Scanning my bird book I first thought it to be a Sandpiper but realised it was the wrong colour and the bill was to big, next on my list was a Greenshank and although the picture in my book indicates a more curved bill I think for once
I may be right. If I'm right my all time list will be 113
Other cracking finds of the day were this Grey Plover which dropped in for a photo and a Little Grebe was also bobbing about.

I'm still amazed at how excited I get when I see something and try to ID it, even if I'm wrong which is quite often its still a great pass time and although these two birds were over shadowed that day by the Glossy Ibis I am so pleased I have found them for this blog entry. I have come to realise it's not just about the rare birds, the more common ones are just as important to me.

Monday 7 February 2011

A little help needed (again)



I've been off work for a while with a virus and I have had plenty of time to look through my old bird photo's and come across some smashing little blighters including this one taken at Cresswell in June 2009.
To many a trained eye it is a simple task to identify this little beauty, but as many of you know by now I am not as skilled in that department as I would like and more often get things muddled and wrong.
So here goes and yes you can laugh at my deductions if you so desire.....
The photo was taken at Creswell where there are lots of reeds....I don't think it's a female Reed Bunting because of the beak shape and the lack of streaks. My next guess would be a different sort of Reed dwelling bird so I looked up a Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler and came to the conclusion that because of the plain brown colouring it is most probably a Reed Warbler. If it is then its a Tick for me as it's not on my list.
Even if I am completely wrong it doesn't matter it's still a lovely little bird which has filled in an hour or so on what seems to be endless days of attempting to get better.
Any suggestions would be most welcome