Surf Scoter - Girdleness - 2/11/2024

Girdleness

Saturday 02 November 2024

Today, I was testing out my possible new scope since, I had forgotten my tripod at home when we were on holiday in France in mid-October. We therefore decided to properly test it while birding at my local patch, Girdleness. After our karate session on Saturday morning, we left to test out my scope. I saw a couple of Purple Sandpipers on the south pier and my first for the autumn: a Fieldfare in Greyhope bay. My mother and I walked towards the fog horn, hoping to test the scope’s seawatching capabilities. I set up the scope behind the “old coo” fog horn, sheltered from the wind. I noticed two dark brown/black ducks on the water. I ignored them at first, thinking “probably eiders… no point checking”. After doing some seawatching for about 0.000001 seconds, I got bored and thought, “for goodness’s sake, I’ll look at the eiders,” and there it was: my lifer Surf Scoter. After thinking I was dreaming, which is when I find loads of rare birds, I realised I was still awake. I jumped up and down like a mad man, screaming and shouting I asked my mum to call my dad, who had access to the ABZ rare birds WhatsApp and Facebook groups. Within a few minutes, the message was out: “Surf Scoter Girdleness in front of old coo fog horn. Adult male with female eider. Found by Edgar” followed by a photo and the caption “Here now”, a few minutes later. Andrew Whitehouse arrived a few minutes after, from the battery, followed by several other people. Keith Yates also got the bird after we had left.

eBird Checklist

Record Shots of the Surf Scoter

Hyde Park - August 2024

Hyde Park

Monday 12 August 2024

Today, my family and I took the coach to London to ask for a passport at the French embassy. I heard this as an opportunity for some birding, so I brought our camera to photograph some species, too. We arrived at Marble Arch and walked through Hyde Park, seeing many Egyptian Geese, Greylag Geese and Canada Geese. As we walked along the Serpentine, we saw some Black-headed gulls and a few Moorhens. Near the boat hire on the North side of the lake, there were a few Coots and, a female Tufted Duck that let us take some amazing photographs. As well as many Mute Swans. Sheltered in the bay of a small island on the lake, I saw my lifer Red-crested Pochard! Although they were females and not as beautiful as the males of the species. We had to hurry a bit after that, since the meeting was in only about half an hour later. While hurrying, we passed a Black Swan, a bird which is native to Australia and New Zealand, but many birds have escaped from captivity and found London parks, a great place to live. All this time we were impressed by how loud all the Ring-necked parakeets were, as they flew through the trees of the park. Once we had finish at the embassy, we had a French pancake (crêpe) at a local crêperie. On the way back, we saw a few Great Crested Grebes and some more of the species that we had seen before.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S191175317

Egyptian Geese

Glossy Ibis - Otmoor RSPB

Otmoor RSPB Reserve

Saturday 10 August 2024

This evening, we went for a walk around Otmoor RSPB Reserve, a ten-minute drive from our house in Oxford. We started by seeing a flock of Long-tailed tits and a Chiffchaff at the car park. On the way to the feeders, my father and I saw a male Bullfinch, but my mum and sisters are ahead and didn't see it. The feeders didn't have much apart from the usual suspects; a young Blue tit and a grey squirrel. As we kept walking, we saw two Linnets feeding on the path and a Kestrel hovering over the wetlands. We heard a high-pitched squeak which another birder told us was a young Cuckoo, Oxfordshire #101. Near the wetlands watch hide, we heard a few Cetti's Warblers and saw about 7 Little egrets feeding in the pools. Unlike most times, we didn't stop at the Wetlands watch, since we had heard that there was a Glossy Ibis that came to roost at the 1st screen at around 2100. In the hedges towards the 1st screen, we saw a male Blackbird with a juvenile. At the screen, we saw many wildfowl including Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck and 2 Mute Swans. In the tree we also noticed many Cattle Egrets and a couple Cormorants. On the water, we saw some Great Crested Grebes and many Coots. Soon, the person beside us had spotted an impressive 5 Hobbies in the distance, but I only saw two of them, which marked my Oxfordshire #102 and my first for the UK. Soaring over the reedbeds were two Marsh Harriers, one of them a leutistic bird with white patches on it body due to a lack of melanin. It was 20:40 so it was only a matter of time until the Glossy Ibis would fly over us from big Otmoor. While we were waiting, I noticed that the people to the left of us were Suzy and John Buttress, the hosts of the Casual Birder Podcast. I decided I would wait for the Glossy Ibis to come in, to make sure neither of us would miss it. After a few minutes of waiting, we saw the Glossy Ibis fly over our heads and do a few turns around the ponds before flying into the trees to roost, an amazing sight! Once we had enjoyed the show, we had a chat with Suzy and John and my sisters and I got badges and a keychain with the Casual Birder Podcast logo on it. Suzy will include me in her episode on the Glossy Ibis at Otmoor. If you would like to listen to her podcast, go to this website: https://casualbirder.com 

https://ebird.org/checklist/S190981633

Logo of the Casual Birder Podcast

Glossy Ibis