Whimbrel: calling adult with juvenile.
Adult
This is the blog for bird sightings and related news in the Calderdale area. It is generally updated daily. Any non-member wishing to report and post sightings should send them to info(at)calderdalebirds(dot)co(dot)uk
Long-eared Owl
This is a different bird from the one photographed on 16 July. The belly streaks are thinner. And where the upper face disc of the other bird is mainly orange, here it is mainly grey. Also, this bird was quite tame. It could be the young bird that was heard calling 5 days ago? It was only 100m from where the calls were heard, and no hunger calls were heard today.Tufted duck with 5 young
2 Scaup (14 July)I've posted these photos because it is interesting to compare Tufted Duck and Scaup when plumage is no help telling them apart. Of the Scaup photos on 14 July, no. 5 is too distant to be useful, and nos. 1-3 are clear cut: no Tufted has a bill like those birds have. But the birds in photo no. 4 (reposted above) are more problematic:- they have no tuft, but today's Tufted has none either (? moulted) - it does not even have a 'bump' on the nape;
- these Scaup's bills from the side are less massive than those in photos 1-3: they look similar to the Tufted's: they are probably broader but we cannot see that: (do female Scaup have smaller bills than males?);
- so (apart from their being with definite Scaups) it comes down to head profile: the highest point on the Tufted's crown is about half way along, and there is a slight bend at the nape - giving the head a squarish shape: in the Scaups the highest point on the crown is further forward - just behind the eye - and then the crown, nape, and hindneck curve smoothly downwards with no interruption - so the head does not look square.
Finally, a very useful thing I've noticed is that, when diving, Scaups tend to spend far longer under water than a Tufted Duck ever does.
Long-eared Owl adult. Repeated 'hunger calls' were heard, (first heard and identified by NK). Presumably the calls were from a hidden juvenile.
Tried this morning in the drizzle for yesterdays Black-tailed Godwit that was there at some point yesterday. Gone now, just too late for it !
Its avian name is my feeble excuse for putting this wonderful Hummingbird Hawk-moth onto a bird blog. It hovers like a Hummingbird while it drinks nectar from a flower through its long tongue.
Tried hard this morning till noon for the summer plumage Black-tailed Godwit found by BS earlier in the day. In a strengthening wind up there I failed to relocate it and just about managed 1 Oystercatcher and 2 Common Sandpipers scoping from the top road watch-points. I suspected the bird had moved on.
I gather that NK relocated what was presumably the same bird later in the day at Ogden Water and a Little Egret turned up there too.
Little Ringed Plover. This is a different bird from yesterday: the breast band is narrower, suggesting it is a female. The breast band of the (presumed) male yesterday was broader either side of the midline, giving a 'dickey bow' effect.
Common Sandpiper: adult and juvenile. The upperparts of the adult (lower bird) are plainer than those of the juvenile. The juvenile's upperparts have dark and light markings, and are lighter brown overall.Still a few waders about but nothing too exciting in the heat yesterday afternoon.
A single Wheatear on the walls at Withens Head was about the best.
Little Ringed Plover
2 female Ringed PloversBIRD A
Trip up there this afternoon to see if any further waders were present as viewed from Turvin Road . Nothing new but still 1 Sanderling, 4 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpipers, 1 Curlew and 2 drake Teal.
Kestrel nearby and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls dropped in briefly to bathe and preen.
Great Crested Grebe. My first here. (Because of the rain, I had only my 30x pocket Lumix with me).
But since none of these applies to me, the only way I can build a lengthy local patch list (as opposed to a Calderdale list) is by lumping two very different habitats together as a single split patch.
Late afternoon. 3 Golden Plover, not northern forms, in field by Withens Head farm with a pair Stonechats running the walls.