A sunny hot day at Castle Ward, County Down, produced a very nice mix of wildlife, tourism and garden plants.
As far as the birds went, I got a few photos of what seemed to be a second calendar year female pied wagtail, Motacilla alba yarrellii, on the foreshore below the farm at Castle Ward, with its dark grey and somewhat blotchy back, leading gradually into the black cap and a blackish rump (the latter not visible in the first photo below). I remember clearly as a child seeing what I think now must have been individuals of the European race of this bird, Motacilla alba alba in its winter quarters in Africa, particularly on the watered lawns of the yacht club and the posher houses in my then home town of Dar-es-Salaam.
I was surprised to see how brown the primary feathers in this bird were. The outer greater coverts are also browner than the inner ones indicating the mixed age of these feathers. Browning may indicate wearing of the feathers. I wondered if it was a first summer bird, as described in several websites such as http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?print=1&a=2544 but this is said to be an unreliable characteristic after the spring, according to http://www.digimages.info/bergri/Wagtails_MotacillaAlba&Yarrellii_DB32-4_2010.pdf.
Another option I investigated but quickly rejected, is that this is a juvenile bird, hatched this spring and moulting into its first year plumage. This bird just wouldn't fit as juvenile plumage. In addition this bird today is very similar to the bird photographed at Morfa on the 10th of April, so both are presumably first summer (2cy) birds.
This is a fairly easy bird to identify to subspecies because of the time of year. As it is summer this must I think be a residential 2cy female (?) bird of Motacilla alba yarrellii. Migrating birds of the European subspecies Motacilla alba alba are more difficult to separate in the autumn than the spring, but it is a bit too early for migrants, and the features do not seem to particularly match alba. Reference to this ID sheet is generally useful, file:///C:/Users/davidc/Downloads/THE-SEPARATION-OF-WHITE-AND-PIED-WAGTAILS%20(2).pdf.
Further information is available on http://www.chog.org.uk/Ringing/Features/Autumn%20Wagtails%20Identification.htm and http://birdwatchidblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/autumn-white-wagtails-easy-id-shortcut.html
In this picture the mixed age of the greater coverts is even more obvious. The newer coverts show good broad white edges to the feathers, as yarrellii should. The bird is quite dark grey on the upper flank as well I think (does not seem to be just a shadow cast by the wing), another characteristic feature of yarrellii.
This is perhaps the best picture of the continuation of the black feathers into a blackish rump, yet another feature of yarrellii. Again I think the dark grey of the upper flank can be seen.
Further along the foreshore I came across a different bird that appeared to be a male bird just doing some early moulting - the fluffy down of the old body feathers is over the outside of the new feathers, but still the overall impression is of a very black coloured bird, a putative male. It cannot be a 1cy bird as I had first thought, because they are very much greyer.
In this picture you can also see how fluffy the breast is, and overall the bird is quite tatty. It is quite confusing because this is strictly too early for moulting.
Down on the shore, there were also Herons, Ardea cinerea, Black-headed Gulls, Chrioicephalus ridibundus scavening along the tide line and Common or Artic Terns, Stena sp., fishing out in the deeper waters along Strangford Lough. Later on in the woods, there was a Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla singing unseasonally and Jays, Garrulus glandarius, calling. Other birds included Blackbirds, Turdus merula, Songthrushes, Sparrows, and Woodpigeons, .
The Black-headed Gulls were largely breeding adults with no signs yet of moulting to non-breeding plumage. These are two different birds, alike as two peas in a pod.
The Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, was too far away to see any detail.
As far as the birds went, I got a few photos of what seemed to be a second calendar year female pied wagtail, Motacilla alba yarrellii, on the foreshore below the farm at Castle Ward, with its dark grey and somewhat blotchy back, leading gradually into the black cap and a blackish rump (the latter not visible in the first photo below). I remember clearly as a child seeing what I think now must have been individuals of the European race of this bird, Motacilla alba alba in its winter quarters in Africa, particularly on the watered lawns of the yacht club and the posher houses in my then home town of Dar-es-Salaam.
I was surprised to see how brown the primary feathers in this bird were. The outer greater coverts are also browner than the inner ones indicating the mixed age of these feathers. Browning may indicate wearing of the feathers. I wondered if it was a first summer bird, as described in several websites such as http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?print=1&a=2544 but this is said to be an unreliable characteristic after the spring, according to http://www.digimages.info/bergri/Wagtails_MotacillaAlba&Yarrellii_DB32-4_2010.pdf.
Another option I investigated but quickly rejected, is that this is a juvenile bird, hatched this spring and moulting into its first year plumage. This bird just wouldn't fit as juvenile plumage. In addition this bird today is very similar to the bird photographed at Morfa on the 10th of April, so both are presumably first summer (2cy) birds.
This is a fairly easy bird to identify to subspecies because of the time of year. As it is summer this must I think be a residential 2cy female (?) bird of Motacilla alba yarrellii. Migrating birds of the European subspecies Motacilla alba alba are more difficult to separate in the autumn than the spring, but it is a bit too early for migrants, and the features do not seem to particularly match alba. Reference to this ID sheet is generally useful, file:///C:/Users/davidc/Downloads/THE-SEPARATION-OF-WHITE-AND-PIED-WAGTAILS%20(2).pdf.
Further information is available on http://www.chog.org.uk/Ringing/Features/Autumn%20Wagtails%20Identification.htm and http://birdwatchidblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/autumn-white-wagtails-easy-id-shortcut.html
In this picture the mixed age of the greater coverts is even more obvious. The newer coverts show good broad white edges to the feathers, as yarrellii should. The bird is quite dark grey on the upper flank as well I think (does not seem to be just a shadow cast by the wing), another characteristic feature of yarrellii.
This is perhaps the best picture of the continuation of the black feathers into a blackish rump, yet another feature of yarrellii. Again I think the dark grey of the upper flank can be seen.
Further along the foreshore I came across a different bird that appeared to be a male bird just doing some early moulting - the fluffy down of the old body feathers is over the outside of the new feathers, but still the overall impression is of a very black coloured bird, a putative male. It cannot be a 1cy bird as I had first thought, because they are very much greyer.
In this picture you can also see how fluffy the breast is, and overall the bird is quite tatty. It is quite confusing because this is strictly too early for moulting.
Down on the shore, there were also Herons, Ardea cinerea, Black-headed Gulls, Chrioicephalus ridibundus scavening along the tide line and Common or Artic Terns, Stena sp., fishing out in the deeper waters along Strangford Lough. Later on in the woods, there was a Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla singing unseasonally and Jays, Garrulus glandarius, calling. Other birds included Blackbirds, Turdus merula, Songthrushes, Sparrows, and Woodpigeons, .
The Black-headed Gulls were largely breeding adults with no signs yet of moulting to non-breeding plumage. These are two different birds, alike as two peas in a pod.
The Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, was too far away to see any detail.
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