Black-tailed Godwits at Oare Marshes

Most individual birds are now moulting into their breeding plumages, and beginning to look absolutely stunning.

This bird was just changing into some breeding feathers, but is very slow.

This individual was noticeably still very grey indeed and I wondered whether it might be a young non-breeder? It seemed to me to be superficially quite "scaly" on its wings and coverts, but most importantly fairly well worn, so possibly still retaining its juvenile feathers. Its bill was incidentally also clearly still over-wintering pink as opposed to the breeding yellow.

Another cracking day at Cliffe Pools

A standard long walk around - in warm sunshine! On Crytal/Elf/Conoco pools there were many Black-headed Gulls and a pair of Mediterranean Gulls, together with quite a few Greylag Geese. Pochard, Mallard and Tufted Duck. There were two Oystercatchers and one Snipe at the waters edge at the front of one of the islands. There were a few Little and Great Crested Grebes, together with Coot and one Moorhen over the water.

There was a Robin and Chaffinch singing on the other side of the path to the Pinnacle lookout mound. The viewing mound over Radar was dominated by the Black-headed Gulls, displaying, attempting to mate and always excitedly calling. There were also at least two pairs of Mediterranean Gulls, together with two pairs of Oystercatchers. Always wandering in among the gulls are Jackdaws, who seem to be moderately tolerated, and a few duck settled down comfortably such as Pochard.

Waders resting up on the islands at the high tide peak included a couple of dozen Common Redshanks, about five hundred Black-tailed Godwits and and over a hundred Avocets, although I didn't see any Dunlin on Radar Pool today.

On the water there were Tufted Duck, Pochard, a few Pintail and Shoveller and a large raft of Wigeon. Coots, Little Grebes and Great Crested Grebes. There were Greylag Geese and Shelduck at the back by Hidden Pool.

Walking on to Black Barn Pools to eat my sandwiches in the sunshine, I passed several Cetti's Warblers hiding in the ditches who briefly sang at me. On the pools there were Pochard, Shoveller, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, a few Black-headed Gulls and two Little Egrets.

On Flamingo Pool, there were about a dozen Ringed Plovers, at least two Dunlin, Lapwing, many dozen Common Redshank, Avocets (largely moved from Radar?), and at least two Curlew.  Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, at least one remaining pair of Goldeneye, the male being a first winter bird, with head colours morphing into the blackish of the adult with the white patch, but still with the odd headshape, brownish eye, and darkish flanks of the young bird, a few Shoveller, Shelduck, more Coot, Great Crested (a pair displaying in the distance, probably on Hidden Pool) and Little Grebes. Black-headed Gulls, and then a Barn Owl hunting over the marsh at the back.

The male first winter bird, with head colours morphing into the blackish of the adult with the white patch, but still with the odd headshape, brownish eye, and darkish flanks of the young bird. A few months ago it would have been nearly indistinguishable from a female, but would have lacked the yellow bill tip. It is sitting quite low in the water.

There was a Little Egret quite close before I left.

There were Blackbirds, Robins, Chaffinches and a Great Tit singing along the track back to the car.

Lovely but slightly chilly day at Cliffe

When looking at the few Oystercatchers on the islands there was clearly one with a white neck-ring. This could have been an adult that had not yet moulted with a duller bill tip, or perhaps more likely an immature bird that retains its white neck-ring throughout at least the first breeding season (second year). If it was an immature I should also have noticed a duller eye, greyer legs perhaps, a less intense black on the back, and an overall duller and perhaps more pointed bill - but I didn't look. The pointed bill indicates feeding on mudflats and pastures, as the strongest adults strongly defend the best bits of the oysterbeds, the oysters and mussels of which they attack and lever op with a broader blade-shaped bill.

The pale delicate whitish-grey small bird with the Redshanks, with a stiletto bill and orange-yellow legs. Could it have been a Wilson's Phalarope? If not, what are the alternative IDs?

A composed Cliffe

A slow walk around the long path around Cliffe.

Three or four Little Egrets, hundreds of Lapwings, a hundred Black-tailed Godwit, forty plus Redshank, one Greenshank, three or four Dunlin, four Oystercatcher.

Forty plus Teal, Twenty plus Mallard, over a hundred Wigeon, twenty plus Shoveller, fifteen or so Pintail, more than fifty Tufted Duck, ditto Pochard, Twenty or more Greylags, half a dozen Canada Geese.

Hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, one Common Gull (1cy), Larus canus, several Herring Gulls overflying.

Forty plus Little Grebe, four or five Great Crested Grebe.

A dozen Magpie, at least six Carrion Crow, Rooks on the field, six Dunnock, five (heard) Cetti's Warbler, at least three Robins, same for Blackbirds, one Great Tit, 

Early spring at Cliffe

The Black-headed Gulls are displaying noisily all over the islands, arguing with each other and the jackdaws.

There are still some numbers of wintering ducks, particularly Wigeon, of which there are still hundreds. I wonder where they all go in the summer. There were about a dozen Pintail who were spending much of their time upending, and a few Teal and Mallard in the distance. There were dozens of Pochard, mainly male of course, females having travelled further South. Tufted Duck were widely distributed across all of the pools.

The Goldeneye are the most interesting duck to me, because of their relative rarity and delicate beauty. The males and females seem to be more closely associated with each other now, either in pairs or triads. The first pair I saw were apparently together. The female was almost apparently comatose, with its neck and head extended out forwards to sit flat on the water. This is called the prone-posture, and is sometimes referred to as a form of inciting. It is understood as a prelude to mating, and is generally seen from February onwards on the wintering grounds, both when the birds are first in groups and then as the birds pair up, and then later when the birds are fully and "permanently" paired up on the breeding grounds. This stillness was very striking and long-lasting lasting several minutes (the record is about 30 minutes I believe), and is referred to in BWP in the section on copulation behaviour, although the male in this case was not apparently adding the full range of other typical behaviours, and the sequence of events finished with another female joining the pair, and then the individuals diving individually. The male was moving around in front or almost circling the female, quite close, perhaps within the 60 cm mentioned in BWP, displaying by vigorously throwing its head backwards, although too far away to hear if it was calling as well. NOTE - the male also sometimes goes briefly prone, perhaps as a prelude to attack in antagonistic displays.

The females were too far away to be seen clearly and were recognised  by overall shape, grey-brownish tinge, and occasionally the wing-bar. As always the bill is tipped yellow. The Eastman book from North America says that this yellow tip disappears after the breeding season, and re-appears over winter in preparation for the next one.

A couple of dozen Little Grebe, but no Black-necked Grebes as far as I could see. Basically, when I scan the water, if it is at all brownish, then I am eliminating the other Grebes, and this does seem to work.

Dungeness

Got onto the reserve at about 3 pm, and had a look at the birdfood before I went off to the Frith Hide. There were good views of the large gulls, mainly Herring, but also Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls. The juveniles were particularly intriguing. The sub-adult Lesser had a good black stripe at the tip of the bill. The young Great Black-backed was particularly scaly.

From the Scott hide, different views of the Gulls, and many Cormorants. One Cetti's warbler close to the hide.

Back to Dennis' hide, and very good views of the drake and two duck Smew, Mergellus albellus, together with the related Goldeneye, here two drakes and three duck, all in one telescope view.

Why are there so many more female Smew than there are males? Even in German winter quarters, there are only 45% males, and in Britain females greatly outnumber males. The answer is given in a Birdworld article: "and as if to rub in their sparing patronage, Smews don’t even send us many of their best. Although the females, and the similarly plumaged first-winter immatures, are distinctive and dapper birds, they cannot compete for sheer looks with the males. A true Smew is a male Smew, with its authentically snow-tinged plumage and smart black blobs and lines that break up its outline. Yet we receive many fewer of these than females and immatures. The reason is a phenomenon known as differential migration. In many species of birds, different age classes of birds have different migratory profiles. Most typically, adult males undertake the shortest journeys, staying as close as possible to the breeding grounds so that, when the time comes, they can sprint quickly to occupy their high latitude territories. Females also tend to be smaller-bodied than males, and potentially suffer in competition with them, so they migrate longer distances, keeping them away from the males and allowing them to nestle in more gentle climates. But the result of this differential migration is that we, at the far end of the Smew’s migration, are starved of seeing the handsome males. The migration is differential, and also discriminatory." Generally when in England they are traditionally found South of the Wash (this may be less true nowadays), and may be temporarily driven over from Holland in severe episodes of winter weather.

The Smew, Mergellus albellus, is one of the smallest members of the sawbill group of duck. Like the other Mergansers in the main genus Mergus, and also in the tribe Merginae, the bill is serrated. In the winter and early spring, the Smew's diet is mainly fish, either on salt or fresh water. On the breeding grounds, when the birds move from the rivers to the lakes as they unfreeze, the diet changes to insects. In November, when the insects die or drop to the bottom of the lakes, the diet changes abruptly back to fish.

The female is most easily recognised at distance by its flattened shape, and the obvious white cheeks. Next the red cap is fairly easily picked out, against the generally light grey bird. The narrow white wing bar can be seen at rest, and can be seen as one of the three white sides of a square when the wing is extended - or that's what it looked like to me.

The male is obviously primarily white, with black lines and greyer areas on the flank. The shape is again quite distinctive, particularly the steep forehead. The bill is particularly delicate.

On the breeding grounds the birds use dead trees, often holed by Black Woodpeckers for nest-sites. They readily adapt to nest-boxes. Threats to the population include habitat loss particularly affecting nest-sites such as logging and river canalisation, oil pollution, and hunting while on passage.

Rye Golf club

Two Med Gulls