Materials Man

On the 24/7/2010 I found a Tawny Owl feather and gave it to my wife to use in bee keeping as a soft brush to remove bees from the frames. She said it was a buzzard feather and I said it was a Tawny owl, she agreed. But it got me thinking that I should be able to prove that it was an owl feather, particularly a nocturnal owl as they strike with silence given to them from “soft” wing feathers. So I set out to photograph a pheasants tail feather against this wing feather of a suspected owl.

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Although I am comparing a tail feather with a primary wing feather I hope you can see the much softer surface of the tawny’s feather. They sacrifice flying efficiency by increasing the drag on their wings but the pay off is a silent approach, no hard wing edges and the wing surface is “hairier”  therefore reducing the air speed over the wing making a wing flap or glide quieter.

I hope my pictures demonstrate this. I need to pick up a wing feather from a diurnal species to make this comparison proper.

24/7/2010

As I expected the eyrie is now empty and an Osprey was perched on the top of the highest tree nearby. Ospreys are really nosey, when you watch them doing nothing they are always alert, and like to perch high to get the best view. I could not sex the bird on the tree, due to having its back to me and its head out of sight. Later I did pick up the female on a post with a fish, I suspect a pike as I could just make out a rounded tail fin, she sat for a while not feeding then took off and disappeared. I then picked up a juvenile on another post, see photo and note the mottled appearance of the plumage. On this day I confirmed three juvs and the adult female, but where was the male?

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Also pictured is a wood pigeon which I thought was nicely framed and the Ospreys on perches on the river, there is one picture with the crows picking at a fish, probably the one the female had earlier. Later I saw a juvenile recover the fish and have a desultory pick at it. I also saw a juvenile marsh harrier so the usual pair have raised at least one chick. The juvenile bird I saw had no wing tags, perhaps that exercise has stopped, it was hunting at the reed bed edge and did stoop and did not reappear, I did have a good view of it’s wings as wing tags are not always that  easy to spot.

Well I was out observing on the 11/7/10 but the gale force winds restricted the young Ospreys. So on the 13/7/10  I was on station at 5.55 am and as I thought the young Ospreys could fly, well two could the third remained nest bound. The female was on lookout, the male was off fishing? and one off the juvs took off, flew around, and just disappeared for the remaining 40 mins I was there. I suspect he/she was nearby and waiting for the fish delivery. It is frustrating getting these visual jigsaw pieces, it has taken me years to get a basic understanding of Osprey behaviour from weekend observing, and Roy Dennis’s book helps, see below, I blogged Loch of the Lowes for a full years diary notes that i would pay for, not available, SWT need a commercial leader. Your detailed 24 hour observations are worth money, my money anyway. My jigsaw is incomplete.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Ospreys-Roy-Dennis/dp/1904445268/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279047026&sr=1-1

to sum up a season “my” ospreys are exemplary, most lay three eggs and raise two chicks, mine laid ? eggs but three well fed chicks are a testimony to a very successful pair.

Hope the marsh harriers do as well.

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Derek what are these insects, and don’t say ladybird and shield bug , I’ve got that far already. I have posted both on Ispot so lets see how good your reference books are !! have you been to Ispot ?

T in the park so it must rain and it is, 10th July and went to visit the ospreys, between drizzles of rain, had to step carefully due to hundreds well I mean lots of  toadlets. see pics, I have put these pics on Ispot to verify that they are toads and not frogs. This is a fantastic resource when you can’t identify a species, any species. The nearest pond is 500m away and I assume their origin, although a stream from the pond is 30m away.

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The young Ospreys are now the size of their parents and are rising some several feet during flapping exercises, next week I expect them to be flying around.

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I forgot about these pictures of Greylag geese breeding on the same loch as the Slavonian grebes, the grebes had two juvs and were not to be photographed, these geese were more obliging.

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There are two populations of Greylags in Scotland a naturalised population in the South and East and a  native population in the North and West 1. The naturalised population is in part introduced birds and both populations are increasing

1.  The birds of Scotland volume 1

I was out on the 3 and 4 of July and had nothing much to observe, except three chicks are well fed and just about to start that wing flapping stage. I was expecting to see them doing this but as the wind was gale to nearly gale force they were sensibly reluctant to try. I was concerned on the 4th that I went along at 5pm to see if the eyrie was still there, it was, and due to the wind direction and the surrounding trees it was somewhat sheltered. I did report one year that the eyrie had been blown down during winter gales so my concern had some founding. The male had a good spot away from buffeting winds but the female was not happy on the nest or perched nearby, she took off a few times and eventually I spotted her on a fence post where she was preening, so I guess she want to do feather care but was reluctant to leave the eyrie, but had to due to the gale force winds. One thing I did accomplish was starting to identify umbelliferers, the picture shows a hogweed (not giant) with a common red soldier beetle.

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as an off the wall link, being a gout sufferer I occasionally use diclofenac, it kills vultures, see connection below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sx8nd/Saving_Species_Episode_14/

whilst at work on site at the m74jv project, to relieve my boredom I threw a couple of beef hula hoops out the van window to see what it attracted to the dinner table. Within seconds a carrion crow appeared and scoffed them. I then threw out another couple with the same result. By this time the bag was finished and 30 seconds later the crow flew off in front of the van to the near side verge to watch. So, on to the next packet which I retrieved out of my rucksack with much rustling of the packet. On hearing the rustling the crow was instantly back at my window full of expectancy, so birds do have lugs, and a brain to back them up.

20 June saw the male bring in a small pike and the female set about feeding her chicks, there are still three but one was being a teenager and just lying around. As the male took up his customary position out of faecal squirt range I saw he had a yellow ring on his right leg and a silver one on his left. These rings are harder to see than you might think as branches and feathers often obscure them. They  hunker down when preening and can stand on one leg. So it is well into the season and I am just spotting this yellow ring, oh for a camera on the nest area!

25 June, 5.00 am, at my usual watching time of 8 to 10 am I usually see a feeding session, I was reluctant to believe this was the first feed of the day, so I got up early and was on station by 5.00 am. Just witnessed the female feeding a chick who was soon full up and moving away. So that answers my question, well kind of, as the first feed of the day may be around 8 to 10 am if the fishing conditions are bad? The next bit was interesting as well, the female fed herself for a bit, the chicks were not interested, then she flapped to where the male usually sits and preens, he was up an adjacent tree. He immediately swoops down over her head and takes the considerable remains of the fish up the adjacent tree and starts to feed. Now I thought the male fed from the head of the fish and the body, then brought the fish to the nest for it to be consumed. He might well have done this as I did not see him arrive, and it could be he has no problems feeding his family so by 6.00 am they, including the female,  are full, so he has a second feed. He did fly back to the nest with the fish, but the female and chicks ignored him, so back off to the adjacent tree he went and sat for some time before resuming his feeding. The pics are the male preening and obscuring his legs, male up the adjacent tree and female on his usual preening perch, male on nest and female on his usual perch and female on nest

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spotted this unusual feather in a field next to the estuary, there was 3 or 4, not enough for a death on the ground, struck in the air and escaped? I think it’s from a water bird, so it would not be roosting in a field of cows. Possible feather from the breast or flank. But from what?

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A couple of visits to Lochwinnoch RSPB centre over the last few days gave great views of many juvenile birds.  Of particular interest was two juvenile great spotted woodpeckers that were feeding from the nut feeder only a few metres from the photo hide.  My first visit on Sunday afternoon found the photo hide full of huge lenses and just enough room for me to fit in.  Great views were had of the woodpeckers and numerous other birds.  On Tuesday night the weather was still fine so I decided to pay another visit – this time I found the photo hide empty and had it to myself for a very enjoyable couple of hours viewing the birds.  The two juv woodpeckers were constant companions for the whole time (mostly one at a time)  with a few visits from an adult male.  Numerous Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits and Chaffinches were also in attendance.  On both Sunday and Tuesday I had great views of a Reed Bunting and Redpoll, the latter a bird that I had only seen once before Sunday.  As well as the little birds there was also a family of Rooks present – one adult and three juvs – the adult rook in the way of clever corvids had managed to figure out the seed feeder and was clearly showing the youngsters how to use them.  All in all a few great hours of viewing.

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Saturday 11 June 2010, back of 8.00 am, Both adult Ospreys at eyrie, male on nearby perch, female on eyrie rim. Chicks not visible and she is not begging for food so presume chicks have been fed. Grey squirrel in next door tree emerges from the foliage on a leafless twig and chatters at the ospreys, never seen that before. Also never seen the female take off  with a fish and fly around, which she did when I returned after looking for the Marsh harrier. She did this twice, see picture of  her landing, was this to encourage the chicks to eat? as the three of the chicks seemed content. They did consent to eat and I noticed them wing stretching and the small one had gained in size to the others. Took a picture on the 11th and the 12th showing three chicks, also a left yellow winged tagged  female marsh harrier, last years female but nesting in a different location. Caught a brief  glimse of a hunting male harrier, and an other Osprey sitting on a dead branch of a small tree, breeding nearby? probably.

Inserted some pics of hedgerow flowers that are much more difficult than birds to identify, if you put the mouse pointer on them you will see their names, (well my names for them!) Derek what is the fly on the Himalayan balsam’s leaf?

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6th of June and one of the picture’s here show three Osprey chicks, two larger ones and a smaller one further back in the nest, hope it survives. There was a wandering Osprey today and the female immediately was off the nest, and circling, the male had gone fishing. The female wasn’t too bothered, as the wandering Osprey just flew nearby. Soon the male returned with a fish and she began to feed the two chicks that immediately were at her feet, the larger ones. The photo isn’t to clear but trust me there is three.

Other pictures are a fading rainbow and an Oak tree, a violet ground beetle larvae, with designs on a large worm. Notice in one of the pics the larvae’s head is vibrating, what’s that about? supposedly nocturnal so I was lucky to see it.

The seed head is a close up of a dandelion.

On the 22 of May at about 7.30 am I was on spot to do my Osprey watch, I am expecting to see chick feeding as i reckon the eggs should have hatched as she was sitting from the 10 of April, and perhaps a few days before. Well she was sitting and he was perched nearby and not a lot was happening except she moved off the cup a few times. On one occasion when off, she picked up a fish from the nest edge, fed herself and once or twice bent into the nest cup, that to me was offering a chick some morsel. Perhaps next week I’ll see some chick heads. After this she took off, flew around for a while and collected a stick and came back, she took a long time to settle and I couldn’t figure out why, till I spotted two burly walkers, going who knows where? Apart from the farmers I seldom cross any one’s path. The walkers were unaware of the Ospreys, they were walking through the countryside completely unobservant of their surroundings, I was 20m away, admittedly behind a bifurcated slim tree and remained undetected, mind you they were walking as if escaping, but my wife did say a local young doctor is encouraging us overweight people to get walking, or die before we should.

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Spey bay several times from the 24th May, this was ostensibly to watch dolphins which I did on every visit except the one where i took colleagues to see the dolphins, nothing, nix, nonche zero. (bad luck Dougie and Paul) We did see an Osprey fishing but not plunging, but during the day of the 26th in the afternoon I watched my first Osprey catch a fish, and what a sight! first dive, and I mean dive, not skim the surface and drop it’s feet in, this was gannet like and immense to watch. In shallow, wave breaking water it plunged right in full dive speed, It then remained in the water wings akimbo and being washed by the waves, this remained the situation for some 30 seconds, then with a flap it revealed it’s prize, a fish, a gleaming silver solid bar of a fish, easily 2/3 rds of it’s body length. I watched all this from the shore through my telescope, BBC spring watch stuff and appreciated by watchers without binos standing to my right. The successful Osprey duly adjusted it’s mighty catch and headed westward, within minutes another Osprey arrives, was it watching the other one? a hierarchy of  who can fish when? could be, as it fished for 30 minutes and 7 dives into the water and caught nowt, a clear distinction in abilities. The gooseanders were catching more than this amateur Osprey, whom I think was the same one in the picture resting on the storm shore at the river mouth. Spey bay in May, or any time,  plan your visit, and see much more than diaried here, very aggressive swans, terns, sand martins, swallows, herons, otters, ducks, lupins on the shore? and if  i’m not mistaken giant hogweed on the shore too. Oh and dolphins, honest !

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As well as the Osprey on the shore, there is a poor picture of a Slavonian grebe, but the exciting thing is you don’t have to tramp the moors to some small lochan, you can hear the traffic from a major road while watching these terrific birds. My car was 50m away.

On the 29th May saw my local female Osprey feeding two chicks, so she has at least two wobbly headed chicks.

I was out at the back of seven am on the 15/5/10, and I immediately recognised that the bird on the eyrie was the male. The crest on the female is more pronounced and browner, she arrived within five minutes landed near the nest, then after a few preens and calls she made a quick flap to the eyrie, a few calls, hopped nearer and he got off. So yet another change over, my  4th, all in the morning and this time much earlier than I saw the others! When you don’t witness this for years and see four within a month makes you wonder, and I wonder if this female is different from last year and that she spends a disproportionate time off the eyrie, or leaves the eyrie every morning. He went to a nearby tree and started preening, after ten minutes I left them and went in search of those elusive Marsh Harriers, bingo, the male was hunting near the nest and I had good views for some minutes till he dropped into the reeds, I was distracted by an unknown warbler in the nearby tree and did not see the male take to the air, I did catch him return to the nest site, without any noticeable prey, spend less than a minute and was off, hunting, but he disappeared down river. I did not catch any wing tags which are very difficult to see on harriers. Why did he go to the nest site? why no food pass?  and the unknown warbler is still unknown, the pair of them only made contact calls so I had no song to help me. I did get a picture of the back end of a whitethroat last week, I am beginning to recognise whitethroats by song and call, a song that is very difficult to describe, scratchy and tuneful.

This morning, the 16th of May,  I was again out by the back of seven am and saw the male on the nest and the female preening, my fifth change over about to happen ? well two hours later and situation the same, except the female had flown around and landed on a fence post then back to the nearby taller tree. Surprisingly it was cold for May the 16th  and I had stood for two hours and was ready for breakfast. So I returned pm at 4.30, and the picture was exactly the same! she was on the same branch in the higher tree and he was brooding, facing the same way. I cannot believe this had been the situation all day, anyway she was not preening  just enjoying the breeze, after some minutes he gets off the nest cup takes off, so does she and replaces him without hesitation. My fifth changeover, this is very different behaviour, lets say i have been watching them for five years at say 40 hours per Osprey season that’s 200 watching hours, now in the sixth year after five weeks, say 10 watching hours I have witnessed five changeovers, you don’t have to be a statistician to know the probabilities have drastically changed. This is putting aside whether you believe I can sexually identify them, a changeover is easily identified. Anyway, he flies around collects a stick, not from the ground but by breaking it off, I see him flying eyrie wards, he banks, dives and next I see him with a much bigger stick, he lands right on the eyrie  with this four foot trailing stick !! he does this with another smaller one and disappears, gone fishing?  and I need to cut the grass.

Still not heard or seen a swift

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Took these pics of a song thrush on the 2/5/10, and as the Ospreys were virtually doing nothing I will post this next week. I did just luckily catch the female marsh harrier land in the same place the male did last week, so that appears to be a chosen location. She remained at the location for a good ten minutes as I waited for her to take off, I scanned around then coming back to the location frequently, but there were no more sightings. The probable reason I had time to digiscope the thrush was he was singing against another and chose to ignore my quiet presence beneath his singing perch, the one I photographed had a “normal” call whereas the other did a great imitation of a curlew, mid song, better and more sustained than a starling.

The first bird I ever ringed in Dubai was a song thrush, the second was a Hoopoe !

This is ridiculous, I never witness a crossover of female to male Ospreys for years and now I have bagged three, this happened on the 8/5/10 about 9.30 am. Again the female was getting grief from the crows and this time giving some back, she landed on the nest several times and I could see her calling, he was not for moving and strangely was quickly ducking his head, now and again, what was that about? She took off several times and when she returned with a stick he promptly backed out of the cup, she settled in the cup and started to place the stick. Will I see chicks being fed next week? maybe if I stand there all day, something that I should do, a 24 hour watch, a red bull Osprey watch.

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The pictures above are a wee postscript, the common dog-violet caught my eye on the woodland path, the blossom on the wild cherries can’t be ignored, and the goldfinch looks like it has the finch disease, it is certainly not a well bird. If you look closely it has a tick or a swelling on it’s eye. Is the disease from the tick? lyme’s disease is much more prevalent in humans from ticks, I have had a few ticks, one in an a place you would not apply heat too! as my wife suggested.