Friday 26 June 2015

Hovering Golden Oriole

It's  been rather hot this week and the afternoons have seen me in the shade with a book rather than out and about. Nevertheless....

Orioles are not easily observed as they are remarkably well camouflaged in the canopy so it was a great surprise to watch a male in his brilliant yellow and black finery catching flying insects above a field. He did this in an agile and erratic manner and on several occasions resorted to hovering like a kingfisher, a behaviour that I've never seen or even heard of before.

It's been another good year for local red back shrikes as I've now located seven pairs within cycling distance of the house, one trip this week turned up three males within a couple of kilometres of each other.

The grain harvest is well under way and, as with the earlier taking in of hay, black kites are exploiting the feeding opportunities and can often be seen following the machines. As always I fear for the ground-nesting birds.

Nightingales are now mainly silent but I have come across a couple of individuals quietly singing during the last few days.

The pair of black redstarts which nest at the house chose a niche by the rear door for the second nest of the season. As with the first which was partly concealed by my hanging overalls and prevented me from using them, this one lies partly behind an open shutter which cannot be closed for the duration. It lies at eye level so I often catch a glimpse of the patient female observing my passing with her beady eye.

A sad sight yesterday was that of a dead female cirl bunting outside the same door. She had presumably presumably flown into the glass which was not concealed by the shutter!

Friday 5 June 2015

Nightjars

A chance mention of nightjars during a conversation yesterday afternoon reminded me that I had not made the effort to locate any this year so I set off late in the evening for my annual fix of this curious migrant.

The visit was to a spot in a nearby forest where I have seen and heard nightjars many times before. It was a little later in the evening than usual, 10.30 rather than 9.30 but the sky was clear and the moon full. As soon as I turned off the car engine I heard the distinctive sustained churring with its frequent changes of pitch but I had to walk a little down the track before a bird appeared. It glided and swooped low above my head so I assume I was close to a nest but it performed no wing clapping nor made any calls. This may be the result of it being so late in the evening or maybe a little later in the season than usual, the courtship routines now being over. As I drove back I heard several other individuals in the same forest but much closer to my home churring away.

Earlier in the day I was treated to the unusual sight of a nightingale out in the open. The familiar experience of this bird is of its musical throbbing emanating from deep within a bush but this one was perched on a telephone wire and made a few feeding sorties into the field below. It displayed the same bright chestnut plumage of the Cetti's warbler (another bird which is far more often heard than seen) which I came across by the Bonnieure about thirty minutes earlier.

On Monday I had a brief walk along the track by the Charente near Luxé. The damp meadows here look perfect for the elusive and increasingly rare corncrake but I heard no trace of their presence. A consolation was a little egret feeding in the flooded area under the new viaduct and my first willow warbler of the year in a bush beside the track.


Monday 1 June 2015

Hobbies and Quail

The last week of May has seen a strange mix of weather. Low cloud and cool breezes have kept temperatures down so that early morning cycle rides have required a fleece but temperatures have soared whenever the sun has broken through and the water in the swimming pool reads a respectable 27C.
The last of the black redstart brood in the garage left the nest yesterday which was excellent timing as     the garage door is finally being installed this morning!
I had the fortune to see two different hobbies yesterday. The first was over the garden as it was harassed by a couple of noisy swallows and the second was hunting low over a recently cut hay field at the bio farm. The speed and agility of a hobby which allows them to catch dragonflies (and swallows) seems matched only by swifts and hirundines but, despite their rapid flight, their distinctive dark silhouette usually reveals flashes of their red thighs, dark moustache and striped underparts.
Another Summer visitor is the quail and a few of them have been calling from the wheat fields on the plains.
A male red backed shrike finally made an appearance in the usual hedge at the bio farm .

Hobby