124 :Brahminy Kite

Brahminy Kite - Haliaster indus

These are  common kite in India once you get out of the big city. Kites sore, hardly flapping their wings and taking advantage of every thermal and breeze. This might be th best flight picture I have ever taken of a raptor - the definition on the feathers seeme quite nice - somehow (accident !) the sun has caught the bird the right way.

On the photography side I was at a small village called the Kokare Bellur which translates as the egret village. The idea was to try and practice taking pictures of birds in flight (there were hundreds !). The rule I was given was to switch on all of the focus points, dial up the exposure (putting the stops on 2 which seems counter intuitive but the sky confuses the camera so you have to increase exposure to get the detail on the bird), change the setting on the lense to mode 2 for stabilisation (takes out panning shake) and set the mode to "servo" which keeps the birds in focus as you pan with it. Multi shot is a good option for faster moving birds.

The village was packed with ibis, storks, pelicans, kites - I spent a good hour just practicing flight shots like this of a painted stork :-

I caught a picture of a roosting Brahminy Kite (above) later on.

Brahminy Kite; Haliaster indus
Kokare Bellur, near Bangalore
25 May 2012

123 : Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow - Crecopis daurica

I am pleased with this photo. This was taken at Ramnagar in the very early morning. This mother was feeding her chicks who had now fledged and were lined up on a wire. The sun was behind me and to the side showing up the colours perfectly. The thing I have discovered also is that background is important. If you can get a nice green background or an interesting background - even a good perch the picture is 100% better. I have pictures of birds perched next to rubbish and you know what ....

This is the second swallow species I have logged - the first was "our" Barn Swallow. There are 89 species of swallow in the world and all I can say is that I hope they all perch on wires in the full sun on every occasion for me ! Swallows form a bigger Group - the "Hirundines" with Martins and Sawwings. I had never heard of Sawwings before just now. There are swallows of every colour of the rainbow. The brick or roufous red rump of this swallow in full sun was as gorgeous in real life as it looks in this photo. The dipped in dark blue ink mantle gives way to a more purple caste for the wings on the adult bird - subtle but stunning. Colours do make birds but we have to be disciplined and do some brown ones again in short while !

Ramnagar, Bangalore plains
25 Aoril 2012

122 : Yellow-throated Bulbul

Yellow-Throated Bulbul - Pycnonotus xanthalaemus

Globally endangered I am afraid. An endemic of the hills that sit up above the jungle scrub in South-West India. I was reading a book recently called the Jewel Hunter by a chap who went out jungle birding to see every Pitta in the world in a single year. In the book he trashed all Bulbuls as well ''trash birds". We are used to them in Dubai and right across the world Red-vented and Red-whiskered will bother you at your breakfast table at your 4 star hotel while on holiday - I once watched a Bulbul crap in someone's cereal while they were making a return to the buffet...of course I did.

Dilon and I (my new Captain my Captain) were sent of by Bopanda to find a Yellow-throated Bulbul. These are globally endangered birds and in a sacred grove a pair were nesting (Dillon and Bopanda were my bird guides this month in and around Bangalore). Dilon and I trudged up (actually Dilon shimmied) up the long set of steps to a temple in search of these extremely shy and elusive birds.

Dilon with his blood up on the scent of a rare bird :-

Quite a nice place to go looking for a globally threatened bird - the thing about temple sites is that the trees are respected and are old and if, like this one they are at the top of a long set of steps...

I must have lost a pound of gravy getting up these steps. The thing about a long lense is that without a second camera body and/or infinate time to switch lenses you are really limited in taking scenic shots - I was 40 yards back !

Anyway up the steps we trudged to the sacred, hot, grove at the end of what was 1000 steps with some nice Hindu architecture along the way. Below reminded me of a Mr Kipling fondant fancy - or perhaps I was just extremely sugar deficient.

I believe the name of the place is Ramnagar. We were there early and it was a Friday - in any event this big moutain outcrop with its temple and shady grove was deserted.

Dilon's hand goes up and then he beckons me forward - I am crumpled heap of a sodden excuse for a man by then even though it is perhaps only 25 degrees and its early (8 am ?). I do have an excuse - Emirates had lost my bag and I was in sandles not walking boots.

A bird is calling in the wood. A loud song and it seems quite quite close. A melifluous luting call - a lazy and wandering call which reminded me of an oriole. I have paid my entrance ticket in sweat, steps, a 5 am rise - no bird. We chased that bird for an hour - rushing to a spot and trying to foward think it. Crouching, hiding, stopping still for 20 minutes at a time straining through binoculars to catch a glimpse. I was of course happy to see any bird but for Dilon, this was the bird, as he knew just how rare it was. Why ?

The jungle scrub around these hills is rapidly disapearing. Wake up in the countryside anywhere in the third world and you realise that wood is essentially fuel. The smell of woodsmoke drifts across every village - charcoal is made, pots of water are boiled and in India bread is baked. I cannot preach because I earn in a week what some families survive on in a year. Chopping down a scrubby bush rather than buying a canister of propane is the solution for breakfast for hundreds of millions of Indians on a daily basis. Bad news for birds but thank god (literally) for sacred groves. This is at risk of turning into a shaggy bird story.

So we didn't find the bird. But I am (now) a great believer in Karma. Dilon and I found ourselves in a tiny fragment of jungle scrub around a rocky outcrop at "rush hour'' which is an hour or two before sunset driving back into Banglore. Thats rush hour for birds. We were actually looking for Quails and then there it was again - that song.

Great delight and much fun wrestling with the camera - oh go on then you have it - you have the  Bronze in the Mercedes Bienniel global natural history picture award. So the shot above is Dilons - if you look at my rules it counts (see The Task) as I am standing next door looking at the same bird - I have several shots but this is Dilons. Mine are not half as good. Bopanna (who has had pneumonia so was resting in the car) was amazed.One of the best shots he had ever seen of this elusive and shy bird and also never before seen at this location. Surrounded on all sides by villages desperate for firewood - so how long have they got ? Not long was Bopanna's grim prediction. Unlike in the West it wasn't caveated by any remonstrations against people for being thoughtless or just plain abusive of the habitat. People need to boil water or they die - people need to cook - people need to be warm at times - it's that simple and there are over a billion of them in India. They can put a rocket into space but they still need to chop down trees to cook a meal. I can get angry with their government but not with the people.

I seem to recall 5.2 billion being the figure for the world's population when I got my first Atlas - where are we now ? 7 or so I think and putting on another billion every decade.

Really I was finding just pockets of woodland - tiny fragments and we would drive for an hour to get to hotspots - they were few and far between.

I am pleased I now know what a Yellow-throated Bulbul is - I got the sense from Dilon and Bopana that it was a lost cause. Its not a Panda - it just a bird that likes to live and nest amongst bushes that are very good for firewood. You can't judge - but its worth some thought as its not all about rainforests and the arctic and the big wilderness - little bits of scrub are precious too - everything has its home. He is quite smart. There are enough people that care in India but how do you tell someone that that can't cook a meal using firewood ? Hang in there.

Yellow Throated Bulbul, Pycnonotus xanthalaemus

Small relic patch of jungle scrub with rocks on the bangalore plains - single pair

25 April 2012

121 : Coppersmith Barbet

Coppersmith Barbet - Megalaima Haemacephala

Its been a while since we enjoyed a good Barbet on the Daily Bird. The first Barbet I ever saw was in Sri Lanka and if you want to start with a muse about Barbets, birds and conservation in general read my first Barbet post here. I have refined the name given from Ceylon Small Barbet to Crimson Fronted Barbet - the latin name stays the same.

So it with the greatest of pleasure that I introduce Barbet number 2 out of 82.The Ceylon Small or Crimson Fronted has been "split" from the mainland Coppersmith. The markings are clearly different - with this more predominantly yellow and black face than this green and blue  face.

So what makes a species a distinct species. In these days of DNA it is becoming increasingly easier and perhaps more difficult to tell - its not just a question of markings which can be very similar. In the broadest terms they do not breed together generally but they do ''overlap". If you think about it logically at some point way back both Coppersmith and Ceylon Small had a common ancester - a "concester" from which all Coppersmiths and all Ceyon Small (or more correctly Crimson Fronted) Barbets were descended. The great great grandaddy of the flashy small Indian subcontinent Barbets as it were. Now some of those barbets way back when started to evolve a little differently on the island of Sri Lanka until now you have two distinct bird species that look different. They may even be able to still breed together as a matter of genetics - a bit like parrots or chickens. They just chose under normal circumstances not to - or for the most part dont get a chance.

At what point was a Crimson Fronted Barbet no longer a Coppersmith Barbet and who gets to decide ? I cannot answer that one.

It can be more than markings - it can be behaviours, feeding or rearing. Slowly over the years along with markings they drift apart. Take gulls - its clear that round the world there is a complete ring of gull species starting with Herring gull and moving into Yellow Legged Gull, Caspian Gull and so on  that morph one into the other through several different species in a continual blancmange and ice cream of different species - a big eton mess of interconnected gull species running one into the other - able to cross breed at the margins between species but if the birds from opposite sides of the planet met they probably could not or would not.

The phenomenen has been noted with salamanders in California. They can live in the wet hills but not in the dry valley that runs up that state. It may as well be a big perspex fence. There is a horseshoe of 4 or 5 Salamander species up one side of the valley and then back down the other running one into the other with intemediates. Seperated by a few miles across the valley the close cousins do not interbreed - but they can. Perhaps once in a blue moon an intrepid male salamander makes it across and then all hell breaks loose - a bit like a big dollop of raspberry sauce on your vanilla ice cream making a "pink" salamander species. They can interbreed but under normal circumstances do not get the opportunity.

Thinking logically at some point all humans and all chimpanzees had a common ancester (looking like some other ape) and then for a generation at some point one or the other became more human like - or perhaps more chimp like (lets not be arrogant). Slowly but surely the two strands of apes drifted apart - for a long time they may have been able to interbreed but then either by opportunity or desire they chose not to. Geographic barriers play a big part in this.

When Homo Sapiens made it to Europe they found an earlier species (or parrallel) species of great ape - the Neanderthal. The modern theory is that our stocky big nosed cousins were not wiped out - they were bred out - just subsumed into the great gene pool that is the human race. We hadn't come that far apart at that point even then. The Northern humans well adapted for life in the ice age just gave way to competition or breeding to different humans making there way around the land bridges or across the gibralter straight. No different from the ruddy ducks and white faced ducks these days (the latter being bred out by their american cousins newly arrived and escaped in Europe) but noone was around at the time to put a word in for Neanderthals. If a higher form of being existed back then perhaps they could have set up a reserve for Little Big Nose (I loved those childrens books).

So an adapatation gets the new species across and into the next valley or somehow it gets cut off - it can be as imperceptable as a treecreeper and a short toed treeper. When the land bridge between the UK and the continent came down the treecreepers on ïn Britain started to have longer toes over time. They just do not make that channel crossing and over time they got bigger toes and were not able to get back to shorter toes because of the barrier of geography. I am sure that a French treecreeper and a British treecreeper could interbreed quite happily - they "choose" not to. I often wonder why the British treecreeper is *the* treecreeper and continental Europe's is distinguished by its shorter toes. It seems quite colonial.

Well whatever the science here he or she is is - a Coppersmith Barbet - proudly and obviously not from Sri Lanka - I suspect happy enough in the same cage. Just different and it is wonderful that we now have 82 Barbets.
For these type of musings get stuck into Richard Dawkins - birds dont chose how and where to breed - the enviroment, geography, opportunity all comes together to create this wonderful biodiversity. Try the Ancestors Tale - its as good a place as any to start with Dawkins.

I know a Coppersmith Barbet for a Crimson Fronted Barbet. I remain unsure as to why they are two seperate species - they are and they get seperate pages on the Daily Bird.

Coppersmith Barbet , Megalaima Haemacephala
Bangalore Plains
25 April 2012

120 : Spotted Owlet

Spotted Owlet - Athene Brama

I have been in India for 3 days. Arrived on Thursday evening and I am flying back this afernoon (Sunday). I am staying at the Oberoi in Bangalore so hardly slumming it. Friday and Saturday I was up at 5 am to be picked up by a bird guide - two bird guides in fact on the first day. I found Bopanna online and he had some good write ups from visiting business types who use him to get at as many birds as they can in a short period. A trip report from another satisfied customer can be seen here. Its a differnt gig from an organised tour - you cut out the middle man and get yourself hooked up with a local specialist. The first day Bopanna and Dilon (a very good photographer and Indian naturalist) took me out - On my second day it was just Dilon as Bopanna has had a chest infection and needed to rest and stay out of the dust. Good photographer - world award winning photographer !! Check this out. Dilons English is not so good - however he knows birds ! He creeps around the bush finding things you would not believe were there. Great stuff.

There are (and I don't count myself in this) a large number of serial listers who crash around the world trying to tick off everything. Well it just isn't possible as I have explained. I think also its too stressful. Its best to slow down, tune in an see what turns up. For me I would rather see half as much and spend longer and get a good photograph if that is possible.

I think I saw something like 98 species in 2 days which is good for this time of year so I wasn't short changed by not "reaching" for every bird. I was content to let some things go when I just couldn't get on them and then my Karma was paid back as they would pop up the same day or the next day and give better and clearer views.

For two days I was looking at every wire, branch, post and wall as I knew that Spotted Owlet was a bird you should see with a fair wind. At the 11th hour in some jungle scrub out on the plains next toa  water course I heard a terrific commotion. A party of Yellow Billed Babblers was upset with something and then - pop - up flew a Spotted Owlet which I think must have been roosting and disturbed by the mobbing birds.

This brings me onto bird photography when you are excited - calm down and slow down ! The picture above is not manipulated at all and straight off the card. It was probably the 30th shot I took. Here is the first shot - I had been trying to photograph a bird against a sky background previously which does require you to put up the "stops" to perhaps 2.  So rather than check the first or second shot when I had the best view of all I simply banged off 10 overexposed shots like this -

Calm down young man. I don't think that bird photography is that difficult. Here's my Top 5 tips for absolute idot beginners with a Canon and a new lense (as provided by Bopanna and (I am not worthy) Dilon !

1) Get some confidence and get off of the automatic settings. Your bascis set up is the middle focus point only, single shot, ISO 400, the lens will find its FS thingy at 5/6 or so, then the aperture in the middle (whatever that is). That will do you in normal conditions with the bird with a backgroud behind it !

2) Birds with a sky background or flying eg you are going to have to up the exposure to 1.5 or 2. Dont ask me why but the detail on the bird wont show unless you do this. It is all a magic and a mystery - its a bit like a television. Who really understands how one works ? So big blue background - take teh exposure across to the right. AF - up to 2 or so.

3) If its flying you have got some other stuff to do - You need all the focus points active and not just the centre one. You have to go from single shot to servo - the camera will keep the bird in focus the. You have of course dialed up the AF to 2. Finally on your zoomy lens you need to make sure that the lens is on stabilisor mode 2 - dont ask me why - its something to do with the shakes while panning. Now I did all this and I ended up with a *lovely* picture of a needletail (a type of swift) in flight with all the feathers showing - also feather perfect pictures of Brahminy Kites and stuff.

4) No the trick then is getting from the standard base settings to the flying around stuff - and doing it while the bird is on the move !! I think some cameras have memorised settings - have not found mine yet - a bit like a hotkey in windows. Perhaps I need a fancier camera body - voice activated or mind activated like Clint Eastwood in Firefox - make it for flight - fire !

5) Finally remember where you are when you start shooting - check after a couple. Get as still as you can - get at eye level if you can - hold your breath - !!! Agh no I am excited an Owlet just flew to a tree 5 yards away !

So we are - a better Spotted Owlet blown up so that you appreciate him - I know snip that annoying branch !

There is more to it than that I am sure - It will be a journey - anyway I have had a masterclass from two masters.

Spotted Owlet, Athene Brama
Plains near Bangalore
26 May 2012

119 : Indian Grey Hornbill

Indian Grey Hornbill - Ocyceros birostris

I wrote a short piece about Hornbills generally when I was in the Yala - way back at post 4 here. Its funny because you look these things up and then a year later you are witnessing them.

Isn't he (or she) a fine specimen. So we learnt the last time that Hornbill's nest in holes and that when the eggs are being incubated the females gets walled in. I am currently in Banagalore - tapping this up in the Oberoi. I have hired a guide for two days and am ploughing my way through some fantastic Indian birds. The picture above is the picture of the day I think.

While we were out today "Dhillon" and I stumbled across some knarled old trees with what appeared to be a Hornbill city or more like village. Grey Hornbills were flying in all the time to different holes to feed the chicks which we could hear from perhaps 15 m away.

They were collecting fruit and then passing it into the nesting holes - probably mashed up and regurgitated from the crop.

 I would love to stay on to watch (what must be) very ugly Hornbill chicks fledging. I am sure you would have to be a Mumma Hornbill to love one.

Today I am just loving Indian Grey Hornbills. Bed now as just 5 hours before I am out again on my birdathon. Tomorrow grasslands I think and then some more mountains.

So they do nest in holes and feed the chicks in the holes. Just proved post 4 to some extent - I think to be wild for a couple of days is no bad thing.

Indian Grey Hornbills - Oceyceros Birostris
Near Banglore
25 April 2012


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118 : Canada Goose

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis

I am working my way through some obvious and common "British"'birds this week to fill in time before the first big adventure of the year - a 3 day dash to India ! The camera is poised - the jungly gear all packed and the flight booked. I have been to Sri Lanka - the mainland of India is somewhere I have never set foot.It seems a bit odd to make the first trip a mad dash  for birds. There you go though. I predicted that the creation of this site would drive me to do some slightly silly things. So next weekend I am staying in a very posh 5 star Indian hotel for 3 nights and getting picked up by a professional bird guide for 2 days to get as many pictures of birds as I can. I am very excited. Its also an opportunity to give the camera a test run before the safari to Tanzania in July. This year should be a big bird year.

I remember the first time as an adult I stepped out with some binoculars - I felt very very silly. The silliest thing was that I resurrected the plastic binoculars I had used in the 70's - No gas filled roof prism jobs these. Truly hideous optics that my parents had no doubt bought me from an advert in the back of the Daily Mail in a well meaning way. I was actually walking around with these in the late 90's in the full view of proper birders. It gets worse - I took them into the hide at Cley - please No !!! Thats like wearing a knitted jumper and flared jeans in a London club. So I felt a bit awkward but then you get into it after a while - you only look silly to other people. I guess India will be like that - I will feel just a bit wierd travelling somewhere quite so big and important with no other purpose than to look at birds. That brings me to my new books.

When I was in the UK last week I went to Conwey reserve in North Wales - it was a nice excuse to give my 88 year mother-in-law a run out. They sell second hand books there. Sadly some of old boy had died recently and the shelf was full of old field guides. I picked up I think 5 books ranging from Mexico and Central America to Russia to West Africa - all needed.

The lovely thing is that in each book are his pencil ticks against each species. Whoever he was he had had a pretty good go over his lifetime. I spent twenty pounds - everything in my pocket to get as many of them as I could. In a strange way I thought he might want me to carry on where he left off and to give the books a purpose and a home. I can relate to that old fellow whoever he was. I bet he retired and then packed in as many trips as he could. He didn't put his name in which is a shame. I think I'd like to pass on my books - ticked as well. Perhaps I should use a different colour. He made it to South America - he made it to Gambia probalby - The Steppes of Russia and Costa Rica. He wrote very neatly. A very precise pencil cross against Rufous Legged Owl for example means he made it to Chile ! Some old boy from North Wales and he was travelling the world and ticking them off. Very very poignant for me. So I feel a sense of communion and I am happy that some of his books have found a home. My bag weighed a ton on the way back last week.

So Canada Goose - sorry - first brought over from the Americas for Charles II in the 1680's. They quickly became a fashion statement and of course escaped and multiplied until we now find ourselves with 60,000 of these invasive geese in the UK. They foul up park ponds, destroy crops, collide with aircraft and generally make a nuisance of themselves. They belong in North America where they are a wild and virile birds migrating over thousands of miles and battling with the elements. In the UK they make droppings. If I can make a film recomendation for Canada Geese try the disneyesque "Fly Away Home" - tears before Sunday tea. The "true" story of orphaned geese following a microlight aircraft South to try and save a wetland from development. All good stuff.

Picazuro Pigeon - the old boy saw one of those. Great Pampa Finch - you have to hand it to him. Rest well.

Canada Goose, Branta candensis
Barn Elms, April 2012

117 : Magpie

Magpie - Pica pica

My father in law hated these birds. So much so that he bought was is known as a Larsen trap. A magpie would be lured in with some dogfood and then kept alive and captive in one half of the traps chamber. Other magpies would come to investigate and one by one get trapped and then despatched. Why the hatred ? a Magpie will take the eggs and chicks from the nests of songbirds. I think one Summer a magpie had made its way down a hedge taking all the eggs from the whittethroat nests. War ensued.

They are doing far too well in the UK and are a pest to other birds so some control is probably necessary. I have to say that I don't like them.

Barn Elms, London
April 2012

116 : Mallard

Mallard - Anas platyrynchos

If you were seeing one for the first time you would appreciate them.

Barn Elms, London
April 2012

115 : Mute Swan

Mute Swan - Cygnus olor

Its a tie up between these and the Great Bustard as to which is the world's heaviest flying bird. They are bruisers. I have to say that when in a  canoe with an enraged swan nearby retreat might be the respectable course. A big cob with his wings outstretched and a fully loaded neck and bill is not to be messed with.

Or is that urban legend. I just wrote that - I have been hissed at a bit ? Yeah - a swan can break a man's legs or arms ? Every schoolboy knows this. Can they or am I making that up ? Hysteria or fact ?

I thought I would do some research. Er.... I think its verified that they get a bit antzy at this time of year . I couldn't find an actual arm or broken leg and my lunchtime surfing time is up. Anyway a quick trawl turned up ...

Swan attacks keeper who is drowned :-

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-injured-idUS408922419820120417

Swan attacks bride :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPihMK_XZNw

Swan attacks man who defends himself with bike :-

http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/9635113.Investigation_after_series_of_Skipton_swan_attacks/

Swan attacks canoes (again and again):-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121505/Meet-Tyson-terrifying-swan-attacks-boaters-dare-venture-stretch-canal.html

Swan attacks...swan attacks...

A few more agressive birds wouldn't be such a bad thing. An Osprey that pecked the eyes out of egg thiefs. Amazonian giant parrots that overturn logging trucks. Massive ducks that carry off offseason wildfowlers and drown them in the ocean. Lets have few more bird hysteria stories and link it to enviromental baddies. Boy dumping trolley in canel get arm broken by enraged swan in NW1 - good ! Round of applause. Serves the little tyke right. Its been boy vs swan since time began.

Mute Swan, Cygnus olor
Barn Elms, London
April 2012

114 : Ring-necked Parakete

Ring-necked Parakete - Psittacula krameri

The sound of the South of London. The under generations of escaped  birds roost in their thousands at places like Esher rugby club. They are currently nesting in the wall of the visitor's building at the WWT reserve at Barn Elms. Once a bird has a self sustaining population - i.e. birds being born in the wild it can be declared a C list tick in a given country. A bit like a Big Brother contestant at film premier it hangs around the edges being noisy and garish in an attempt to steal the show.

In Dubai these birds are widespread and also off the boat. You can hear them on a daily basis at dusk calling in small parties as they make their way to roost sites. For shame I am not sure where home really is for these birds. I would assume India and hopefully a trip at the end of this month on a first recce into that sub-continent (I am not counting Sri Lanka) will clear that one up.

You will forgive me if for a while my photos are "quantity not quality". I have a mad notion that I am going to try for 500 birds by the time the year is out. Why - we choose to go to India, Tanzania and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are well..relatively easy when the worlds new busiest airport is 20 minutes away and a big chunk of the "Old World" within a few hours of there. I blew a good chance to take lots of photos in the UK last week becuase I was busy working and worrying about other stuff. I am going to spend a morning at my parents bird feeder this Summer ! That should do for 15 species in a morning.

What I will promise to do is back fill better pictures than dashed snaps as I go along. Check out Whitethroat - you will see a back filled picture added from the ''bird canon". The same has been happening with shrikes and wheatears. The bird posts going back should become bird pages over time. Lots to look forward to this birding year.

Ring-necked Parakete, Psittacula Krameri
Barn Elms, London
April 2012

113 : Coot

Coot - Fulica Atra

A common rail which feeds on aquatic vegetation. Perhaps not as horrid as Moorhen - still a bird that leaves me cold.

Barn Elms, London
April 2012

112 : Barn Swallow

Swallow or Barn Swallow - Hirundi Rustica

These are difficult birds to photograph. I have opted for the "arty'' view of the underside of the streamered tail (more by luck than judgement). A trans-Saharan migrant to Britain they mark the beginning of Spring and their gathering on the wires is the most visible avian sign of approaching Autumn - and then they are gone.

My parents in law have always had these birds nesting about the place in barns - I think one day an old barn will be a must have purchase and a ringing licence to check on the coming and goings - the dynasties and the downfalls. Amazing birds and a pretty tail.

This bird photographed over a gravel pit at Conwey RSPB, North Wakes  on 11 April 2012.

111 : Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting - Emberiza schoeniculus

I managed to get some foreign birding in last week - the UK. I sped down to Barn Elms one morning from the City when on a business trip. I have a good UK list in general terms but actually have not taken so many pictures of birds there. Armed with the new camera then pretty much everything becomes fair game.

This Reed Bunting is a male bird - the call is quite monotonous and doleful which belies its overall more "chirpy" appearance. There are extensive reed beds at Barn Elms WWT. These birds are widespread around Europe next to any wetland/river or so on.

7 April 2012
Barn Elms WWT, London UK

110 : Corncrake

Corncrake - Crex crex

What is this doing in Safa Park ! Belongs in a hay field in June ! The last time I came across one of these birds it was embedded in deap nettles and grass throwing its voice like a ventriloquist. That sound of the Summer plastic comb being scraped with a pen.

I got word of this bird from a UAE birding website. There is a small but active group of birders here who seem very good at pooling information. This bird was pottering around the edge of an ornamental maze in the main park at Safa in teh middle of town. Corki the corncrake was very obliging two days on the trot and I have a heap of fantastic pictures.

My field guide states that these are very scarce migrants in this part of the world. Interestingly a second bird was showing in Mamzar park at the same time.

Its the weekend here almost and then I am off to the UK on business next week. That feels like a foreign birding location. I will try and get a good haul of birds while I am over.

Safa Park, Dubai
30 May 2012 & 2 May 2012