I was bought the online version of Handbook of the Birds of the World for Xmas. Instead of forking out over GBP 2,000 on the definitive set of guides to all of the world's species you can now pay a subscription and get all the content on an annual basis. Its truly remarkable - 10,000 or so species complete with information, plates, videos, song calls - I have been losing myself in it for hours. In particular I have been wading through family after family ticking off (online) all the species I have seen. Its a fun process. That number will of course be far higher that the 291 that the Daily Bird is currently up to (as there are a lot of birds I have seen and not photographed). I am not sure that it will be more than even 1,000. We'll see.
One thing it does remind is how many common or garden species there are that I probably bump into a lot on holiday in the UK but haven't photographed and posted. So in the spirit of completeness I give you the common or garden Dunnock or "Hedge Sparrow". This is an archetypal little brown job that goes unnoticed as it sets about its daily business. The best place to see a Dunnock is foraging on the ground under your bird feeder - especially if this is close to cover. They are more like mice at times scurrying for the crumbs.
They have quite a beautiful song - proving the rule elucidated by Simon Barnes in his book on birdsong that the drabber the bird the more beautiful the voice. You can apply that rule to Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and even Nightingales which are not the most handsome of songbirds.
I guess most people have heard of the private lives of Dunnocks. They are far from monogomous - A female can take on up to 3 males who in turn will each mate with at least a second female. A Dunnock's love life has as observed by another writer I like Dominic Cousins "more in common with modern students in a University halls of residence than an old married couple". That seems a bit harsh on today's youth ! So the females lead a merry dance (or it it the other way around ?) and the males have resorted to some quite unpleasant tactics to try and win the battle of the genes. The male will, after copulating, attempt to plug up the females opening with soft mud in an attempt to prevent the entry of other sperm. I expect the avian equivalent of a chastity belt. So Dunnock matings are often preceded by the male first seeking to free up any dirt from their putative short term partner's entrance before they can take their turn.
It has a point though. The chicks when hatched will often be fed by the female and up to three males so that each brood has a safety net of sorts against one or more of their "fathers" (who knows who is who as the females are mating 2 times an hour with varied partners throughout the breeding season) copping it before they have fledged. So the free love commune becomes an extended parenting network. The sort of thing the Daily Mail wouldn't approve of but the Daily Bird finds fascinating.
Dunnock, Prunella modularis
Boxing Day 2013
Conwy RSPB
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