Admiring auklets
A few months back, I asked the more ID-aware among you to have a go at identifying a pickled bird’s head, freshly photographed on the desk of my esteemed colleague Nigel Redman.
Maybe this was a bit tricky.
The answer is its a Rhinoceros Auklet. What do we know about this rather mysterious seabird? Well, it breeds in colonies around the coastal North Pacific – a hotspot of auk diversity – from Sakhalin and Hokkaido via the Kuriles to western Canada and California. The horn that gives it its name appears during the breeding season, when it digs burrows in the earth for nesting. The parent birds visit the colony at night, bringing tasty treats of fish for the chicks. After fledging the auklets head out to sea, far from land, for the winter.
Let's all learn to love auklets.
Nigel’s gruesome find stems from a trip to Verkhovski Island in Peter the Great Bay, near Vladivostock. The unfortunate bird had been caught and neatly decapitated by a Peregrine. Like any good birder Nigel salvaged his prize, popped it into pickling vodka (the only spirit to hand) and brought it back to dear old Blighty, for the dual purpose of impressing people like me while driving non-ornithological members of staff away in disgust.
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There’s rather an interesting piece by David Callahan in this month’s Birdwatch magazine, discussing which species might soon become ‘Firsts’ for Britain – in other words, extreme vagrants that might be recorded here for the first time. There have been some astonishing finds over the last few years, from a Long-billed Murrelet off the coast of Devon (and, ludicrously, one on landlocked Lake Zurich in 1997 – how on earth did that get there?) to the famous Ancient Murrelet of Lundy, and the undoubted crowning glory, last year’s now-legendary Tufted Puffin off the north coast of Kent.
A now-famous photo of one of the greatest finds in UK birding.
While Rhinoceros Auklet wasn’t mentioned by David as a possible First for Britain in the near future, maybe it should have been. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled, though I doubt I’ll manage to whistle one up the next time I go to Rainham Marshes. There’s nothing for it, I’m going to have to go to Siberia one day to see one of these funky little beasts – hopefully this time with the head still in the vicinity of the shoulders.
The full story of Britain’s Firsts can be found in these two Poyser monographs:
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Birds of the Middle East
A guest blog from the authors of Birds of the Middle East …
We are so pleased to have finally brought to fruition the new edition of Birds of the Middle East. Once again it has been great working with John Gale, Mike Langman and Brian Small, not only because they are fine illustrators but because of their knowledge of bird identification. It really has been a team effort.
The result is a virtually a new book. It has an entirely new layout with the text and maps opposite the plates. Over 100 new species are included bringing the total number of species covered to over 820. The detailed maps, now in full colour, have been extensively revised to show wintering and migration distributions as well as breeding.
It is only field guide to the birds of the Middle East and covers Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, the Arabian peninsula and Socotra. There are 176 colour plates and the accompanying concise species accounts cover all key identification features.
Field guides can quickly get out of date as new species are recorded, new identification features discovered and new breeding areas located with increased travel. Thus we will be starting a webpage ‘Middle East Birds’ on A&C Black’s website which we will be updating twice yearly with news of new species, revised distributions and new identification information – including revised plates that can be downloaded to fit in your guide. So we would welcome your contributions to this – all of which will be acknowledged.
Finally we are proud to have dedicated this field guide to BirdLife International’s Middle East conservation programme.
Simon Aspinall & Richard Porter
August 2010
Simon Aspinall
Richard Porter
Brian Small
Mike Langman
John Gale
Gardening for Wildlife
A guest post by Adrian Thomas, author of Gardening for Wildlife …
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I’ve got babies popping out all over the place!
The day before yesterday, it was the Great Tits whose family emerged from their palatial nursery inside my Starling nestbox to try their luck in the big wide world, and hopefully finding plenty of insects in my woodland garden.
Great Tit emerging from a Starling box
Then yesterday it was the turn of the Blue Tits. One of the youngsters decided to attempt a landing on the conservatory roof, which was wet from the recent drizzle. It was quite a shock to the little fledgling when it started to ski uncontrollably down towards the gutter.
This to me is the theme of June – youngsters everywhere, all learning fast. They need to, for it is a jungle out there for them. We see gardens as a benign place, when actually the survival of the fittest is going on all around us. I remind myself it isn’t grim or sad – it’s life.
But one crèche of babes that are happily going about their business without a care in the world are the toadpoles in my garden. (Apparently the ‘tad’ in the word tadpole derives from the word ‘toad’, but has come to mean junior froggies too. The ‘pole’ bit means ‘head’, as in Redpoll. I’m voting that we now move language on and have tadpoles and toadpoles.)
Toadpoles
The reason that the toadpoles can be so cavalier is that they taste bad. The newts don’t like them; the Blackbirds that hop around my pond margin looking for pond snails don’t like them. With about 500 toadpoles currently hoovering up all the algae from my pond sides, I allow myself a little parental pride that my gardening for wildlife is having some effect.
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Adrian Thomas
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RSPB Gardening for Wildlife by Adrian Thomas is available now. To read the foreword by Chris Packham and see our gardening ‘to do’ list for June click the cover below!
The tale of the pickled waxwing
Earlier this year, a lot of London year-listers will have traipsed round the North Circular to Finchley, and to the Total Garage on Regent’s Park Road. Why? To see a lonely, solitary Waxwing, which hung about in these suburban surroundings for a month or so before starting the long flight north. It hasn’t been a vintage Waxwing year …
Unlike 2005, when Britain experienced a true waxwing invasion, with thousands of these striking pink birds sweeping south across the frozen country. In mid-January, we got wind of a flock of waxwings not far from our office, which is slap-bang in the middle of London. Its not often you get to see flocks of anything round here, let alone a scarce winter
visitor, so Nigel and I downed tools and set off in hot pursuit.
We were greeted just outside Warren Street tube station by a remarkable site – a flock of 110 waxwings, alternating between some tall plane trees in a nearby square and a very small tree with berries on the pavement, with an attending flock of around 110 birders. You couldn’t have got better views of either.
One of the birds had flown into an office-block window, had kicked the bucket, and was lying forlornly on the pavement. Obviously I couldn’t just leave it there – the curse of the wandering zoologist – so I was soon on my way back to the office with a pocketfull of dead waxwing. This proved useful for scaring the more squeamish among my fellow editors, but I must admit after taking the bird home I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. A brief period in the freezer was clearly unsatisactory, so this poor bird’s long journey from the Arctic north ended with it being pickled in a large onion jar in my shed, where it resides to this day.
Jim's waxwing, pre-vinegar.
Team Helm does actually have previous when it comes to pickling interesting things that turn up on our travels. For example, one of the many reasons for which Nigel is renowned in the company is the permanent presence on his desk of this admittedly gruesome item.
Now, here’s a question for the more ID-aware among you. The head of which species is pickled in this jar?
Send your answers to us by the 26th June … a Helm field guide of the winner’s choice awaits, with the winner picked at random from correct entries (UK entrants only; editor’s decision is final!).
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Learn more about the land of the waxwing here:
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Elephant in the room …
Since the beginning of May, you may have noticed that a number of brightly coloured elephants have appeared around the streets of London. As well as being an interesting attraction for tourists and commuters, the elephants are there to raise an important issue – the future of the endangered Asian elephants.
As one of the world’s largest mammals, Asian elephants understandably need lots of room to roam. There are over 30,000 Asian elephants left in the wild and their habitats are getting smaller and sparser. With the worlds’ population increasing rapidly, the elephants’ habitat is slowly disappearing and this is causing hostility between elephants and local communities.
This is the fourth, annual elephant parade and also the largest. The first parade in Rotterdam in 2007 showcased 50 elephants, seventy appeared in Antwerp the year after, over 100 elephants graced the streets of Amsterdam in 2009 and this year, running simultaneously with the London parade, is one in Dierenpark Emmen in the Netherlands.
The London Elephant Parade has been organised by the charity, Elephant Family to raise both awareness and money for the cause. Organisers hope to raise around £2million from the 260 elephants, which have been designed by artists and celebrities, and will be sold individually at auction.
For those of us who are unable to house an elephant ourselves, we are able to purchase mini elephants from the Elephant Parade Online Shop.
You can get involved in lots of other ways too, by signing the petition, donating money on the website, buying mini (or life size…) elephants, texting ‘elephant’ to 83118 and more!
The money raised goes towards securing ‘corridors’, ancient migratory routes that the elephants and other herds use to find new forests and fresh supplies of food and also moving entire villages out of the elephants’ way.
On May 22nd, the artists behind the eye-catching elephants will be standing proudly beside their elephants between 10am and 1pm to answer your questions and discuss their inspiration for the designs.
The elephants are in London until July 4th so get up to London, download the map from the website and get elephant spotting! It is such a worthwhile cause and even the smallest donation can help to make a big difference.
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Written by Laura Skerritt
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If you’d like to find out more about Indian elephants, check out our fantastic Field Guide to Indian Mammals
Scottish Wildlife
I recently spent a weekend walking in Scotland on the island of Skye and discovered that the Scottish highlands is home to some of Britain’s most interesting wildlife…
My personal favourite were the highland cattle
The landscape was breathtaking and it was a great place for walking and enjoying the outdoors. Dolphins, porpoises, seals, otters and puffins can be seen in the water.
However, one of the most exciting things is the range of birds of prey that you can see- if you’re lucky. Golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, kestrels and buzzards can be spotted and there are several places that offer wildlife-spotting boat trips. I went out on one of these boats and they took us to see a white-tailed eagles nest which had two chicks inside and then threw fish off the boat so that the eagle swooped down to the water to catch the fish and we got a fantastic close-up view. It was really breathtaking to see as they are huge and magnificent birds with an enormous wing span.
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Written by Ellen Parnevelas.
To find out more about Scottish wildlife check out RSPB Handbook of Scottish Birds:
Chickens!
A guest post by Celia Lewis, author of Illustrated Guide to Chickens:
Chickens always seem to have been around in my life. My grandmother kept them along with geese (Hilary, the gander, terrorised small children with bare legs) and my mother kept Rhode Island Reds. I have kept hens on and off for the last thirty years, the ‘off’ being after a visit from a fox.
At the moment I keep silver-laced Wyandottes and Welsummers. I also had Anconas but these are flighty birds to say the least. They are beautiful black birds with white mottling that lay pure white eggs – however they prefer to roost up trees and there being some holly bushes in my run, this was were they went. As winter approached I felt they would do better if trained to live in the house with the others – the way to achieve this is to catch them up at night when hens are usually docile and put them in the house, when you’ve done this once or twice they generally get the message. However these two were not in the least docile and flew straight over the 8 foot fencing out of the run – impossible to find in the dark, sadly all that was left in the morning was a pile of feathers.
The Ancona is a tough, hardy bird that originated in the Italian port of its name
The Wyandottes are gorgeous birds, calm and beautiful though do tend to spend a lot of the year broody – fine if you want to hatch chicks, but if you have more than one cock then you must separate them and wait at least four weeks until you can be sure the eggs have been fertilised by the right bird.
Wyandotte: a superb and showy dual-purpose bird with a strong character to match
All these birds feature in my book The Illustrated Guide to Chickens and are just some of the 200 or so watercolour paintings. What to do with them all? My answer is to hold an exhibition and with two friends that is what I am doing. STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS is being held in Haslemere Museum, Surrey from 8th – 22nd May 2010 and features not only my paintings but unusual hand-carved birds and fish by renowned wood carver Judith Nicoll and the unique and affordable jewellery of Catriona Godson.
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Celia Lewis, www.celialewis.co.uk
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The Peregrine Falcon
Much admired by city dwellers, I swiftly scan their pavements for my next victim, my catch of the day. High above the sprawl, overpowered by my speed and dexterity the city lies beneath. Scattering creatures await my next landing…
Who am I? I hear you ask…
I am, of course, the great Peregrine Falcon.
Continuing on the theme of my last blog, urban wildlife, I have decided to delve deeper into the subject and address, more specifically, our urban birdlife.
A newer addition to the urban landscape is the Peregrine Falcon.
This large and powerful falcon is swift and agile in flight reaching speeds of up to 180kph. It is recognisable from its long, broad, pointed wings and short tail. It is blue-grey above, with a blackish top of the head and white face.
Chasing prey requires vast, open terrain for hunting. Peregrines are most often found along rocky seacliffs and the uplands of the UK, as well as east coast marshes in the winter. Recently peregrines have started to inhabit urban environments, using man-made constructions, especially tall buildings, as nesting sites.
The peregrine feeds primarily on birds, such as medium-sized birds, such as wading birds, pigeons, doves, waterfowl, songbirds, waders and small ducks. They can exist in most environments as long as there is enough prey available for hunting.
Written by Ellen Parnevelas
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To read more about Peregrine Falcons, check out our book RSPB British Birds of Prey
Hooked on harriers
This week’s entry is from Japanese ornithologist and author Tadao Shimba, about a favourite spot on the coast of Japan.
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“A harrier gliding over the reed bed is a common winter scene in southern Japan. This winter we have had more Hen Harriers visiting than usual.
Adult male Hen Harrier soaring.
Hen Harriers are known to roost together and we have found a new spot near the coast in central Japan, close to the town of Isshiki. The roost can be viewed from a car parked on the embankment above, which is a great place from which to study individual birds.
A hunting female Hen Harrier.
The harriers start returning to the roost as early as 2pm on windy days. The birds continue to arrive until dusk, by which time they are virtually invisible to the watchers on the bank.
Japanese reed beds are also home to Eastern Marsh Harriers.
Eastern Marsh Harrier.
The plumage of the Eastern Marsh Harriers that breed in Japan differs greatly from that of birds migrating down the Asian continent in winter, and further research is required. This location near Isshiki contains about 10 birds at the moment, in a variety of plumages, offering us a great opportunity for study.”
Eastern Marsh Harrier. What a cracker.
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Tadao is the author of Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-east Asia.
Urban Wildlife
For my first attempt at the art of blogging, I have decided to stick to familiar territory and address the topic of urban wildlife. At first sight, our towns and cities may not seem to be havens for wildlife but after researching the subject, I discovered that there is a lot more life amongst the concrete than is immediately obvious.
Urban areas are often built up and covered by paving and tarmac, but also include rivers, canals and suburban areas with gardens and parks. The fact that urban environments are so densely populated means that there is often food readily available for scavenging and many places for creatures to find shelter and nesting places. In Britain, the urban landscape is heavily populated with a variety of wildlife. Red foxes, rodents, a variety of birds, squirrels, insects, amphibians, bats and sometimes even badgers can be found scavenging on scraps of food left by humans and nesting in buildings.
A couple of years ago I realised just how much urban wildlife there was when I found a mouse nesting inside one of my trainers which I promptly put outside in my garden, only to find that a fox had run off with it and it was then never to be seen again. In fact, I later discovered in my garden in south east London, that there was a whole family of foxes living there which seemed to be multiplying rapidly much to the horror of my next-door neighbour who was keeping chickens. Suddenly I realised that my own garden was full of wildlife- not only foxes, but visiting cats, birds, insects and many other creatures appeared on a daily basis.
Foxes
Red foxes are widespread in urban areas throughout the world. They populate many Australian, European, Japanese and North American cities and thrive in the urban environment. Fox populations are generally higher in urban areas than rural areas.
Colonies of foxes were first established in Britain in cities such as Bristol and London during the 1940s. They survive well in cities because they are not limited by food in urban areas. Most eat a wide range of food items and food is often deliberately provided by householders. Foxes also eat a large variety of wild food stuffs including fruit, invertebrates, and small mammals and birds.
Tips for spotting urban wildlife
• You can attract garden birds and animals by providing food, water and nestboxes
• Lakes, ponds and canals are great places to spot waterbirds, as well as plantlife, insects and amphibians
• The best time of day to spot wildlife in city parks is early in the morning, before people appear and disturb the wild creatures
• Night time and evening are the best times to see foxes and badgers can sometimes be seen in some suburban areas
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Written by Ellen Parnevelas
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Bloomsbury Wildlife 