Wednesday 29 January 2020

Six Of The Best

Not six of the best birds you'll ever see - all birds are equal in my estimation (though some might be more equal than others). And certainly not six of the best photos of birds either, but six of the best I could manage yesterday on a visit to the North Norfolk coast.

First of all a Little Egret....


If I'd seen this bird as little as thirty years ago I'd have been very excited indeed; you just didn't see them in the UK. I remember a trip down to Hampshire when I saw one of the only two Little Egrets in the country at that time, now I see them all over the place, even within half a mile of my house.


The Egret was central to the forming of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) as it was the trade in their plumes, for making ladies' hats, that so appalled Emily Williamson and Eliza Phillips that they campaigned against the absurd fashion, leading to the founding of the charity in 1891. 


I've always been very fond of ducks, ever since the days when I used to feed them bread when I was about four-years old. That's a male Wigeon you can see above, just one of a vast number of the species that visit our wetlands - in fact anywhere where there's water and grass - every winter. They have a wonderful whistling call which always conjures up memories of wild winter weather in my mind.


Another bird with an evocative call is the Redshank. Old bird guides never fail to mention that it's known as "The Sentinel Of The Marshes". By whom? I'm tempted to ask. Not by the wildfowlers who made a living out on the fens and marshes, I'm sure. Probably by the clergymen/naturalists of the Victorian era. I'm certain the fenmen had a much more colourful name for the bird whose panic-stricken cries would have alerted every bird for miles around to their presence.


This character, boldly strutting along the edge of the water-channel, is a Godwit. We have two closely-related species, the Black-Tailed Godwit and the Bar-Tailed Godwit, and in winter it's not that easy to tell them apart, though I'm pretty certain this is a Black-Tailed Godwit....


...and there's the black tail! I'm sure that if I made my living by walking about in marshes, shoving my nose into the mud to sniff out my food, I'd be pretty much black all over within a very few minutes; I've never really understood how birds keep so clean.


Watching from afar is a tall, proud Curlew. It's another bird with a wonderful voice; I'll put some links at the end of this post so you can hear some of these birds if you want to.


Saving the most colourful till last, these are Teal, male and female. At a distance, in dull light, the drake looks like a greyish bird with a dark brown head; it's only bright sunlight that reveals the details.....


The collective name for a group of these birds is a spring of Teal, which must refer to the way they suddenly take off vertically when disturbed, usually when you didn't even know they were there.

Call of Wigeon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB3aZAoiPIg

Redshank:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xtuq6lwPao

Curlew:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3UBH_M_LGk


Take care.


19 comments:

  1. Hi John - wonderful shots and I've loved looking at each and everyone ... the Little Egret and the Curlew being today my two favourites ... you chose a good day to get across to the Norfolk coast - and yes I'd love to listen to their calls - I'll be back ... cheers Hilary

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  2. Wonderful photos. The call of the Curlew is something very special and not heard very often these days:)

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  3. Your recollections re: Little Egrets reminds me of my own first sightings of them back in 1992 whilst I was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attending the first Earth Summit with my husband. At that time I never expected that we would see them living and thriving back here, but as you mention, now they can be seen all over the place.

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    1. There are several different species of curlew, Rosemary, found in various regions of the world. The birds you saw in Brazil would not have been the same species John saw in Britain.

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  4. We once a few years ago had a Little Egret on the beck running through our farm but haven't seen one since. Curlew nest in the fields here and on the morrs around us. They are one of my favourites - their call is wonderful.

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  5. A fine selection in my opinion, but as you so rightly point out, all birds are equal. I especially appreciated hearing the evocative sounds of the Curlew, the most haunting call of the moors.

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  6. These are great! Thanks for putting the videos of their calls - I am quite ignorant when it comes to birds and cannot identify many at all. I am always amazed at the bird knowledge that many bloggers have. Thanks so much!

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  7. Love seeing the birds there. Makes me want to go out to the marsh to see who is paddling around in the lakes there. I keep waiting for the weather to clear up a bit. Hah, I could end up waiting until summer.

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  8. All lovely birds. The curlew has a wonderful song - sounds a bit like its name.

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  9. Nice selection of birds! We have egrets, widgeons and teal ducks where I live too.

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  10. What beautiful photos! The birds are exceptional!

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  11. I had done looked up the redshank....to hear its call but have to wait cause Roger is snoozing and I don't want to scare him...ha...I would love to see these birds...

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  12. The two teals are particularly photogenic.

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  13. Spotted an Egret aorund by our brook a while ago and I have spotted teal and wigeon , Curlew i can almost imitate but have not seen any for a while. The other two I cannot remember seeing

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  14. Loved the bird noises John, the curlew is the prettiest call, the redshank the most piercing! I love walking up when the birds wake up, especially if I'm still cosy in bed while listening 😊

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  15. So many in one day! You know, when I was in England last summer, I remarked on how few birds we saw. But the we did not stay still in one area for long, so that's probably why. Still, up on Bodmin we spent quite a lot of time, and no birds. I really enjoyed seeing all these waterfowl. They're beautiful.

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  16. Nice photos of birds that are often hard to approach. I enjoy seeing and comparing them to the American edition

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  17. I enjoyed seeing these photos today, John. It reminded me of some of the same ones that we frequently saw when we lived on the VA eastern shore. I was almost expecting to also see great blue herons, snowy egrets or ibis.

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