short eared owl - Thorpe Marshes

short eared owl - Thorpe Marshes

Monday 9 April 2012

What's that bird? And some Sand Martins for lunch

Started off with a walk to our local park, Heighem park with little George . I've been regularly watching the bird life here and with the drizzle of rain I enjoyed the number of blackbirds and robins feeding on the tennis lawns. As I listened to a goldcrest I was drawn to another sound. It was a mixture of different songs . Sometimes a warble and then a sharp call or even  mechanical noise. It was clearly a bird mimicking other birds. After a while I noticed it was coming from some small trees at the rear of park. It was a Jay! In fact 5 were all together. I listen & watched as one seemed to be displaying to the rest of the group. I did some research when I got a chance last night and read that groups sometimes form in spring as a ceremony for  unpaired birds and a way of attracting a partner . I admit that as beautiful as a Jay is i  have usually only thought of em making that horrible alarm call of a screech they do. But now I will be looking and listening for this delightful song more .
 A quick walk down to Thorpe  river after lunch with my family & father inlaw was a good idea as around 10-15 martins were over the broads. Fairly low due to the weather conditions. No binoculars on me so I nipped back a little later and had 4 x Sand Martins & im assuming that the earlier ones were too -also 6+ Chiffchaffs , 5x Cettis and a common Snipe in the air.
 Another earlier arrival then last years recording for this species . Now I await for the house Martins and swallows to return ! 
 Happy birding,
  Shaky 

No comments:

Post a Comment