Pied-billed Grebe

After dashing off to see the Glossy Ibis the other night, it felt rude not to go for the Pied-billed Grebe at Rutland Water. Having seen a few Pied-billed Grebes in the past it took me a while to get into twitching mode, but once I did I was off like a Greyhound. Well like a snail would be more accurate, because someone blocked Rutland Water to me by putting Leicester in the way. It is always frustrating how long it takes to cross Leicester. 

I got to see it yesterday morning and luckily it was one of those easy twitches where the bird is on show immediately. A first for Leicestershire & Rutland and it just casually swam around in front of its admirers. It was a bit too far away for photography, as the crowd was keeping well back. Nevertheless I was able to get a few records shots of it by using my scope as a lens. Not the greatest birding adventure I've ever had, but it was good to get a rare bird at Rutland Water, as they often time their arrivals for when I'm on holiday.

Pied-billed Grebe, Rutland Water, 10/04/14

Glossy Ibis at Hicks Lodge

Having previously missed the Glossy Ibis at Rutland Water , I was excited to learn of another one and this time in Leicestershire rather than Rutland.

I left work just before 5 o'clock, casually eat my tea at home and then drove to Hicks Lodge. Luckily the Glossy Ibis was still present, although a little distant. Below is a poor quality screen grab from a short bit of video I managed to record. As well as the ibis, we spotted a Little Ringed Plover with quite a few white feathers on its wings and mantle. The white feathers didn't stop the other bird displaying to it however. 

Just before 7 o'clock the ibis took off without warning and flew off in a north-easterly direction eventually being lost to view.

Second Year Glossy Ibis, Hicks Lodge, Leicestershire

Adult Mediterranean Gull

I had a quick walk around Croft Hill and Quarry this morning. The exercise was good but the much hoped for migrants were in short supply. A singing Blackcap showed well as did a Willow Warbler, but other than that it was quiet.

Colour-ringed gulls at Shawell were next on the agenda, as I still needed two more to bring my total to 300 different colour-ringed gulls at the site (more on that later).

Lots of gulls were in the area, but they were not visiting the A5 lagoons in large numbers.

Amongst a group of Common Gulls was a splendid adult Mediterranean Gull. It stayed only for a short time, but long enough for Steve Nicholls to arrive and get good views of it. The images below were taken using a DSLR camera attached to my scope - not easy as the camera isn't able to auto focus.

Adult Mediterranean Gull

Second-winter Caspian Gulls

Over the weekend I visited Shawell twice. You may already have read my previous posting, so I won't go on about Sunday's adventures. A greater number of gulls were present at Shawell A5 lagoons on Saturday, the most numerous were Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Amongst them were a few gems. A couple of third calendar year Caspian Gulls provided much of the entertainment and two Yellow-legged Gulls were also paying a visit.

The two Casps were slightly different, the one in the picture being slightly more advanced. The other one still had fine dark streaks to its mantle feathers and they were a little more silvery grey. Strangely as often happens its bill was slightly more mature looking. Both birds had long stilt like legs and shared the typical bill profile of this species.

Third Calendar Year Caspian Gull

Second Year Ring-billed Gull

As you know, I've put in my time at Shawell A5 Lagoons and today I got some reward for my efforts.

I had been a good boy this morning so it was off to Shawell again for the afternoon. I was hoping to see five more colour-ringed gulls to bring my total for the site to 300. On arrival there was a couple of hundred gulls loafing about, but a Common Buzzard flushed them and they all flew off towards the nearby landfill site. 

After this I decided to eat my sandwiches, as there was only about half-a-dozen Common Gulls left behind. Suddenly they were all in flight right in front of me. Amongst them was a gull that was larger and had slightly longer wings, but also quite similar in appearance. The Common Gulls were not happy with this bird and they were really harassing it and forced it to land on the water. The view of it on the water was good and almost immediately I thought that it was a second calendar year Ring-billed Gull.

The first thing I noticed was its bill, which was pink based and had a really distinctive black tip. I also had a similar aged Common Gull in view and its bill shape was clearly different - much weaker. Also its grey saddle was slightly paler than the Common Gull. Before I had the chance to check out the rest of its plumage it was mobbed again. Fortunately it came back down on the water and this time I was able to check the features I’d missed the first time. I saw that the greater coverts were similar in colour to the mantle and I had just enough time to rule out the possibility of it being a Herring Gull. It was clearly smaller than even the tiniest female Herring Gull; its head was more rounded and its wing pattern was not right for that species.

Sadly it was over a bit too quick for my liking, as I pride myself on getting a record shot of the birds I find. Of course the record is subject to approval by the LROS records committee, but I'm happy with my Identification.

To brighten up the posting here are some of my photos of other Ring-billed Gulls that were not hassled by Common Gulls:

Click on Read More.