Serbia Winter Owl Tour 2015 - Day 1

My long awaited Serbia Winter Owl Trip is underway and day one was absolutely awesome. Today was spent in the Rusanda area as well as the owl capital of the world - Kikinda. 

Of course, Long-eared Owls were the order of the day!

 However, by far the biggest surprise of the day was a young female Wild Cat seen by chance along the roadside on the way to Kikinda. It was hiding in a ditch trying to conceal itself from a shepherd and his dogs that were a mere hundred yards away in the next field.

I managed to grab a couple of shots before it slunk away. It was my first ever Wild Cat and totally unexpected!

 Wild Cat

 The group with Milan Ružić, my guide (2nd on left)

Here's to more owls tomorrow!

Shorties at The Scrubs

 A Short-eared Owl tries to look cool in front of HM Wormwood Scrubs Prison

Today I had the pleasure of watching two Short-eared Owls at The Scrubs. They were both flushed from the grassland by crows.

 Shaking off a crow

Shorties are near annual visitors to The Scrubs appearing in both the spring and autumn. Usually they are flyovers although occasionally they are flushed from the ground but they never seem to stay longer than an hour.

 Crows in hot pursuit

These birds are part of the mini invasion that the country is currently experiencing. They may have been knocking about for the best part of three weeks because there have been sporadic reports of Shorties at The Scrubs during that time period by both birders and dog walkers.

Short-eared Owl in front of the prison (Paul Thomas)

They are always great birds to see. It's amazing to think that my little urban patch in west London can attract such an open country bird.

Down at The Scrubs

 Dawn at The Scrubs

Made a rare visit to my local patch this morning. Within seconds I flushed a Snipe from the grassland opposite the prison.

 Not sure if the Major would like this!

After finding a stolen Boris Bike my attention switched to a total of over 150 Fieldfare and 200 Starlings all heading northwest. All that is, apart from around 35 Fieldfare that took a quick pit stop on the grassland to join a few Blackbirds and Goldfinches.

 Male Stonechat

I also found 2 pairs of Stonechats including the bright male pictured above.

A Red Fox 

It was a cold day and to illustrate the point I saw a fox that looked decidely hoary.

Nice morning on the patch. What will the next visit bring?

Back In The USA - totals

A swarm of Franklin's Gulls at Port Aransas, Texas

The below are the sum results of birding in New York State, New Jersey and Texas

Bird List

Red-throated Diver 

Great Northern Diver 

Least Grebe 

Pied-billed Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Northern Gannet

Neotropic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican

Brown Pelican

White-faced Ibis

White Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill

Wood Stork

Great Blue Heron

Cattle Egret

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Tricolored Heron

Little Blue Heron

Reddish Egret

American Bittern

Green Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Mute Swan

White-front

Snow Goose

Brent Goose

Canada Goose

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Mallard

Mottled Duck

American Black Duck

Gadwall

Green-winged Teal

American Wigeon

Eurasian Wigeon

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Blue-winged Teal

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Greater Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Surf Scoter

Black Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Bufflehead

Hooded Merganser

Goosander

Ruddy Duck

Plain Chachalaca

Wild Turkey

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Osprey

White-tailed Kite

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

Harris’ Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Grey Hawk

Swainson’s Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Merlin

Peregrine

Sora

Clapper Rail

Purple Gallinule

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Grey Plover

Killdeer

Semipalmated Plover

Northern Jacana

American Oystercatcher

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Western Willet

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Long-billed Curlew

Marbled Godwit

Ruddy Turnstone

Red Knot

Sanderling

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Long-billed Dowitcher

Wilson’s Snipe

Laughing Gull

Franklin’s Gull

Ring-billed Gull

American Herring Gull

Great Black-back

Forster’s Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Cabot’s Tern

Caspian Tern

Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Feral Pigeon

Eurasian Collared Dove

Mourning Dove

White-winged Dove

Common Ground Dove

Inca Dove

Eastern Screech Owl

Common Pauraque

Chimney Swift

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

((Pileated Woodpecker))

Northern Flicker

Eastern Phoebe

Vermilion Flycatcher

Kingbird sp (Cassin’s or Tropical)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Loggerhead Shrike

Blue-headed Vireo

Green Jay

Blue Jay

Fish Crow

American Crow

Chihuahuan Raven

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Cave Swallow

Black-crested Titmouse

Black-capped Chickadee

Carolina Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

House Wren

Winter Wren

Carolina Wren

Marsh Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Eastern Bluebird

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Clay-coloured Thrush

Grey Catbird

Northern Mockingbird

Curve-billed Thrasher

European Starling

American Pipit

Cedar Waxwing

Tennessee Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Palm Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Eastern Towhee

Field Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Saltmarsh Sparrow

Nelson’s Sparrow

Seaside Sparrow

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Pyrrhuloxia

Indigo Bunting

Eastern Meadowlark

Red-winged Blackbird

Boat-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle

House Sparrow

House Finch

American Goldfinch

Total 207 species

Lifers 12

Back In The USA - Rio Grande Valley, Texas October 2015

The Rio Grande Valley is one special place with many special birds.

 Black-bellied Whistling Duck

 American Coot

 Laughing Gull

 Clapper Rail

 Snowy Egret

 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

 American Wood Stork

 Buff-bellied Hummingbird

 Immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron

 Eastern Screech Owl

 Common Pauraque

 American White Pelican 

 Great Blue Heron with a Little Blue Heron (Vanesa Palacios)

Great Kiskadee

Back In The USA - Cape May 22-25 Oct 2015 - pt5

 Cape May sunset

Cape May is an incredible place for birds.

 Savannah Sparrow

 Lesser Yellowlegs

Immature Merlin 

 Downy Woodpecker

 1st winter Tennessee Warbler 

It is also a great place to meet some very interesting people. My time in the US was supported by Spain's Extremadura Tourist Board www.birdinginextremadura.com so I gave some talks on urban birding within the region.

 Urban Birding in Extremadura

 An appreciative audience

 My great friends Kevin Karlson, his wife Dale Rosselet & Vanesa Palacios

 Cape May Migration Festival book signing

 Sitting alongside one of the US' finest birders, Michael O'Brien

 Pete Dunne, the walking legend that he is.

David La Puma, Cape May Bird Observatory's Director - a legend in the making

My main reason for being in Cape May was to attend the Cape May Migration Festival as keynote speaker.

 TUB gassing

I had a large appreciative audience that also included several African-Americans which was a real rarity, so I was told!

Cape May Bird Observatory

Back In The USA - Cape May 22-25 Oct 2015 - pt4

Sunrise at Higbee Dike

My Cape May experience started at daybreak standing on The Ridge at Higbee Dike to witness the Morning Flight Songbird Flight.

 The seaview from Higbee Dike

Within seconds we had streams of passerines battling against the wind with some swarming past close to our heads. Masses of Yellow-rumped Warblers were joined by Cedar Waxwings, multiple sparrow species including Lark Sparrow, bucketloads of icterids including Red-winged Blackbirds, Northern Flickers and Pine Siskins.

 The migrant watching crowd

Stuff was moving on the sea with Arctic Skuas, Bonaparte's Gulls, Royal Terns and Gannets all making appearances. I decided not to attempt to recognise any of the birds, unless I got a good look at them. Rather, I wanted to just enjoy the spectacle of so many migrating birds.

 Carolina Chickadee

After the early morning had died down, I took a stroll around some of Cape May's environs to see what I could find.

 American Crow

 American Herring Gull

 Northern Harrier 

 Cooper's Hawk

 I forgot the name of this butterfly. Any ideas?

 A fleeting Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler