Birdwatching

SHOREBIRD


A grant from Community Conservation Fund is helping establish a new population of Endangered SHORE PLOVER on Mana Island, off the west coast of Wellington, New Zealand.


The project is showing early signs of success. A pair from among 41 juveniles introduced to the Island in 2007 hatched and fledged a chick during 2008, and five more young Shore Plovers have fledged in 2009.



The first chick was born to one year old parents. Shore Plovers normally breed from two years. The sole natural breeding population of Shore Plover is on Ragatia Island in the Chatham Island.

The species was once widespread around the coast of New Zealand's South Island, but had been extirpated by the 1870s.
Their global population is estimated to be less than 250 birds, with a total range of just 4Km2




It's great for visitors to see one of the world's rarest shorebirds as soon as they get off the boat....

DONATION AS QATAR JOINS THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS.....


Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Hamad Bin Sahim Al- Thani consort to the Heir Apparent of Qarar, has donared one million to establish a fund to conserve birds and Biodiversiry, and to promote sustainable use of natural resources through site protection and management across the Middle East.


Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher announced the donation during her address at the opening ceremony of the 31st Global Council meeting at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar,. During the meeting, Qatar's Friends of Environment Centre.


Protection of birds is an integral part of protecting the environment, said Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher, adding that protecting the environment was one of the duties ordained to us by God. We in Qatar have been focusing on organising activities related to the safeguarding of our environment, so that we can achieve a harmony between nature and man.



Protection of birds is a integral part of protecting the .......ENVIRONMENT

SMALL PIPITS.


MEADOW AND TREE.

Where and When...

Meadow pipit is an abundant breeding, passage and wintering species throughout much of Europe.
Tree pipit is a summer visitor, breeding on heathland, woodland edges and rough ground with scattered trees.
Meadow and Tree... Similar, Separation, Complicated by seasonal and indivvidual variation in plumage tone and pattering, but with practice not difficult, though many distinguishing.
Call...The easiest distinction. Meadow has familiar (sip sip sip) number of notes varies, as does power of delivery.
Tree has short, incisive (zeep), spzeep ) or a more scolding (speez), in flight, also a very soft, barely audible, single (sip).
On breeding grounds, both species utter variety of calls.. Meadow gives dry SI-SIP or soft, nevous (sitip). Tree gives soft (sip) alarm call.
Song...Diagnostic. Meadow gives accelerating sequence of tinkling notes a it rises in song flight, succeeded by more musical note and ending as trill as it descends. Tree gives similar sequence but louder and fuller, vaguely suggesting chaffinch, and ending with a characteristic loud far carrying flourish (seea seea seea).
Structure... Subtle but definite differences. Tree is slightly bigger, longer, heftier and more wedge-shaped bill angled upwards from (face).
Meadow is rounder-headed and less streamlined. Tree's longer wins readily apparent in flight, producing slightly stronger, more purposeful flight than Meadow. Length of hind claw diagnostic short and arched on Tree, much longer and straighter on Meadow(difference difficult to see in the field)



Behaviour... Tree is far more arboreal than Meadow, but Meadow readily perches on trees and bushes, particularly when flushed. When, feeding, Meadow wanders rather aimlesssly through vegetation, Tree is stealthier and more purposeful, though rather furtive.



Plumage...Differences in plumage have to be evaluated sensibly, bearing in mind that adults show considerable, waer by mid summer. In frech autumn plumage, Meadow has greenich tint to upperparts and olive buff wach to underparts. Spring adults are generally brownner above and whiter below, showing little hint of green tones.

Some particularly pale, cold, stripy. Meaow pipit from Iceland pass through western areas in spring and autumn, may be confusable. Tree pipit is better marked than Meadow , and following differences most useful.


Facial pattern... Tree has, on average, better marked supercilium from eye back and more prominent dark eye stripe behind eye. On Meadow, supercilium and eye stripe more subdued and lores usually plain.
Troat and breast colour... Tree has submoustachial stripe, throat and breast strongly tinged, orangy buff, contrasting with whitish belly. Breast and flank streaking ...Tree has goget of neat, well defined streaks across breat, giving way on flanks to faint pencil streaking .
On Meadow, breast streaking more random, and often streaks coalesce to form dark spot in centre of breast, unlike Tree, streaking extends quite strongly on to flanks.

Flank streaking perhaps best and most consistent individual plumage difference.
Upperparts look more contrazty on Tree wingbars and tertial edgings generally more prominent, and dark centres to median coverts form blackish bar, this often highlighted by contrasting white feather edgins.
In summer, Meadow is noticeably, colder, greyer, plainer and often tattier than Tree, lacking strong greenish or buffy tone, but Tree also wear and fade by mid summer, becoming browner and plainer. So I hope I was of some help....

BIRDS OF RUSSIAN FORESTS.


The Russian forest is the largest in the world.
Most of it is comprised of Taiga, 80% of the total areal where the bird species composition and distribution is relatively uniform due to the young age of this habitat.

the endless sea of conifers, consisting mostly of Siberian Larix sibirica and dahurian larches and siberian firs was formed after the most recent glaciations.

Most characteristic species of the Siberian forest avifauna probably evolved in the colder regions of eastern Siberia where many typical representatives, for instance, Black billed capercaille, and Siberian Spruce Grouse, can still be found.


All in all, there are 50 species more or less associated with the Siberian forest habitat.
However, the total number of breeding bird species is much higher due to the influence of surrounding areas like tundra and steppe and intrazonal wetlands.

The mixed forest, in particular those of Ussuriland, in the southern part of the Soviet far east are much richer in typical dendrophylic species.

Approximately the size of Britain, Ussuriland has more than 400 bird species recorded.
Ussuriland is quite unique in the variety of its forest, ranging from lush liana coveres riverine forest to the majestic coniferous taiga on the mountain ranges of Sikhote LIN;

BIRDERS VISITING THIS REGION WOULD BE FACINATED BY THE INCREDIBLE, mixture of southern, subtropical and even tropical bird species living side by side with northern and Siberian species.
This region hosts an impressive number of forest birds......and some of which are shown here.....

FULVOUS BABBLER.


Babblers of the genus Rurdoides resemble small thrushes in appearance and size, with a generally brownish coloir, short wings, a long graduated tail, well developed feet and a rather stout curved bill.
They are normally birds of open, often sandy, deserts, semi deserts and dry river plains, with scatterd trees anf bushes.



Typically, the vegetation includes date palms, mimosa, tamarisk and lower growing plants sutch as astericus and, especially, awn grass.
Markedly gregarious in habit, babblers usually occur in families or even groups of families of up to a dozen birds or more.

Babblers frequently cooperate, especially when foraging but also during the rearing of young.Wher members of the group assist the current breeding pairs and delay their own breeding activities.
The genus Turdoifrs is represented by four species in the Western Palearctic, Iraq Babbler and from India through Southern Afghanistan into S-Iran,Arabian, Jordan, Sinai and Central Africa.

Four subspecies of Fulvius Babbler, are recognized based essentially, ondifference in plumage colour, size and bill structure.
My observation, is on the subspecies T F maroccanus during early May in two very widely separated areas of Morocco the arid sand and stone deserts of the Fafilalt region, near the town of Erfoud in the extreme S-east of the country, and the comparatively fertile and partly cultivated broad plain of the Qued Sous, inland from the coastel town af Agadir, in the west.

Between these two localiries in the desert and semi desert country S- of the High Atlas, the bird is found as a widespread and not uncommon resident.
Breeding in Morocco at least, may take place at almost any time of the year, with young birds having seen as late as November. These birds spent their time foraging in rhe scattered eucalyptus and other trees, shrubs and bushes, including the introduced tobacco nicotina glauca; along the margins of the river and its side wadis, but were not seen on the ground, when not calling, they were surprisingly difficult to locate, moving from one piece of cover to another on typically outstretched wings in long gliding flights.

The adult birds spent most of their time on the ground....looks like the North American Roadrunner.