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The Backward Birder

@backwardbirder.bsky.social

69 followers 49 following 350 posts

Old-fashioned birder. Member of The Irregulars. Lover of Wild places and wildlife. Reliably twenty years behind the times. Also on Twitter {yes, it's still that to me} There's a blog out there somewhere, too...

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · Feb 2

You deserve something to look at, as I once again haven't uploaded my photos yet {This is getting to be a habit}. So perhaps something Special?

One from the Vaults, I hope you like it;
🤩

The Ayatolla of Rock and Roller!!!
Roller. Bere Ferrers, Devon, '22

What. A. Bird.

Yes, the cornish one earlier in the year was prettier, but oh my sweet Goddess, this one showed better. And in Devon.
Twitched at the second attempt, straight from a Night shift, too.

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 1d

4/ Ducks!
Common Scoters passed in ones and two, I tried to shoot them wherever possible in case of something interesting📷. One female skimmed just outside the Lead Stone and had to be papped.
🦉

Common Scoter shot well enough to identify to species, gender, and age.
{Sign of the apocalypse, I tells you...}

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 1d

3/ Gulls!
Tried shooting every Med Gull that came close enough. Some came very close, so you can even see what they are... 😲
🦉

Mediterranean Gull, 2w, with extensive black in primaries.

Photo 2 bird in flight, showing less black in primaries and unusually white leading edge of hand. I do wonder if it has some BHG genes?

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 1d

2/ On to the birds!
Here we have the skuas {well, the ones close enough to try for and that I actually hit in something approaching focus, anyway..😞}
We have here a Pom and three Arctics, a light an intermediate and two dark morphs, and all of those are not necessarily in that order. 🙃
🦉

Pomarine Skua, light juvenile.
Note Kittiwake and auk left foreground and flock of auks in right background.

Arctic Skua, dark morph {this actually a 2- or 3cy, it had a dark belly but well-barred underwings}
{Yes, I know you can't see any of that in this, but I made a note of the bird at the time and as I actually at least hit it, I'm taking the opportunity to post details}

Arctic Skua, intermediate morph.
This bird passed with the dark morph in the first photo.

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 1d

Friday's photos.

{You may wish to approach with caution, the following thread contains seawatching photos by me.. 😱🤢}
🌊🔭
1/ Some pretty scenery. The changing weather from Glonk Corner;

If I had a better camera, you'd be able to see the HORDES of birds passing out there...

The wind picked up a bit more. It threatened brightness...

Then it carried the threat out.!
Note the passed front in the distance.

I'd been waiting for a forecast band of heavy squally showers for almost two hours. Here is what we got arriving. It lasted maybe 5 minutes. I didn't even think about my brolly...

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 2d

Also 5 Common Gull, 20 BH Gull, 2 Fulmar.
1+ Skylark over despite wind.
Timed counts {10 mins every 2 hrs} of passage;
Gannet 509 - 25 - 7 - 10
Kittiwake 302 - 31 - 12 - 22
Auks {mostly Raz} 530 - 523 - 42 - 24

{Bad pictures will follow.....😱}

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 2d

Hope's Nose 0750-1405. Less rain, lots of birds! Timed counts as Gannets, Kittis, & auks passing in big numbers at all ranges; 1341 in 1st 10mins 😵
3 Sooty, 1 Balearic, 2 Manx, 1 Stormy, 1 Little Gull, 2 Pom, 10 Arctic Skua, 1 GND {landed S of Ore St.}, 5 C Scoter, 8 Med Gull, breaching ABF Tuna!
🦉🐟

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 4d

Bugger! Forgot to include this, my first diver of the Autumn.
🤦
Moulting {adult?} Great Northern Diver, South past the Nose and into the Bay on Sunday.
🦉

Lo! The diver cometh! Er, goeth!
Great Northern Diver - giving it a lot of beans and looking quite like a smaller one in flight - with winter feathering coming through on the chin/throat.

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 5d

With a mix of inspiration & determination, I went up on t'Moor in search of more Ouzels.
I found lots of sideways drizzle...
Lunch in the lee of a nice wall was enlivened by a visitor, however.
After 📷 was taken, this 1w Sparrowhawk came zooming towards me & zipped over the wall just to my left 😲😍
🦉

Look at those feets!
1cy Sparrowhawk - probably a male - on a post in the dizzle, Dartmoor.
After I took this he came zooming towards me at zero feet, popping over the wall I was sat by, 3.5m to my left {yes, I got up and measured]

Wowzer!

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 6d

Also for myself an @shiphaybirder.bsky.social; 3+ Harbour Porpoise to N, & 5 Grey Seal hauled out on Thatcher Rock. This Common Sandpiper flew out from Hope Cove to the Lead Stone, you can just see it! {Maybe}
😆🦉

{Vismig no.s will be on the blog directly...}

Zoomed-in view of the Lead Stone, off Hope's Nose, with a Common Sandpiper just about visible? Well, you can see the white bit!

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 6d

Nose 1st thing Sunday; some vismig, most notably a {non-landing} Brambling, though not the numbers elsewhere, as per.
Bluefin Tuna were evident well out in what turned into a very spread feeding event, with 2 Arctic Skuas attracted to the 00's of Kittiwakes & Gannets.
This chap posed nicely!
🦉

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 8d

Patch today with again nothing astounding to report - though sunshine & strong wind is not exactly helpful weather.! - now that Firecrests are routine {still going 😲 at that}.
Technical issues are sort-of sorted, so here is something new to show;
Lilac Fibrecap!
🍄

{What?!? Fungi are funky. 🙃}

Lilac Fibrecap, which bears a resemblance to Pink Waxcap {which is what I thought it was when I saw it and went 'Oooh, gotta shoot that one!'}, though not a very strong one as PW's cap is pretty much pointed and not at all fibrey.

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 9d

Slight technical issue = no pics.
Slight temporal issue = no Brambling...
😖

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 9d

Patch Patrol this morning & with overnight clear skies there was little moving; handful of standard passerines, best a Stock Dove. H Nose with @shiphaybirder.bsky.social & most notable 10+ C Scoter near the Oysterbeds.
Bishop's Walk had Tit & 'crest bands. Still no Divers on or over the sea... 😕
🦉

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 10d

Nobody likes my waxcaps, don't know what they did that was so bad. 🤷
It's not going to stop me, have a couple more from Emsworthy 😛
🍄

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 10d

And that is another ridiculous view, there...
🎩
You're really on a roll at the moment, aren't you?
👏

{I'm not jealous. No, really I'm not. Not at all. 🤥}

{{Now find us a nice Eyebrowed Thrush or something, eh? 😆}}

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 14d

3/ Gannets were loitering over areas both NE and S of the Ore Stone, but in the sea and weather conditions it is perhaps not surprising that I saw no megafauna.
🤷🦉

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 14d

2/ Watched 0940-1415.
Gannet 472 {306 in 1st hour}
Auks {almost all Razorbill} 838 {742 in 1st hour, 452 in 1st 20 mins!}
Kittiwake 25 {23 in 1st hour}
Sooty 1
Manx 1
Bonxie 1
Puffin 1
C Scoter 1
YL Gull 1
Med Gull 3 {+4 on slick}
LBB 7
Common Gull 1 {+4 on slick}
BH Gull 2 {+24 on slick}

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 14d

Hope's Nose today was dizzlier than forecast and I unexpectedly ran out of time before the good weather ended, though most passage was early on.
That said, holding on for 'just five more minutes' paid off with a Bonxie!
🦉
1/

0935, arrived at Glonk Corner two hours {arg} later than hoped, but that's me and alarms for you...
If the sea looks a bit dark, that's as it's hidden by an Auk rate {almost all Razorbills} of ~1300/hr..!!

Gannets passed at all ranges, like the auks, vastly more in first part of first hour.
Of interest, you might be able to see that the older bird has a black eye, and is thus a H5N1 survivor, while the younger bird has a blue eye.

After a nice start, the rest of the watch was bands of drizzly gunk, with only one rain band around midday, and 'variable' visibility. Passage tanked somewhat, but I didn't give up!

Adult winter plumage Mediterranean Gulls, tripping the light fantastic.

Three passed, with four more [including a 1w and 2w] attending the slick.

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 15d

3/ Sometimes, the birds will come to you.
Rarely with the light, though..
🤷🦉

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 15d

2/ Getting close to thrushes is not easy. Here's a sequence of photos, taken without and with zoom, showing how far back from the subjects my typical photos are taken.
🦉

Approach with cover. Observe from far enough to not disturb. This is as you see them naked eye.

Zoom applies, or roughly binocular view. Though my bins are far better at dealing with backlight...
Now you can see there are Fieldfares? Maybe look at them closely?

More zoom. See what i was looking at? Eight thrushes in view but only seven are Fieldfares. :D

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 15d

Emsworthy yesterday morning was busy with birders.. and thrushes!
😄
First up, we have some scenery, and an actual shot of an actual Ring Ouzel!!
🦉

Hillscraper clouds, mist, drizzle.. It must be Summer! Or Autumn, too.
The Famous Tin Barn {star of so many pictures in Bluebell time} amongst the trees and Hawthorn-studded paddocks of DWT Emsworthy Mire.

Ring Ouzel! Typically distant, this was one of two, disturbed by passers-by and perching up in view.!

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 17d

Also while out berry-scouting, I found my first waxcaps of the year!
😁
At one of the Bronze Age pounds up the Avon valley; typical well rained but also drained site.
🍄

Vermillion Waxcap.
{Note markedly dark stem, striated cap with wavy edge and depressed centre}

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 17d

Ok, no takers then..
😔

Not surprised, it really doesn't look like a Merlin, does it?
😆
Juv female, looked like it had just had a go at a small bird. I got on it, went 'Zoinks!', pulled the camera, and the little speed freak exited the entire valley to try to avoid getting pap'd.!?! 🙄
Birds, eh?

The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 21d

Ok, here's a Challenge for you!
🤔
Bird exiting at speed from the valley below Avon Dam yesterday.
There are GoldStars and Kudos on offer for anyone who gets it right {there are degrees of right, btw}

{Oh, and @shiphaybirder.bsky.social is disqualified as he already knows! 😛}

A bird of some sort, having seen me at close range, decides legging {winging?} it is better than risking being put up on here and being mocked by all the other {SPECIES REDACTED}

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The Backward Birder @backwardbirder.bsky.social · 22d

And then, sunset entered the chat:
🎤

Gratuitous sunset.
Did I mention my camera doesn't do the colours justice? No? Well, it doesn't.