#sp grebe

[spshipstats]

What are the top ten most shipped with Gregory?

Well there’s actually only 10 Gregory ships within the survey 😅 so rather than a top 10, here’s just all 10 of them in order from least to most shipped!

note: the survey is currently at 150 responses

10. Bebe Stevens x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 9 people)

9. Estella Havisham x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 11 people)

8. Gregory of Yardale x Mark Cotswolds (shipped by 12 people)

8. Kenny McCormick x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 12 people)

6. Kyle Broflovski x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 13 people)

5. Pip Pirrup x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 14 people)

4. Gregory of Yardale x Gary Harrison (shipped by 16 people)

3. Stan Marsh x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 25 people)

2. Wendy Testaburger x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 26 people)

1. Christophe “Ze Mole” x Gregory of Yardale (shipped by 67 people)

[jcmarchi]

Vertebrate 3D scan project opens collections to all - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/vertebrate-3d-scan-project-opens-collections-to-all-technology-org/

Vertebrate 3D scan project opens collections to all - Technology Org

A venture to digitize vertebrate collections in museums and make them freely available online for anyone to access has reached a milestone. The project has created 3D CT scans of some 13,000 specimens, representing more than half the genera of birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes and mammals.

Lateral view of piranha (Serrasalmus iridopsis); collected in South America, by C. F. Hartt who died in 1878. The exact year of collection is not known, but was likely in the latter half of the 19th century.

The project, the oVert (openVertebrate) Thematic Collection Network, has just wrapped up a four-year, $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant, with the efforts to date described in a paper published in BioScience.

The Cornell Museum of Vertebrates, one of 18 institutions taking part in oVert, has uploaded roughly 500 CT scans of specimens from its collections. The museum holds approximately 1.3 million fish specimens, 27,000 reptiles and amphibians (collectively called herps), 57,000 birds and 23,000 mammal specimens.

“Not everyone is interested in making a trip to a museum, so by digitizing specimens, placing everything up on a website and making it free, anyone who wants to access it can without having to leave the house, which allows for much more equitable access,” said Casey Dillman, curator of fishes and herps at the Cornell Museum of Vertebrates in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a co-author of the Bioscience paper.

So far, users have included artists, high school and college students, educators and scientists.

oVert allows the natural history collections that are represented to be used in collaborative ways, such as in classrooms. The format has made it simpler to compare anatomies of different species.

“You can do so many things,” Dillman said. “You can compare specimens and look at the evolution of limbs, or wings in birds and bats, or gills in fishes.”

Views of a juvenile pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) that perished swallowing a fish.

One limitation of the platform is that each specimen dataset can be 2 to 3 gigabytes in size, requiring users to have access to a computer with an expensive graphics processor to visualize the data. “Not everyone’s laptop can do that,” Dillman said.

Dorsal view of a shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus); one of the three species of shovelnose sturgeon in the U.S. The other two species are federally endangered. This specimen was collected in 1909 in Emanuel Creek at Springfield, South Dakota. Image credit: Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates

The idea behind the grant was to CT scan one species of every genus of vertebrate, thereby building an online digital library of each organism’s appearance – its phenotype, or observable characteristics – with respect to the skeletal anatomy. While most of the images are skeletons, some were stained with a special solution to provide better contrast and visualize soft tissues, such as skin and muscles. The scanners use X-rays, which can be set as weak as a medical X-ray for soft tissue, or strong enough to view through rocks and fossils.

Museum catalog numbers included with each image link to the institutional database where the specimen originated. Database entries include when, where and by whom a specimen was collected.

Lateral view of a sargassum fish (Histrio histrio); collected from the south shore of Boca Chica Bay in Monroe County, Florida, in 1979. Image credit: Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates

In many ways, the oVert project is just getting started, Dillman said. “Thirteen thousand species isn’t even scratching the surface of vertebrate diversity,” he said.

For example, there are more than 36,000 species of fishes alone; one species per genus is a good start, he said, but it will take time and additional funds to represent the great depth of diversity.

“If you think about some of the fish lineages in North America, there might be 200 species within a genus,” he said.

Each round of funding will allow the teams to continue representing more genera and adding more species from each genus.

The grant’s principal investigator was David Blackburn, curator of herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

Source: Cornell University

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[stampsshow]

7!! wonderful stamps on my card! Awww. The sender even said that she tried to find all the animal stamps she could, I looove them. <3 So we have a skunk, Vancouver Island marmot (Marmota vancouverensis), great crested flycatcher, spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera), western grebe and Dahlia sp.

CA-1048107

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Brodavis

B. americanus by Jack Wood

Etymology: Brodkorb’s Bird

First Described By: Martin et al., 2012

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Hesperornithes

Referred Species: B. americanus, B. baileyi, B. mongoliensis, B. varneri

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 80 and 66 million years ago, from the Campanian to the Maastrichtian ages of the Late Cretaceous 

Brodavis is known from a variety of habitats, most within the Western Interior Seaway of North America, with one in Asia: the Frenchman Formation, the Hell Creek Formation, the Pierre Shale Formation, and the Nemegt Formation.  

Physical Description: Brodavis was a large bird, but a small dinosaur, reaching up to 90 centimeters in body length (though some species were half that size). It had a cylindrical body and long legs, good for propelling it through the water. It had a lightly built skeleton, though, so it wasn’t well adapted to diving - and may have even still been able to fly, though not particularly well. It had a long, skinny neck, and a small head ending in a long and pointed beak. This beak was full will small, pointy teeth for catching fish. It is unclear whether or not it had webbing between its toes, but this is definitely possible. The colors of Brodavis are poorly known, but it was certainly covered with feathers all over its body.

Diet: Brodavis would have primarily eaten fish and other aquatic life.

Behavior: Being a water-based creature, Brodavis spent most of its time near the water, swimming through along the surface and looking for food. Based on other Hesperornithines, it swam mostly with its feet, propelling them like living animals such as grebes today. Its wings, which were still probably functional, would have not been used in the water. Still, given the presence of flight in Brodavis, it probably would have been able to take off from the water to avoid danger - and back to the water to avoid more danger still, given the large predatory dinosaurs it shared habitats with. It would have then gone to the coasts to rest and rejoin other Brodavis, and would have also had nests there that they had to take care of. How social it was, or other specifics on behavior, are unknown at this time - though it would not be surprising if they lived in large family groups, given how common such behavior is in modern aquatic birds and the fact that it’s a fairly common genus of dinosaur.  

B. varneri By Scott Reid 

Ecosystem: Being known from a wide variety of habitats, it’s nearly impossible to completely describe everything Brodavis ever lived with in one dinosaur article. That being said, Brodavis tended to live along the coast of major waterways (especially in freshwater areas), where it would spend most of its time underwater but go back to the shores to rest, mate, and take care of their young. Since Brodavis was found both in the Western Interior Seaway and the Seaway of Eastern Asia, it probably would have encountered a wide variety of other dinosaurs. In the Canadian Frenchman Formation, for example, it would have encountered the small herbivore Thescelosaurus, the large hadrosaur Edmontosaurus, the horned dinosaurs Triceratops and Torosaurus, the ostrich-like Ornithomimus, and the large predator Tyrannosaurus. In Hell Creek the companions of Brodavis were many, but included other dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus, Ornithomimus, Triceratops, Torosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Thescelosaurus like the Frenchman Formation - but also ankylosaurs like Denversaurus and Ankylosaurus, pachycephalosaurs like Sphaerotholus and Pachycephalosaurus, the small ceratopsian Leptoceratops, another ostrich-like dinosaur Struthiomimus, the chickenparrot Anzu, the raptor Acheroraptor, the opposite bird Avisaurus, and the modern bird Cimolopteryx - and more! In the Pierre Shale, Brodavis was accompanied by other Hesperornithines like Baptornis and Hesperornis. And, finally, in the Nemegt, Brodavis lived with another Hesperornithine Judinornis, the duck Teviornis, the ankylosaur Tarchia, the hadrosaur Saurolophus, the pachycephalosaurs Prenocephale and Homalocephale, the titanosaur Nemegtosaurus, the tyrannosaurs Alioramus and Tarbosaurus, Duck Satan Himself Deinocheirus, the ostrich-mimics Anserimimus and Gallimimus, the alvarezsaur Mononykus, the therizinosaur Therizinosaurus, the chickenparrots Avimimus, Elmisaurus, Nomingia, and Nemegtomaia; the raptor Adasaurus, and the troodontid Zanabazar. Given this wide variety of habitats and neighbors, Brodavis was probably able to live in freshwater habitats, unlike other hesperornithines, and it was decidedly a very adaptable dinosaur. 

B. baileyi by Scott Reid

Other: Brodavis represents a unique group of Hesperornithines, though it’s possible the genus is overlumped, which would make the family that currently only has Brodavis in it (Brodavidae) actually informative.

Species Differences: These species differ mainly on where they’re from - B. americanus from the Frenchman Formation, B. baileyi from the Hell Creek Formation, B. mongoliensis from the Nemegt, and B. varneri from the Pierre Shale. As such, B. varneri is the oldest of the four, and may be its own genus. It is also the best known species.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

Aotsuka, K. and Sato, T. (2016). Hesperornithiformes (Aves: Ornithurae) from the Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale, Southern Manitoba, Canada. Cretaceous Research, (advance online publication).

Bakker, R. T., Sullivan, R. M., Porter, V., Larson, P. and Saulsbury, S. J. (2006). "Dracorex hogwartsia, n. gen., n. sp., a spiked, flat-headed pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota". in Lucas, S. G. and Sullivan, R. M., eds., Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35, pp. 331–345.

Boyd, Clint A.; Brown, Caleb M.; Scheetz, Rodney D.; Clarke; Julia A. (2009). "Taxonomic revision of the basal neornithischian taxa Thescelosaurus and Bugenasaura". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (3): 758–770.

Campione, N.E. and Evans, D.C. (2011). "Cranial Growth and Variation in Edmontosaurs (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae): Implications for Latest Cretaceous Megaherbivore Diversity in North America." PLoS ONE, 6(9): e25186.

Carpenter, K. (2003). "Vertebrate Biostratigraphy of the Smoky Hill Chalk (Niobrara Formation) and the Sharon Springs Member (Pierre Shale)." High-Resolution Approaches in Stratigraphic Paleontology, 21: 421-437.

Estes, R.; Berberian, P. (1970). "Paleoecology of a late Cretaceous vertebrate community from Montana". Breviora. 343.

Glass, D.J., editor, 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, Alberta, 1423.

Gradzinski, R., J. Kazmierczak, J. Lefeld. 1968. Geographical and geological data form the Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions. Palaeontologia Polonica 198: 33 - 82.

Henderson, M.D.; Peterson, J.E. (2006). "An azhdarchid pterosaur cervical vertebra from the Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian) of southeastern Montana". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 26 (1): 192–195

Jerzykiewicz, T., D. A. Russell. 1991. Late Mesozoic stratigraphy and vertebrates of the Gobi Basin. Cretaceous Research 12 (4): 345 - 377.

Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., R. Barsbold. 1972. Narrative of the Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions 1967-1971. Palaeontologia Polonica 27: 5 - 136.

Lerbekmo, J.F., Sweet, A.R. and St. Louis, R.M. 1987. The relationship between the iridium anomaly and palynofloral events at three Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary localities in western Canada. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 99:25-330.

Longrich, N. (2008). "A new, large ornithomimid from the Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada: Implications for the study of dissociated dinosaur remains". Palaeontology. 54 (1): 983–996.

Longrich, N.R., Tokaryk, T. and Field, D.J. (2011). "Mass extinction of birds at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(37): 15253-15257.

Novacek, M. 1996. Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc. New York, New York.

Martin, L. D., E. N. Kurochkin, T. T. Tokaryk. 2012. A new evolutionary lineage of diving birds from the Late Cretaceous of North America and Asia. Palaeoworld 21: 59 - 63.

Martyniuk, M. P. 2012. A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds and other Winged Dinosaurs. Pan Aves; Vernon, New Jersey.

Pearson, D. A.; Schaefer, T.; Johnson, K. R.; Nichols, D. J.; Hunter, J. P. (2002). "Vertebrate Biostratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation in Southwestern North Dakota and Northwestern South Dakota". In Hartman, John H.; Johnson, Kirk R.; Nichols, Douglas J. (eds.). The Hell Creek Formation and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the northern Great Plains: An integrated continental record of the end of the Cretaceous. Geological Society of America. pp. 145–167.

Tokaryk, T. 1986. Ceratopsian dinosaurs from the Frenchman Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Saskatchewan. Canadian Field-Naturalist 100:192–196.

Varricchio, D. J. 2001. Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Theropoda) dinosaurs from Montana. pp. 42–57 in D. H. Tanke and K. Carpenter (eds.), Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Indiana University Press, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Watabe, M., S. Suzuki, K. Tsogtbaatar, T. Tsubamoto, M. Saneyoshi. 2010. Report of the HMNS-MPC Joint Paleontological Expedition in 2006. Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences Reasearch Bulletin 3:11 - 18.

Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pages.

[wapiti3]

GREBE sp.

[jacks-tracks]

Birds, Bugs, and Bolis

It"s surprising how many different birds one sees. Here's a short list:

Gracles(sp?) common as crows, all black, robin sized, family groups,with a sharp "chack-chack alarm call. They large males pose high in trees and have a great variety of calls, which include a territorial chirp, and when that territory is threatened they fluff up, raise their heads far back, and trill a loud challenge. Since I can imitate their chackchack call, the males will do the full display, fluffing and calling, all the while looking about for the intruder.

There are slightly smaller all black birds, but these have larger blocky heads, and are ground seed eaters, mostly hoping about in thorny bushes. they compare to grackles, as ravens do to crows. I flushed a flock up into a thorn tree in bloom, but don't know if the subsequent warbling was them or some other tiny birds, flitting through the blossoms.

Ladder backed woodpeckers:, again robin sized. with light grey backs checkered with black bars. Fearless, they hop among the bushes in the yard, calling a discreet cheep. If I stay still, they will go about their business right beside me. This is nesting season, and they nest in holes dug into the sugaro cactus, chipping out large cavity, and filling them with twigs and grass. One ambitious bird spent some time trying to pull off a dead frond from the palm outside my room.

There are of course buzzards, soaring endlessly on the lightest air currents. Above them are the frigate birds, seeming to float without wing movement. Only once did i see a hawk, large, with white underwing and tan back,cruising the neighbourhood.In the ocean are grebes, and Pelicans tack along the wave tops surfing the uplifts. Swallows nest in telephone pole brackets, sparrows cheep happily everywhere (I think I've seen sparrows in all the countrys I've travelled in), Terns fish the wave break where it washes ashore, catching a surprising amount of small fish. only once did i see a an exotic bird, bit larger than a robin, black body, pale beak, and brilliant yellow wing bars and under tail, colours flashing in flight.

This is nesting season, all the summer birds from up north have migrated, many of them stopping here where there is lots of food and shelter. The coast is a long series of beaches , backed by large fresh water lagoons full of fish, crocodiles,and masses of insects. Mangroves growing rooted well out in the water make protected nesting areas, (except for snakes), and thousands of mixed species flock here to raise their young. the rainy season is over, lots of bugs hatching for food, seeds on the many overgrown field bushes, and carrion on the highway.

Grey squirrels have multiplied here in town, racing along phone wires, leaping wildly through the mangoe trees (just now setting fruit), and eating coconuts. This is anew behaviour which i first saw in Costa Rica 20 years ago. They chew down from the top, and scoop out the tender coconut meat. Did squirrels migrate from Central America, bringing this behaviour with them? Were they among the refugee caravans from Guatemala. Whatever, they are here, cheeky and fast.Mostly grey/silver, with a long fluffy tail, round upright ears, ruty red face and crown, red bellys and under tail. that tail is black with grey tipped fur. There was a stir in the neighbours trees, branches waving wildly, and an iguana clambered into view and proceeded to strip the broad flat leaves, chomping them down with a satisfied smirk. They've stripped the tree, and the squirrels are eating the pear sized lumpy fruit. Squirrels also feed on an acacia like tree where last seasons long pods are brown and filled with the desireable seeds, even as new pods green up.

Bugs, ubiguitous mosquitoes, likewise found all over the world, which regretably here carry diseases. a couple of residents have had Dengue and there are a couple of other nastys mosquitoe borne. I spray my feet and legs in the evening, burn a mosquitoe coil in my room, and the municipality just sent a spray truck throughout the town.

Scorpions: Got my first bit a few days ago, and it was a red hot needle that didn't stop burning. In my room , later killed by the maid. I slapped on anti ich cream , chomped an antihistimine, and iced it for an hour before the pain let up enough to sleep. My neighbour also got snapped, and I found a record breaking one under the toilet seat at the pool bathroom. All these years of travelling, and this is the first time I've got stung.Once is enough!

Butterflys. In the blossom loaded bush growing on the pool wall, the yellow flowers were dotted with tiny bright yellow butterflys, who occasionaly flew up in a cloud before settling back down. At Carrizillo beach there were large black ones with deep red wing bars. They are all very active and rarely land long enough for a good view

Bolis: Heh, just used that word for alliteration. Bolis are plastic bags of ?juice? frozen and sold from coolers by wandering women. Given the unknown provenence of the ?juice? water/ or koolaid? I am not trying them. Like wise I am not eating the tempting street food, steaming tacos, fried dough, or corn flour steamed in bannna leaves. Instead I indulge in chocolate frappes, and paquetes, a plastic box filled with cinnamon buns, chocolate pastrys, and croissants. With a daily blender blasted ice and fruit mix, I am eating treats, but hey, it"s a vacation!

That,s all for now..

[mi4016mariamurawska]

Ouseburn Nature Research

I looked at the Ouseburn Trust website, as well as some academic studies of wildlife and biodiversity of the area to find out which species are in Ouseburn.

Animals:

Otters

Pipistrelle bats

Deer

Foxes

Sheep (not wild)

Palmate Newts

Grey Squirrels

Birds:

Kingfishers

Ducks

Grebes

Chiff Chaff

Swans

Grey Wagtails

Kestrel

Long Tailed Tits

Ring Necked Parakeets

Blackcaps

Plants:

Black Poplar Trees

Bee Orchid

Himalayan Balsam

Giant Hogweed

Butterflies:

Ringlet

Speckled Wood

Orange Tip

Meadow Brown

Comma

Small Skipper

I also looked at the Wild Intrigue Website, who conducted a separate study of Ouseburn, looking at the plants, birds and bugs they found:

FLORA:

Alder

Ash

Birch sp.

Bird Cherry

Black Medick

Blackthorn (AKA Sloe)

Bramble

Broad-leaved Dock

Coltsfoot

 Common Groundsel

Common Vetch

Cushion Xanthoria (lichen)

Daisy

Dandelion

Elder

Feverfew

Field Maple

Garlic Mustard

Germander Speedwell

Greater Plantain

Goosegrass (AKA Cleavers/ Stickyweed)

Gorse

Hairy Bittercress

Hawthorn

Hazel

Herb Robert

Himalayan Balsam

Ivy-leaved Toadflax

Hogweed

Lesser Celandine

Maidenhair Spleenwort

Marsh Marigold

Ragwort

Red Clover

Ribwort Plantain

Rough-stalked Feather-moss

Spanish Bluebell

Spear Thistle

Stinging Nettle

Sycamore

Teasel

White Clover

White Deadnettle

White Poplar

INVERTEBRATES

Black Aphids

Black Garden Ant

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Common Carder Bee

European Comma

Green-veined White butterfly

Grey Field (AKA Milky) Slug

Harlequin (AKA Asian) Lady Beetle

Honey Bee

Nursery Web Spider

Orange-tip butterfly

Peacock butterfly

Sawfly sp.

Seven-spotted Lady Beetle

Sloe Bug

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

Speckled Wood

St. Marks (AKA Hawthorne) Fly

Tree Bumblebee

Two-spotted Lady Bug

BIRDS

Blackcap

Blue Tit

Chaffinch

Chiffchaff

Dunnock

Feral Pigeon

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Grey Wagtail

Herring Gull

House Sparrow

Kestrel (Eurasian)

Kittiwake

Long-tailed Tit

Magpie (Eurasian)

Mallard

Mistle Thrush

Moorhen (Eurasian)

Mute Swan

Song Thrush

Starling

Stock Dove

Wren

These gave me a lot of options for which flora and fauna to include in my piece. My next step will be do make some concept sketches and make a final choice or experiment which animals/plants I will be including.

[petec9099]

Keith was staying with us for the weekend and so on Saturday, we visited some of our local nature reserves.

Our first stop was at Footscray meadows, a mixture of grassland and woodland along the banks of the river Cray.

One of our first sightings was of a Little Egret fishing in the river, but otherwise, it was fairly quiet – at least as far as wildlife was concerned – Saturday is probably not the best time to visit as it is a favourite place for dog-walkers and families.

We made our way up river towards the five-arch bridge, which forms the head of a lake in the river, where Mallard and Tufted Ducks congregate together with Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swans and Egyptian geese. We also saw a Terrapin basking in the sunlight. These now seem to be a permanent resident of many of our lakes in the area, released by pet owners who no longer want them or who can’t house them when full grown. Walking further upstream from the lake, we heard a couple of Cetti’s warblers calling, but there was little evidence of any small bird migration.

  Terrapin (left), Mute Swan (top right) and Egyptian Goose (lower right) 

Our next stop was Sutcliffe Park LNR. Here it was evident that the vegetation had grown well this summer as the marsh area was completely covered and impossible to see into. The highlight was a Little Grebe on the Lake.

  Our final stop was my home patch around the Tarn. here we found 2 Little Grebes, probably an adult and a juvenile along with a Grey Heron. Keith heard a Grey Wagtail, which winters here each year, but we could not locate it.

Little Grebes – adult (left and top right) and probable juvenile (lower right)

Grey Heron (left) and Coot (right)

  Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis) Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) Rock Dove [sp] (Columba livia) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Great Spotted Woodpecker [sp] (Dendrocopos major) European Green Woodpecker [sp] (Picus viridis) Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri) Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius) Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Cetti’s Warbler [sp] (Cettia cetti) Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus) Eurasian Blackcap [sp] (Sylvia atricapilla) Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes) Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus) Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis) Grey Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla cinerea) European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)

Naturelog: 13th October Keith was staying with us for the weekend and so on Saturday, we visited some of our local nature reserves.

[maritimeorca]

eBird Report - Fort Steilacoom Park, Feb 16, 2019

Fort Steilacoom Park, Pierce, Washington, US Feb 16, 2019 2:35 PM - 3:52 PM

Protocol: Traveling

2.59 mile(s)

Comments:     Equipment: Camera with telephoto lens

Additional sightings: Otter

15 species (+2 other taxa)

 Mallard  9

Common Merganser  1

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  16

Anna's Hummingbird 1     Heard

gull sp.  2

Cooper's Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  1

Northern Flicker  1

California Scrub-Jay 1

American/Northwestern Crow  1

Black-capped Chickadee 1     Heard

American Robin  3

European Starling 6

Golden-crowned Sparrow 3

Song Sparrow  2

Spotted Towhee  3

 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52794024

 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3

[animebirdr-blog]

Birding 6 Jan 2018

After spending most of the day on errands and video games, I took a quick circuit around Lake Pflugerville in the late afternoon.  Nothing super rare, but a solid 45 species outing, giving me my first American Wigeon, Mallard, Eared Grebe, Greater Yellowlegs, Great Horned Owl, Marsh Wren, Swamp Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark on the year.  Most people who bird here focus specifically on the lake, but there’s really good shortgrass habitat on the dam and a decent hedgerow to the northwest -- of course, that basically demands about two to three hours of walking to bird this whole area properly, including the marshy areas on both the western and northern arms.  (Of course, I only had an hour and a half.)  Also a scope (which I don’t own).   There’s probably some mega rarity on this lake that I overlooked.  :P Also, a ridiculous number of coots, doing their coot things.  Cooting, even.  They’re very coot. In summary: a whole lot of birds, and I’m up over 100 species for the year in the shortest time yet (six days) which either means I’m up for another good year and/or I’ll be scrambling later to find anything new.  :D Also, this means Bastrop and Travis are temporarily tied at #1 on the year at 77 species.  (Inevitably, Travis is going to be on top, since I live here.) 2018 to date: World / US / Texas: 102 species TX-Travis: 77 species Checklist of the day: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41690042 (45 sp) Pflugerville TX USA

[petec9099]

Now it had already been a very good morning already at the Wetland Centre when the news broke of a Bluethroat at Walthamstow Wetlands. Now I am not normally driven to chasing around after birds but there are some species for which I would make an exception – Gyrfalcon would be one and Bluethroat would be another. So it did not take much thought to abandon all previous plans and head off to the opposite side of London to see if I could see a Bluethroat for the first time. Would it still be there when I arrived?

And so an hour or so later I found myself, along with a group of about a dozen others on the banks of the East Warwick Reservoir which makes up part of the Walthamstow complex. The bad news was immediately forthcoming – the bird had not been seen for an hour or so. Then one birder relocated it – it was partially hidden by the vegetation and the bank of the reservoir and it took me a while to get into a position where I could see the area where it had been seen and there it was, standing with its back to me! No sight of the amazing colouration on its throat and chest and then it was gone back into the vegetation. Over the next hour or so I got four brief views and the bird was revealed in all its glory. Sadly too far for any photos but I just enjoyed watching it.

Bluethroat. Photo by Keith Cutting. Taken at Dungeness in Kent a few days before I saw the bird at Walthamstow

Bluethroat. Photo by Karsten Wentink. https://www.flickr.com/photos/vankarsten/

On the way back to the reserve entrance I stooped off for 15 minutes to see if the Little Bunting would appear to crown the day – but no luck – well perhaps I was expecting too much!

Eurasian Magpie (top left), Canada Goose (top right), Greylag Goose (centre right) and Reed Bunting (bottom)

What a day – I think one of the best I have had- some very good birds.

Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis) Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus) Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) Mew Gull (Common) [group] (Larus canus canus/heinei) European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus) Rock Dove (Feral) (Columba livia ‘feral’) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri) Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus) Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes) Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) Bluethroat (White-spotted) [group] (Luscinia svecica cyanecula/namnetum) European Stonechat [sp] (Saxicola rubicola) Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis) Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs) European Greenfinch [sp] (Chloris chloris) Common Linnet [sp] (Linaria cannabina) European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis) Common Reed Bunting [sp] (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Naturelog: 23rd March (2) Now it had already been a very good morning already at the Wetland Centre when the news broke of a Bluethroat at Walthamstow Wetlands.

[petec9099]

Lagoons

Shingle Banks

A trip to the Kent coast with Bexley RSPB Group on a misty and cold morning. As we approached the reserve, a party of around 12 Swans were visible in a field. From the coach and in the early morning light identification was impossible, but I was later told by one of the volunteer wardens that they were a flock of Bewick Swans, which winter in this area. Arriving at the reserve the first stop was to try and find the roosting Long-Eared Owl which frequents the scrub at the back of the dipping pool. A long scan by many people drew a blank and as others headed off for the hides, I retreated to the visitor’s centre for a hot drink. Suitably refreshed I made my way back for another look for the owl. I was fortunate in that a group of birders from our group haa already located it and soon people were gathering to see the bird which was in vegetation but once found could clearly be seen. A Common Kingfisher paid a visit to the scrub whilst we were watching the Owl giving excellent views.

Spot the Owl

With the days primary objective completed a circuit of the hides reveals the usual wintering waterfowl, although sadly there are no Smew, Goldeneye or Goosander to be seen. With the milder winters, these once regular winter visitors may become more of a rarity in future. Highlights include a number of good views of Common Kingfisher along with more common ducks and Geese including a single Brent Goose.

Common Kingfisher

Northern Shoveller

Marsh Harrier

                 Common Kingfisher, Northern Shoveller and a Western Marsh Harrier

  Great Cormorants

Great Cormorants

Greylag and Canada Geese

Greylag and Canada Geese

                                   Great Cormorants and Flight of Geese (Canada and Greylag Geese)

At the end of the afternoon, a small group of us walk out to the ARC hide at the farthest extent of the accessible part of the reserve. We were well rewarded for this trek as on the way we found some Tree Sparrows on a feeder and on the ARC pit we got good views of a Great White Egret and on the return walk to the visitor centre saw a Western Cattle Egret fly into one of the small pools by the reserve entrance.

Great White Egret

  An excellent day.

Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis) Brant Goose [sp] (Branta bernicla) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Bewick’s Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii) Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) Gadwall (Anas strepera) Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) Eurasian Teal [sp] (Anas crecca) Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis) Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus) Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) Great Egret [sp] (Ardea alba) Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta) Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo) Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus) Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo) Common Kestrel [sp] (Falco tinnunculus) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) Common Gull (Larus canus canus) Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Long-eared Owl [sp] (Asio otus) Common Kingfisher [sp] (Alcedo atthis) Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica) Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Cetti’s Warbler [sp] (Cettia cetti) Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus) Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) European Stonechat [sp] (Saxicola rubicola) Eurasian Tree Sparrow [sp] (Passer montanus) Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs) European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris) European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis) Common Reed Bunting [sp] (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Naturelog: 17th December A trip to the Kent coast with Bexley RSPB Group on a misty and cold morning. As we approached the reserve, a party of around 12 Swans were visible in a field.

[maritimeorca]

eBird Report - Chambers Creek - Grandview/Soundview Loop, Feb 15, 2019

Chambers Creek - Grandview/Soundview Loop, Pierce, Washington, US Feb 15, 2019 10:47 AM - 12:40 PM

Protocol: Traveling

4.25 mile(s)

Comments:     Equipment: Camera with telephoto lens

29 species (+3 other taxa)

 Cackling Goose  300

American Wigeon  8

Mallard  7

Ring-necked Duck  3

Greater Scaup  2

Lesser Scaup  1

Surf Scoter  2

Common Goldeneye  5

Hooded Merganser  1

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Red-necked Grebe  1

Anna's Hummingbird 1

American Coot  10

Killdeer  1     Heard

Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  3

gull sp.  1

Double-crested Cormorant 1

Bald Eagle  1

Red-tailed Hawk  2

Steller's Jay 1     Heard

California Scrub-Jay 1

American/Northwestern Crow  18

Brown Creeper  1

Golden-crowned Kinglet 3

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1

Western Bluebird  2

Varied Thrush 1     Heard

American Robin  12

Dark-eyed Junco  2

Song Sparrow 1     Heard

Spotted Towhee 3     Heard

Western Meadowlark 1

 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52744283

 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3

[maritimeorca]

eBird Report - Chambers Bay, Feb 15, 2019

Chambers Bay, Pierce, Washington, US

Feb 15, 2019 9:40 AM - 10:47 AM

Protocol: Traveling

2.1 mile(s)

Comments:     Equipment: Camera with telephoto lens

Additional sightings: Harbor Seal

27 species (+3 other taxa)

 Cackling Goose  300

Canada Goose  15

American Wigeon  49

Mallard  37

Green-winged Teal 44

Ring-necked Duck  1

Bufflehead  30

Common Goldeneye 17

Hooded Merganser  2

Common Merganser  4

Red-breasted Merganser 9

Horned Grebe  3

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  27

Anna's Hummingbird 1     Heard

Mew Gull  6

Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  1

gull sp.  6

Double-crested Cormorant 16

Great Blue Heron 13

Bald Eagle  1

Red-tailed Hawk  2

Northern Flicker  2

Steller's Jay 1     Heard

American/Northwestern Crow  120

American Robin  15

European Starling 10

Dark-eyed Junco  3

Song Sparrow 2     One seen, another heard

Spotted Towhee 1     Heard

Red-winged Blackbird 1

 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52744230

 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3

[petec9099]

On Sunday Keith and I went with Bexley RSPB group to Cley in North Norfolk. It was a welcome return for me as we had been there only a few weeks earlier during our trip to Norfolk, but the weather could not have been more different. In fact, it could not have been more different than the day before. On Saturday as we had visited local reserves it had been hot and sunny, but as day dawned Sunday it was overcast and wet, and so it continued all day.

But we did get some birdwatching, between dodging rain. We first went to Snipes Marsh, in search of Jack Snipe that had been reported there.

It wasn’t long before we were watching one in the reeds, although it proved difficult to get anything like a good picture of it due to the vegetation. This is the best one, taken by Keith.

On the Cley Marsh, there were a very large number of Eurasian Wigeon plus smaller numbers of Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail and Gadwall. There was also a large flock of Black-tailed Godwits but surprisingly few other wading birds.

Eurasian Wigeon (top) and Black-tailed Godwit (lower left and right)

Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) Gadwall [sp] (Mareca strepera) Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca) Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis) Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta) Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo) Water Rail [sp] (Rallus aquaticus) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) Eurasian Curlew [sp] (Numenius arquata) Black-tailed Godwit [sp] (Limosa limosa) Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) Common Snipe [sp] (Gallinago gallinago) Common Redshank [sp] (Tringa totanus) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) Mew Gull [sp] (Larus canus) Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus) Rock Dove [sp] (Columba livia) Stock Dove [sp] (Columba oenas) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto) Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula) Rook [sp] (Corvus frugilegus) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Eurasian Skylark [sp] (Alauda arvensis) Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus) Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes) Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus) Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)

  Naturelog:14th October On Sunday Keith and I went with Bexley RSPB group to Cley in North Norfolk. It was a welcome return for me as we had been there only a few weeks earlier during our trip to Norfolk, but the weather could not have been more different.

[petec9099]

A short drive today brings us to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve. This is a private reserve founded by a local landowner and businessman Bill Jordon. It is part wildfowl collection; part conservation centre and part nature reserve. It is also the centre of a local partnership seeking to combine modern farming and good habitat for wildlife. It has a diverse range of habitats and our first stop is at the wader scrape, where there are a number of species of geese and other waterbirds.

From here we pass on into the woodland and from the hide, we have excellent views of Nuthatch, Coal Tit and Marsh Tit along with more common woodland birds.

Nuthatch and Great Tit

After stopping at the visitor centre for lunch we visit the wetland hide, where 2 Green Sandpipers and a female Goldeneye are the best birds to be seen.

Goldeneye (f) (top left), Little Grebe (bottom left), Moorhen (top right), Eurasian Teal (centre right) and Egyptian Goose (bottom right).

Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) Gadwall [sp] (Mareca strepera) Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca) Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) Common Goldeneye [sp] (Bucephala clangula) Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus) Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis) Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus) Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta) Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo) Red Kite [sp] (Milvus milvus) Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) Common Snipe [sp] (Gallinago gallinago) Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) Mew Gull [sp] (Larus canus) European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Western Barn Owl [sp] (Tyto alba) Peregrine Falcon [sp] (Falco peregrinus) Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius) Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Coal Tit [sp] (Periparus ater) Marsh Tit [sp] (Poecile palustris) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica) Eurasian Nuthatch [sp] (Sitta europaea) Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus) Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis) Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)

  Norfolk Journey 2018: Day 12 A short drive today brings us to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve. This is a private reserve founded by a local landowner and businessman Bill Jordon.