A goose for Christmas?

A goose for Christmas? Why not?

Two days late - but that doesn't matter.

With my patch year-list perilously close to 180, Janet and I set off this morning with the intention of a walk around by the farm in search of Yellowhammer - a species that has evaded me all year. We didn't reach the farm - a flock of geese stopped us in our tracks.

Some of the flock

There was a huge flock of Pink-footed Geese in the 'Front Field' at Druridge - "there must be something different among that lot" I said, and we pulled over - scope out. It was a bitterly cold wind, cold enough to bring a tear to the eye! 

I started scanning through the geese, which Janet estimated numbered about 2000, until I got onto a different bird, with thick orange legs and I immediately thought Bean goose - but which one? I went to get Janet and my phone from the car and lost the bird, another 300 geese arrived. Another 25 minutes of searching through them, I found it again, I got better, but brief views of the orange legs (most definitely orange, I've seen Pink-foots with  'orangey' or 'orangish' legs - these were pure orange - and thick.), head and bill shape and bill colour. The bird looked thick-necked and a bit more bull-headed than the pinks but the colour on the bill was definitely more orange than pink and it extended down to the gape. I was pretty-sure this was a Taiga Bean Goose and attempted some digi-scoped shots just before the bird sat down and promptly went to sleep with it's head under it's wing. I put the news out on the chance I was right.

Orange-legged bird on right (digi-scoped)

Orange-legged bird at top - note thick orange legs but 'thick neck, bull-head'

Orange-legged bird left of central group, but again, looks thick-necked. Not so obvious on this pic but colour in bill was more orange than pink, but bill not the right shape for Taiga Bean

Graham Sorrie arrived and it was still asleep and then the Farooqi boys arrived. The bird woke up and Jonny got straight to work on it, he thought that the bill-shape didn't look right and neither did the tail, which was very much a 'Pink-footed' tail. Taiga Bean was ruled out and were looking at an odd Pink-foot with very orange legs, a shorter, thicker neck and orange in the bill but everything else about seemed to fit Pink-foot.

Jonny started scanning the flock and soon picked out another orange-legged bird, this time it was a Bean - but of the Tundra variety. The bird came very close but my photos were rubbish - this is the best I could do. 

Tundra Bean 'arse-on' showing tail pattern and thick orange legs.

Everyday is a school-day when you're birding. A quick look at photos on the Macaulay Library when I got home confirmed the bill-shape and tail were wrong for Taiga Bean, but an interesting bird nonetheless. 

I did get a walk around the farm this afternoon without a Yellowhammer to be seen. 

It was a nice walk though, in the late afternoon sunshine. The sky looked ominous a couple of times but it stayed dry.

Ominous

Six Mistle Thrush were in the fields by the Coal Road and both Redwings and Fieldfare in the Hawthorns by the farm. Near the Preceptory, two Water Pipits were feeding in a wet corner next to the Dunbar Burn, before flying off, calling. Presumably two of the birds from the nearby Budge fields.

Fieldfare at High Chibburn

The Budge fields, with a flock duck, and the dunes from the 'other side'

There was still some light when I got back to the car, so I had a look on the sea. Gulls were pouring in from the land to roost on the sea, Black-headed and Common, but as they settled I scanned through and counted at least nine Mediterranean Gulls amongst them - there could've been many more as gulls were still arriving but he light was going. I estimated 3200 in total by the time I left.

Tundra Bean Goose takes the year-list to 179. Tomorrow I shall be mostly scoping the chimney pots and TV aerials at Widdrington Village for Collared Doves. 

Travelling tree sparrow and moving geese

We had news of an interesting ringing recovery from the BTO this week.

Back in late October, just before I headed off to Fuerteventura, I caught a tree sparrow by the feeders near to the Budge hide. It had a ring on it which wasn't on of ours - this interesting things about the ring that it was a 'B' ring. 'B' rings are only put onto tree sparrows when they are pullis, adult birds take an 'A' ring - which meant this bird had been ringed in the nestbox - and more likely a nest box.

I presumed that it would not have travelled too far and I was right. It was ringed back in June this year out of a box of five chicks at Whinney Hill, near Longhorsley, by my friend Phil.

An easterly movement of 16km, which isn't bad for a tree sparrow.

I've been off work but have only managed one more visit to the patch - on Friday 20th, household chores have prevented any more birding...

As i arrived on the patch I spotted a small flock of 250 or so Pink-footed geese in the field in front of Druridge Farm, so I had a scan through them and found a single 'tundra' bean goose (soon to be regarded as a species in its own right when the BOU move to the IOC list) in amongst them. No sooner had I found this bird when they all got up - a pheasant shoot was going on in the shelterbelt to the west. I watched the hunters for a while blamming (or trying to - the chap I was watching wasn't a great shot) the pheasants as they were kicked out of the wood by the beaters - hardly sport I thought to myself. There was a pheasant walking around behind him, he could of walked up and shot that, would have been as much sport!

So I never found out if there were any more beans in amongst them.

It was cold, grey and damp again - the type of cold that get's to your bones! There was still plenty of wildfowl and waders on the Budge fields, no sign of the recently report pintail or ruff but two black-tailed godwits were new-in. A nice female sparrowhawk was sat out on the side of the shelterbelt. There were a few pheasant on the Budge fields looking a bit lost - I wonder where they had come from?

In the field to the north of the big pool where the usual flock of canada geese, a quick scan with my bins found a Eurasian white-fronted goose and a handful of pinks in with them.

Interestingly on our way back from twitching the pacific diver at Chevington on Saturday, we spun by Druridge and neither the white-front or the pinks were with a depleted canada flock. There were 2500+ PFGs in the front field at Druridge Farm but we couldn't pick up a bean goose - just goes to show that these geese are moving around a lot.

Off shore on Friday, a single great-crested grebe was an interesting patch record - they are rare in winter here. Dave Elliott's huge flock of 2500+ wigeon were still off Chibburn mouth.