Redstarts
Peter Bendelow
I am not a real birdwatcher but I do enjoy watching and hopefully
identifying birds. I am very fortunate that I enjoy the privilege of
working in Wensleydale and Coverdale, visiting farms. I always carry a
bird book in my van to help with identification.
I have to write this post because today I saw, and positively identified
a Redstart and was totally captivated by this lovely little bird.
I saw it at first just fleetingly and thought " was that a Redstart?"
By the time I'd got my book out and checked the picture he was back with
an insect in his mouth. He hopped from fence rail to fence rail shouting
his alarm call for a good two or three minutes before disappearing into
the bushes. I presume he had a nest nearby, but was he trying to warn me
off or was he warning his mate?
The alarm call (hueet,tick,tick,tick) seemed very familiar to me from
woodland walks, will I have heard Redstarts frequently but never seen
them or have other birds a similar call?
My book says these birds are common, but I have never knowingly seen one
before. Am I just unobservant or are they difficult to see. This one
certainly wasn't and I shall certainly be keeping a closer eye out now
that I recognise the call.
TIA
--
Peter Bendelow,
THIRSK.
North Yorkshire.
YO7 4NR.
Revd Dave and Mrs Anne Bookless
from Peter Bendelow <pe...@bendelow.nospam.demon.co.uk> contains
these words:
Dear Peter and all
> I am not a real birdwatcher but I do enjoy watching and hopefully
> identifying birds.
Sounds like your a real birdwatcher to me. That's basically what most of us do.
> The alarm call (hueet,tick,tick,tick) seemed very familiar to me from
> woodland walks, will I have heard Redstarts frequently but never seen
> them or have other birds a similar call?
I have certainly mixed up the hueet call you describe with the
similar call of willow warbler and there are several birds with tick,
tick type calls, principally robin, which doesn't mean of course that
you haven't been hearing redstarts, if you're in a place where they occur.
> My book says these birds are common, but I have never knowingly seen one
> before. Am I just unobservant or are they difficult to see. T
I've never found them particularly hard to see but I don't think they
are that common either and according to the Concise BWP (Birds of the
Western Palearctic) they have probably declined a lot in Britain in
recent years. What book have you got and when was it published, it
may be out of date as regards abundance and distribution.
I hope this has been of some help.
Happy birdwatching.
Colin Conroy.
mark
Wales.
What a pretty bird it was, and as Peter described, it had several perches,
from where it hunted.
Also plenty of pied flycatchers, in my simple comparisons, I likened them to
a cross between a swallow and robin. They fly so well through the trees, and
feed like a robin, (and many other woodland birds), by sitting on a perch,
and darting down on the ground for a insect.
I was sitting in this woodland watching all this, when a sparrowhawk landed
on a low branch only a few feet away from me. He spotted me and was off in
an instant.
Nearby, I spotted a Red Kite circling, and a curlew was going for him hell
for leather, I imagine the curlew was protecting a nest nearby.
The wooded area used to be a goldmine, and has been worked for 2000 years,
up until recently (30 years or so). Thus, an industrial site has been
rejuvenated, hope for us yet.
Mark Johnson
West Glam RSPB Members Group
http://www.markland.demon.co.uk
Peter Bendelow wrote in message ...
>Hello all,
snip
Phil Charleton
<pe...@bendelow.nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>By the time I'd got my book out and checked the picture he was back with
>an insect in his mouth. He hopped from fence rail to fence rail shouting
>his alarm call for a good two or three minutes before disappearing into
>the bushes. I presume he had a nest nearby, but was he trying to warn me
>off or was he warning his mate?
>
>The alarm call (hueet,tick,tick,tick) seemed very familiar to me from
>woodland walks, will I have heard Redstarts frequently but never seen
>them or have other birds a similar call?
modified versions of the "hueet" call. The "tack, tack, tack" tends to
be given by birds of the Chat family, which includes Redstart, Robin,
Whinchat, Stonechat, Wheatear etc.
>
>My book says these birds are common, but I have never knowingly seen one
>certainly wasn't and I shall certainly be keeping a closer eye out now
>that I recognise the call.
this is in short supply these days.
--
Phil
mark_et...@my-deja.com
Phil <ph...@tynemouth1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <N6$JpDAbx...@bendelow.demon.co.uk>, Peter Bendelow
one
> >before. Am I just unobservant or are they difficult to see. This one
> >certainly wasn't and I shall certainly be keeping a closer eye out
now
> >that I recognise the call.
> Redstarts require good quality woodland & they are declining because
> this is in short supply these days.
Last year I was at the Loch Garten hide one fine day - the usual mixed
bunch of tourists and 'scope-bedecked enthusiasts were there, and the
female Osprey was doing her best impression of a still-life painting.
Suddenly a strangled whisper went up - "Redstart!" and there was a
concerted dash to the viewing area, with even the expensive 'scopes
turning towards the Redstart. It gave us all some excellent views for
the next half hour or so.
It occurred to me that the Loch Garten Hide that day could have been
renamed "The Redstart Hide" with the added proviso:
Oh - in case anyone's interested, there's one of those boring old
Ospreys in that tree over there.
Mark
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Bill Alexander
>
> Suddenly a strangled whisper went up - "Redstart!" and there was a
> concerted dash to the viewing area, with even the expensive 'scopes
> turning towards the Redstart. It gave us all some excellent views for
> the next half hour or so.
Similar experience at Loch of the Lowes, another Osprey
gallery.
The only birders in the packed hide were Moira,Kirsty
and myself.
Mark I think you probably know this hide as well, there
is a tree stump inches from the hide window, on which
alighted the most beautiful redstart,it remained for
about ten seconds, in which time I had announced in a
hide whisper "REDSTART" all I got were funny looks.
I repeated "Redstart on the tree stump". There were a
few embarrassed
coughs and whispers, it suddenly occurred to me know one
else
in the hide knew what a redstart was, far less what it
looks like.
I simply tapped Moira and Kirsty on the shoulder when
the pied fly appeared a few minutes later.
I now realise it would be arrogant of me to think
everybody on God's earth should know our birds.
Maybe we all should spend a little more time with
non-birders,
OH damn that reminds me I have some more family ,
somewhere?
Bill...
p.s. The white eyebrow on this redstart extended almost
to the
back of the crown,the breast was scarlet, certainly the
most vivid redstart
I have seen.
Gordon Hamlett
mark_et...@my-deja.com wrote in message
<7ldhfn$j8h$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>In article <RV$I3OAPH...@tynemouth1.demon.co.uk>,
> Phil <ph...@tynemouth1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> In article <N6$JpDAbx...@bendelow.demon.co.uk>, Peter Bendelow
>
mixed
>bunch of tourists and 'scope-bedecked enthusiasts were there, and the
>female Osprey was doing her best impression of a still-life painting.
>
Back in May, the Redstarts were were seriously considering nesting in,
or just under the main structure of the Osprey nest.
Gordon
______________________________________________
Gordon Hamlett, Peterborough, England
Take no notice of what the critics say
No-one ever put up a statue to critic - Sibelius
Phil Charleton
Alexander <bi...@pitlessie50.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>I repeated "Redstart on the tree stump". There were a
>few embarrassed
>coughs and whispers, it suddenly occurred to me know one
>else
>in the hide knew what a redstart was, far less what it
>looks like.
>I simply tapped Moira and Kirsty on the shoulder when
>the pied fly appeared a few minutes later.
>I now realise it would be arrogant of me to think
>everybody on God's earth should know our birds.
>Maybe we all should spend a little more time with
>non-birders,
>OH damn that reminds me I have some more family ,
>somewhere?
>Bill...
>p.s. The white eyebrow on this redstart extended almost
>to the
>back of the crown,the breast was scarlet, certainly the
>most vivid redstart
> I have seen.
--
Phil
Andy Gibb
Bill Alexander wrote in message
<377A9867...@pitlessie50.freeserve.co.uk>...
>mark_et...@my-deja.com wrote:
>>
>
>
>> Suddenly a strangled whisper went up - "Redstart!" and there was a
>> concerted dash to the viewing area, with even the expensive 'scopes
>> turning towards the Redstart. It gave us all some excellent views for
>> the next half hour or so.
>
>Similar experience at Loch of the Lowes, another Osprey
>gallery.
>The only birders in the packed hide were Moira,Kirsty
>and myself.
>Mark I think you probably know this hide as well, there
>is a tree stump inches from the hide window, on which
>alighted the most beautiful redstart,it remained for
>about ten seconds, in which time I had announced in a
>hide whisper "REDSTART" all I got were funny looks.
>few embarrassed
>coughs and whispers, it suddenly occurred to me know one
>else
>in the hide knew what a redstart was, far less what it
>looks like.
'Sfunny, I don't know if I was at Loch Garten on the same day as Bill but it
was last May and the Ospreys were doing diddly when I spied a Redstart
showing well. I had the RSPB guy next to me, so I pointed it out to him and
he got everyone else to look at it, including plenty of folk who wouldn't
have known it from a Robin. I guess we live in hope that maybe it dawned on
one of them that there were more things in heaven and earth...
B Kemp
So is it unusual to be sitting in your back garden having two male black
redstarts fighting in flight less than 20 feet from you whilst doing some
work you took home?