WATCHER OF THE SKIES: Leucistic blackbird, starling flocks, missing raptors

As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time, Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... about out of place birds, rare vagrants, and basically all things feathery and fortean.

Because we live in strange times, there are more and more bird stories that come her way, so she has now moved onto the main CFZ bloggo with a new column with the same name as her aforementioned ones...

Modern practices push farmland birds to brink of extinction
Farmland birds such as the corncrake, curlew and yellowhammer were once common, but are now dangerously close to extinction in Ireland according to a four-year study on bird populations on the island. The survey is known as the Bird Atlas 2007-2011 and finishes at the end of the month, it being the most comprehensive survey of bird life in more than two decades. It has also revealed an alarming decline in summer migrants such as the cuckoo and a sharp rise in buzzard numbers as well as the re-emergence of woodpeckers are centuries of absence.

BirdWatch Ireland, the British Trust for Ornithology and and the Scottish Ornithologist s Club are jointly co-ordinating the survey, which has highlighted a remarkable decline in some of Ireland’s most emblematic farmland birds, such as the corncrake and the curlew.
The closing date for records to be submitted to the survey’s co-ordinators is January 31st, and BirdWatch Ireland is still asking the 2,500 Irish volunteers who have taken part in the survey and to members of the public to send in their sightings.

Continued: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0120/1224310516074.html

Leucistic blackbird
Rufford Abbey Country Park in Nottinghamshire had an unusual blackbird visiting this month. It is leucistic – a genetic mutation that prevents pigments from being deposited in its fethers and has been residing in the woodland at the park for the last four years. Over the years it has apparently shed its black feathers and replaced them with white.

Continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16646922#story_continues_2
Picture credit: Notts County Council

Missing rare birds from Cairngorms National Park
Two golden eagles, two hen harriers, a peregrine falcon in 2010.
One peregrine falcon, one hen harrier, one hobby in 2011.

These are rare birds that have disappeared from the skies above the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Staff there have been tagging raptors in an attempt to track their movements and learn about their habitats. They also say that they think it is “highly likely” that birds of prey are being hunted and killed illegally.

Karen Couper, ecology adviser, said: "The survey has so far highlighted the high mortality rate of these birds with two golden eagles, two hen harriers and one peregrine disappearing in 2010, and single peregrine, hen harrier and hobby in 2011.

"This high mortality rate is very worrying. The Cairngorms National Park is a great place for raptors but the populations of these raptors are low.

"The exact cause of the deaths of our tagged birds is not known. Some will be natural causes but it looks very likely that some have been killed illegally both in and outside the national park, which is simply unacceptable."

Read further: http://news.stv.tv/scotland/highlands-islands/295608-rare-birds-disappearing-at-a-very-worrying-rate/

Somerset murmurations
Flocks of starlings forming shapes in the sky are well known and often seen just before sunset. But if you would like to experience such a spectacle at dawn and are in, or near, Meare Manor, Somerset, the RSPB are inviting folks to go along to witness the morning flood of starlings that rise from the reed beds on the Avalon marshes every day. On the 3rd, 11th and 18th February you can attend one of the Starling Dawn Explosions.

"This is a unique chance to take away the unpredictability of the evening roost" explained Somerset's People Engagement Officer Matt Brierley.

"It is always a lottery where the starlings are going to go at dusk; yet the dawn explosion has been described as Britain's best natural phenomenon and we know where they are. Plus there's a brew and breakfast afterwards."

For visitors wanting to see the starlings coming into roost before sunset, the RSPB are offering a free talk on weekdays.

"It's a chance to get answers to all those questions like how far do they travel? How do you count them? And just why do they do it?" explained Matt Brierley.

For more information about the weekday evening talk and parking instructions call the starling hotline on 07866 554142.

Booking is essential. The Starling Dawn Explosion, including a breakfast roll and hot drink afterwards, is bookable through Meare Manor and costs £6 per person. Call 01458 860449 for details. Meet at Ashcott car park on the Meare to Ashcott road.