Birding from a small English village

Home from home!

Delana & I arrived back in England on 6th July. It had been a bit of an epic trip, but considering the circumstances a relatively good one. Social distancing was respected on the long leg from Buenos Airies to Paris, but it was a full plane from Paris to London. Jonathan was there to whisk us away to our new home away from home in the village of Balcombe in West Sussex.

Rowan, Lola & myself.

Delana, making herself at home

 in the kitchen.

Jonathan & Rowan are renting a house in Balcombe & it really is a beautiful little place. Wonderful English countryside all around, a country pub across the road & a general store. Not that we could visit any of these, as we had fourteen days of quarantine to endure! We are getting used to this now! The time passed quickly as both of us were busy & in our off-time we could sit lapping up the summer sun in the garden.

The lovely rural, rustic country pub.

Our first pub visit since February!

The 20th July was our freedom day & we celebrated by visiting the pub across the road & very pleasant it was too. 

Looking back towards the village from the fields.

Looking towards the woods & Balcombe Lake.

Balcombe Lake

This lake is surprisingly good for birds.

Mandarin Duck

Canada Geese with a hybrid bird.

This hybrid looks like a three way cross:

Chinese Water/Grey Lag/Canada Goose.

Grey Lag Goose.

Common Tern

A regular visitor to the lake.

European Honey Buzzard

Seen at an undisclosed site.

Common Buzzard

At least two pairs are resident in the valley.

Common Pheasant

Marsh Tit

I haven't seen this species for many years.

Brown Rat.

Common Toad.

We did several bird walks around Balcombe Lake & associated woodland. it is beautiful countryside around here & a real pleasure to be out & about. 

Best birds:

Mandarin Duck; Great crested Grebe; Red Kite; Common Buzzard; 2 Honey Buzzard; Sparrowhawk; Kestrel; Hobby; Common Tern; Kingfisher & Grey Wagtail.

In the woodlands Great Spotted Woodpecker was common; Green Woodpecker was recorded on two occasions; Treecreeper; Marsh Tit; Blackcap; Willow Warbler.

Myself & Jonathan.

On the 24th July we had a brief visit to Ashdown Forest Visitor Centre (which was closed), but we enjoyed a walk through a bit of heath land & patches of woodland. The entire area is very scenic & we enjoyed our time there. Best birds were 4 Stonechat; Dartford Warbler & 2 Marsh Tits.

Delana & myself in the winery.

25th July we visited the Kingscote Vineyard which was an excellent morning out. The farm is in a beautiful setting & the walk around & accompanying talk was excellent, as was the wine tasting & lunch.

Jonathan, Rowan & myself.

27th July was Jonathan's birthday, so we had a little celebration at home.

Notes on sea watching from Las Grutas.

To be completed.

A Siskin conundrum!

Las Grutas in Rio Negro province of Argentina, is in a transition zone regarding both habitats & birds. Many species reach both their southerly range on or about here & conversely other species reach their most northerly range on or around the town. Also, a few species normally associated with the Andes Mountains occur around the town, for example Chiguanco Thrush & Cordilleran Canastero.

Male Hooded Siskin

Female

The Hooded Siskin ( Spinus magellanicus) is common in parks & gardens in the town. We were there in late autumn/winter & this species was found in quite large flocks both in the town & on the edge of town, where the Patagonian scrub habitat started. We also recorded it occasionally deep in the Patagonian scrub habitat, but it was much rarer here.

Black-chinned Siskin (Spinus barbatus) is normally associated with the Andes, but is also found in & around Las Grutas. We found it to be rare during our period of observation, with only a couple of records on the edge of town. However, there are many records on e-bird of this species both around Las Grutas & further south along the coast. I didn't manage to get any photos of this species.

Silvestrin type Siskins

Notice the lack of black on the head 

& a pale supercilium

Notice the almost lack of yellow in the wing.

These birds are very washed out.

Yellow, when present is feint & diffused.

However, there is a third type of Siskin found commonly around Las Grutas. This is the so-called Silvestrin Siskin. This type (species)? has been known about for quite some time, at least ten years. But I am not aware on any systematic work on it. It is still not known if it is a distinct species, or just an un-described race of Black-chinned Siskin. 

It is certainly quite common in the Patagonian scrub habitat that surrounds the town of Las Grutas. It was usually found in small parties of between 6-8 birds. We found it to the north, west & south of the town, we also saw it in dune vegetation habitat just south of Las Grutas. We never saw it associating with other Siskin species (although this is likely to happen) & we never recorded it in the town itself. However, we did see it right on the edge of town on two occasions, both times in Patagonian scrub.

Now we have a problem!

Silvestrin type Siskin, but with a darker crown!

There is also dark grey around the 

sides of the head.

But the overall greyness to the plumage is apparent.

Minimum yellow in the wing.

If one consults The Birds of Chile by Jaramillo, he mentions a grey morph occurring in both Hooded & Black-chinned Siskins & he illustrates them. But the birds he illustrates have much more yellow in the wing & indeed a more yellow tone to the overall plumage. It would be easy to dismiss the above photos as immature/female type Black-chinned or Hooded Siskins, apart from they normally don't look like that! Also one sees flocks of them all looking the same & some of these non-descript birds singing! All possibilities are still on the table. A bit of a puzzle at this time.