The Dunlin Chronicles Part 2 20 September 2012

Somebody stop me. I cannot keep away! Another visit to Farmoor and another walk up the Causeway and another three juvenile Dunlin. I took their photos, compared their post juvenile moult into winter plumage with those of yesterday and as I suspected they are new birds and not the ones from yesterday. Now where can I purchase an anorak? Seriously though, it is fascinating to compare the images and realise that there is a steady passage of Dunlin through Farmoor and on this evidence the birds do not seem to remain very long and are only using Farmoor as a brief stopover. I can hardly blame them when they are in striking distance of a lovely beach or marsh on the coast instead of all that concrete. 

I don't know about you but I sometimes get a little jaded of the coffee table type pictures of birds so have included some Dunlin action shots here, just for variety. 

Juvenile Dunlins.
All these birds are different to those of yesterday based on the extent and 
location of grey winter feathers

A Northern Wheatear was by the works but was it the same one as yesterday? This bird as you can see from the images has no tuft of displaced feathers on its crown.So this begs the question is it the same bird as yesterday? Personally I cannot see how the displaced feathers could have been re-arranged so neatly.

Northern Wheatear
But is it the same one as yesterday?

Two smart Little Grebes, still in summer plumage were in the mini marina in front of the yacht club and are probably new arrivals. Initially they were sitting on the pontoons surrounded by bird crap but soon came to their senses and took to the water

Little Grebe
With those wings? It will never get off the ground!

Little Grebe
Surveying the goose crap

Little Grebe
In it's element

Not much else to see apart from two immature Yellow legged Gulls and these Cormorants which I tried to identify to race/subspecies based on the angle of the gular pouch. The top one, frankly, I am not sure about but err on the side of  P. c. carbo which breeds around our coasts. Apparently it is very difficult under field conditions to be absolutely specific about every individual but the bottom image based on the angle of the gular pouch appears to be an example of the so called Continental Cormorant P.c sinensis which also breeds here but inland. I believe the Cormorants breeding at Dix Pit are of this race 

                               Finally there will only be 9999 gulls in the roost tonight

                                          Sadly this one died a few minutes later. 

R.I.P