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Sunday 17 May 2020

A reminder of good times to come

About this time of year I can't help fast forwarding to July when we really get started on our post breeding /migration sessions at Belvide.
Yesterday our friendly farmer asked us to sample some of the birds breeding in one of his blocks of mixed woodland. It's in the breeding season so we didn't spend too long in the field--but we did manage to catch a few birds which gave us a reminder of what we will be catching in big numbers in a couple of months time.
Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs seem to be singing from every bush around us this year and Chiffs from lots of trees in woodland so it was no surprise that we caught some of these:-
Both were males--the Blackcap easily sexed by the black cap, and the Chiffchaff by it having a swollen opening to its vent--called a cloacal protuberance. Both birds were starting to look a bit 'scruffy'--no wonder after undertaking a migration then nest building, breeding and now feeding young mostly in dense undergrowth.
We unexpectedly caught a Goldcrest which seems as it it's also breeding in the wood. The first picture shows the yellow stripe on the top of the head which is what most of us see in the field:-
The second picture shows that this is a male--under the yellow there are some orange feathers which the male is able to expose and flash at any female in the area as a mating signal--pretty cool !!
 
 

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