the hunting of the shrike

14th March

I had seen reports on Lothian Birdwatch, a facebook birding group page, that a Great Grey Shrike had been seen in Dalkieth Country Park and seemed to have established itself there. Since they are rare in this country and attractive enough birds (with interesting habits) I waited for the next sunny day then caught the number 49 from Leith Walk to Dalkeith.

I managed to find the bird remarkably easily. Although the park covers a large area I had made a note of backgrounds of posted photos on Twitter (appropriately) and realised it was being seen behind one of the buildings in Restoration Yard. Also once I got there, there were about a dozen folk in the car park with binoculars and long lens cameras and if you triagulated their gaze you found a small grey bird sat on the top of a tree. 

a small flock of birdy people

This sort of birding is my least favourite. Standing in a car park waiting for something to happen. There was only one shrike and it was unlikely it planned to come down and sit near us for a photo. We had to wait for it to move. It might fly into another high tree or indeed off for a cigarette a mile away. Then everyone would stamp their feet, rub their hands and wait for it to return. Seriously?! I got bored really quickly, and headed off up the park for a wander. Only it landed near where I was walking and when I say near I mean about 40 or 50 yards away. I think all the photos I took were on full zoom and then cropped slightly. I stopped leaving and it moved a couple of times before disappearing into a broom bush that it possibly called home.

I stood where I was - considerably nearer than the car park people - but still too far away to get a decent shot. Another of the company joined me and it was enjoyable to spend some time chatting while the bird appeared, disappeared and went about its business. I enjoyed the chatting more than the birding. I could see that my pics were decent record shots but pretty rubbish. Certainly compared to the Shrike photos I got in Tenerife last December when one was hanging about the cafe near Mt Teide. That bird sat just yards away and the weather was perfect.

shrike in Tenerife

back to reality

The sun nearly came out and several times I nearly left. Only you are held in situ by the prospect of it suddenly taking a perch in a nearby tree and you'll be gone and missed the best shot of the day. Only with a small crowd in the car park it is far from likely. My first pal had left to collect his son from school. I did a walkabout to keep warm and returned to the car park. Then I got chatting to another enthusiast, an older gent and that passed the time between photos, as much as anything that morning. My eyesight was slightly better than his for picking up where the shrike would settle and I guided him towards it. He had a giant Nikon lens so was no doubt taking better photos than mine although the sun never properly appeared which would have helped a lot.

I eventually went and had a bowl of hot soup in the nearby cafe. It had been calling out to me for an hour and it was pretty good. Unfortunately they were out of bread but it was good quality soup, hot and with access to a toilet. I returned to the car park for a last couple of photos then headed off. Still no sign of the sun coming out properly and the photos looked a bit meh.

Some quick info points about shrikes. They are about the size of a blackbird. Mostly light grey. The one I saw in Tenerife would have been called a Southern Grey Shrike a few years ago but recently the taxonomy changed and they were all divided into 2 or 3 shrike types. Lanius excubitor is the one that migrates into England from Scandinavia for the Winter then flies back in April or May. There is an Iberiran Shrike, Lanius meridionalis (hmm sounds like a Southern shrike!) and a Steppe Grey Shrike (Lanius pallidirostris) The one in Tenerife might have been Lanius meridionalius koenigii. Differences between birds is nominal. Google it. 

Numbers vary but it seems to be less than 200 in England annually. And none according the RSPB map, migrate into Scotland. Someone said the records for Scotland since 1990 are 21 birds. So less than one per year on average. And they are solitary territorial birds so they only come in packs of one. Most interesting thing about them: about 40% of their prey is mice which they kill with their powerful (almost bird of prey-like) beak by breaking their necks then impale them on a thorn bush. They earned the name Butcher Bird for this gory habit. I had hoped to get photos but of course no chance. There are some great photos online of mice pinned on thorns beside the proud murderer! The Dalkeith Country Park experience was one fairly long and slow morning but at least the bird showed up. In fact I was pleasantly surprised to get any photos given the conditions. Checking the gps I see I lasted just over 2 hrs (incl. soup) before heading off and while it wasn't great, it could have been a LOT worse. (It didn't rain, the bird was there etc.)

 

adult female was the consensus
if left unharrassed it may return in subsequent years

I got the impression most of the crowd were good-natured, but there were also weirdos. I have been looking at long lenses online recently - for a full frame camera body Mary won (free!) in an online competition. I haven't hurried to buy a lens yet as they go from £800 (used) to £2k. Obvs the one I'd like is £2k. When I saw one on the camera an intense looking bloke was using, I asked was it a Sigma lens. My familiarity with the look of these implements which I've been studying online made me blurt this out to a total stranger before I realised I'd said anything. He answered yes. And how are you getting on with it? I asked. He was chimping through his important pics and to this day has never answered. Well that's one way to finish a conversation! He maybe thought I was a weirdo and to be fair I was pretty cold and probably not fully functioning. I left shortly after that.

And that was that. I had planned to walk down the Esk to Musselburgh afterwards. (The forecast suggested sun later.) Last time I was here ages ago the area that leads down the river from DCP was closed off. Rather than force a route that way (I could see barriers but was unsure how impenetrable they were) I left by the road out towards Whitecraig that then joins the Esk under the A1. From there I followed the river downstream. I kept as close to the water as possible hoping for kingfishers and dippers. It was very swollen with recent rain and there was very little of interest, other than scenery.

99% of the butterflies I saw

light snow on Pentlands

buzzard

last butterfly of the day

best riverside bird going downstream
a grey wagtail

and then I saw a glimpse of turquoise....

voila! a combfisher

stock doves, stocking up

stock dove
like a pigeon, but fancier

nice riverside paths as the sun came out

did someone drop a contact lens?

blackheaded gull

I had intended to walk to the estuary as there are often interesting seabirds there (I've heard.) Waders and the like. I am not a huge fan so when I saw some (about 10) goldeneyes I felt they might be the best option. So I crossed at the small bridge off Brunton Ct. and managed not to scare them off. I spent 40minutes in the golden sunlight taking photos and video. I found it way more rewarding than waiting for a small grey bird to fly to a closer perch. It was still quite challenging and often as they got close to me the ducks would submerge to feed on the bottom of the river. I tried standing on the bank at various places trying to disguise myself and then eventually lying down just upstream of the action.

They were feeding just downstream of an area the gulls collect at. So if the goldeneyes disappeared I could always do some gull portraits. Not the most exotic of subjects but when you get up close they are fascinating to inspect. The light was perfect and the video of the gull's head close up showed they have a transparent eyelid nearly continually blinking that I had never noticed before. Video at bottom of the blog.

goldeneye courtship
females brown head, males black and white with dk green head

I had seen goldeneye courtship ritual on tv and was very pleased to catch some going on as I got there. I suspect it is a fairly constant behaviour at this time of the year and either just reiterating an established tie or just habitual or instinctive in the company of the opposite gender. They bend their heads right back onto their backs as if to say "I'm totally gaga about you babes." It looks very comedic. There were variations on this a lot of the time I was there.

goosanders

goosander (f)

every time they came close....

plop! and they were gone

They have an ability to swim very low in the water. They also seemed to be expert underwater swimmers and would disappear for some time, returning some distance away from where they started. Whatever they were finding to eat (I think maybe small crustaceans), it was not larger fish.

Canada goose

There was a couple of pigeons sitting just along from this immature gull. I wanted to take photos of all of them but the gull was kind of in the way of the pigeons. I took the photo below cropping it tight to exclude as much of the intrusive gull as possible. However it left something of a gull-moon in the top right corner. I have been enjoying removing such things by painting in backgrounds in photoshop with soft blurry brushes and colours matched from other areas of the photo. I'll put the before and after to compare. The pigeon is untouched, just the gull removed and the intensity of the white circle near its beak reduced.

I enjoyed the simple pleasure of photographing the ducks and gulls enormously. It was late afternoon and just before the sun went down behind the trees and buildings. The light was excellent. The birds were having a lovely time and it was just fantastic. Far more fun (and better results) than shooting a wee grey bird at the top of a tree!

before

after

goosanders

video: duckies at Musselburgh

6.5 miles in 5 hrs