Wildlife December 2010

[mark smyth]

One of our golden eagles has been poisoned. People who do this should be poisoned too!
[url][http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/News/PoisonedGoldenEaglefoundinCoTyrone/tabid/1159/Default.aspx/url]

[Maggi Young]

Can someone give me an ID for this butterfly, please? 
The photo is from a Czech garden in summer.....

[Peter Maguire]

Maggi,

It's a Map Butterfly (Araschina levana); highly variable apparently.
Here's a link with some more info: http://www.eurobutterflies.com/species_pages/levana.htm

[Maggi Young]

Thank you , Peter, very helpful. 

[mark smyth]

How are bird numbers in your garden?

Last winter I had 50+ each of redpolls, Carduelis cabaret, and goldfinches, Carduelis carduelis. Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, numbers were good. I had a few greenfinches, Carduelis chloris, but tits, Parus, were always almost absent.

This year numbers are way down. Redpolls and Goldfinches would be 10 of each on a good day. Chaffinches are still good. No greenfinches and tits can be counted in single numbers

I had a small flock of long-tailed tits, Aegithalos caudatus, pass through this week but they didnt recognise the food I have out

[mark smyth]

brilliant bird photography http://www.markhancoxbirdphotography.co.uk/pages/galleries.php

[Stephenb]

In another thread, Mark wrote: "very short days for you two. How do birds cope with that? Do they all move away?"

Mark: You asked about how birds cope with the short days. I can't really answer that, but I've just had a look at all the bird reports in the last couple of weeks from the northernmost county in Norway (Finnmark) where daylength is zero (but there is nevertheless a long twilight). Just counting land birds, there were recorded as many as 21 species. Here they are:  Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Willow Tit, Redpoll, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Great Tit, Golden Eagle, Lapland Tit, Hooded Crow, Siberian Jay, Redwing, Magpie, Willow Grouse,Jay, Arctic Redpoll, Raven, Long tailed tit and Great Grey Shrike!

In a normal day here, I record 12-15 species feeding in my garden.

Despite the recent cold, the UK has a very mild climate for its latitude and the birds have it generally pretty good. However, I must admit that I always freeze when I visit England in winter, not because of poorly insulated houses, but mainly due to the high humidity which gives you the shivers (I almost never shiver here) and, secondary, the wind. I think that the humidity is often underrated as far as human discomfort is concerned and there should be a combined humidity/wind chill factor forecast...

[Stephenb]

Last winter I had 50+ each of redpolls, Carduelis cabaret, and goldfinches, Carduelis carduelis. Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, numbers were good. I had a few greenfinches, Carduelis chloris, but tits, Parus, were always almost absent.

Redpolls are, at least here, notorious wanderers, varying enormously in numbers from year to year.

[Arykana]

[mark smyth]

I like your squash feeders

Stephen, it makes me wonder why our birds die in huge numbers during our winters when it snows yet your birds can survive

[Hoy]

I like your squash feeders

Stephen, it makes me wonder why our birds die in huge numbers during our winters when it snows yet your birds can survive

Mark, last winter many birds, especially in eastern parts of Norway, froze to death. Here almost the whole population of Eurasian Woodcock died of hunger. The soil was frozen even at the utmost skerries.
A lot of people feed the birds, but most of them find food in the forests.
I had a large horde of different species feeding in the garden, litterally hundreds of individuals.

[scatigaz]

Stephen, I recognise your list of birds except Lapland Tit. What is the common or latin name for this species. Many thanks. Gary.

[Stephenb]

Stephen, I recognise your list of birds except Lapland Tit. What is the common or latin name for this species. Many thanks. Gary.

Sorry, it's the Siberian Tit in English (Lappmeis in Norwegian, which confused me...)

[Hoy]

Stephen, I recognise your list of birds except Lapland Tit. What is the common or latin name for this species. Many thanks. Gary.

Sorry, it's the Siberian Tit in English (Lappmeis in Norwegian, which confused me...)

I'll add: Lappmeis (Poecile cinctus syn. Parus cinctus)
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lappmeis

[mark smyth]

I have not heard of the Siberian tit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Tit it looks very like our coal tit Periparus ater,
willow tit Poecile montanus and marsh tit Poecile palustris