Wildlife January 2011

[Stephenb]

My friend showed me pinus-sibirica-bird (kedrovka). It prefer peanuts!

Superb picture of the Nutcracker Olga!! I wonder which subspecies you have there? We have two subspecies in Norway. In the South of the country (mainly around Oslo) there's the "Thick-billed Nutcracker" or Nucifraga caryocatactes ssp caryocatactes (literal translation from the Norwegian) which is a shy mainly sedentary species, mainly seen when it is harvesting and hiding hazelnuts in the autumn. The other is ssp macrorhynchos, the "Siberian or Narrow-billed Nutcracker". Traditionally this was an irruptive species occurring in my area and elsewhere in the country only in years when its main food in Russia/Siberia which is Pinus cembra failed. In this part of Norway, Pinus cembra had been planted quite a lot as an ornamental in parks and large gardens in the 1970s.

When nutcrackers arrived here on the last large irruption about 10-years ago, they found that our area had a lot of Pinus cembra nuts available for the picking as the trees had by this time matured. They decided this time to stay and we've since that time had a small breeding population, although they are so shy in the breeding season only a few breeding sightings have been made. However, we now see the birds each autumn when they come down to the town to gather cembra pine nuts and hazel nuts! Every day you see a steady stream of birds as they fly 10km or more up into the woods from the cembra furu trees in the town - to store their nuts for winter provisions, some days up to 100 birds can be seen as a steady stream to and fro! My garden has natural Hazel trees and I therefore get Nutcrackers visiting in the autumn. There is also a small Pinus cembra plantation a couple of kilometres away and they must fly between the two sites as several Pinus cembra trees have arrived in my garden (“planted” by nutcrackers - Genuine WILDLIFE GARDENING -  and I noticed the first cone a couple of years ago on my largest tree). So, this species is effectively spreading its food supply to make our area even more attractive..…

Olga mentions the Pinus sibirica bird (Pinus sibirica is I believe synonymous with P. cembra ssp sibirica Correction: I now see that P. sibirica is  recognised as a separate species; not sure which it is we have - they are separated by the seed having a wing or not - have to get to a seed before a Nutcracker!). I’ve never been able to get close enough to them to get pictures though shy birds!

Here's a couple of pictures of my Pinus cembra getting to the reproductive stage and the first nut which I'm pretty sure the Nutcrackers made off with...
 

[Stephenb]

Interesting that your red squirrels are grey Olga.

I see the odd grey one here too. They vary enormously in colour (have also seen almost black ones - I think they are darker when younger). In some areas, the adults are almost all grey..

[Olga Bondareva]

I wonder which subspecies you have there?

We don't have Nutcrackers here. Sometimes birds come from north area and stay for some time. My friend make images of birds for many years. At the last time he saw Nutcracker in Moscow in 2004. The bird we photographed is alone. It has stood at Botanic garden since November.

they found that our area had a lot of Pinus cembra nuts available for the picking as the trees had by this time matured. They decided this time to stay

There are some Siberia pines at BG and some other places in Moscow. But not so much to feed birds. Interesting the bird prefer peanuts when has a choice. It’s breakfast:   



Many wildlife photographers go to make images if the bird and to feed it.

I now see that P. sibirica is  recognised as a separate species

Yes. But could you see the differences? I couldn’t.

Here's a couple of pictures of my Pinus cembra getting to the reproductive stage and the first nut

Pretty young cones!
I do not have species P. cembra or sibirica, only some WB grafts. Some of them should produce early cones but I still waiting.

[Gerdk]

We don't have Nutcrackers here. Sometimes birds come from north area and stay for some time. My friend make images of birds for many years. At the last time he saw Nutcracker in Moscow in 2004. The bird we photographed is alone. It has stood at Botanic garden since November.

I saw a single nutcracker once in my life in our municipal park more than fifty years ago (!). It was an unforgettable sight because the bird had nearly any flight initiation distance. So I was able to watch him calmly. Obviously it was a specimen of the Siberian subspecies.

Gerd

[Hoy]

I have seen nutcrackers on several occasions when the nut crop fail (we call the "nuts" of Siberian pine "russenøtter" = "Russian nuts" from the pomor trade) but not recently. I don't think they stay here in summer as it is few Siberian or cembra pines here - but lots of hazel though. Maybe they'll come this winter?

[Olga Bondareva]

Interesting that your red squirrels are grey Olga.

I see the odd grey one here too. They vary enormously in color (have also seen almost black ones - I think they are darker when younger). In some areas, the adults are almost all grey..

Anthony, Stephen, I don't know what to say.  This squirrel looks usual as for me (of course I am far from zoology). Here are some squirrels from different Moscow places and different times:

[Paul T]

Those little tufty ears are just SO cute. 

[Stephenb]

Olga: To explain. In the UK, there are Red Squirrels (a native species) and Grey Squirrels (introduced species). There are nowadays many more greys than reds in the UK. I guess most people think of red squirrels being "red". However, even UK Red squirrels are sometimes grey it seems (see http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/redsquirrel )

..and, yes, some excellent pictures showing the variation in colour! Perhaps the darker animals are youngsters?

[Paddy Tobin]

Love the photographs, Olga, especially the last two. Paddy

[Maggi Young]

quote author=Juan Fornes link=topic=6484.msg179461#msg179461 date=1294833405 :
"- Tom: beautiful pic of your Little Egret. Such a pristine look!
- Olga, great pics as always! Nutcrackers are very seldom seen in my country: very few individuals in extremely cold winters. Such a pity, as it is a very beautiful bird indeed.  And the squirrels, lovely. In Spain we have three subespecies of Red Squirrel, and the subsp. alpina, wich inhabits high nountains chains in the north (Pirineos and Montes Cantabricos mainly) also get a very grey colour in winter. Thank you for sharing all those beauties!
- Mark: I send a picture of my complete "Gardening Team" as requested. **"


** Edit by maggi... I have moved Juan  beautifulDogs to the  new Doggy Friends pages:  http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6476.15

[jomowi]

Olga - I notice in your lovely squirrel pictures the variation between them, in particular one has rounded ears whereas the others have tufted ears.  Is the one with rounded ears a different species from the others?

[Olga Bondareva]

Stephen, your red squirrels are really RED! I’ve never seen such color here. I think they change color seasonably. I read we have only one squirrel’s species. And it is variable in color.

Maureen, you are very observant! I think the one with rounded ears is changing its fur from summer to winter. May be it lost his ear brushes temporary?

[Olga Bondareva]

Wake up, wake up little sparrow
Don't make your home out in the snow...

[mark smyth]

Nice tree sparrows, Passer montanus,  Olga

[Hoy]

Olga,
very nice pictures indeed! The sparrow is familiar! It is one of the commoner here in my garden where I feed the birds. But I can't picture them like that.
The squirrels are beautiful too, here they steal nuts from the birds, however, I let them do it! They are mostly brown only with some grey hue.