The Sky's the Limit 

I'll be the first to admit, I know very little about birds.

Although I wouldn't drive 2,000 miles for a glimpse of a rare avian visitor to my Island, I am a member of the RSPB.

Whilst walking along the Island, the odd fluttering of wings does attract my attention. Here's a small selection of what's been seen over the years. Any assistance in the correct identification of our feathered friend's would be appreciated!

Start with my favourite bird, the Eurasian Wren.  Why my favourite? Come on, what a cool binomial name!

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The Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

Troglodytes troglodytes from from the Greek "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep, meaning "cave-dweller". Refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting.

Wrens were first recorded in Anglo-Saxon times though there is fossil evidence from the last Ice age, 10-120,000 years ago.

An adult wren will away about the same as a £1 coin, with only the Firecrest and Goldcrest being smaller species found in Britian.

European Wrens are both sedentary (as in Britain) but will be migratory in parts of Europe, flying anything up to 2500 km (1500 miles) with some migrating all the way from Scandinavia down to Spain.

In Britain the Wren population can be devastated by a severe winter, but the species’ high egg productivity means that numbers usually recover after a few years.

For such a small bird the wren has an astonishingly loud song. In fact, per unit weight, it sings at ten times the power of a crowing cockrel.

Around 35 to 44 different subspecies of wren have been identified worldwide, which differ in size, overall colouration and the extent of barring on the plumage.

The wren lays between one and nine eggs which only the female incubates, though both adults will feed the young chicks.

Wrens will use open-fronted and tit nest boxes for nesting and winter roosting (up to 60 have been recorded in one box).

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The Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipter nisus)

Accipiter from the Latin for "hawk". nisus from the Latin for "sparrowhawk".

The male is up to 25% smaller than the female, the largest difference between the sexes in any bird species.

It is a predator which specialises in catching woodland birds, but it can be seen in any habitat and hunts garden birds in towns and cities

It is now one of the most common birds of prey in Europe, but the population crashed after the Second World War.

The Eurasian Sparrowhawk has been used in falconry for centuries and was favoured by Emperor Akbar the Great (1542-1605) of the Mughal Empire.

The falconer's name for a male sparrowhawk is a "musket"; this is derived from the Latin word musca, meaning 'a fly', via the Old French word moschet. The musket, or musquet, originally a kind of crossbow bolt, and later a small cannon, was named after the bird because of its size.

According to Greek mythology, Nisus, the king of Megara, was turned into a sparrowhawk after his daughter, Scylla, cut off his purple lock of hair to present to her lover (and Nisus' enemy), Minos.



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The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Fratercula: Latin for “tiny brother”, referring to the colour of the birds' feathers that look like a monks outfit. The bird is also called “prófastur” which means priest in Icelandic. arctica referring to the northern range of this bird.

These birds live most of their lives at sea, resting on the waves when not swimming.

They are excellent swimmers that use their wings to stroke underwater with a flying motion. They steer with rudderlike webbed feet and can dive to depths of 200 feet (61 meters), though they usually stay underwater for only 20 or 30 seconds

Atlantic puffins land on North Atlantic seacoasts and islands to form breeding colonies each spring and summer. Iceland is the breeding home of perhaps 60 percent of the world's Atlantic puffins

Puffins typically hunt small fish like herring or sand eels.

Puffins are one of the few birds that have the ability to hold several small fish in their bills at a time. Their raspy tongues and spiny palates allow them to firm grasp 10 to 12 fish during one foraging trip. They thus can bring more food back to their young compared with other seabirds that tend to swallow and regurgitate meals for their chicks.

The birds often select precipitous, rocky cliff tops to build their nests, which they line with feathers or grass.

Puffin couples often reunite at the same burrow site each year. It is unclear how these birds navigate back to their home grounds.

Their average life span in the wild can be up to 20 years or more.

Puffins only possess technicolor bills—and their matching orange feet—during the spring breeding season. Just before winter sets in, they shed the colourful outer bill, leaving a noticeably smaller and duller-coloured beak.

There are four species of Puffins, three of which are slightly distinguishable from one another. The Atlantic and horned puffins look quite similar, with the exception of a blue-grey triangle at the base of the Atlantic Puffin’s beak. During the mating season, straw-like feathers protrude from the crown of the Tufted Puffin’s head. The fourth species, the Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata), doesn’t look like the other three – it’s ashen colored, with a rhino-like protrusion during the breeding season. But it’s still technically a Puffin.

A Puffin weighs about the same as a can of Stella Artois.

Puffins may chatter up a storm at their breeding colonies, but they remain perfectly silent while at sea.

There are currently eight isles around the world named Puffin Island—so named because they all are or once were home to large colonies of Puffins.

A Puffin can fly as fast as 55 mph. Compared with other Auks, which tend to stay just a few feet above the sea, Puffins usually maintain a cruising altitude of around 30 feet.

Sixty percent of the world’s Puffins breed in Iceland.

Females only lay a single egg.

Like some Penguins, both parents take turns incubating the egg and caring for the chick.

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The Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major)

Dendropocus major: from Greek "dendrokopos" woodcutter, from "dendr"- + -"kopos" (from the stem of koptein to smite, cut off).

An unpaired male may drum as many as 600 times a day; a paired male just 200 times.

Drumming has been recorded on many objects other than trees, ranging from weather vanes to metal poles.

Woodpeckers have shock-absorbent tissue between the base of the bill and the skull to cushion the impact of drumming.

It's easy to tell the sexes apart, as only the male has the patch of scarlet on the back of the neck.

No woodpeckers breed in Ireland, but the great spotted is a rare and irregular visitor.

Though insects are the staple diet, tree seeds supplement this in the winter, and birds’ eggs and fledglings in the spring.

In the last 20 years these woodpeckers have become increasingly regular visitors to bird-feeding stations, where peanuts and suet are their favourite foods.

There was a marked range expansion in Britain during the last century, following a sudden and unexplained contraction 200 years ago.

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Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

Alcedo, "kingfisher" (from Greek ἀλκυών, halcyon) and Atthis, a beautiful young woman of Lesbos. Halcyon days are named after the Kingfisher, whose Greek name was ‘halcyon’.

There are approximately 90 species of Kingfisher in the world.

Kingfishers feed on a wide variety of items. They are most famous for hunting and eating fish.

Kingfishers usually hunt from an exposed perch, when a prey item is observed the Kingfisher swoops down to snatch it, then returns to the perch.

Kingfishers beat larger prey on a perch in order to kill the prey and to dislodge or break protective spines and bone.

Having beaten the prey it is manipulated and then swallowed.

Kingfishers are territorial, some species defending their territories vigorously.

Kingfishers are cavity nesters, with most species nesting in holes dug in the ground. These holes are usually in earth banks on the sides of rivers, lakes or man-made ditches.

Kingfishers may look bright blue, but they are actually a murky brown colour. This is due to the difference between pigmented and structural colouration. If we were to just see the light reflected directly from the wings it would be brown, but actually the light bounces around the structure of the wings, causing iridescent colouring.

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Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) murmurations

Throughout the autumn and winter months, hundreds of thousands of starlings turn the sky black around the UK.

The birds come together in huge clouds, wheeling, turning and swooping in unison.

Early evening, just before dusk, is the best time to see them across the UK as they perform their aerial dance and choose their communal night-time shelter. They roost in places that are sheltered from harsh weather and predators.

They tend to roost in woodlands, but reedbeds, cliffs, buildings and industrial structures are also used.

The huge gatherings are at their largest in winter, as they are boosted by thousands of migrant birds visiting from Europe for Britain's milder Atlantic climate.

Starlings join forces for many reasons. Grouping together offers safety in numbers – predators such as peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird amidst a hypnotising flock of thousands.

Despite the incredible size of the flocks, these numbers are just a fraction of what they used to be.

The starling population has crashed by over 70% in recent years, meaning they are now on the critical list of UK birds most at risk.

The decline is believed to be due to the loss of permanent pasture, increased use of farm chemicals and a shortage of food and nesting sites in many parts of the UK. NB All Information courtesy of RSPB website.

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Magellanic Penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)

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Rockhopper Penguin (Eudyptes crestatus)

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Red-legged Cormorant (Phalacrocorax gaimardi)

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Caracara (Caracara spp.)

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Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus)

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Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

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Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia)

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Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

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Lesser Rhea (Pterocnemia pennata)

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Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

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Various birds from around The Island

Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Kittiwake (Larus tridactyla)

Great Skua "Bonxie" ((Stercorarius skua).

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenisurus) male.

Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenisurus) female.

Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)

Herring Gull (?) (Larus argentatus)

African Pygmy Kingfisher? (Ispidina picta). Seen whilst in Mozambique.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Rock Bunting ((Emberiza cia)

Rock Bunting ((Emberiza cia)

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) with chick.

Blue Tit (Parus caerulus)

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) chick.

Thrush (Turdus spp.)

Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

Redpoll (Carduelis flammea)

Jay (Garrulus glandarius)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Great tit (Parus major)

Nuthatch (Sitta europea)

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) male.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

Curlew (Numenius arquata)

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)

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Fly back to Andy's Island

More about birds (and slow ducks)

 "Everyone wants to understand painting.
Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?"

Pablo Picasso