Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Early July

This is my first post for a while which shows that there has not been a great deal of note on the birding front.The weather is just about beginning to settle and it's getting distinctly warmer -----just about in time for what is traditionally the quietest time for bird activity, but who knows what will happen in these rather unpredictable times?
Two days ago I watched hundreds of swifts steaming south over the house and I presume this is the beginning of a very early return migration for this species. Many are still around, of course, but it could be that the non-breeders have had enough of struggling to find flying insects and have decided to move back south.
The nightingales seem to have stopped singing within the last week or so and I have not heard a cuckoo for several days though I did watch one yesterday repeatedly going to the ground in a sunflower field presumably to pickup food items. As for other migrants, the orioles are still quite vociferous as are blackcaps, tree pipits and melodious warblers., and I have heard an occasional quail calling from the grain fields.

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