Hawfinches and Red Admirals

The sun came out today, something of a relief after a rather dreary, damp week. I persuaded myself that it still a bit breezy for a bike ride and took myself of to the Braconne forest for a walk. Hunters' cars and their dogs and bugles seemed to be everywhere including at the Bandiat which I drove past on the way. Perhaps their presence made the birds stay out of sight and sound as there was not a great deal to be found. A small flock of confiding hawfinches showed up well in the sunshine,though, and I also came across firecrest and short-toed treecreeper. A pleasant surprise were my first red admirals of this year, a couple of which were basking in the warmth.
Back at the ranch the tits, sparrows and finches are devouring the sunflower seeds as fast as I put them out. Still nothing more exotic has made a visit but a dunnock feeding on the droppings from the table is an infrequent and welcome visitor.

More Cranes and Bird Feeders

I can add to Diane's comment on my last post that I also saw cranes, perhaps 2000 of them, passing north over my house during yesterday's sunny afternoon. They came in very large skeins which then carried out their familiar noisy circling as they waited for later groups to catch up or overtake them before continuing.
I do not know why cranes are so delightfully noisy when migrating but the constant bugle sounds seem more than simple contact calls between birds within any skein and possibly is the result of family groups or different generations (and levels of migration experience) needing to keep in touch. This might explain the catch-up behaviour between skeins.
Other birds are still very busy at the feeders in the garden, consuming an incredible quantity of sunflower seeds every day. Blue and great tits are the most regular visitors along with the flock of resident house sparrows. Goldfinches, chaffinches and greenfinches come in small flocks as do a few collared doves, and robins but I've seen nothing that is more exotic this winter. Cagouille has commented on hawfinch visiting his feeders and one of my friends in Fontenille also has regular visits from this delightful bird. Margaret in Montignac has very regular nuthatches and my brother in Laplaud reported a visiting marsh tit some time back.

Signs of Spring?

The return of the cranes always raises hopes that the worst of winter might be over but there are a few other signs that some other birds are also chancing their arm/wing about Spring being around the corner.
Bird song is an important part of attracting a mate and holding a territory and there's quite a lot of it about at the moment. Robins and great tits are very vociferous particularly in woodland and I heard a couple of dunnock singing and a snatch of chaffinch song today. The loudest offering though is coming from mistle thrushes which is not surprising as they begin their breeding in March.
Other birds are calling of course but for many such as skylarks, starlings and linnets it's seems still a time to be noisily hanging around in gangs rather than seeking out a partner.
A 20K cycle around the Bonnieure and Tardoire valleys turned up just over thirty species today. They came from among the usual suspects, except perhaps for a solitary lapwing near Fougère.

The Cranes Come Back

Cagouille reports large numbers of cranes moving today and I too saw well over a thousand passing north this afternoon. In the old days when I visited Charente during the school half terms it was usual that I witnessed the northward migration during the third week in February. Nothing very unusual today then, it's just that some of them were still moving south just a few days ago!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spots are rare enough sightings to deserve a posting and I was treated to one of these sparrow-sized woodpeckers in a friend's garden in Montignac this week.
Elsewhere there isn't much to report although seeing not one but two kingfishers today at Les Sources de La Trouve perhaps deserves a mention.
The absence of any bramblings this winter is still bemusing and the usual influx of lapwings during a cold snap seems not to have taken place either.
Sadly I have to journey to the UK tomorrow for the funeral of my great friend and birding companion, Irvin Cane. He is already sadly missed.

Confused Cranes?

I've not posted for a couple of weeks as I took a break with my wife and friends to escape the cold and wet. I know from experience that there are few birds to be seen from a cruise ship but the days spent on land on a trip that went from Barcelona to the Canaries via Madeira allowed me to snatch some interesting birding including houbara bustard, Madeira firecrest and canaries chiffchaff  all of which were new to me. Other birds which I've not seen for some time included Audouin's gull, Spanish sparrow and Bertholot's pipit so I'm not complaining.
I've returned to a Charente which is distinctly more chilly with a north wind and a sprinkling of snow on the ground. Yesterday's (brief) cycle ride turned up barely more species than the Mediterranean Sea, the only sign of life on the plains being a lonely buzzard and a large flock of skylark.
Stella sensibly decided to go out in the car and while travelling to Chasseneuil saw a flock of fifty cranes still moving south. Strange times indeed but it's possible that these are migrating birds which stopped off further north and have now felt the urge to move southward with the cold snap.