Some difficulties with Ortolan Bunting identification

This week I have had the good fortune to see the ortolan bunting at Fan Bay on 2 occasions. The first time getting fleeting and/or distant views and a couple of record shots and the second time getting brilliant views and some pretty good photos.

As this was a new tick for me I've spent a little time looking at what makes this bird an Ortolan and not a Cretzschmars.   Why?.......... Because if I had found this bird myself I’d have had no idea which it was.

There are some references that suggest the juveniles of these 2 species are inseparable in the field. In the tomes where differences are listed these include the beak of the Ortolan being slightly larger than that of the Cretzschmars, the head streaking being stronger, and the eye ring of the Ortolan being yellowish to whitish whereas the Cretzschmars is whitish.
Some of these descriptions might be useful if one was familiar with both birds (which I’m not) or if they were sitting side by side (which they weren’t). I was looking for something a little more absolute.

So I thought I’d share what I saw in the field and what I can see in my photographs compared with what is down in 2 field guides – the “Collins Bird Guide” mainly,  plus some contributions from “The Advanced Bird ID Handbook”.

The overall impression I got of the bird from my first view (rear view only) was of quite a pale bird with the feather fringes being very pale/white with obvious streaking on the mantle, faint but obvious brown streaking on the buff/peachy flanks and with a clear red-brown colouration on the tertials. It was this red brown colouration which got me asking myself why is this bird an Ortolan and not a Cretzschmars:

The second time I saw the bird the views were far better and below are a series of pictures to help gauge the overall colour of bird and the colour of the tertials in particular.

The better quality shots were taken late afternoon (around 4.30) in bright sunshine and due to possible colour distortions from the incident light the shots have been processed using 2 different temperatures – Canon’s Daylight,5500C and at 4500C.

Processed at 5500C

Processed at 4500C

In both shots the colour of the bird is considerably warmer than the illustrations in Collins. Using the cooler temperature the head in particular becomes more grey but whatever temperature is used the tertials retain a significant amount of the red-brown colouration that from the illustrations in Collins looks more like a Creztschmars though the text does say Ortolans have red-brown outer edges to the tertials even if the illustration shows them to be a dull brown. 

I have a number of shots (more distant) that shows the back and rump of the bird. The Cretzschmars is said to have a red-brown tinge to the rump whereas the ortolan is uniform colour along it’s back and rump. Again these shots have been process at 2 temperatures, as shot (5750C) and slightly colder at 5000C (the shots being taken around midday)

Processed as shot (5700C)

Processed at 5000C

From these it is clear that this bird is uniform in colour across the mantle and rump indicative of Ortolan (though it does look warmer than the grey brown bird of the Collins the illustrations).

This close up illustrates some of the other point of possible difference.

Beak – well it’s pinkish but as to whether the size is of any use in determining species I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Eye ring – whilst not terribly clear I think I’d go along with the eye ring just about having a yellowish tint but whether this is significantly different to the “whitish” eye ring of the Cretzschmars. It's certainly not something I'd bet the family savings on.

Greater and median coverts -when I looked at my pictures in detail I thought the greater and median coverts might present a clear cut difference between the two species. These feathers obviously have very distinct and broad pale fringes -  far more obvious than the Collins illustrations (for either species) though the Advanced Bird ID Handbook states 1^st winters of both species can have well defined white tips…. so not as much help as I'd hoped.

Looking even more closely at the coverts you can see they are dark brown with heavy off-white fringes but the brown has a point and there are differences to the detail of the pointy bit between individual coverts and between the greater and median coverts. When searching the internet  I did initially find an illustration of the tips of the coverts of an ortolan bunting but I can no longer find the reference – I think it was in a book review but stupidly I didn’t "book mark" it on the computer. So if anyone has a detailed illustration of the coverts could they send me a reference and/or photocopy?

Breast and flank streaking. Nothing much to say but an image to illustrate.

Tail – whilst nothing seems to be said in the text of the two reference books the illustrations in Collins show the Ortolan to have a slightly deeper fork to the folded tail than the Cretzschmars. The Fan Bay bird had a marked fork in its tail.

Primary projection.

Advanced ID Handbook seems to indicate there is a clear cut difference in the primary projection of the 2 species with the ortolan having a primary projection of 30-60% with 2-3 primary tips being visible beyond the tertials whereas the Cretz has a projection of only 20% with usually only 1 or 2 primary tips being visible.

I've posted 2 views of the primaries. Now I calculate the primary projection from this pictures to be around 21% and there are only 2 primaries showing beyond the tertials which would suggest the bird is a  Cretzschmars however looking at the illustration in Collins and a selection of photographs on the web of both the Ortolan and Cretzschmars I'm begining to doubt the generality of the 30-60% PP for the Ortolan. From what I can see  the PP of the Ortolan seems to be quite variable with birds having a PP of between 20-40% (most at the lower end of this range); Where the PP can be seen with the Cretzschmar they to seem to be similar to the Fan Bay bird.

One feature that was noticeable in all my reasonable shots was the yellow tinge to the pale edge of the primaries. It can be seen on both the PP shots and on the general close-up shots above (though it shows better with warmer processing). I've found nothing about this in either of the available tomes

So there you have it. From the images you could say it's probably an Ortolan (mainly on the the lack of a redish rump) but I can't provide unequivocal proof despite having some pretty detailed pictures. I’m not arguing with the id it’s just that I'm still in the position that if I found one I wouldn't be able to say with confidence what I had found.

Finally, on the first day I did hear the bird call twice – a chiup like call. At the time this was of no use because I had no idea of the call of either species however on listening to tapes the calls of the Ortolan and Cretzschmars are quite distinct and I'm pretty sure it was the Ortolan’s call that I heard.

Ortolan bunting is still around

Last Wednesday I got a text from Phil Smith alerting me to the presence of an ortolan bunting (uncooked) at Fan Bay. I duly went up there but things didn't start too well - the whereabouts of the bird was pointed out but before I could even get the bins on it it had flown and disappeared into some scrub with a couple of yellowhammers. The next hour or so was spent trying to relocate it and once that was done trying to get close enough for a picture.
The first opportunity came when it popped up on some concrete rubble - I got the bins on it, it turned side on so I got a clear view which confimed the id then fired off a few shots then it flew. On checking the shots it was looking away in all of them!!!!

Rear view of an ortolan bunting

The searching/waiting continued (Phil had given up by this time but he had a card full of pictures) and eventually I managed a few record shots where I could see what it was - which was pleasing as it was a first for me.

Ortolan bunting

I spent Thursday morning around the same area but there was no sign of it; all I saw were yellowhammers and they were as flighty as ever..
Fog during the next couple of days reduced the time I had in the field but today I checked out Kingsdown then walked from South Foreland to Langdon Hole.
A few blackcaps and chiffs at Kingsdown and along the clifftop a lot of mippits and hirundines were on the move. Around Fan Bay I found around a dozen yelowhammers of various ages and colours and a reed bunting but no sign of the ortolan.
On the way back to South Foreland I walked past the rubble piles - nothing - but as I was passing Fan Bay a great white egret came in off the sea but it was a long way off so only poor record shots.

Very distant great white egret

I then went over to Restharrow to check the scrape for snipe (no luck) but there was a stonechat and 2 whinchat along the fence line as you approach the hide. Despite being half in the reeds I still couldn't get close to them though.

Whinchat

I was back home when Birdguides issued a report of the ortolan being spotted again on the rubble pile so I returned. After around 2 hrs of searching/waiting it was finally spotted where it was first found last week!
When it first showed I only got distant shots as we waited for the others searching the cliff top to return but eventually we got closer and hence better shots.

Initial distant views

Most of the time the bunting was on the north side of the rubble so you were looking into the sun and/or the bird was in the shade. At first I stayed on the south side but everyone else was getting great views (I couldn't see it) so I relented and joined them..........I'm really glad I did!!! Getting the shots below was a bit tricky becasue there were quite a lot of stems between me and the bird but with the brisk wind these parted ever so often and I managed some decent shots.

It did drop onto the sunny side for a few minutes so I returned to the south side and took a few more pictures. Here I had to chose between a stem obscuring the head or rubble partially obscuring the tail - I opted for the latter.

The white wheatear and a twister

Today was my first day out for over 2 weeks. I've not been away somewhere exotic, I've been at home feeling sorry for myself...............I have been ( and still am in fact) suffering from a blocked salivary gland.
The initial symptoms of this condition appeared over lunch on the 19th when a salivary gland swelled to the size of a hens egg in my throat. It was a little painful but that's all. A day or two later however I started to feel really grotty - it had become infected. It has required 2 weeks and 2 different anti-biotics to get the infection under control. Hopefully it will stay that way until I see the specialist next week.

So for my first outing I thought I go look for the leucistic wheatear that has been hanging around Sandwich for the last few days. Actually being almost totally white it's pretty easy to find but not so easy to get near to.

My first attempt was in the company of Phil Smith - we shot off shots at various distances as we approached but it flew before I could get any shots off (tripod adjustments) on the time we were the closest; Phil seemed to get a  couple of decent ones though.

Rather distant 1st attempt

Phil disappeared after that but I stayed hoping to improve on my efforts but the bird had different ideas and spent most of the next hour or so on the roof of Sandelands.
Eventually it came down to feed on the lawn of Sandelands so I tried the "sit still and wait for it to come to me"  tactics.......only flaw was it didn't.
It did eventually settle on the fence but so 50 yards off so I went after it getting quite close in fact...unfortunately I was shooting into the sky - never a great recipe.

After that I had to return home for a couple of hours though on the way to the car I spotted a twister trying to form over Worth Marsh but it fizzled out after a couple of minutes never making landfall.

When I returned it and several normal wheatears were feeding on sea wall by the sailing club. I was just getting close when an couple of cyclists came past and the bird returned to the rooftop.

I had another go at the "sit and wait" tactics and although it came pretty close for a moment or two it wasn't quite close enough and again I was shooting into the sky.

Some mippits and normal wheatears were a little more cooperative to these tactics though.

Whilst sitting and waiting the little beastie flew past me along the beach top so I tried stalking it - I was on the inland slope of the sea wall and it was in the grass along the top. I actually got pretty close with just part of my head and the camera showing above the horizon (as seen by the bird)  but just about every shot was obscured by the bloody grass!!!!!  This approach came to an end when a guy with 2 dogs came along.

It did move onto the fence line again along with 5 other wheatears but they wouldn't let me near and that's where I gave up.
Still it was nice to be out afater a couple of weeks feeling sorry for myself.

Obituary for Backsand

Backsand is a thing of the past.....and it shall be missed
For those of you who don't know Backsand it was a scrape rented by SBBO adjacent to the River Stour, on the opposite side of the river to the Pfizer site, about 3 miles from the Obs itself..
For most of the year the scrape was of little interest to most birders because it was almost solely populated by ducks, and pretty common ones at that and it was also shot over. However Backsand came into it's own during late summer/early autumn when the water levels had dropped revealing mud/sandbanks - migrating waders used it as a stopping off point and the more local waders used it as a high tide roost.
The number and variety of waders there was not great but the siting of one of the hides - the "Photographic Hide". the "Falling Down Hide", the "Spider Hide"  (it had many names - most of them derogatory) - was very close to the water/mud allowing some of the best views and photographic opportunities for waders in the county, if not the country.
It did have a few problems in that the siting of the hide meant the best time for photography was between about 11.00 am and 2.00 pm so for optimum conditions you needed high tide to fall between these hours and hope there wasn't too much glare from the sun being so high.

There are several reasons why the SBBO has decided to relinquish the lease:
The lease was coming up for renegotiation this year and in these times of financial hardship the cost was difficult to justify.
Due to the length of the walk down to Backsand the number of people using it was very small with yours truly being the most regular user (in recent years) - so much so that most of the time it seemed like I had my own private scrape.
Another contributing factor was the construction of the Sandwich flood defense scheme. (The area between Backsand, Newdowns Farm poly tunnels  and the river has now been excavated making an area of scrapes and deeper pools that will take excess water during higher tides and especially when Sandwich is threatened by floods. This defense scheme would not only restrict access to the scrape but it would also provide competing habitat (mud) for the waders and even during autumn 2013, whilst the excavation work was on-going, waders were roosting on the new scrapes/pools reducing the number using Backsand itself.

The final nail in the coffin came with the December 2013 tidal surge which over topped the river bank and sent a huge volume of water flooding into the scrape destroying all 3 hides completely. So not only would the Obs have to find the (assumed increased) rent they would also need to find thousands of pounds to replace the hides........it just wasn't going to happen.

Anyway to mark it's passing I thought I'd post some shots of the species I've seen there over the last few years. I don't pretend this is an exhaustive list of what was seen there, just what I've seen or have heard about in recent years.

Avocet:
An irregular visitor:

Avocet (juv)

Little ringed plover
Seen every year with up to 4 or 5 present.

Little Ringed plover

Lapwing
Common - 50+ was not unusual.

Dunlin
Quite common but rarely came near the hide.

Curlew sandpiper
Irregular visitor with good and bad years; last year was a good year with up to 4 present.

Temmincks Stint
Only ever saw the one down there but having said that I've not seen many anywhere! Unfortunately despite me staying there all day it never came quite close enough.

Little stint
Quite a regular visitor but in low numbers - 2013 was one of the better years.

Wood sandpiper
Regular visitor but with only 1 or 2 present at any time. They were happy to come close.

Green sandpiper
Common with 15-20 not unusual and they came very close.

Common sandpiper
Common with 15-20 not unusual. Also came very close.

Redshank
Daily visitor at high tide; could be 50 present but quite often didn't feed on the scrape and flew out as the tide dropped.

Spotted redshank
At one time these were annual visitors with 3 or 4 being present in a good year but they were absent the last couple of years for some unknown reason. Came very close when around.

Greenshank
Mainly at high tide when 15-30 could be present. Occasionally came very close to the hide.

Black tailed godwit
Probably just about an annual visitor and normally distant.

Curlew
Rare visitor to the scrape and never came close. Strange because loads would be on the adjacent fields.

Snipe
Small numbers there most years.

Ruff
Uncommon, not seen every year and never came that close.

Pectoral sandpiper.
Only seen the once. These were around for about a week in September 2012 and Backsand enjoyed more visitors that week than it normally got in a year! I was there just about every day but they never came quite close enough - oh for a 500 or 800 mm lens.

Non-waders:

Red footed falcon - seen and photographed by one lucky..........................individual.

Spoonbill - I only know of the 1 and I may have been the only one to see it. Unfortunately my main camera was broken at the time!

This was taken with my "happy snaps" camera!

Grey Heron
Regular visitor but never came close.

Little egret
Often around in significant numbers (I think 17 was the largest count I had) and would come right in front of the hide- so close in fact that at times you could only get a part of the bird in shot.

Little grebe
Nearly always around and occasionally breeding there so often family group present. Would swim right past the hide just a few feet away.

Kingfisher
Present for a couple of years but only for a week or two but would land on a post in front of the hide.

So there you have it.
It was a great place to spend the day and, if your luck was in get some great shots - I'm going to have to find something else to do each autumn now.

On the bright side once excavation work has been completed (and I don;t know when that will be ) and the new coastal path constructed the new scrapes and pools will be observable from the Coastal Path. There was once talk of some hides being put in place but I don;t know if that will ever come to fruition.

Besotted with spotted flycatchers

Tuesday started as most of the last month started .....very slowly!
I'd had a wander around the SBBO recording area but it wasn't very productive or encouraging. Restharrow scrape being a particular disappoint. It's home to somewhere around 20 coots who seem to have had a bumper breeding season and the little grebes have also done pretty well - there are 3 pretty much full size juveniles associated with 3 (possibly 4 adults) and another family of 6 where the 4 juvvies are very small.
All of which sounds very encouraging but the scrape is in poor shape for the autumn waders passage with grass, sedge and reed growth not only covering all of the banks and islands but it's speading deep into the water - there going to be very little mud to attract the waders though it looks excellent for stilts!
In the hedgerows and fields 3 corn buntings were noteworthy and along the Ancient highway a juvenile whitethroat posed brilliantly in the sun whilst the rest of the family foraged in the weeds.

The gullies look brilliant for birds - still very damp from the floods but as with most of the summer it's near devoid of birds.
Along the sea front a kestrel posed for a couple of minutes but wouldn't let me get close enough.

I'd given up and was at home faced with the prospect of filling the afternoon with chores when I got a text from Steve Coates about a family of spotted flycatchers at his place of work and was I interested. Is the Pope Catholic?
An hour later I was there reporting for duty.
Steve left his stuffy office to show me where they were then he went back to work.
The birds were in a very shady gully but it was great to see spot fly in Kent and to see that had successfully fledged some young. There were certainly 2 youngsters but judging by the noise they were making it's possible there were more. Whatever, I watched and tried to photograph them for an hour or so when Steve returned and asked if I wanted a coffee.

Juvenile spotted flycatcher

Adult and juvenile

 I took a lot of shots of one of the juvvie begging for food from the adult but the shutter speed was so low (down to 1/25th sec at times) that most were a complete blur and have gone in the bin.
Time was moving on, the sun getting lower in the sky and the gloom in the gully deepening so I called it a day and had a coffee with Steve.

A very unexpected treat - the flycatchers that is; not Steve buying me a coffee!