Eco Hvar

January Bird Watch, 2016

Steve from Dol completes his report for the month of January 2016.

Grey wagtail in Stari Grad Grey wagtail in Stari Grad Steve Jones

Garden birds:

Without doubt the best thing I have done to encourage birds in the garden has been to erect a bird table made from odd scraps of wood. It was probably erected towards the end of September last year with nothing at all making a move on the table for quite some time. However once discovered and also probably that natural food sources had diminished for some species it has provided a constant feeding station with January being particular active.

I have four feeders placed nearby just feeding on general bird seed and these need to be refilled every two days at the moment.

bird great tit jan16

I have been a little disappointed with the number of species Blue Tits, Great Tits and Robin feed throughout the day. Chaffinch feed off the ground and the Blackcaps continue to feed on a nearby pomegranate tree (šipak). However, that said, while the number of species is low, the numbers of birds coming in are fantastic and not uncommon now to peak at 20 or so birds feeding or queuing to feed at one time.

Other birds that have been seen from my garden in January are Robin, Chaffinch – these are feeding regularly but are ground feeders so I just scatter some seed on the ground and the spillage from the other feeders is if enough to bring a few in.

I have seen one Dunnock on 10th January possibly also sighted on 4th but couldn’t be sure, was pleased with the confirmation. On 22nd January my first Wren of the year here.

The Blackcaps continue to source their feed on the remainder of the pomegranates left on a neighbours’ tree but a little too far to get a decent photograph. I did manage to photograph one female recently. For most people it would have been difficult picking it out, but in fact for non-birders it's an easy one to tell as the male has a clear “Blackcap” the female has a “Browncap”.

bluetit jan16

One thing I have picked up on in recent days most noticeably since the 24th of January the bird song has increased from the usual contact calls. It has got noticeably louder, possibly of the warmer temperatures but also as establishing territory. Several Great Tits have been calling from 29th on. I’ve also heard one Blackcap calling on the same day.

I did have a flock of Goldfinch fly over but that was picked up by the call and not sight.

Other Birding notes out and about:

Once again partly through lack of time and possibly not finding the right areas I’ve made some general notes while driving around. I periodically drive to the pond by the airport and although promises so much being a water source, I am surprised by pretty much just the solitary Heron. Did see a Sparrowhawk early one morning which quickly flew off on my arrival.

I am not making specific notes on Buzzard and Hooded Crow as you are seeing these scattered along the roadside in a variety of places and between Dol and Stari Grad it would be not uncommon to see three Buzzards perched in a variety of locations on each trip. Sadly always too quick to fly off when faced with the camera.

I did hear early mornings on 12th & 13th January the Sova Ušara ( Eagle Owl ) once again too far away to pinpoint accurately.

On 18th January  - one of the very cold Bura afternoons - I went for a walk from Dol towards Vrbanj for about an hour and as expected saw very little. In no particular order I saw Blackbird, Chaffinch, Blackcap, Hooded Crow, Robin and one Sparrowhawk - or possibly two, as they were at completely different locations.

On January 21st there were and often are two Grey Wagtails by the stream opposite Volat in Stari Grad. Often associated with water I have also seen these in Jelsa. Not very good pictures but you can easily make the comparison between the two species………….. and of course as the name suggests the characteristically “wag – tail”.

grey wagtail jan
Grey wagtail in Stari Grad. Photo Steve Jones

As I came in on the 1630 ferry from Split on 23rd January there were a collection of about 20 or so Pied Wagtails on the walls heading towards the car park in the direction of the ticket office.

Pied wagtail. Photo Steve Jones

I am periodically hearing Serin with the odd one in flocks of Chaffinch but haven’t had binoculars with me for confirmation.

…………… and now on to February …………………..

© Steve Jones 2016

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar

Srodni sadržaj (po oznakama)

na vrh članka
Nalazite se ovdje: Home Okoliš Novosti iz prirode January Bird Watch, 2016

Eco Environment News feeds

  • The global sand crisis: it’s being used up faster than it can be replaced

    It is the most extracted solid material on Earth – but this extraction can threaten ecosystems and livelihoods

    Malé is one of the world’s most overcrowded cities, but it faces double pressure. As well as a growing population, the capital of the Maldives is also threatened by rising sea levels. Owing to climate breakdown, its living space is shrinking.

    So the justification for a land reclamation project seemed clear. Take sand from elsewhere in the archipelago and use it to build up the land available for Malé’s people. What could go wrong? After all, it’s only sand, right?

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Six lanes of tarmac and vehicles doing 70mph’: can ‘green bridges’ help animals cross the UK’s motorways in safety?

    Cockrow Bridge in Surrey will open in the coming weeks to provide wildlife, including lizards and insects, with the ability to move between fragmented habitats

    When James Herd moved near to Wisley Common 17 years ago, the heathland nature reserve was teeming with wildlife. “I’d take the dog around the common in spring and summer, and every few hundred metres I’d hear the rustle of a lizard in the undergrowth – and I’d see adders,” he says.

    But over the past decade, the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s director of reserves management, who oversees the internationally important habitat, has seen that wildlife become depleted.

    Continue reading...

  • Sharp drop in ‘forever chemicals’ in seabird eggs hailed as win for regulation

    Levels of Pfas in northern gannet eggs in Canada fell up to 74% over 55-year period of study

    Levels of some of the most dangerous Pfas compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which the authors of a new peer-reviewed study say illustrates how regulations are effective.

    Researchers looked at Pfas levels in the eggs of northern gannets in the St Lawrence Seaway basin over a 55-year period. Pfas levels shot up from the 1960s through the peak of the chemicals’ use in the late 1990s and early aughts, then fell.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘I couldn’t breathe’: the sinister spread of France’s killer seaweed

    After a series of deaths on the beaches of Brittany, one bereaved family set out to prove the foul-smelling bloom was to blame

    When her phone rang at around 5pm on 8 September 2016, Rosy Auffray was still at work. It was one of her daughters, distressed, calling to tell her that their father, Jean-René, had not come back from his daily run. Only the family dog had returned, alone and exhausted. Rosy rushed back home.

    When she arrived, Rosy noticed that the dog was behaving bizarrely: she refused to walk, then collapsed under a bush. Her fur stank of rotten eggs, of overflowing sewers. Rosy knew where that smell came from: the mudflats roughly three miles from the family home in Brittany, where seaweed had been accumulating and putrefying. The soggy, decomposing seaweed stretched for miles along the shore, sometimesas much asfive feet thick, killing other plants and suffocating fish and small birds.

    Continue reading...

  • Lasers in the sky: hi-tech missions track record snowpack loss in US west

    Data from missions showing critically low snowpack on mountains across the west raises alarm among experts

    High above the jagged peaks of California’s Sierra Nevada, the view from the cockpit is breathtaking. At first glance, the mountains appear draped in a pristine white blanket. But as the flight crew gears up for a high-stakes mission, the sensors onboard this specialized aircraft prove that looks can be deceiving.

    “This is a distinct dry year,” says Tom Painter, CEO of Airborne Snow Observatories.

    Continue reading...

  • Fears for plastic treaty talks as Norway reviews UN project funding

    Move by largest donor to environment programme poses further uncertainty for already troubled negotiations

    The largest donor to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) is reviewing its funding to the body before its revised budget on 12 May, triggering concern among member states and NGOs.

    The news could carry significance for the already troubled plastic treaty negotiations being overseen by Unep. Since 2022 countries have been struggling to agree on how to deal with the volume of plastics being produced and used, a subject widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious environmental issues of the age, but despite six rounds of talks there has been no agreement in sight.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: No Mow May is back on track – and the results are wonderful | Jennifer Jones

    Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool: A survey of the roadside verge turns up 21 species including cuckoo flower and yarrow. But not everyone likes it

    The impact was visceral. For days last spring I watched an army of confederates, with their uniforms of fiery gold bands and anthracite hoops, advancing up the road. They were cinnabar moth caterpillars, gathered on their host plant, common ragwort. And thanks to Liverpool city council’s observance of No Mow May, there were plenty of both in the roadside verge near my home.

    But days before the month ended, the mowing team arrived, like pilgrims breaking their Lenten fast early. The ragworts and their parties of travellers were churned up and spat out. I was desolate.

    Continue reading...

  • Rugby sevens star Kevin Wekesa: ‘I am not blaming Europeans but I must highlight climate injustices’

    The Kenyan player has been recognised for his advocacy and grassroots work to tackle sport’s carbon footprint

    “Most well-known people who talk about climate change are in North America and Europe,” says Kenyan rugby sevens star Kevin Wekesa, “but for us this is a very relevant conversation. It is not only about future tournaments or big international pledges. In Kenya, we see the effects in rising heat, cracked pitches and changing weather in communities where young athletes are growing up.”

    A year before competing in his first Olympic Games at Paris 2024, Wekesa responded to Kenya’s relegation from the top tier of international sevens by offering free rugby coaching in schools across Kenya. After travelling to a school in Kirinyaga on the slopes of Mount Kenya, a wet and verdant region, Wekesa found an unplayable dry field and was forced to cancel the session. One of the students told Wekesa that conditions had been similar for two months, while another suggested the unfamiliar weather was because of climate change.

    This is an extract from our newsletter, The Hotspot. To subscribe just visit this page and follow the instructions.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘It’s our kinship’: can Australia learn to coexist with dingoes?

    As dingoes vanish from parts of Australia, a new documentary is calling on governments to move away from eradication and towards solutions that benefit both farmers and animals

    Carol Pettersen was a small child when her family moved deep into the bush around the Fitzgerald river, on Western Australia’s south coast. It was the 1940s, and her white father and Aboriginal mother had broken the law simply by being together. So the bush became their refuge.

    In that country of mallee heath, banksias and low coastal scrub, dingoes were part of the family’s hidden world. At night, Pettersen could hear them calling through the dark; by day, she glimpsed them moving through the bush – a flicker of red fur among the trees.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘London is a case study in hope’: Sadiq Khan on 10 years as mayor

    London mayor talks up coalition-building, highlights his environmental record, and worries national Labour party is on the wrong track

    When Sadiq Khan was first elected as mayor of London 10 years ago, Barack Obama was US president, the UK was still in the European Union and Leicester City had just been crowned the unlikely champions of the English Premier League.

    In the intervening decade, Donald Trump has gone from reality TV star to two-time US president, the UK has had six different prime ministers, and Brexit has convulsed the country. London has been rocked by tragedies ranging from terror attacks to the Grenfell Tower fire.

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen
Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. Sva prava zadržana. Developed by Orion Informatika.