A coot pair settles

Two of the coots have stayed in the park and today my suspicions that they were a pair were confirmed. They have shown a lot of interest on the nest that the moorhen who nested in the tree has built at the base of the tree on the water, on the free time allowed by the care of its now two chicks. But that will be something for a different post. On the top shot, one of the coots examines the moorhen nest closely.

Shortly after, the Coot was chased away by the Moorhen, the nest owner.

One of the coots calls the other with a trumpet-like call.

This morning, both coots were near each other. One of them picked a piece of stem and carried it to a clump of vehetation on the shore and rearranged it using her feet and bill. Then, the other coot approached and gave it chase closely, with the first coot swimming to the shore, standing and adopting the curious position of a receptive female, head curled down under her chest. The male then clumsily climbed on top, although he fell down before completing the copulation. I get the impression these are first time breeders, and the breeding instinct is just kicking in. The following are a couple of shots of coot mating pairs taken in another local park where coots are plentiful, illustrating the female position. They often mate on or near the nest. When they are on the water, the female actually submerges her head.

Magpie sitting tight

A pair of Magpies built a nest in a maple near our house, as they did last year (that time in the tree opposite). In the the last few days, the tail of the incubating female can be seen sticking out from the side of their large domed nest. Soon, we won't be able to see much as the leaves are growing quickly. Earlier in the year, the magpies were very vocal, now they are surprisingly quiet, if they fledged young, I do not know. The female will take care of incubating while the male feeds her.

This is a photo from 13/03/2015, when nest building was in its early stages.

Great spotted woodpecker chiselling nest

I heard the 'chip!' call of the woodpecker while walking by the park today. A female flew to the top of a horse chestnut and then flew into the large trees by the side of the pond. When I relocated her she was on the trunk of a large ash, and, as woodpeckers do she climbed behind the trunk out of sight. I moved to a better location, with the sun on my back and there she was, maybe 8-10 m high on the trunk just under the main branches, expanding a hole in what appeared to be healthy wood, pulling woodchips away.
 Woodpeckers will dig a new nest every year, which provides suitable nesting holes for other hole birds. Both male and female work together in this hard task, that might take them three or four weeks to complete.
She worked away while I took photos, and filmed her, and she was still working when I left.

The female on the high branches of a horse chestnut, with buds about to burst

most of the shots I took of chiselling are blurry, but this one captured the moment of impact, and the closed eyes of the woodpecker at this point.

A short clip follows.

Moorhen nest building

The Moorhens seem to have settled in the park, with a pair having secured the island as a territory. Next to the island there is a large fallen branch that has been used to nest before. One of the moorhens was tidying the nest, trying to bring branches sticking up into the nest structure.
 You can watch a short clip of her activities here:

Mistle thrush collecting nesting material

The resident pair of mistle thrushes rattled while flying to the lawns in the park. One of them fed on worms for a while taking little notice of me, but then it found a feather and seemed to have a change of heart, as it started to collect nest lining material enthusiastically, and then it flew to a large horse chestnut rapidly growing its leaves.

Breaking sticks

The nesting instinct is starting to stir in the Crows. Early last month, the pair above examined a nest from last year, one individual getting into the nest and doing some rearrangements. I am not aware of Carrion Crows reusing old nests, so maybe they were just suddenly experiencing an urge to sit on a nest again. I haven't seen the birds visiting the old nest again.
 Today, I noticed a crow struggling on a tree. It was trying to break a twig using all its might, flapping its wings and leaning back. Unlike other birds, which collect sticks found on the ground, Carrion Crows, Rooks and Jays use fresh sticks, that the break from trees as the material for the main framework of their nests. Then they will look for bark, hair and grass as lining lining on the ground. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, the crow moved to another part of the tree, and this time it was successful first try, cleanly snapping the stick. It then rearranged the position of the stick to pick it up securely balanced from the middle, and flew away. The crow nesting season has already started.

Nesting Rooks

Rooks are not common birds in the city, they suddenly appear when houses make way for the first grassy fields in the outskirts. Somewhat surprisingly there is a small rookery in the university grounds. Probably the large mature trees attract them. They are not present year round though. I heard a group in January and I hadn't heard them again until today. Suddenly, they have taken over the place having decided that it is nesting time. Their constant, excited drawn out single 'kaah' calls - quite different from the repeated, harder and sharper calls of the Carrion Crow - filled the air. There were at least five evident nests in construction - all of previous years nests all fell out with storms and high winds - , one just a little jumble of sticks. Rooks break off twigs and branches from trees instead of collecting nest materials from the ground, and they were coming and going from their nests to a nearby Alder where they broke off twigs for their nest. It has been suggested that collecting branches from living trees allow for better size and strength selection This description taken from Bayne, 1929 was very fitting today, with squabbles at some nests possibly as a neighbour tried to steal a precious stick.

"Most birds do their nest-building quietly and as secretly as possible. But the rooks cannot hide theirs, so they talk about them freely. Every time they come back with a twig they shout the news to the whole rookery and to any one else who may be able to understand them. But it is dangerous for them to boast too much about a stick, for it may be stolen by a neighbour when they are gone to fetch another." 

This series of photos taken on a few minutes illustrates the activity in the colony.

A Rook leaves its nest calling

This three Rooks were collecting sticks atop an Alder. The bird on the right has already got its stick.

This bird spend a good few minutes wandering aroung the tree undecided and left with nothing.

Bird returning with a branch

For this one a little twig will do