Monday 3 November 2014

Bunting Hunting

Not a great deal of hunting needed to see this this Snow Bunting as it popped up under our feet on the path it has been frequenting just outside of Fordham for some days now.  There are lots of nice pictures of it on the Cambridgeshire Bird Club website, still in anticipation of a call from the Beeb in Bristol I present some video footage to add to the record of this charming little bird. 
 
 
I think, having read up on them when I realised that I knew nothing about how to confidently age or sex these birds, that it's a 1st year female on the basis of all dark primary coverts (fm) and pointed tail feathers (1st year), which are particularly evident on the Bird Club pics. 
 
The Richard's Pipit that has been frequenting the rough grassland nearby did a very good job of avoiding detection and as this was an early morning venture I had to turn on my heel after an hour and a half and get to work.