Lazy day birding mainly from the car

I headed up to the coast a bit late, getting Christmas shopping out of the way in Holt before 9.00 am.  I'd been planning to look at Brent Geese, especially hoping to see the Pale-bellied hybrid family, but it was a sunny day, and sunny days are the worst for looking at Brent Geese.  Subtly different shades of black are lost in bright sunshine, so I decided to leave that for another day.  At Salthouse I had a look for the white-headed Wigeon that Dave had seen in early November.  Easily located in exactly the same place as I'd seen it in at least two of the previous three winters.  And comparing photos with the previous years it clearly is the same returning bird, which of course means it can't be a first-winter male as I had previously assumed.  I think it's an intersex - have a look at this blog post to see why.

presumed intersex Wigeon, Salthouse, 23rd December

Some normal Wigeon there too:

Wigeon, Salthouse, 23rd December

Coot, Salthouse, 23rd December

Next stop Blakeney where the guy who owns the duckpond kindly invited me in to have a look round.

There were 2 Stonechat by the seawall north of the quay.

Stonechats, Blakeney, 23rd December

Reed Bunting, Blakeney, 23rd December

I couldn't find the Twite in the usual place, or the Lapland Bunting, but did get some Bearded Tits on the way back - at least 4, probably a few more.  Photographing them was nigh on impossible in the wind - surprised I managed even this:

Bearded Tit, Blakeney, 23rd December

This Shag was showing well at Wells Quay.

Shag, Wells, 23rd December

A Red Kite was over the estuary and later 2-3 Red Kites flew west over Holkham Pines.  I was going to have another look at the Red-rumped Swallow but it was further away than it had been yesterday so I didn't bother joining the crowd.  I did stop further up to see the Great White Egret though - it was below the trees where I'd seen a large-looking white egret drop into on Saturday - I'd been a long way off at Burnham Overy and only saw it for a nano-second so couldn't be 100% but I was expecting someone else would find it during the course of the week.

After a bit of driving around to find the Pink-footed Geese (which I failed to do) I ended up at Brancaster Staithe so popped in to see the Red-necked Grebe.  Thought with it being sunny I might get better photos, but alas it was miles off today.

Finally another Red Kite across the road as I came out of the fish & chip shop at Burnham Market.


Not sure if these were wild birds taking advantage of the provision of food at Blakeney or if they belonged in the collection...

Tufted Duck, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

Shoveler, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

These ones certainly weren't wild!

captive Smew, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

captive Red-breasted Goose, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

captive Cinnamon Teals, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

captive Blue-winged Teal, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

The Blue-winged Teal's mate looked purer than it did last time!  Pretty sure it must be the same bird but strange how different views give a different impression.  Last time it looked so spatulate-billed and pale-billed that I figured it must have been a Blue-winged Teal x Shoveler hybrid but this time it wasn't so clear.

captive Blue-winged Teal or hybrid, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

The backcrossed Mallard x Pintail hybrid has matured a bit now - lost its immature feathers on the flanks etc. and grown its tail a bit.  The long centrail tail feathers (actually upper tail-coverts I believe) are still angled up away from the tail though, and widely separated, and of course the breast colour is the more obvious clue to Mallard involvement.

captive Mallard x Pintail hybrid backcrossed with Pintail, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

Twite surprise

I had the day off yesterday so headed up to Burnham Overy first thing.  This Guillemot was in the channel by the start of the sea wall near the staithe.

Guillemot, Burnham Overy, 7th December

It dived occasionally but I think to hide from me rather than to feed, but I did notice it swimming along with its head dipped in the water a few times, Shoveler-esque.  Was this feeding, and if so is that normal behaviour for Guillemots?

Guillemot, Burnham Overy, 7th December

The flocks of geese in the field south of the reedy pool were worth a look through.  A Barnacle Goose was among the Pink-feet, with another 5 Barnacle Geese together behind the pool.  Among the closer Brents was a Black Brant x Dark-bellied Brent Goose hybrid.  Not as Black Brantish as the bird that's been here in recent winters, I don't think, indeed when the sun came out it became very tricky to pick out from the Dark-bellied Brents.

Black Brant x Dark-bellied Brent Goose hybrid (with Dark-bellied Brent Geese), Burnham Overy, 7th December

A Stonechat was north of the reedy pool and from Gun Hill I could see both Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merganser in the harbour.  The latter later flew out to the sea where it joined 3 more.  A Peregrine flew east along the beach pausing over the dunes where it flew around for a while.  A minute or two later I heard a commotion and looked up to see 2 Peregrines together flying off over the saltmarsh.

Reed Bunting, Burnham Overy, 7th December

From the east end of the dunes I could see 6 Eurasian White-fronted Geese on Holkham Freshes and a Stonechat in the dunes north of the pines.

Later I drove down Lady Anne's Drive to have a quick look at the geese there.  Nothing to note but this Kestrel dropped in beside me.

Kestrel, Holkham, 7th December

I then headed over to Blakeney.  Red-necked Grebe and Great Northern Diver had both been present recently and showing well for photography - and it was a good excuse to have a gander at the wildfowl collection to see if there was anything of interest there.

Well neither the grebe nor the diver showed but I enjoyed a good chat with Keiran and Marcus.  We all converged as a flock of 7 Twite dropped in briefly before flying off calling.  While we stood there the flock, now 8 Twite, dropped in twice more, each time just for a minute or so.

Twite, Blakeney, 7th December

A Barn Owl was hunting the area and good numbers of Pied Wagtail were gatthering near the car park for roost.

Among the wildfowl collection there were a few bits of interest.  Pairs of Ross's Geese and Red-breasted Geese are now in residence and these Teal aroused my curiosity.  A drake of each Blue-winged Teal and Cinnamon Teal (I assume the Blue-winged is a first-winter drake with its slightly obscure head pattern) and a female which is less straightforward.  Here are the drakes:

Cinnamon Teal, Blakeney, 7th December

Blue-winged Teal, Blakeney, 7th December

My first thoughts on the female were Cinnamon Teal, in view of its relatively spatulate bill (and probably influenced by the fact that by this time I'd only seen the drake Cinnamon), but I had a feeling the head pattern was more Blue-winged Teal.  Checking references later confirmed this to be the case, but the bill was surely too spatulate for Blue-winged, and probably even for Cinnamon.  The pale colouration on the bill was also amiss for either species.  But the bird was shaped and sized like a Teal - this was certainly no Shoveler!  My assumption at the moment is that it's a Blue-winged Teal x Shoveler hybrid, but other views welcome!

presumed Blue-winged Teal x Shoveler hybrid, Blakeney, 7th December

My recollection was that the storm surge in December 2013 completely destroyed the collection with all stragglers disappearing within a few weeks of the event.  But my photos of Mallard x Indian Spot-billed Duck hybrids are dated late February 2014, so I must have forgotten that a few birds survived for a while after.  Pretty sure they weren't there much past this though, but as two very similar hybrids are back there now I wonder if they were temporarily removed elsewhere for safe-keeping, or if these two are different birds?

Mallard x Indian Spot-billed Duck hybrids, Blakeney, 7th December

When I saw this bird at the end of October I wasn't sure if it wasn't just a Mallard with remnants of juvenile plumage.  But it's not changed six weeks later and a bit of research turns up other Mallard x Indian Spot-billed Duck hybrids looking similar, so I presume that's what it is - probably backcrossed with Mallard I should imagine.

Mallard x Indian Spot-billed Duck hybrid (probably backcrossed with Mallard), Blakeney, 7th December

 Among the other exhibits was this Hooded Merganser.

Hooded Merganser, Blakeney, 7th December