Notes

13 March 2014
Comments Notes Shags laying two clutches Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis have long been considered capable of producing two broods in one breeding season, but direct evidence of this is lacking (see The Handbook, vol 4; D. A. Bannerman, 1959, The Birds of the British Is...
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Notes

01 July 1982
Comments Notes Great White Egrets with red legs and black bills On 25th October 1981, J. Mikuska, A. Dijksen, J. Kuypers and I observed a flock of 110 Great White Egrets Egretta alba on a fishpond near the Kopacki-Rit in Yugoslavia. Among these herons, J M di...
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Notes

01 January 1975
Comments Notes Common and Black-headed Gulls flight-feeding over ragwort On the west coast of much of the Outer Hebrides is found the machair, a stretch of flat sandy soil used mainly for growing a mixed crop of rye and oats for animal fodder. Landward of thi...
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Notes

01 September 1973
Comments Notes Unusual hunting behaviour of Sparrowhawks During February 1972, at Benacre, Suffolk, I spent several hours observing a pair of Sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus hunting over a particular field which had been left to seed. This field was the feeding ...
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Notes

01 January 1969
Comments Notes Manx Shearwaters following ships In September 1968, during a voyage from Piraeus to Poros in Greece, I saw that some birds were following another vessel travelling in the opposite direction. As the two ships passed, these transferred to our steamer and I ...
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Notes

01 April 1966
Comments Notes Weasel killing Kestrel.--I was interested in Mrs. Sybil Selwyn's observation of a Kestrel Falco tinnunculus which caught a Weasel Mustek nivalis and carried it up into the air, but then let it go {Brit. Birds, 59: 39). On Z7th December 1930 I was watching...
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Notes

01 October 1961
Comments Notes Little Grebe eating bread.--On 3rd September 1961, we were standing by a lake in Kew Gardens, Richmond, Surrey, when we noted that a Little Grebe (Podsceps ruficollis) showed interest at the approach of some people to feed the water fowl. As soon as they ...
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Notes

01 March 1961
Comments Notes Beetles in the plumage of birds.--On 25 th May 1959 I picked up a freshly dead Swift (Apus apus) on the sloping concrete bank of Hilfield Park Reservoir, Hertfordshire. On examining the bird I discovered a single beetle of the species Haltka ohracearighti...
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Notes

01 June 1960
Comments Notes Piracy by GadwalL--On 30th December 1959, near Cley, Norfolk, we watched four Gadwall (Anas strepera) worrying a drake Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina), apparently with the aim of robbing it of its food. They followed it very closely and whenever it div...
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Notes

01 March 1958
Comments Notes Glossy Ibis in D o r s e t -- O n 3rd December 1956, an adult male Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) was shot in the water meadows of the River F r o m e a t Stratton, near Dorchester, Dorset, by C. J. R. Pope. T h e bird w a s examined in the flesh by R...
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