Last week the new satellite tracking page for our Red kites went live, of the birds we track by this method we are putting the details of six on the page, two birds from 2009 and four from 2011. On posting the data for Lewis one of the 2009 birds we noticed that he hadn’t moved for a few days so a colleague went to check out the site, expecting to pick up and injured bird, or worse. What he found was Lewis sitting on a nest, what we thought was a male bird was in fact female and even better she was on a nest that we knew nothing about. I’m not sure gender reassignment is an option for kites at the moment, so I guess we got it wrong.
Lewis, or should that be Louise.
You can follow the birds here. Few details of the nesting birds have been posted as we do not want to give the nest locations away.
As I said in my last blog we were looking for a name for the bird nesting near the visitor centre, and Tollie came out as the preferred choice so Tollie it is. Ringing and tagging of the kites starts soon, so as soon as I know any details of the nest I will let you know.
The newly named 'Tollie', thanks to Ronald for the photo.
Tragedy struck at Tollie last week when the Blue tit box was raided by woodpeckers, one of the chicks, close to fledging, did manage to escape and it was seen hiding in the undergrowth by the bug stack, it was found by the parents and was being fed so hopefully it did manage to get away. Metal plates have been ordered, too late for this year but hopefully they will save this happening in future years.
We have noticed a lot of Buzzards around at Tollie recently; it appears that some of the young birds from last year are back. Also, one of the older Buzzards has started to swoop at the table, kite like, instead of landing on it and eating its fill, perhaps it had been knocked off the table just once too often. When I first saw it happen the Buzzard was not that good, but after a few days of practice, it is now a lot better and even putting in a few fancy moves to thrill the visitors.
A Buzzard not quite getting it right, it is much better now, another one of Ronald's great photos.
Another great blog Brad, thanks for the update. The buzzard was successfully swooping at the table again today!
It was good to chat to you last night Liz, we all really enjoyed the walk and were so glad not to get soaked. I even took the girls to see the pet cemetery afterwards with our torches (great fun but spooky). Hope you rested your legs today ready for another week of butterfly and lizard hunting! XX
love the news Brad - but the photo looks a bit painful!