Raising The Bar

Thought this might be of note to those currently interested in wing barred crossbills in the northern isles just now. Many thanks to Stuart Reeves for passing these on to me last year ( or year before ? ) -








I also recall reading something about the two-barreds from last years irruption in either Birding World or British Birds earlier this year or last year.

Hope this helps - if anyone could get me some recordings of any crossbills from up there that would be fantastic !

Barred For Life

Following Alistair's comments below about the Orkney wing barred Crossbills, I thought I would post some pics of 'pine' crossbills with similar plumage structures.

First up, a first winter male, photographed in Deeside in October 2005, the picture quality is absolutely shocking ( light was bad and from the looks of it I might have been pointing the camera the wrong way round !):

However, you can clearly see it a male Parrot Crossbill ( first winter) based on the massive bill depth, and it has white fringes to the greater coverts and tertials, with some faint brown fringing on the median coverts.

Next, a cracking first winter male Parrot Crossbill caught in Deeside in October 2006:

This specimen (bill depth of 13.2mm) has light pale fringes to greater coverts, median coverts and tertials. Normally, these fringes if present are more buff brown in colour. An open wing shot of same bird:

I know some people don't like 'in the hand' shots like this but please appreciate these photographs are only taken to record such plumage and bill shape details of individual colour ringed specimens - they are not 'trophy' shots ! If they had not been taken you would not be reading this post ! All birds are processed as quickly as possible and released unharmed - this particular specimen has been re-sighted many times since its capture and release in October 2006 including feeding juveniles in 2007 and resighted again just a few weeks ago.

The Orkney wing-barred crossbills ? Well the female looks like a Common Crossbill version of my birds above. The male is obscured by foliage but I agree with one of the posters that the fringes look brown not white, and that the tertials are not visible. So for me one definite Common Crossbill (female) and one 'most likey' Common (male).

"We Come From The Land Of The Ice And Snow"

A Common Crossbill irruption into the UK is now underway with 100's of birds passing through Shetland, Orkney (particularly North Ronaldsay) and the Western Hebridean Islands. A colleague is on St.Kilda just now though I can't get in touch, but I wager he will come back with tales of loadsa crossbills feeding on thrift !

Some individuals and small parties appear to be hitting the Scottish and English East coast as well and I did read reports of birds passing through (and being caught) at a Danish Bird Observatory. Fair Isle do not seem to be updating their site but I guess it must be crawling with pinemunchers just now.

Calls collected from these migrants would be extremely valuable in determing which call types are 'moving' in and how they infiltrate through the mainland when they arrive (assuming they do arrive - they may continue westwards to certain death in the Atlantic). Surprisingly, we are missing this data. Calls collected by Dougie Preston on Unst last week are interesting as these gave Fc4 calls, a call which has more or less disappeared on the mainland, certainly in NE Scotland. The dominant Common call just now is 1A, a particular variant I sometimes call 'the Parroty Common' due to the similarities of the calls with it's bigger 'cousin'. After the 2005 irruption I saw increases in call type 1B, though birds giving this combination were present in some numbers before the irruption. Thus, localised breeding may have accounted for this increase. Birds on Fair Isle or any of the Isles at this time of year are definitely migrants irrupting westwards. The calls they are giving are as important, possibly more so, as their biometrics. Also, and this is maybe just me, a variance in call structure is surely more significant in practical classification than a difference of 0.2mm in bill depth ( though the latter may have some function in foraging efficiency).

If the irruption continues I will be heading to the Northern or Western Isles myself in order to get some sound recordings. If anyone fancies tagging along and sharing the costs of a hire car, or contributing towards the costs of taking my own vehicle, do get in touch - we may be doing pioneering work !

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for crossbills particularly at coastal sites or on your patch where you haven't had any for the last year or so - they may well be all the way from Fennoscandia or even East of the Ural's !

I Like You Just As You Are

It is that time of year where (part of) my attention drifts from birds to dragonflies !

A good find today at a site, in Donside. A female Azure Dameselfly, and the rare blue form at that....and in the pissing rain ! Apologies for poor photo due to rain and bad light, but you can clearly see what it is.

My better/other half had found several males at this site a few weeks ago but I got this cracking female one today suggesting an active population.

This is the most northerly population for Azure Damsel in the UK, certainly that has been reported through the usual gateways, so it just shows you what you can find if you bother to look ! Until this year they were unreported for the region, except an unconfirmed record from the 19th century near Aberdeen and one from South Kincardineshire in the early 20th Century.

Scotch Mist: The Scottish Crossbill No Longer Endangered ?

Scottish Crossbill 'stable' and off the UK Red List !

On the news yesterday apparently and also press released HERE in full, summary below:

"Revival of threatened crossbill

The Scottish crossbill is only found in upland Scots pine forests. The Scottish crossbill, which is the UK's only unique species of bird, has been taken off a conservation charity's endangered list. The RSPB said the birds' population was thought to be stable enough to no longer be classed among the country's most threatened birds. The bird is one of the few success stories of the 2009 assessment. The number of species red-listed has risen 5% since 2002 to more than one in five of all the UK's bird species.

.....Last year, the organisation warned that climate change threatened the Scottish crossbill with extinction. Its population is only found in Scots pine forests, both ancient Caledonian forest and new commercial plantations.

The species can be seen in the Highlands, Cairngorms and upland areas of Perthshire and Argyll, according to the RSPB. A survey funded by the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage found approximately 13,000 individuals of the endemic finch, meaning it is now amber-listed. "

Now, here was me planning to give you all a nice report on a Speyside crossbill fest and a Parrot Crossbill (rant/essay) but this is too topical to ignore, so apologies. Cue rant.
Right, so there are 13,000 Scottish Crossbills ? !!! And here was me thinking 10,000 was an excessive estimate ! Er, well you certainly can't say they are endangered if there are 13,000 of them in a tiny area such as Northern Scotland. However, it gets worse, much worse; as well as being found in the 'usual' areas, they were also apparently found in......shock horror.......Lodgepole Pine plantations in southern Sutherland ! I had to dig deep for info this gem but it is on the Net. And there was me saying those birdguides 'over the way' didn't know anything about Scottish Crossbills......though maybe they did the survey ?! Note the Beeb's (RSPB) press release states that Scottish Crossbills are only found in native scots pine woods and plantations, this of course is not the case ! I like the fact that a press release in 2008 threatens that Scotbill will be wiped out by global warming unless they relocate to Iceland and the following year it is taken off the Red List. Hardly consistent policy.

A few points:

1) I don't know what sampling methods were used to produce the figure of 13,000. However, I know that in Deeside they apparently didn't find much evidence for Scottish Crossbills in Spring 2008, when in my experience there was quite a lot about - the best year I have seen here. This might imply there are actually more than 13,000 ! The release states "13,000 individuals" were found. I would assume that this figure is in fact an Index produced by multiplying up the number of individuals found at a point sample location by the total surrounding forest area. If they truly did count 13,000 individual Scottish Crossbills then I stand corrected.

2) What calls exactly were classified as 'Scottish'. This is not clear cut IMO.

3) I don't hate the RSPB - quite the contrary I am a fully paid up supporter and think that anyone interested in birds should also support them. I know that will be unpopular with a lot of those 'serious' birder types, but the simple fact is that no organization is better placed to promote the conservation of birds (and other biodiversity) than RSPB. I don't agree with all their 'policies' just like the last political party I voted for ! Doesn't mean you shouldn't vote with your feet.

But I still can't help think this has all been a bit hasty. The results of this survey suggest there should be several thousands of Scottish Crossbills (not my experience here in Deeside at least) and that they have been found in non-native habitat will surely create 'interesting' challenges for their conservation. I understand the need for a census of the species, but I feel the taxonomy of all loxia in Scotland is ongoing, unresolved and, in my opinion, still 'data deficient'. There, I said it.

What do I think ? Well, it's a wildcard and won't win me many friends, but I think they might just have gone and got the wrong crossbill, certainly with respect to promoting the conservation of our native Caledonian Forests. There are (Scots) pine adapted Crossbills resident and thriving in the ancient native woodlands here in Scotland - and you don't get them 'on the (Lodge)'pole' over the winter. I am not denying that there are intermediate billed crossbills in Scotland that, for the time being at least, are specific to the region. However, it is an assumption to say that these 'intermediate'* billed types are the Scottish Crossbill, the relict species of the Great Forest of Caledon. Isn't it ?

A female Scottish Crossbill, one of 13,000.....alledgedly.

* Intermediate between Common and Parrot.