Painamal the condor returns to the wild

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Martin Eayrs

Click on any image for a slide show or scroll down to read the commentary.

The big bird spreads her wings

Condors are large birds and up close you really appreciate their size. This adult female was being released after three months of rehabilitation and it was a joy to watch as she spread her wings and soared over the valley. Once she found an air current she was in heaven.

Meeting with guardafauna in San Martín to discuss the release — with Hilda Dalmau Ruiz,
Scarlett Eastman, Martin Eayrs, Ñandu Capdevila, Maria Ana Millenaar and Irene
Raimondi.

Last November (2013) I was privileged to be invited to the release of Painamal, an adult female condor, back into the wild. The bird had been found in very poor condition, intoxicated and dehydrated, and had undergone three months of rehabilitation in the Condor Unit at the Palermo Zoo in Buenos Aires.

The caravan leaves Junín de los Andes for the heights of the Parajes Costa del Malleo

The event took place on the Parajes Costa del Malleo (uplands overlooking the Malleo river in Neuquén, Patagonia), inside land set aside for the Mapuche peoples. Representatives of various national, regional and private bodies were present and gave celebratory speeches, most importantly members of the Mapuche community to whom the condor is a sacred animal, messenger and conduit to God.

Argentine and Mapuche representatives spoke of what the release (and the condor) mean
and meant to them.

ABOVE: Two cultures – Luis Jacome, from the Condor Conservation Unit in Palermo Zoo in Buenos Aires, and María Eva Linares from the Mapuche community (the word ‘Mapuche’ breaks down to ‘people of the earth’). BELOW: The release, one of many to take place in recent years across the Continent, is recorded for posterity.

An acta was elaborated, and recorded by signatories of the two communities

A brief and moving Mapuche ceremony was held before the bird was released – at the request of the lonco this was not filmed or photographed. Then it was time to prepare for the release.

The moment of release

The moment when Painamal took her first steps towards freedom, spread her wings and soared off into the real world were immensely moving for all present. These are big, powerful birds, and it made for a big, powerful moment.

Painamal spreads her wings ….

This collection of pictures documents the release of the condor back into the wild, one of many similar releases performed recently in various parts of South America where the bird had become extremely rare or extinct, and it is encouraging that many of these these released condors are now breeding.

…. and makes a big stretch while she contemplates — freedom ….

I’m reupping this here as I didn’t have a blog last year, and blogs are easier to index than Facebook. You can see a video recording of the event here.

… and off she flies to rejoin her world

Back in Buenos Aires

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Martin Eayrs

Click on photos for slide show or scroll down for text.

Guaira cuckoo

It’s good to be back in Buenos Aires, with decent coffee more or less on tap (not a Starbucks or Costa in sight) and good food all around. I arrived in the morning, got through customs pretty quickly and was in my hotel by 10.30 am. No need to unpack – am only here two nights – so a couple of hours on the bed, a quick shower, a search for a not too garish t-shirt (it was surprisingly hot outside) and I went off to the Costanera Sur.

A monk parakeet, shot at the entrance where he was looking from crumbs from the
picnickers

ABOVE: Monk Parakeet BELOW: Southern Caracara

Southern caracara flying way overhead

The Costanera Sur (southern promenade) is where the people of Buenos Aires would go in the XIX Century to bathe (separately) in the River Plate. It thus became home to fashionable restaurants and tea gardens and was a place for the rich to drive in their carriages and the less well off to stroll along the wide walkways. More importantly [to me], nowadays it is here that after massive landfill dumping and polderisation (taking advantage of the urban expansion of the 1970s) the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve emerged, about which more here.

Speckled Teal (with young)

ABOVE: Speckled Teal BELOW: Common Gallinule (see comment below)

Common Gallinule

I only had a couple of hours until nightfall, and it is a large site (the perimeter path is about seven kilometres) so I wasn’t too ambitious. I noticed on entering that the water levels were low – in fact the water situation was dire throughout the site, so I had little expectation of water fowl – and I wasn’t disappointed. I was surprised though to bump into Alec Earnshaw, on the hunt for a Laterallus leucopyrrhus (Red and white Crake) that had been reported recently. As I had already arranged to meet Alec the following evening we exchanged pleasantries and I walked out along the Western path.

Oven bird (Rufous Hornero)

ABOVE: Argentina’s Oven Bird BELOW: Roadside hawk

Roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris)

Being Sunday, it wasn’t really the time for serious birding, with half of Buenos Aires walking, running and cycling through the reserve, and it was also uncomfortably hot – surprising for the end of winter – but it was pleasant walking and I saw quite a few birds. No new species except one identified raptor – a Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris). Apart from that, I remet some of my favourites: I got some good shots of monk parakeets, ringed and speckled teal and red-fronted coot (the only water fowl I saw), guiara cuckoo, great kiskadee, ear doves, rufous hornero (oven bird), southern caracara, and others.

Ringed Teal (male)

ABOVE: Ringed Teal (male) BELOW: Ringed Teal (female)

Ringed Teal (female)

As I said, it was not a great day for birding but –and this, despite the fall in water levels in the lagoons– it was a great place to be, and I hope to get a quieter couple of hours before I leave BA for the south on Tuesday.

Rutland Water, August 2014

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Martin Eayrs

Click on any image for slide show or scroll dow to read text.

Rutland Water is a large man made lake in the County of Rutland. The area was flooded in 1976 and part of the lake is used for water sports (sailing, fishing, etc.), and part has been developed as a wild fowl reserve, with other areas set aside for other bird species. I visited it while I was at the British Bird Fair, held in the nearby village of Egleton.

Rutland Water

ABOVE Map of Rutland Water BELOW Stand at British Bird Fair

There were stands from many countries – this one is from Santa Lucia, in the West Indies

From the birding point of view, the area is divided into three parts, two on the same side of the lake, either side of the main reception building and a third across the water. From this third area it is possible to see ospreys fairly close up; I stayed on the nearside as neither time nor transportation was on my side, but with approximately twenty hides to visit there was plenty to see.

Ospreys on the nest (from http://www.ospreys.org.uk/category/osprey-team-blog)

ABOVE Ospreys at Rutland water BELOW Little ringed plover

Little ringed plover at waterside

The ‘new’ for me included a little ringed plover, pretty but hard to spot, and a little egret (first time for me in the UK, although common enough in Argentina). Lots of Egyptian Geese (I counted 21 in simultaneous sight at one hide), and an unusual close up shot of a couple of little grebes building a nest in open water close to the 360 Hide. At one distant hide I opened a hatch and found four swans, two adult and two of this year’s cygnets, about two metres from me; they were quite unmoved by my presence.

One of several little egrets I saw on Rutland water

ABOVE Little egret BELOW view from one of the hides

View of wetland — from Grebe Hide

I managed to visit all the hides bar one (I took the wrong turn and missed it) and my legs tell me I did a fair bit of walking but it was worth it. This is one of Britain’s premier birding sites and if the pickings were a little lean in mid summer that is hardly to be unexpected. I have made a note to come back in the winter, when migrants are likely to be passing through, and in April, reputed to be the best time of the year for the reserve.

British Bird Fair 2014

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Martin Eayrs

Click on any image for slide show or scroll down for commentaries.

I’ve just come back from Egleton, a sleepy village in equally sleepy Rutland. The last time I was here was on an intermediary leg of an inter-house road race relay, back in 1965. I would have been 16 or so, and was carrying the winning baton on a crucial leg through what today is the approach road to the Green Car Park for the British Bird Fair, held at Rutland Water, which is where I find myself today.

The Bird Fair, with part of Rutland Water in the background

ABOVE Egleton with bird fair / BELOW Admiral Hornblower

The Admiral Hornblower Inn, Oakham

I spent a good couple of days at Egleton, but not perhaps for the best of reasons. I stayed at a comfortable Inn (I use the word ‘Inn’ advisedly) in Rutland’s small county town of Oakham, where I had spent eight years of my schooldays as a boarder, although on this trip saw little of the town other than the insides of bars and restaurants. Transportation to the Bird Fair, a couple of miles away, was iffy as regards buses (organisers please note) but cheap enough by taxi if you could get one. I also benefitted from the occasional offer of a ride by the driver of one of the Oakham School buses. The Old Boys’ network is not dead.

Visitor’s Centre – with access to the hides

ABOVE: entrance to Rutland Water Visitors centre BELOW: Me with Bill Oddy

Me with Bill Oddie – I’m taller than him and he’s fatter than me

The British Bird fair is the biggest of its kind in the world, with exhibitors from all over the world except, for some curious reason, the United States. Go figure. There were a few celebrities around – Bill Oddy, who was very chatty, and Chris Packham, strolling determinedly across the meadow with a very serious look on his face that no doubt served him well as as protection against cholulos like me. I also met Enrique Couve, co-author of my favourite birding book Birds of Patagonia, Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctic Peninsula: The Falkland Islands and South Georgia. He was very pleasant and we have arranged to meet up in Punta Arenas in November.

Shetland Lass with a tempting smile

ABOVE: an invitation to the Shetland Islands BELOW interview with world-famous photographer Ben Tarvie

Ben Tarvie, bird photographer par excellence

I spent time on some of the Latin American stands, especially the Argentine one, and found all the stand holders exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable. There were useful stands offering photographic and other birding equipment but no bargains. There were several second hand book stands specialising in birding books but I somehow lacked the focus to pursue this (see below). And there were a number of stands dedicated to various aspects of bird crime: a message very well worth driving home, and to be copied to Argentina.

There were several stands highlighting the problem of bird crime

ABOVE Bird Crime BELOW Islay whiskies

Some of the many smoky malts on offer from Islay

The Islay stand was particularly hospitable, and I took up their offer to try nearly all of the malts distilled there. The whisky was excellent, but may have clouded my judgment and I soon tired of all the commercial side of things and decided I would pass on any further invitations to invest twelve grand in an all-inclusive trip to, say, Costa Rica: not my style of birding at all. And then I remembered that I was on the edge of one of Britain’s premier birding sites, Rutland Water, so I left Marquee 6 and headed for the hides. More about that in a separate blog.

At the bottom of Rutland Water (under the water, that is) is the submerged village of Hambleton, whose inhabitants were relocated when the valley was filled with water. I used to cycle all over the county when I was at school here, but here I shall ride my bike no more; it belongs to the wild life that have reclaimed the land and water.

Pennington Flash, August 2014

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Martin Eayrs

Click on any image for slideshow; read on below for text.

Pennington Flash Country Park is a premier bird watching site in the North West of the UK. The core visitor’s area is a 70 hectare lake, with paths around part of the shoreline and some seven or eight hides strategically located around the site. Here’s a (rights free) general view of part of the site that I found on the web.

General view of the Flash, courtesy Colin Davies at ‘Occasionally — Birding St Helens’

One of these hides looks on to a feeder area that attracts a large number of species (see pics further down) , although visitors are warned that the place where the feeders are is heavily shaded and the light levels can be low; photographers should choose a day with high overhead sun or use fill in flash (which can upset other people in the hide). You can get there by car (it’s near Leigh and Wigan) and there is pay and display car parking on site. I went by bus: X34 from Manchester Piccadilly and then 600 from Leigh, getting off at the Robin Hood pub.

Kingfisher in the distance – this was the closest — I could get to him

I spent a few hours at the Flash (an English dialect word for a non-specific ‘lake’) and took some good shots, the weather ranging from cold, wet and overcast to hot and sunny. A typical Lancashire day, in fact. As it was the school holidays the park areas were full of schoolchildren, running, jostling and generally having a good if noisy time. The park is for all of us, and somehow the birding didn’t suffer. I managed to get a shot of a kingfisher who for once perched within distance, albeit farther away than I would have liked, but this was more than compensated by close shots of a couple of great spotted woodpeckers and three or four jays, together offering a whole rainbow of colour.

A jay, photographed — in the feeding area

[ABOVE} a jay in all his finery, taken in the feeder hide when the sun came out. [BELOW] a great spotted woodpecker.

I don’t like photos of birds on feeders, but this great spotted woodpecker — was unmissable

I didn’t make a list of the birds I saw, but working from photos I processed on my return I saw at least: black-headed gull, bullfinch, chaffinch, common (mew) gull, common sandpiper, great crested grebe, great spotted woodpecker, green sandpiper, greenfinch, jay, kingfisher, lapwing, lesser black backed gull, mallard, moorhen, mute swan, pied wagtail, snipe, starling and willow tit. The last of these, the willow tit, was a first for me; they seemed common enough here, but in other parts of the UK are quite a rarity.

A willow tit, with no visible weakness of intellect

[ABOVE} willow tit (Poecile montanus), almost indistinguishable from the marsh tit but the locale is a good indicator. [BELOW] a young bullfinch, who will in time develop a beautiful deep red chest but is still in his juvenile plumage. Both of these were shot in the feeder area.

Juvenile bullfinch

If the feeder hide was something of a feeding frenzy, down at the lake there was no shortage of activity either. One problem here was that so many waterfowl were in intermediary plumage, and my identification skills are still rather rudimentary. There were mallards of every shape and hue, and black headed gulls galore. One lesser black backed gull perched on a nearby rock while I could see a single common gull in the distance, perched on a green buoy. A single snipe was rooting around in the mud, in the company of moorhen and green and common sandpipers.

A lesser black backed gull

[ABOVE} lesser black backed gull [BELOW] snipe, a little fuzzy I’m afraid – it was heavily cropped due to the distance.

A snipe in his habitat

Verdict: a good day’s birding, at an exceptional site which I highly recommend for the non-specialist birder. On the downside, although there are onsite toilets there was no information office and no site maps available – the few signs around were limited in scope and offered little guidance. It’s probably a good idea to take your own food and drink too – what was on offer from the vans in the car park looked a little dodgy, and at very inflated prices.

www.eayrs.com

Martin Eayrs – occasional blog space

Category Archives: Birds and birding

Painamal the condor returns to the wild

Back in Buenos Aires

Rutland Water, August 2014

British Bird Fair 2014

Pennington Flash, August 2014