February 4th
A sad day for the park: the GREY HERON (héron cendré) which has been seen daily for the past couple of months has unfortunately died. Roland found the body this morning in a bush near the Mare Perchée.
January 31st
Grea
t weather today with clear skies and sunshine.
A skywatch with Laurent in the early afternoon was productive with the first STOCK DOVES (colombin) of the year flying high and eastwards.A lone CORMORANT flying high overhead was also a year tick.
Very unusually a 1st winter BLACK-HEADED GULL (rieuse) (here on the right) landed on site and spent a long time just standing about on the grass, oblivious to all the people, scooters and dogs passing closeby. ...
Good also to see 2 FIELDFARES (litorne) today - the first one flew in purposefully from the north, landed briefly atop a small tree to have a look around, and then took off with a chack and carried on southwards.
The best birds today, though, were 2 distant WHITE STORKS (cigogne blanche) which circled slowly to the east of the park behind the flats on rue Paul Doumer. They spent many minutes gaining height before seemingly shifting a gear and moving off on a straight and steady path away to the northeast.
January 30th
A REED BUNTING (bruant des roseaux) is still present at the Mare Perchée and a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER (pic épeichette) called once from the Savanna this morning. Otherwise, not a lot.
January 14th
Early morning at the Mare Perchée…no sign of the HERON there but a single REED BUNTING (bruant des roseaux) was in the reedbed and a mixed flock of thrushes, 7 FIELDFARES (litorne) and at least 9 REDWINGS (mauvis), was perched in the bare treetops at the Coffee Dome. However they didn’t stay long, all taking off together and flying away eastwards.
January 13th
Roland reported the HERON flying away from the park this afternoon. With the pond still frozen over it's probably still hungry, but alive and well at least...
January 10th
Rather disturbing news on the HERON front: Pierre was birding in the park this afternoon and saw it there on the ice again, allowing people to walk right up to it before flapping feebly away a short distance. Apparently it lacks the strength to fly up onto its usual perch (atop a nearby tree) where it stands aloof and watches the world go by.
Pierre noted a big flock of MAGPIES (pie) today – 48 of them in the woodland along the Sentier de la Renardière.
January 9th
The GREY HERON (héron cendré) was standing on the ice again this afternoon with a rather angry expression. Completely immobile for minutes on end it seemed for a moment that it might even have got itself stuck there…
Although a few HERRING (argenté) and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS (goéland brun) beat their way low overhead it was all generally a bit dead for birds today - just silence and snow.
January 8th
Pierre had another view of the WOODCOCK (bécasse des bois) this afternoon as it flew relatively high above the Northern Fields, heading down to the south of the park along its eastern edge. The GREY HERON (héron cendré) was again present at the Mare Perchée, standing obstinately on the ice.
January 7th
A very good afternoon for Pierre who braved the big freeze and flushed a WOODCOCK (bécasse des bois) from the Savanna. Although it’s probably the same bird that’s been seen a few times recently, word has it that there’s currently some kind of ‘invasion’ going on of birds fleeing an ice covered Poland, some of them even ending up on Parisien balconies…
Additional good news today in the shape of a CRESTED TIT (mésange huppé) in the Northern Fields – a rare bird here this a fine year tick indeed. A fair sized flock of REDWINGS (mauvis) continues to roam around the site - Pierre had 18 today, and there are still 2 MOORHENS (poule d’eau) tucked up in the reedbed at the Mare Perchée in spite of all the snow and ice.
January 2nd
A HAPPY NEW YEAR !! to any readers out there reading…best of birding luck for 2010 !
Highlight today was a lovely FIRECREST (roitelet triple bandeau) near the Coffee Dome and a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (goéland brun) circled overhead. Little troops of BLACK-HEADED GULLS (rieuse) continue to move northwestwards and Pierre had a small flock of 8 SISKINS (tarin) flying north and 14 REDWINGS (mauvis) on site, in and around the Savanna.