03/04/09
Vianne and area west to Lac de Clarens by bike
121) Greenshank 2 ________________________Chevalier aboyeur
122) Cuckoo _____________________________Coucou geai
123) Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (h)_________Pic épeichette
124) Crested Tit ________________________Mésange huppée
125) Bonelli’s Warbler ___________________Pouillot de Bonelli
126) Green Sandpiper _____________________Chevalier culblanc
127) Woodchat Shrike (probably...)________Pie-grièche à tête rousse
Misty, foggy day. First proper trip out into the area whilst down this time - 4 hours or so. Really emphasised the importance of hearing in bird identification - 5 of the 7 new birds recorded only picked up because I heard them, and even the other 2, call was a critical aid to the id. Quarter of a mile out of the village and walking up a steep hill alerted to the 2 waders flying above me, before the flew into the cloud NE. A dozen or more Cuckoos heard, made a bit of effort and saw one perched up through a gap in the woods. The LSW was heard only, drumming. Time was pressing, the woods were close to private houses, and I didn't want to walk the bike through the brambles, so carried on.
I should have made a turn off soon after I entered the conifer woods - just after I realised this and took a side turning to regain my route heard an unfamiliar call a little like a scratchy sounding blue tit - rewarded briefly after with first view of Crested Tit in a few years. Pressing on to the small lake/large pond in the woods I was aiming for, and came across another 2 in a young plantation with a few other passerines including a Chiffchaff. Approaching the lake itself was met with an unfamiliar warbler flycatching in the evergreen scrubby trees present. Bright white underparts, fairly plain face and bright yellowy green highlights on the wings - realised I was watching my first Bonelli's Warbler in France. Around the lake and came across another 5 - excellent, presumably a mini fall? Alerted to a Green Sandpiper which flew up from the lakeside, but few other birds about. 2 Hoopoe in the woods on the return were nice. Back up near the village of Mongaillard (again pushing the bike) I was startled by a bird flushed out from a hedge by the roadside - all I really saw was a black wing with a bright white patch in the middle and a startled call. Woodchat Shrike seemed to fit, and listening to the call on the mobile seemed to fit this species well too.... unless I can think of anything better later on.... only other bird really of note was a Short-toed Eagle circling around over a field edge quite close to - possibly one I had only seen once before about a week previously from the garden with a missing tail feather.
And 'huppé' possibly means crested in french....
