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GOS

Patching

Spent a lot of time close to home this weekend. Even walked around Cwmbran Boating Lake which is especially busy on the weekends which I generally try to avoid. Glad I visited though as I did record a Marsh Tit on arrival and had a great time watching early spring behaviour coming from the waterfowl / Great Spotted Woodpeckers that have already lined up a few nesting holes ready for spring. 

Last night I gave my second ever talk, this time at Gwent Ornithological Society' AGM meeting. Still not a massive fan of talking in front of people but it was received well with some very good questions at the end which proved they were listening lol. On a serious note, my talk was on Mimicry in birds, something that is a difficult topic to talk about considering how much mimicry happens day-to-day. 

Today also saw a small flock of Waxwing at Morrisons Carpark in Cwmbran! Finally starting to get some local sightings. They weren't showing very well though due to the activity there, they seemed a bit shy compared to the urban sightings I've had so far. 

WOS Annual Conference / Mimicking Birds

Last week I attended Welsh Ornithological Societies annual conference, at which I gave my first ever talk on mimicking birds. It was quite a nerve-racking thing for me but it was received well, despite having magor issues with the sound. I have since been asked to do the same talk at Gwent Ornithological Societies AGM in January so if you missed it, please come along. 

In my talk you'll learn more about how birds learn the sounds that they produce, why mimicking birds prefer certain sounds to others and also learn the different types of mimicry that help us work out why they use these techniques and how it influences their breeding success. Below is a slide from my presentation showing a birds unique filtering system. If you're interested, the GOS AGM is on the 21st of January. 

Filtering System

Gold-Firecrest

This year (2016) I've been lucky enough to be a part of a few Firecrest Surveys with Gwent Ornithological Society to establish how many breeding pairs are in Gwent. This location is pretty well protected but despite that, it still remains disclosed. As you can hear in the recording, it starts off with a Goldcrest which was the intended subject for the sound recording. The Goldcrest was then joined by a Firecrest which not only added a new location to the survey map, but actually gave me a great opportunity to directly compare the two-very similar species-side by side.

Firecrests are Schedule 1 birds, and should not be disturbed in any way shape or form, especially during the breeding season. This however was one of those special moments that I couldn't take back even if I wanted to.

Firecrests have a less rhythmic and melodic song, only very slightly change pitch from start to finish (monotone). They have no fancy flick at the end of their song either and can sometimes be hard to pick out simply because they fade in and out seamlessly from silence.

Goldcrests are bold, rhythmic, complex and quite often end with a fancy flick. This flick is not always present but when it is, it's a fast trill, easily missed, but a key feature none-the-less.