The sublime to the ....... sublime.

Still a bit jet-lagged I stumbled out for a look on the Ribble Estuary yesterday in the afternoon. It was only meant to be a ten minute jaunt, but you know how things change in birding .....
On arrival at Hesketh Out Marsh I was greeted by the usual "Not much about" from birders making their way back to the car.

HOM though is one of those sites where the rewards come with increased time and effort. Why go for ten minutes then? Good question: ten minutes soon turned to three hours as I walked out to the River Douglas watching this Merlin chasing a Lapwing. A first for me after many hours of watching this fierce little falcon on the estuary for many hours on the estuary. Its usual prey, the Skylarks were about with 56 in the stubble but it must've fancied something more substantial I suppose.

The fields were pretty lively with 179 Golden Plovers scattered among the 500 or so Lapwings and a Little Egret flying along the seawall. At least 55 Stock Doves in with the Woodpigeons but best of all there were 3 Corn Buntings in with 15 Linnets. There was just a bit of mud left uncoveredc by the tide when I reached the river and 4 Grey Plovers were on the Douglas with 20 Dunlins and 4 Bar-tailed Godwits. I made it back to the HOM viewpoint before dusk and could just make out some swans behind the hedges in the fields so a count of 97 Whooper Swans was a nice end to the day.

The weather couldn't have been more contrasting to the hot and dry Venezuelan conditions over the past couple of weeks. It's the dry season in Venezuela at the moment, the only trouble is the wet season virtually failed. With very little rain recently the reservoirs are low and power supply cuts are imminent out there.

We didn't experience any problems though (or any rain) and managed a trouble-free tour. Starting in the north-east we paid a quick visit to the desert of the Araya Peninsula en route to Vuelta Larga where I was able to capture this Black-dotted Piculet (a Venezuelan endemic) with some grubs in its beak. It probably had a nest nearby as it never wandered far from this area during the whole period of observation and was very territorial.

Russet-throated Puffbird, Vuelta Larga 8 February 2010.

Anyone who's travelled to the Neotropics with me will know of my fondness of puffbirds and jacamars. So seeing these two Russet-throated Puffbirds on our first full day in the field was a real treat. This is the double-banded, buff-throated form Hypnelus ruficollis bicinctus occuring in the north-east of Venezuela (the single-banded, russet-throated coloratus is present in the arid north-west).