Week 10: Skimmers to Auks

Day 39: Black skimmer - Rynchops niger

Just skimming the surface

The black skimmer is one of three skimmer species in their own family: the Rynchopidae. Skimmers are yet another fantastic example of the avian beak as a highly adapted tool. In this instance, the lower mandible extends much further than the upper. The skimmer flies low over water and drags the lower mandible along the surface before hooking up an unsuspecting fish. Of the skimmers, the black skimmer is unique in being the only bird with slitted pupils. The cat-like vertical slits are thought to minimise the amount of light reaching the eye from staring so constantly at the water's surface at close proximity.

The skimmers are one of the firm member families of the charadriiform suborder Lari. I say firm as ,whilst taxonomists can agree on the inclusion of five families, others, such as the coursers (Glareolidae) and Egyptian plover (Pluvianidae), have debated inclusion. The remaining families in this order will be represented over the coming days but for the skuas: large, brown sea birds known for their kleptoparasitic bullying of other birds.

Day 40: Lesser black-backed gull - Larus fuscus

One ring to rule them all

As gulls go, the lesser black-backed gull does not stand out ecologically or aethetically (all though I think the smartness of gulls is under-appreciated). Larus is a genus of large, white-headed gulls in the gull family Laridae (other gull genera tend to have dark heads). The reason that the lesser black-backed gull is so interesting is because of its evolutionary relationship with the familiar seaside herring gull (Larus argentatus)

To us in Britain these two gulls are easy to tell apart with the lesser black-backed gull being darker with the bright yellow legs and the herring gull being pale-backed and pink-legged (the latter has also probably stolen your lunch). However they are part of a ring complex of species. As one moves east over Europe to Siberia the lesser black-backed gulls grow slightly paler becoming the Heuglin's gull (Larus heuglini). Continue through to far-east Siberia and Heuglin's gull is replaced by the grey-backed, pink-legged Vega gull (Larus vegae). Cross into North America and, paler still, we have the American herring gull (Larus smithsonianus). Finally, across the Pond and back in Britain the European herring gull is the dominant Larus species. 

Thus, when moving east, the differences between populations are slight and all species can hybridise with neighbours but by the time the circuit is complete the sympatric herring and lesser black-backed gulls are so different as to be obviously separate species. Ring species complexes like this are a nightmare for taxonomists. However they are a brilliant, if rare, demonstration of the fuzziness of evolution and how gradual changes can accrue almost imperceptibly over space and/or time.

Day 41: Inca tern - Larosterna inca

Movember

The Inca tern is a beautiful tern from the coasts of Peru and Chile. The bright-white moustache of the Inca tern gives it a unique look among the terns but otherwise its ecology is representative of the tern family Sternidae. The terns are able fliers with very long, tapered wings and tails. Flight is very important to the terns for two main reasons. Firstly, terns spend a great deal of the time on the wing, using their keen eyes to spot fish before plunging from a height to seize their prey in their sharp beaks. Secondly, many terns are migratory with the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) travelling up to 91,000 km each year. Though I have not seen Inca terns in the wild they do form part of the unnatural bird community found in Living Coasts Zoo and Aquarium in Torquay, a fantastic attraction which gives close looks of many overlooked but fantastic coastal animals.

Day 42: Atlantic puffin - Fratercula arctica

Friar of the cliffs

Puffins! If you do not know what a puffin is then you live in a burrow (much like a puffin) and if you don't love puffins then you have a heart of stone. One of our most charismatic birds, the puffin is famous for its bright bill and pompous gait as it struts around the grassy knolls of rocky coastlines. The colourful beak that we know and love only looks like this during the breeding season when pairs return to land to breed. The bright colours are used to signal dominance whilst couples court by rattling their beaks together in 'billing' courtship displays. In winter the beak shrinks and becomes grey in colour as individuals live a largely solitary existence on the open ocean.

The word puffin derives from the Middle English 'poffin' which actually referred to the cured carcasses of Manx shearwaters (hence Puffinus puffinus) which were originally known as Manx puffins. The word later came to describe the puffins we know, perhaps because they nest in burrows as Manxies do. Otherwise they are very different, especially when it comes to locomotion. Whilst shearwaters can traverse huge distances with relative ease, puffins have very short wings which are well adapted for swimming but terrible for flight. Their swimming ability meant that puffins were thought to be part fish, part bird, a loop-hole which allowed Catholics to eat them on Fridays and during Lent!

The Atlantic puffin shares the genus with two other puffin species whose name Fratercula refers to their resemblance to little friars. The puffins are part of the auk family (Alcidae), a relatively small group of piscivorous sea birds. Cliffs in the UK can be populated with thousands of auks and other seabirds which form classist tower-blocks. Guillemots (Uria aalge) occupy the majority of the cliff face with the chunkier razorbills (Alca torda) cramming in above. The kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), small, gentile gulls, take the steepest part of the cliffs whilst shags (Phalacrocorax aristotilis) live nearest the waves. Above them all, the puffins share the cliff tops with tube-nosed fulmars (Fulmaris glacialis) and nocturnal Manxies. These seabird stacks show vertical niche stratification both on the cliffs and under the water where their diving abilities determine what prey different species can access. Of all the seabirds, auks have forsaken their flying ability in favour of increased diving ability with Uria guillemots reaching down to 100 m. Of these so-called 'northern penguins', one auk went so far as to lose flight altogether but this, as with many flightless birds, would be its downfall. The great auk (Pinguinus impennis) was hunted to extinction in the mid 19th century.

Week 9: Plovers to Pratincoles

Day 35: Wrybill – Anarhynchus frontalis

Right-beak politics

If you look closely at the photo of the wrybill below you may notice something awry. The wrybill is the only bird species whose beak bends sideways and always to the right! Asymmetry is relatively rare in animals. Most animals develop with bilateral symmetry with cues along an anterior-posterior axis determining body part placement. Additonal signals are needed to override this symmetry and of there must be an selection pressure favouring such abnormality. Obvious asymmetries in nature include the massive claws of fiddler crabs and the spiral shells of snails (there is even asymmetrical snake that eats asymmetrical snails!). Within the birds the crossbills are notable for the mandibles which cross over, enabling them to tweeze apart pine cones.

The wrybill is a New Zealand member of the Charadriidae, the family that includes lapwings and plovers and like many plovers it prefers stony coastal areas where it uses its dextral beak to probe under rocks. The wrybill rears its camouflaged eggs among the pebbles and uses deceptive behaviour to protect them, feigning distress to lure gullible predators away from its nest. This is a strategy seen in other species such as the killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) which holds one wing as if broken to entice predators.

Day 36: African jacana – Actophilornis africanus

These feet are made for walking

The most noticeable attribute of a jacana is its feet. The jacanas are eight species of ‘aberrant’ waders that have specialised to traverse leafy waterways. As with the coots, the jacanas use their huge feet to spread their weight allowing them to walk on precarious surfaces such as water hyacinths and water lilies whilst it picks invertebrates from the foliage. This ability to (almost) walk on water also gives them the name Jesus bird. The floating mats are their full-time home to the extent that the even build their nests on the vegetation, laying eggs camouflaged to resemble water weed.

Also like coots they have bright fontal-shields which are presumably used in sexual selection given their striking colouration. Jacanas are rather unusual in that the smaller males are responsible for incubating the eggs allowing the females of some species to be polyandrous. Reproductive ecology of this type is rare in the vertebrates. For the most part, females are the limiting sex because they invest more in their offspring and so males must compete for mating opportunities. In birds, some of the investment burden is shifted away from female internal development meaning males must play a larger role in parental care to ensure reproductive success. This predicts the large amount of monogamy and biparental care in the class.

Why a few shore birds including jacanas and phalaropes should shift to male care is relatively unknown. In fish, such as stickleback and seahorses, males care for the eggs fry essentially because the female has time to escape whilst the male fertilises so he is left with the task of their rearing. This is not obviously the case for jacanas so the reasoning is probably an idiosyncratic occurrence in their breeding biology which does not occur in other birds. One suggestion is that extremely high egg predation (due to being a floating buffet and all) means that females should spread their investment around rather than put all their eggs in one basket (couldn't resist). With eggs being more evenly distributed around males, females must now compete to put their eggs in the males' respective baskets (as it very much were).

Day 37: Long-billed curlew – Numenius americanus

Length matters

I was hoping that the long-billed curlew would hold some beak-related record. Unfortunately it has neither the longest beak (Australian pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus) nor the longest beak to body ratio (sword-billed hummingbird, Ensifera ensifera). Having said this it is still a very impressive implement! Like the Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquatus) the long-billed curlew is able to use it beak to probe deep into the sediment of salt marshes and mudflats capturing bivalve molluscs and annelid worms.

Visiting these habitats in winter is (personally) one of the most brilliant wildlife spectacles because there are so many wader (and other) species milling around, doing what they do best. Curlews, with the rest of the snipe family (Scolapacidae), provide a much-cited example of niche differentiation. The sediment of the marshes and mudflats hold a bonanza of food, various invertebrates distributed through the sediment column. Different species have adapted to access different levels and thus different prey sources. We have seen that curlews can probe the deepest; next comes the godwits (Limosa spp) with their long, straight bills, then the Tringa sandpipers such as the redshank and greenshank. At the smaller end of the spectrum are the Calidris sandpipers ranging in size from knots to stints. Additionally there are more unusually specialised birds such as the avocet and waders occupying slightly different habitats such as the beach-loving sanderling (Calidris alba), the rock-braving purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) and the pier-friendly turnstone (Arenaria interpes).

Day 38: Collared pratincole – Glareola pratincola

One pratincole does not make a summer

I once casually asked my friend to identify the birds on her top. She said they were swallow but I knew them to be pratincoles (yes, I am an insufferable know-it-all). Her mistake was an easy one to make because of the striking convergent evolution. Swallows (Hirundinidae) are aerial insectivores which use their slender and aerodynamic wings to snatch flying insects from the air. Well, it turns out that pratincoles do too! I did not know this for sure before looking into it and I began to second-guess myself when my friend and ornithological maestro questioned my statement of ecological convergence. Well it seems that, as I predicted,  the apparent similarities are not mere coincidence. Like swallows, pratincoles (Glareola) have long tapered wings and forked tails which enable them to manoeuvre through the air and grab insects with their short beaks and wide gapes. The collared pratincole is the only species to breed mainly in Europe so may be the most familiar. It is a bird of open country which gives it its name pratincole from the Latin pratum incola which means meadow resident.

The pratincoles share the family Glareolidae with the coursers (Cursorius & Rhinoptilus), shore birds much more at home running around then flying. This is the last family of ‘wader’ that we encounter before we move onto the charadriiform suborder Lari: the gulls, terns and auks.

Week 8: Crakes to Lapwings

Day 31: Inaccessible Island rail - Atlantisia rogersi

Lonely island

Inaccessible Island is a small, extinct volcano jutting out of the South Atlantic in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. The island was named for the failure of explorers to penetrate the land beyond the beach. The remoteness and size of the island have precluded the colonisation of terrestrial mammals, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies. However, millions of seabirds breed on the island in addition to the Tristan thrush (Turdus eremita) and the endemic Inaccessible Island finch (Nesospiza acunhae) and rail.

The Inaccessbile Island rail holds the record for the smallest extant flightless bird with a length of 17 cm and weighing just 30 g. This title is partly a result of luck as Inaccessible Island has never been colonised by rats or cats, invasive aliens responsible for the extinction of many flightless island birds such as the Stephens Island wren in New Zealand and countless crake and rail species. I am glad that this species has survived not only because because too many relatives have been lost because of man but also as it is a very cute little fluffball.

Day 32: Giant coot - Fulica gigantea

Cootzilla

I had not realised that there was a coot species of this size. Weighing up to 2.3 kg, the giant coot dwarfs the rest of the genus with the familiar Eurasian coot (Fulica atra) weighing between 585 g and 1,100 g. It is also the second largest of the Rallidae after the New Zealand Takahe. The giant coot is considered functionally flightless in adulthood so it is apparently yet another rallid on the trajectory to true flightlessness. 

The giant coot lives on the Altiplano, a large plateau in the Andes. There it inhabits the high altitude lakes, feeding on aquatic vegetation. It shares two prominent features with other coots. Firstly its huge feet are fringed with flaps of skin. This spreads the weight of the bird allowing them to walk on not-so-solid substrates such as mud where other birds might sink. The second feature is the frontal shield, a fleshy plate on the forehead which provides protection during foraging and fighting and indicates the health of the bird through bright colours in a manner similar to the sexual selection we have encountered before.

Day 33: Bush stone-curlew - Burhinus grallarius

Are you looking at me?!

This fantastic bird is one of the ten stone-curlews or thick-knees (Burhinidae) found in dry regions around the world. Stone-curlews stand out for me because of their slightly creepy appearance with their huge yellow eyes staring out from their petrified bodies. 

I saw numerous bush stone-curlews on my travels in Queensland and this is the only occasion thus far when my own photo is good enough to use (ignore the speed-bump)! I was first made aware of them from eerie, nocturnal wailing in the suburbs of Cairns. A few days later, a trip to James Cook University introduced me to a group that lurked in the empty car park, staring down passers-by like criminal youths. Perhaps the most surreal encounters of all came at the end of my travels. By this point my birding hat was mostly removed whilst I enjoyed some of the more touristy aspects of Queensland so I was surprised indeed to see the stone-curlews appear out of the night to dart around the streets and bars of Cairns.

As well as the bush stone-curlew I also saw a couple of beach stone-curlews (Esacus magnirostris). This species is probably as close as stone-curlews get to behaving like conventional waders which form the bulk of the Charadriiformes ('plover-shap'), conventionally known as the shore-birds. This is a large and diverse order of birds which, by-and-large, are associated with the water's edge. The Charadriiformes can be split into six suborders: the small, terrestrial buttonquails (Turnici), the strange stone-curlews and sheathbills (Chionidi), the lapwings and plovers (Charadrii), the sandpipers and snipe (Scolopaci), the aberrant waders (Thinocori) and the gulls and their allies (Lari).  

Day 34: Pied avocet - Recurvirostra avosetta

For birds, for people, forever

The avocet is famous in this country as the symbol of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the largest wildlife conservation organisation in Europe. With over a million members and 200 nature reserves in the UK the RSPB has been pivotal for wildlife (not just bird) conservation and awareness raising among the British public. Certainly it has been important for me, managing many of my favourite nature reserves and introducing me to some brilliant birds. I have quoted their older motto above 'For birds, for people, forever' as it is always the one I remember and the one that really emphasises their purpose.

The RSPB began as a protest group in 1889, founded by Emily Williamson to campaign against the use of kittiwake and great crested grebe feathers for clothing. The Plumage League (as it was called) soon merged with the Fur and Feather League to become the RSPB. This organisation began to gain popularity, at first with female fashion protesters and then with men before earning its Royal Charter in 1904. Since then it has grown from strength to strength buying land, increasing conservation and influencing the law to protect our British birds.

The avocet symbolises the work of the RSPB after the successful project to see breeding avocets return to the east coast of Britain. RSPB Minsmere was a reserve established in 1947 around the anti-invasion, coastal flooding of Suffolk which created its famous reedbeds. The avocets came soon after and now Minsmere is one of the RSPB's flagship reserves. The avocet was approved as the emblem for the RSPB tie in 1955 and then in 1970 this fantastic bird came to grace the main logo.

The pied avocet is one of four avocet species noted for their long, up-turned bills (recurv-i-rostra). They use their bills to sift though the water in sweeping motions that catch marine invertebrates. They are closely related to the long-legged stilts (Himantopus) and the ubiquitous oystercatchers (Haematopus) in the plover suborder Charadrii.

Week 7: Buzzards to Rails (with 2 bonus birds!)

Day 25: Galapagos hawk – Buteo galapagoensis

Iguanas, be afraid

The Galapagos hawk is one of the many species endemic to that famous archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Like some other Galapagos species, the hawk varies in size across the islands with males weighing 844g on Marchena Island but a much larger 1,137g on Española Island. This may reflect the resource availability of the different islands. The hawk has a variety of food sources, making use of the unusual fauna of the islands. Prey includes rodents, lizards and snakes with the bonus of turtle hatchlings. In addition they can take larger prey such as the marine iguana.

As with the penguins, humans were an unknown entity when they arrived in the Galapagos islands and so the Galapagos hawks had not evolved a fear of man. Charles Darwin observed that ‘a gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk out of the branch of a tree’. This high human tolerance has no doubt hindered the species resulting in low population levels, a result shared by many Galapagos species.

The Galapagos hawk is one of many Buteo species which are generally called buzzards in the Old World and hawks in the New World. As raptors go, buzzards are very average. I do not mean that in the pejorative sense more that their traits are intermediate of other raptors being medium sized and with unremarkable flying or hunting ability. That being said, their generalism allows them to pervade habitats around the world (including the remote Galapagos Islands) as there are always small critters to be eaten!

Day 26: Greater spotted eagle – Aquila chrysaetos

Monarch of the glen

The golden eagle is easily one of the most well-known birds of prey. It is a huge predator which uses its large talons to seize hares and marmots from the crags. To sustain themselves and their chicks, pairs require large territories up to 200km² in size. Historically the golden eagle had a Holarctic distribution however their presence is now patchier due to the persecution of framers and land-owners who fear the predation of their livestock. Despite this there have been positive aspects to their relationship with humans with golden eagles being a prized bird in falconry.

In many ways the genus Aquila is like the big brother of Buteo as they are a fairly widespread genus with many species occupying similar niches around the world. The obvious difference is the size with the golden eagle weighing over three times as much as the common buzzard (Buteo buteo) . Eagle as a term is a catch-all for large raptors that actively hunt (as opposed to scavenging vultures). Closer examination reveals that some eagles are relatively unrelated to others. 

The golden eagle and the genus Aquila could be called the ‘true eagles’ and they are one of the largest genera. Another large genus is the sea eagles Haliaeetus who, as the name suggests, have a more aquatic ecology feeding predominantly on fish. They include the native white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus ), the colossal Steller’s sea eagle (Haliaeetus stelleri) and the symbolic, American bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Other large eagles such as the harpy (Harpia harpyja) and Philippine eagle (Pithecophagus philippinensis) occupy their own unrelated genera. Many of these eagle genera have convergent evolved their size making the group polyphyletic.

Day 27: Black-thighed falconet – Microhierax frigillarius

Small but deadly

The black-thighed falconet is the smallest of the Falconiformes and it is so cute! This sparrow sized hunter fits easily in the palm of my hand; in fact the name fringillarius refers to the fact that it is the same size as a Fringilla finch. But what does it eat? Well like its European relative the hobby (Falco subbuteo) falconets hawk flying insects from the air in a scaled-down re-enactment of the peregrine-pigeon chases to which we’re are more accustomed. This is no small feat as the falconet must match the speed and agility of the dragonflies which it chases through the Bornean forests.

The five Microhierax species are dwarfed in size and number of species by the genus Falco which, as it sounds, are the falcons we know and love. Falcons are adapted for aerial pursuit of volant prey (predominantly birds). The fact that few animals are able to catch birds on the wing means that when early falcons evolved this ability they hit upon a jackpot of untapped potential. As such they have diversified across the planet. As already stated, falcons don’t just eat birds with many eating large insects and the kestrels hovering over small mammals. One species, the bat falcon (Falco rufigularis), has even specialised to catch bats as they swarm around their caves in Mexico.

Together these genera comprise the Falconidae who are joined by the unusual South American, scavenging caracaras in the order Falconiformes. As explained previously, this order used to contain all birds of prey but now falcons are thought to be more closely related to parrots. Maybe looking at their beak shape it’s actually not as surprising as it was!

Day 28: Sub-desert mesite ­– Monias benschi

Madagascan oddity

After leaving one great order and before joining another there are often a collection of misfits, taxonomic curios who have evolved sometimes unusual ecologies and are traditionally very difficult to place taxonomically. The sub-desert mesite is such an example being one of three Madagascan mesite species in their own order (Mesitornithiformes). This bird looks more like a passerine such as a South American woodcreeper and it does share many passerine traits and behaviours which it has convergent evolved including the long, curved beak which it uses to pick at invertebrates and seeds.

Being Madagascan it is perhaps not surprising that this small group should be considered unusual. Madagascar split from its most recent neighbour India 88 million years ago taking with it a collection of species which would evolve into unique ferns, lemurs and elephant birds. Since then, the occasional raft had brought species across from the African continent which then began their own island radiations. It is also therefore not surprising that mesites resemble other distantly related taxa as Madagascar is full of its own convergently evolved species such as the hedgehog-like tenrecs and the feliform fossa.

Although between the Accipitriformes and and Gruiformes on our list, the most recent phylogeny places the Mesitornithiformes closer to pigeons. The other difficult-to-place species that I encountered this week include the lanky seriemas (Cariamidae) the beautiful sunbittern (Eurypygia helias) and the unusual kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus).

Day 29: Black-breasted bustard – Lissotis melanogaster

Infrequent fliers

Bustards (Otididae) are a group of large omnivorous birds that inhabit the open plains of the Old World. Like many Galliformes, male bustards are adorned with ornamental feathers. The black-bellied bustard has a striking black strip running from its neck to its tail which is contrasted with the cryptic plumage of its back. The camouflage is necessary as bustards, being reluctant fliers, are at risk of predation. They are some of the heaviest flying birds including the record-holding great bustard (Otis tarda) which bred in the UK for the first time in 170 years. Placing the bustards has been tricky with regular inclusion in the Gruiformes but the most recent taxonomy actually places them next to cuckoos in their own order Otidiformes.

Day 30: Red-necked crake – Rallina tricolor

Heard but not seen

The red-necked crake is representative of the rails and crakes (Rallidae) being a small and reclusive bird given to skulking around the undergrowth in search of food. This particular species is one which eluded me for a long time in the rainforests of Queensland. On our daily sampling regime there was one particular site which seemed to host a red-necked crake. I was made aware of this when my friend and colleague spotted it stepping silently through the leaf letter. But before I knew it, it had disappeared back into the undergrowth. I was frustrated to have missed it as I am always eager to see new birds. This frustration was increased when the same event played out again a week or so later in the same site. As the end of sampling approached I was determined to see this elusive bird but was a something to chance. But as chance would have it, eventually I did see a red-necked crake cross the forest path. Safe to say I was very pleased!

Incidentally, from listening to calls of a red-necked crake on my phone I realised that a dawn call that I heard around the hostel was actually the same species. This unusual whooping song has puzzled me for weeks and I had tried to use my app to work it out but I had not thought to look in the Rallidae. Thus, this enigmatic bird had been eluding me on two fronts until I finally saw it! Those accustomed to our own British water rails may be familiar with the ease of hearing their pig-like squeals versus the difficulty in actually laying eyes on them.

The Rallidae are a large family in the order Gruiformes. As well as the reclusive rails and crakes the Rallidae also includes the more obvious coots and moorhens, regulars of any waterway. The Gruiformes are named for their most apparent species: the cranes (Gruidae). Alas these birds are too large to be measured presently so their story must wait.

Week 6: Gannets to Sparrowhawks

Day 21: Blue-footed booby – Sula nebouxii

You know what they say about blue feet

The obvious thing about a blue-footed booby is, of course, its feet. Whilst the rest of the bird is relatively simple and dour, those cerulean feet are bright and eye-catching. I have previously discussed why male birds adopt bright and distinctive ornaments to prove their health and worth in the pursuit of female. Yet, in the case of this booby, both sexes have these flashy ornaments. Well, the argument follows that an individual should compete for a mate when that mate is the limiting factor, i.e. when the mate invests a lot of energy in offspring so cannot reproduce as often. For boobies, and a few other species, just as males compete for females, so females compete for males because the males too invest a lot in the offspring. Essentially this is mutual sexual selection and it is responsible for many of the ornaments found in monomorphic species. Pairs of blue-footed boobies engage in foot-waving dances where both sexes show off their bright, blue feet as an indicator of health and well-being. 

The blue footed booby is a member of the Sulidae which also includes gannets (Morus spp.). I had thought that boobies and gannets were very similar but for their colours and distribution but measuring the family members revealed gannets to be far larger. Gannets are famous for packing on to rocky islands where they compete in huge colonies for space and food. I have seen a gannet colony from afar, both off the coast of Pembrokeshire and adjacent to the Channel Island Alderney. What I didn’t realise was that any gannets I have seen cruising up and down the southwest coast are actually members of one of those two colonies on far-reaching foraging trips. Their ability to traverse huge distances in the search of food makes them robust to local fish depletion. Gannets are famous for their ability to plunge into the water from a great height to grab unsuspecting fish from their shoals. This ability has produced a skull built to absorb shock and internal nostrils to prevent a nose full of sea water. 

Day 22: European shag – Phalacrocorax aristotelis 

Crest the wave Together, shags and cormorants comprise the Phalacrocoracidae. Comorants are a staple of any rocky coastal community where they are often seen perched on the rocks closest to the water. In Britain we have two Phalacrocorax species, the European shag and the cormorant (P. carbo). One might ask what the difference is (and one might get a witty response) but actually it’s a useful question because the two species are not worlds apart. There are clear aesthetic differences with shags being much smaller. Shags are black to metallic green all over except for their bright yellow gapes whilst cormorants tend to be browner with a white cheek patch. The shag is notable for its crest, a great quiff protruding above the. However these visual differences are not the interesting answer. The intriguing question is how two similar species can co-exist. 

The theory goes that two very similar species which share the same home (are sympatric) cannot coexist indefinitely. Either one (the superior competitor) out-competes the other or the species change so that their niches do not overlap as much. The fact that two species of a similar nature do coexist on some shores means that their niches are not (entirely) the same. In the case of shags and cormorants, any birder will know that shags are most often found on rocky shores whereas cormorants are found more in bays, lagoons, estuaries, rivers and inland water. This niche differentiation allows them to occupy habitats in different places however they do overlap in some coastal areas. In this case it is the foraging strategy that differs as shags tend to dive deeper for but for pelagic fish in the water column whereas cormorants dive in shallow waters taking fish from the seabed.. Thus both species exploit different resources and so do not encroach on each other’s niche. We leave the 

Pelecaniformes now, passing the unusual darters (Anhinga), cormorant like birds with serpentine necks. You will have notice and absence of pelicans on the list. All pelicans are in the museums large collection so they will wait for another day. 

Day 23: Lappet-faced vulture – Torgos tracheliotus 

Top of the pecking order

 The lappet-faced vulture is one of a dozen scavenging raptors (Aegypinae) famed for their unsavoury reputation for devouring carcasses. Though perhaps not beautiful to behold they are very impressive birds. This species is one of the largest with a colossal wingspan of up to 2.9 m. To see this flying must be like watching two barn doors flying through the air. I have only seen Old World vultures once, two griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) gliding through the Pyrenees. These birds were huge and awe-inspring yet smaller in comparison to the lappet-face. On the plains of Africa, smaller vulture species such as white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) spot dead wildebeest and zebra from miles away and crowd towards the food source all around. 

However once these vultures touch-down next to the carcass they must wait their turn. First the animals’ killer must take its fill. Once the lion or jaguar has departed, scavenging hyaena and jackals move in to fight over the flesh. All the while the white-backs watch on, trying now and then to dart in and seize a scrap. Yet even when the mammals have departed, the white-backs must still wait for it is the turn of the lappet-faces. Though there are few of them in comparison to the white-backs they are far larger and see-off any infringement from the smaller species. However the larger species does provide a service for the smaller, tearing up the toughest bits of the carcass. In the vulture world, lapped-faces are top dog and will not be moved by the lesser species surrounding them. 

Today we began to measure the Accipitriformes (‘sparrowhawk-shape’), a large group of raptorial birds. Traditionally this group has undergone a lot of taxonomic changes due to the evolution of ‘birds of prey’. Firstly it was realised long ago that owls were separate from other birds of prey in their own order, the Strigiformes. The canonical raptors where then housed in the Falconiformes which included vultures, eagles, hawks and falcons. Since the 1980s genetic studies have started to turn up unusual results regarding the group. The New World Vultures were placed in their own family, the Cathartidae, and these were believed by some to be unrelated to other raptors and often placed with storks! The second change was that falcons now seemed to be unrelated, closer kin to parrots! The recently resolved taxonomy has removed some of the ambiguity. The Cathartidae are indeed a separate family from other raptors but they share a common, raptorial ancestor however the falcons are separate and distantly related keeping their order name and leaving the rest of the raptors now named for the genus Accipiter. 

 The Accipitriformes are thus composed of the New World vultures, the secretary bird (Sagitariidae), the ospreys (Pandionidae) and the true raptors (Aquilidae). Most raptors are included in that last family which is split into many subfamilies: elanid kites (Elaninae), honey buzzards (Perninae) true kites (Milvinae), Old World vultures (Aegypinae), sea eagles (Haliaetinae), harriers (Circinae), sparrowhawks/goshawks (Accipitrinae), snake-eagles (Circaetinae), buzzards/true hawks (Buteoninae), true eagles (Aquiilinae) and harpy eagles (Harpiinae). I apologise for the list but I wanted the reader to appreciate the stunning diversity of the raptors and this can act as a reference point for future discussion. 

Day 24: Little sparrowhawk – Accipiter minullus 

Underestimate at your own risk

From one of the largest to the smallest and from the ridiculous to the sublime we reach this tiny bird of prey. My obsession for the superlative meant that I chose the little as my focal species. I like looking at the extremes in a group because by looking at them you get an idea of every possibility in between. Additionally you catch yourself exclaiming ‘it’s so cute!’ or ‘it’s so huge!’. It was an interesting day as in the morning I measured the largest of the Accipitridae: the cinereaous vulture weighing up to 11.5 kg and with a wingspan of up to 3.1 m. By comparison, I finished the day with the smallest species, the little sparrowhawk which weighs 85 g and has a wingspan of as little as 39 cm! The vulture thus weighs 135 times more and its wingpan is eight times greater. To the vulture, the sparrowhawk would seem a tiny irritating fly! 

It is at this point that we acknowledge that size isn't everything especially when considering the foraging strategy of the vultures compared to sparrowhawks. Both Old World Vultures and the unrelated New World vultures include the largest raptors on earth and yet their diet is largely carrion based. If vultures ever do catch live prey it is generally small in comparison. Behind the vultures in size are eagles from a few genera including Steller’s sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), martial eagle (Ploemaetus bellicosus), wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax), harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) and Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). Together these apex predators can seize anything from large fish to howler monkeys. 

I highlight the capabilities of large accipitrids to then make the case for the sparrowhawks. Sparrowhawks are famed for their ability to catch relatively large prey. Often garden reports provide photos of sparrowhawks wrestling with woodpigeons or magpies, birds which weigh at least 50% more, if not 3 times as much! That would be like a sea eagle taking a large swan or something even heavier. So you have to give it to these little balls of fury that they know how to hunt!

Week 5: Shearwaters to Herons

Day 17: Manx shearwater - Puffinus puffinus

An old friend

Manx shearwaters are fantastic and I would know because I had the joy of working with them for my undergraduate project. 

In August 2012 I found myself on a small boat departing from mainland Pembrokeshire, destined for the island of Skomer. Skomer, along with neighbouring Skokholm, is home to thousands of seabirds including guillemots, razorbills and puffins. But it is especially important for its huge population of Manx shearwaters. These medium sized tube-noses breed in burrows on a few rocky islands in the British Isles and the North Atlantic. Pairs return from South America every spring to renew their bonds and rear a single chick. Like other procellariiforms, Manxies are superb fliers and as such are not the best on land, as I witnessed first hand. The adults only come to ground under the cover of darkness to avoid beady-eyed gulls who might have them for breakfast.

I went to Skomer at the end of the Summer to coincide with the emergence and fledging of Manxie chicks. Parent shearwaters are so eager to migrate that they depart before the chick is ready and after ten days of weight loss and feeling sorry for themselves, the chicks emerge from their burrows in the dark and begin to stretch their wings. They then fledge after around four days of physical and mental preparation. I was continuing work which involved weighing thousands of fledglings to see if there have been any long-term changes in fledging weight. I confirmed that fledglings of the 2010's were lighter than those of the 1960's and this could have important consequences for their survival.

Manxies were a joy to work with. My assistant and I would roam the islands paths at night, scooping up any chick we came across and weighing them in a plastic cone, The birds showed little fear of humans and could do little to avoid being picked up. It was amusing for us to watch the fledglings ascend rocky outcrops, squabbling as they went, to maximise their fledging chances but despite this they often crashed back to ground or even into us!

It was definitely a formative time in my life, confirming my desire to work in avian ecology. It was also valuable for the things I got to see and do such as caving to find seal pups. Finally I met some really great people that provided me with birding tips, good conversation and plenty of laughs. Manxies now have a place in my heart so that when I now see them shearing past our boat on the south coast I think fondly of my time and imagine that I may even have met one of those birds before.

Day 18: Slavonian grebe - Podiceps auritus

Loch Ness Devil

The Slavonian grebe is a member of the grebe family (Podicipedidae) and order (Podicipediformes). The grebes have much in common with the divers. They are a small order of 22 species across 6 genera ranging from the small-goose-sized great grebe (Podiceps major) to the thrush-sized least grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus). Like the divers, grebes are excellent swimmers using large, lobed feet to chase fish. They are cumbersome on land and fly little yet many species to migrate between southern coastal waters in winter and inland lakes and lochs in the summer. During the breeding season, both sexes sport impressive plumage and the Slavonian grebe is no exception with its golden horns set against thick, black tufts. With its piercing red eyes, the Slavonian grebe earned folk names such as devil-diver, hell-diver and water witch.

Taxonomically, grebes have been difficult to play, traditionally being grouped with the divers on account of their suite of shared characteristics. We now know that these traits were convergently evolved and the grebes are actually sisters of the flamingos within the clade Mirandornithes. Its hard to think of the similarities between these two groups other than their aquatic lifestyle!

The Mirandornithes themselves difficult to position on the bird tree. Taxonomic upheaval resulted this week from a paper in Science describing the relationships of the bird orders from whole-genome phylogenies. In theory this gives us the best estimation of these relationships and analysing whole genomes captures most of the evolutionary change of a species. Many historical relationships were challenged and  with few remaining. Some recently proposed groupings were validated, others thrown out. The grebe-flamingo sistership was supported, the group being named Phoenicopterimorphae. The new phylogeny places the group within the Columbea, which includes pigeons and soundgrouse. In terms of our ordering to date, in light of this new taxonomy, after the Anseriformes we should have moved straight to the grebes and then after the flamingos moved to the pigeons. The divers , tube-noses and penguins would have come later.

Day 19: James' flamingo - Phoenicopterus jamesi

Anyone for croquet?

James' flamingo is typical typical flamingo, tall, elegant and shockingly pink! James' flamingo lives alongside (sympatrically) in the same colonies dotted across the lakes of the Andes. It is one of four New World species in the genus Phoenicopterus (family: Phoenicpteridae; order: Phoenicopteriformes) with another two in the Old World. The pink plumage of flamingos comes from beta carotene, a pigment found in many aquatic algal species which the birds filter from the water using their unusually shaped beaks. A healthy flamingo with a good diet has brighter plumage which is judged when finding a mate.

Flamingos live in huge colonies on lakes around the world. The numbers fascilitate predator swamping whereby the chance of a given individual being attacked by a predator is minimised. Additionally, the patchy distribution of lakes means that flamingos muct cluster together but once on a suitable lake, the superabundance of food can sustain large numbers. The water is often hyper-saline meaning few species are sufficiently adapted to exploit it.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice plays a game of croquet with the Queen of hearts. This event was illustrated in the Disney film where some unsurprisingly flustered flamingos are straightened into long mallets before being swung at hedgehog balls. As a croquet fanatic I am deeply distressed to see the Queen swing the mallets like golf clubs. Clearly the timid King of Hearts did not have the courage to instruct her properly!

Day 20: Little bittern - Ixobrychus minutus

Pint-sized heron

The little bittern is one of the smallest species of heron (Ardeidae) within a genus of miniatures including similarly diminutive dwarf bittern and least bittern. I really enjoyed measuring these birds because they had the same proportions as other herons only scaled down. I imagined one perching on the side of a fish bowl and decided they would make adorable pets.Like other herons, the little bittern has a very long neck relative to its body which it uses to strike at fish and other aquatic prey. For its size, this species occupies a wide range including Europe, Asia and Africa. The rest of the genus cover every continent apart from Antarctica.

The Ardeidae are a group of 63 water birds including herons, egrets and bitters. The Goliath heron is the largest standing at five foot. They share a very similar morphology and ecology with specialisms in size and habitat. They are always a charismatic bird to see and with such an extensive coverage, I can be sure that wherever I am in the world I will never be far from a heron. An old name for herons is shitepokes, apparently for their habit of defecating when flushed.

The Ardeidae are the first family discussed of the Pelecaniformes which also includes the ibises, frigate birds, cormorants, gannets and, of course, pelicans. The new taxonomy places the Pelecaniformes as sister to the Procelariimorphae (penguins and tube-noses).

Week 4: Sea Ducks to Albatrosses

Day 13: Harlequin duck - Histrionicus histrionicus

Commedia dell'arte

The harlequin duck was a stand-out choice for the sea ducks because of its truly splendid plumage. The colours are striking and the pattern distinguished yet it does not have the gaudy accoutrements of other species. The harlequin duck gets its name from the bright, chequered Harlequins of Commedia dell’arte (a sort of early, Italian pantomime). Despite already having a very apt name, it also has a suite of alternative monikers including painted duck, totem pole duck, squeaker and, my personal favourite, blue streak, a description perhaps based on tantalising viewings in the wild.

The sea ducks (Merginae) are a very interesting group of ducks and perhaps the most diverse in shape and sizes. It includes the goldeneye, beautiful, large-headed birds with piercing bright eyes; the eiders, fantastically ornamented ducks, famed for their soft down; scoters, dark sea ducks which form large ocean rafts in winter; and saw-billed ducks, adept at catching fish in their serrated bills. The sea ducks are proficient at catching food below the surface of lagoons and bays and use their large feed to propel them through the water. This can make them very difficult to keep track of as a birder! As with the other ducks, sexes are dissimilar with males often sporting bright or unusual plumage such as the tail feathers of a long-tailed duck or the fleshy bill of a king eider.

This is the last anseriform that I discuss and unfortunately I must bypass the stiff-tailed ducks (Oxyurinae) including the charismatic ruddy duck which now threatens the congeneric white-headed duck via hybridisation. However we will remain on the sea for now.

Day 14: Adélie penguin - Pygoscelis adeliae

Monte the penguin

This is a bird worth talking about on so many levels. Adélies are obviously penguins, one of around 20 species in the penguin order Sphenisciformes. Penguins are very special within the birds having completely abandoned flight in favour of water. We have met birds already, such as ducks and divers, that have moved along the spectrum from air to water. Giving up flight is necessary for this lifestyle because water is a very different fluid from air, requiring different shapes and bone densities. Penguins differ from other aquatic species in their use of their flipper-like wings for propulsion. Since the extinction of the dinosaurs, penguins have specialised in hydrodynamic ‘flight’ through the water in pursuit of fish prey and for this, they cannot take to the air again.

It may come as a surprise that, of the 19 penguin species, the Adélie is one of only four species that live and breed on the Antarctic mainland. Most of the other species inhabit the rocky islands of the Southern Ocean with a few on mainland New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and South America and one species as far north as the Galapagos Islands straddling the Equator. Millions of Adélies cluster into colonies called rookeries around Antarctica in summer to rear clutches of two eggs into tiny chicks.

The behaviour of Adelies was first documented during Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. Tentative groups of penguins were observed to wait on a precipice of ice for the bravest individuals to dive into the sea. Their reverence for potential enemies lurking in the water (such as leopard seals) was not matched by their behaviour towards the dogs and men of the expedition. With no knowledge of the snarling canines they could approach with no fear, merely inquisition. Often this ended in disaster for the unwitting penguin! Among the more unusual observations was ‘the frequency of sexual activity, auto-erotic behaviour, and seemingly aberrant behaviour of young unpaired males and females, including necrophilia, sexual coercion, sexual and physical abuse of chicks and homosexual behaviour.’ This can be ascribed in part to the resemblance of prostrate penguins to enticing females and in part to the lack of knowledge and experience in young males.

This behaviour should be blocked out when watching Monty the penguin waddle at the heels of his doting owner and friend in the John Lewis advert. This advert won the hearts of millions and it certainly came as a surprise to me to see one of my favourite bird species baring my name (near enough anyway). Monty the penguin should be enjoyed as a paragon of love and Christmas spirit and not as a sexually depraved animal attempting to subvert the morals of the British public.

Day 15: Great northern diver - Gavia immer

The bird that created the world

The great northern diver marks a foray into one of the smaller orders, the Gaviiformes. There are only five gaviiform species, all in the genus Gavia and all can be seen in Britain. The great northern, black-throated (Gavia arctica) and red-throated (Gavia stellata) divers spend their winters around the shores of Britain at which time they are grey and dour. In the spring and summer they adopt their striking breeding plumage with the latter two species beginning courtship in lochs and coves in Scotland and the former returning to Iceland and North America. The Pacific (Gavia pacifica) and yellow-billed diver (Gavia adamsii) are only vagrants to the area.

Divers present interesting etymology on three fronts. Firstly, Gavia is actually the Latin for a smew (Mergellus albellus), a small, black-and-white saw-billed duck. This is odd given that the two share less than a passing resemblance with the divers far exceeding the smew in size (among other differences). Secondly, and perhaps less interestingly, the European name diver comes from the very obvious feeding ecology of diving to catch fish. Measuring them, I was impressed at how powerful and blade-like the bill of a great northern diver was. Like the diving ducks, they use their feed to propel them through the water yet their adaptation to this pursuit has greatly diminished their walking ability which brings me to my third point. 

In North America, divers are known as loons which, I thought, was because their eerie cries sound like people short of a few marbles. In actual fact their name derives from either the Old English lumme, which means lummox, or the Scandinavian lum which means clumsy, both of which pertain to their inept walking. I think this is unfair because a diver gliding across the water in breeding plumage is an elegant and beautiful thing.

The wailing call I mentioned has inspired many tales in Native American folklore. According to tribes in British Columbia, rain was predicted from an excess of calls whilst in the Micmac saga a loon named Kwee-moo is a messenger akin to Hermes for the tribal hero Glooscap. For the Ojibwe, a loon actually created the world.

In terms of classification, divers have been difficult to place. For a long time they were thought the most primitive extant birds because of their resemblance to the extinct Hesperornithiformes, an unrelated group which dived for food in a similar manner. Now their placement is anyone’s guess but most favour probably lies with a sistership with penguins, hence their placement on this list.

Day 16: Buller's albatross - Thalassarche bulleri

Foolish gull or ocean chief?

Albatrosses form the family Diomedeidae, the largest of the tubenoses (Procellariiformes), an order so called for their unusual tubular nostrils which they use to smell prey amid the ocean spray. In addition they have enlarged nasal glands used to excrete the excess salt from their diet of fish and seawater. Tubenoses all have similar ecologies differing mainly in their size. They are all true ocean wanderers, usually only returning to land to breed on remote islands. Isolation is needed to protect them from predators as their aerial ability has meant the impairment of walking on land.

Most tubenoses practise natal philopatry, returning to breed at the colonies of their birth. This has probably lead to their genetic isolation from each other despite the fact that they overlap so much when at sea. Whilst foraging, tubenoses can cover vast areas in search of food but they are able to expend little energy doing so, using their supremely aerodynamic wings to fly over the water. Dynamic and slope soaring are techniques which utalise energy from the wind and waves allowing albatrosses to fly up to 1000km a day without flapping their wings!

The Buller’s albatross is a member of the genus Thalassarche, the most numerous of the albatross genera. I could have chosen one of many species within the genus for they are beautiful and noble looking birds with bright, powerful bills and dark frowns. The Thalassarche are commonly called mollymawks, a name deriving from the Dutch Mallemugge which means foolish gull. By contrast Thalassarch means ocean chief. I know which name I prefer.