Shags In the Sun

Shag Picture

I knew it was somewhere.
These are cormorants on their roost trees on Lady Holme, Windermere. See how trees are dead (OK I know its winter, but some are white with guano). Taken from the shore near my tender. 5th December last year
shaginthesun.jpg
 
Amazing how the kites get around. They were re-introduced to England at Stokenchurch in Bucks and within 10 years we were seeing them overhead daily about 10 miles from there. I went out into the field here in Cornwall just now to see one flying over. It's the first one I've seen outside Bucks - some coincidence!

Incidentally they are carrion feeders so don't let anyone tell you they are decimating the local wildlife.
 
Re: What does? nm

What is the difference between a cormorant and a shag?
___________________________________________________

Usual reply is " you don't smoke after a cormorant".
 
Re: What does? nm

Well done - couldnt remember lines 3 and 4 and was in process of looking it up when you posted.
Great minds.....
 
Buzzards

Very similar to Red kite but a touch smaller and more timid. We have some nesting in the woods.
They do eat fresh kills.
I mentioned it to a farmer who was staying with us and his response was "Flying cats"
"what do you mean?" I said.
"oh they'll take a farm cat if it's handy" he said.
 
Re: Buzzards

We have a lot of Buzzards here. They have straight wings with separate flight feathers and a fan tail rather than forked so quite distinct from the kite. We are absolutely inundated by rabbits round here but the Buzzards don't seem to be making a dent in the population. What we really need is a few barn owls to thin out the voles that keep digging up the peas and beans I plant!
 
Re: Buzzards

When I say quite similar, I mean big, brown and fly. I'm not an ornithologist by any means. I can manage dippers, treecrawlers and herons but finches and tits are a mystery.

I could do with a lot more thrushes as we have a successful breeding programme for slugs here.
 
Re: M40 at Stirling

Must have good eyesight to see them from that distance /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: M40 at Stirling

[ QUOTE ]
Must have good eyesight to see them from that distance /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
You get away with nothing around here.....
 
Re: Buzzards

[ QUOTE ]
tits are a mystery.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we should move over to the lounge to continue this conversation.

A few years ago I was having a discussion about cars during a course with a colleague who owned a Bristol Beaufighter. When I said "I'm not familiar with Bristols" the students fell about and the quote was repeated regularly for the rest of the course. So much for my dignity.
 
Re: Buzzards

[ QUOTE ]
"I'm not familiar with Bristols"

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Who said, "I'm always on the job," and, "Everyone needs a Willie?"
I enjoyed this yesterday on one of the stand-by progs on R4, brought out by the strike.

This really is lounge territory.
 
Lounge?

Nonsense. This started out as a discussion about the habits of fish eating birds and is meandering around the subject. Stay put. They're all talking about frogs in there.
 
Re: Shags in the sun?

I'm almost positive that it is to dry out. They have very little oil in their feathers which is proved by the fact that when you see them in the water most of the body is sunk below the surface. This is an evolutionary quirk (okay, a marvellous design feature from god) so that they do not have to fight against the buoyancy from air trapped within their feathers.

They are also not a protected species in the UK. There is an open season on them, the same as pigeons and seagull.
 
The answer

Sorry I came into this one so late. I am also a 'twitcher' and I know the answer.

In order for shags and cormorants to reach (and maintain) the depths they do when they dive for fish they don't have a great degree of oiling because this would create too much buoyancy.

Therefore, after a stint of fishing for their breakfast, they are in danger of becoming waterlogged because the water starts to pentrate their feathers more readily than more oily seabirds. So they simply need to dry out before their next swim.

Which is what you are seeing them do.

Makes a nice change to be able to answer a question of this forum with certainty!
 
Re: The answer

Yes, I think the general view is that they are drying out. Perhaps, like other birds they also spread wings to cool in hot weather too and I must remember to watch out for that when it is hot - but quite a while until that happens here in NZ!

I didn't previously know about the buoyancy thing and also the balance between the reduced energy expenditure arising from that and increased heat loss to the water through getting wet.

Rob, regarding the various comments on the Red Kite, I normally don't watch this program on TV so saw quite by chance, but did you see David Bellamy on TV3 60 Minutes the other day on wind farms - were some shots of a Red Kite in Wales?

John
 
Re: The answer

Didn't see it but highly likely the Red Kites (my favourite species) were shot in mid-Wales. After virtually becoming extinct in the UK there was a long-term reintroduction program based in mid-Wales, the area now nicknamed 'Kite Country'. They imported birds from Spain and parts of scandanavia. You can visit the centre and see them being fed. And volunteers protect the nesting sites because thieving [no thanks] egg-collectors still seem to get a kick out of pilfering rare bird's nests.

For a long time you'd usually only see them around mid-Wales and Scotland but in recent years they have colonised the M4 corridor and it's now quite common to see them flying up and down the busy road newtwork there. They also got a boost from the bird of prey centre near Andover.

Most recently they've continued spreading and can now been seen dotted around the southern half of England including East Anglia. Habitually they enjoy pilfering from human rubbish and so you can often attract their interest if you look like you're eating lunch in the right spot.

I once managed to call one in and get him to take a chicken drumstick out of my hand - or rather finger tips - didn't fancy those talons coming too close!

Milvus milvus - majestic birds.
 
Re: Shags in the sun?

Hi Uncle,

Seem to remember seeing a documentary many years ago which claimed guillemots dived deepest of all sea birds - up to 50 metres down, but I´ve never seen them dry their wings - exception that proves the rule?

Happy twitching,

Daði.
 
Re: The answer

I've got a nesting pair quite close to me here in Berkshire.

As a youth, a pair of the then very rare Pergrine Falcons nested on cliffs in West Wales between Fishguard and Cardigan. A watch was set up, and I spent many an hour in an old caravan till the eggs hatched. Some weeks later, a local farmer noticed an unknown car parked near his farmhouse. He walked down to cliffs where he caught a pair of theiving gits on end of ropes down at the nest - so he warned them he was going to cut ropes, and gave them a few seconds to get themselves on the ledge, then cut ropes! :-)

The police arrived and arrested them. In the car were maps showing the locations of just about every rare nesting birds of prey in the UK. Can't remember off hand what the sentence was, but quite punitive as it was obvious they were specialists.

While they were nesting, I had the honour of seeing them in action - sitting on the estuary one morning, a flock of seagulls went up. Next thing was a blur of action as a Peregrine stooped on the flock and took one out. There was a winter snow blizzard scene as feathers went up in a ball, and the estuary was just starting to ebb, and white and black feathers littered the water's surface for the next hour

Still got pictures of the nest somewhere up in the attic, must dig them out and put them on computer at some point.Kept them secret for many years as didn't want anyone to find nest site
 
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