Tag Birds

First Posting in a couple of years.

George McNeill 4 Comments

There as been a few changes in my life over this last couple of years, changes where I stepped back from posting. Taking time to look after myself from the stress of my employer moving me to a different location to work. I survived and retired in December 2024.

So my first post is about volunteering with the RSPB as a Conservation Officer on The Northern Ireland Red Kite Project.

These birds were reintroduced back into the north of Ireland in 2008 with young birds from Wales. 2010 saw the First Red Kites to hatch in Northern Ireland in 200 years.

They are monitored most of the year, Winter means being out in all weathers till dark doing Roost counts. These birds like some other birds of prey are social and roost in groups, first we need to find the roosting sites. Then count how many are there, This information is relayed back from all the volunteers from different roosts. it gives an indication of how many are in the area.

Red Kites hunting for food.

You can see in the above photos wing tags on some of the birds, brown tags on the left wing means it a Northern Ireland bird. The colour tag on the right wing gives the birth year, there are numbers and letters on the tags which help in with nest and year information. Also you can see the forked tail from which it gets it name.

Next comes Spring and nest building time. Red kites mate for life and will reuse the same nest if they were successful in rearing a family in it the previous year. But if unsuccessful will move to a new nest site. This becomes race to find them before the trees get their leaf covering. Plus we get help from the public who report possible nest sites. We monitor the nest for the sight of chicks, when they are five to six weeks old the identification tags are fitted to the wings and leg. you have to be licensed to handle and tag these birds.

Young Red Kite waiting to be tagged While in the other photo it’s getting a leg ring fitted. Notice the young birds just stay still, they play dead.

I will give some measurements and weight for adult birds .

Length: 60-66cm or 23-26 inches

Wingspan: 154-170cm or 60-67 inches

Weight: 750-1600g or 1.6-3.5 pounds

We watch the young Kites getting stronger by the week as they lose their down for full feathers, flapping their wings to build strength for flight. Once flying juveniles move on after four weeks.

Its at this time we get a short break before autumn arrives and the dark evenings. Time to warp up warm and look forward to roost counting season.

I’ll leave you with a few photographs of this beautiful bird and thank you stopping by.

Stay safe,

George.

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4 responses to “First Posting in a couple of years.”

  1. doerfpub Avatar
    doerfpub

    First off, congratulations on the retirement. I can definitely say I never looked back after making that call. Now the Red Kite…wow, that is a cool bird. We have the White tailed variety over here to enjoy, but I do really like your resident variety. Thanks for introducing me to this species!

    Like

    1. George McNeill Avatar
      George McNeill

      Thank you for your comment, yes retirement is a great gift to ones self. More time to spend in nature.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. A Curious Introvert Avatar
    A Curious Introvert

    Welcome back and you’ve been missed!! Congratulations on your retirement and new volunteer opportunity! Looking forward to seeing some of your wonderful photos as you enjoy less stressful times.🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Janet Avatar
    Janet

    Happy retirement George, and what a great way to volunteer! Love the shots of it in flight.

    Like

What’s happening on this site.

George McNeill 9 Comments

Here we are in March 2020 and I’m writing the first blog post of the year. It’s been a busy couple of years here in my world. Had and have some plans for the site for the start of the year but I’m a little behind, now we have the Coronavirus ( COIID-19) spreading across the world. With every aspect of life effected some of my projects might have to be sidelined for awhile depending on travel restrictions.

So I have been out a few times with the camera around the coast here in Northern Ireland, so below are some for the birds wintering here.

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Ringed plover.

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Black headed Gull

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Barred tailed Godwits

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Little Egret

 

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Brent Geese

These were all taken at Strangford lough.  Here

Thank you for visiting and hope you enjoyed my images, please comment on this post.

George

Water babies.

George McNeill 8 Comments

While photographing birds around the coast I noticed birds washing in the incoming tide. So here are some images taken around the County Down coast.

All photograph’s taken with a Nikon D7200  plus a Sigma 150 – 600 lens with a Sigma 1.4 converter and edited in Lightroom.

 

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Time to dry out.

 

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Next up is a Hooded Crow or a Grey Backs has they are locally known.

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Deep dive.

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Next two photographs of a Common Crow.

 

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He looked like he was enjoying that..

Next the gull that thought he could stop the waves.

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First a warm up.

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Command the wave to stop.

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STOP.

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More practice required.

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Hope you all enjoyed bath time.

Thank you all for stopping, feel free to comment you likes or dislikes.

George

Black and White Wednesday

George McNeill 3 Comments

Has with last weeks photo this weeks follows a similar train of thought. With little detail and blur in the image. A couple of years back I read a book that looked at how a photograph does not always have to be in focus. While unpacking some boxes from storage I came across this book and decided to explore this idea. While not being an award winning image, it is fun to step outside the box or should that be my box.

The Magpie.

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Thank you for visiting.

George.

 

Wagtail’s and sepia tones

George McNeill 8 Comments

With the sun shining and a light breeze I shouldered the camera bag, grabbed a tripod. Car locked and my first chat was with a man and his dog. Some local information is always welcome. I sit here listening to the wind and heavy rain beat it’s tune on the window. I took the following photos last weekend, what a difference this weekend.

First up are a few photograph’s of the Pied wagtail, these were taken while out for a walk along the coast.

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I always hope to get some shots of seals that bask along the shore, but so far no luck. With the tide in I knew they would be out from shore. This one was around 100 metres from shore.

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I got a few head shots but loved the light catching his whisker’s in this one. We have two  type of seal’s around our coast. The grey seal and the common seal with this being the Common seal.

My last one is off the small lighthouses that mark the entrance to Strangford lough on the east coast of Northern Ireland. I gave it an old time look when editing it in Silver Efex Pro. Let me know what you think.

 

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Thank you for visiting.

Take care,

George.

 

Killard Point

George McNeill 2 Comments

Was driving along the road following the Co.Down coast. Something dark was swimming close to shore, There are seals in this area but normally you don’t see them where the tide is in. So pulling into a small car park and seeing people watching something I got out and asked the first person what was in view. His reply was a ship just off shore repairing something. Walking down to the beach to see the seal which turned out to be a woman swimming wearing a wet/dry suit. Given this is the start of winter and it about 7 degrees  Celsius (44 Fahrenheit) and a cold wind blowing it was not warm. Got talking to her and being a local she told me about Killard Point. It was a Royal air force base around the second world war and was used for radar  until it closed.

After following her directions and were to park I followed the shore around to the reserve gateway which you enter from the beach. I meet few people on the reserve and a few I did meet give me a lot of info  about what to see and the best time of year to visit depending on the season. Below is a few bird photos i took while walking the coast. I intend to return once a month and will also include some landscape shots from the area.

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I know this is not a sea bird shot but of the repair ship people were watching.

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First up we have a Curlew ( Numenius arquata ) the one at the top the b&w bird is an Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus )

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Like these ones, which are resting has they stand one one leg and like the right hand bird they rest there heads on there back. A bird very easy to identify by its markings and bright red eye.

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And one landing on a rocky isle to wait for the tide to drop and expose there feeding ground.

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Liked the way this Redshank ( Tringa totanus ) stood out against the clear backdrop.

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A shot across the bay to Kilclief castle, not the greatest of photos, the landscape is nice around here and hope to do some landscape shots in the area.

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The two larger birds are Cormorants ( Phalacrocorax carbo ) they are about the size of a large goose and are diving bird that feeds on fish.

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Identifying these are not so easy, but given there habits and markings I think they are Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea ) which are a winter visitor to our shores from North Siberia.

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These were hard to get a good shot of, they stayed well away from where I was.

Ringed Plover ( Charadrius hiaticula ) or there international name Common Ringed Plover.

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Rock Pipit ( Anthus petrosus )

Got this shot while walking back from the reserve, I got a few shots of them on the pebbly beach but not as close or sharp has this.

These next few photo’s are of one of  Britain and Ireland’s smallest birds, the Wren

(Troglodytes troglodytes )

Again these are hard to photograph, fast moving and busy  seldom staying still. Most time you only catch a glimpse  has they fly from one point to the next. It was this movement gave it away and a little crawling on the ground that got me these shots, plus thanks to a long focal lenght lens.

 

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On my drive home I called at another reserve near Dundrum on the County Down coast and on leaving it I saw  a Grey Heron ( Ardea cinerea ) in a field near a river that run’s along the road side. Using the car like a hide I got a few shots. Would have been nice if he had been hunting the river bank but maybe next time.

 

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Thank you all for coming on my day out with nature here in Ireland.

Till the next time, take care.

George.

The birdie place.

George McNeill 4 Comments

Okay so I thought I’d go up to Portmore Lough in County Antrim. It is a RSPB reserve. ( RSPB ) Spent time in the hide on the lough shore, talking to some of the people who help in the running and up keep of the reserve. Below are a few of the photographs.

 

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Frist up is a Great Tit ( Parus major ) at one of the feeding stations , these are right beside the walkways and a great place to see and photograph birds up close.

 

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Whooper Swans (Cygnus columbianus) in flight, There where around 60 – 100 of these swans on the lough but all at the far side well out of camera range. Most of these birds migrant here from there breeding grounds in Russia.

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I salute you, a male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) on a floating platoon grooming.

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The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) in its duller winter Plumage. Sometimes a hard bird to follow has it dives for fish and resurfaces else where.

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House sparrow (Passer domesticus) These little birds are a gardener’s friend has they feed on unwelcome insects. Also one of the most successful birds has it is found in nearly every country in the world.

So will leave you with this little fellow.Who just had to be the first in the queue.

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The Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Thank you for visiting .

George.

 

Wings

George McNeill 6 Comments

With the odd storm moving across the country the gulls drop back into the sheltered waters of the lakes and parks inland. Passing Hillsborough forest park I stopped for a walk around the lake. The swans and various ducks where there along with a large group off Blacked Headed Gulls. It is these I shot in the following photographs. When people stop to feed the ducks the gulls head in mass for a free meal. I could watch the flight for hours has these birds come in like fighter pilot’s across the water. Some seem to hang in the air before dropping into the water after the food. Has a flying display they are great to watch and I still don’t know how they avoid each other in the mayhem of what seems to be chaos.

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All these shots where taken with a 70 – 300 zoom on a bright overcast day  at ISO 400.

Thank you for viewing.