There are numerous Wheatears around at the moment and the striking thing when scrutinising these birds (except the obvious large Greenland versions) there are very few of the beautiful slate grey/ blk eye patch - ad males (pic attached) in with them.. The majority of these birds appear to have arrived in the normal mid/late March arrival period, back to the more normal quarry sites, and are well into breeding mode. No doubt some of these will be feeding young very soon..
The majority of males Im seeing around other moorland site at the moment are the drab 2cy males (pic attached) also paired up with females but they seem to be doing very little nesting activity.. I thought they could be migrants heading further north but nearly all are still in situ after c2 weeks and all in suitable breeding habitat (collapsed walls/ rough grassland and sheep meadows) so probably arent going further north..
Anyone else noticed the drab males???
-- Edited by C Bel on Monday 10th of May 2021 04:57:21 PM
I've attached a couple of pics from last Wednesday (5th May) of a couple of duller males. I was so busy counting them I never thought much about it at the time. There were, however, quite a number of more striking Greenland birds present, including several really striking females. In years where I see a few Greenland birds, females seem to be far less numerous for some reason. Strangely the passage of wheatears seems to be far more concentrated through west Rossendale. I had a count of 15 birds around Whitworth Quarry on 18th April, but other than that counts have been fairly low there and in the surrounding area.
