[Kejbii]

So have a look at Your "Collins"

[Tetrao]

Cytat:

So have a look at Your "Collins"

Any idea where does it come from? (the name not a book )

Wren have very misterious Polish name too. - "Strzyżyk Woleoczko" - It's something like Wren the Bull's Eye

[mikus.zet]

I was thinking recently about the goals that can be achieved through runnung this topic. Educational, linguistic aspect is - so it seems to me - obvious. It should be beneficial for those of us who want to make headway with their written English. But another ultimate goal that I have in mind is giving a comprehensive, up-to-date information in English about animals - primarily birds, of course - that can be watched in Poland, sort of a birding diary, blog run by as many of us as possible. There are already similar sites in the Web, giving news from Poland in English, but, nevertheless, I feel that they might just be insufficient (besides not all the regions of Poland are covered equally!); I am sure there is room for yet another one. We can make this site the most complete, comprehensive of all the already existing ones. This can be done by not only posting rarity sightings here. In some respects, information about Skylarks or Red-backed shrikes can prove interesting and relevant Although these species are still common, and, what's more, abundant in Poland, they are no longer common in many places in Western Europe - due to the Shared Agricultural Policy (or whatever the name) in the EU. Given this context, also, for instance, Anem's sighting of a White Stork seems important - remember that even this species, so common in the place where we live, constitutes an attraction for many Western-european birders holidaying in Poland (read some of their trip reports!).
However, I will start with the rarities - from now on I'll be copying the contents of the "Rzadkie ptaki w Polsce" topic from the polish part of the phorum.
Feedback from the rest of you, guys, will be welcome, but remember, critical comments are not wanted , creative contribution is expected

[ Dodano: 2005-04-03, 07:45 ]
A delayed, but important news, published only yesterday:

03.26. - 1 Great snipe (Dubelt) Gallinago media - Spytkowice ponds, Upper Vistula (Wisla) Valley, seen by P.Malczyk

[ Dodano: 2005-04-05, 12:05 ]
Another delayed, but important piece of news:

03.29 - 9 Lesser white-fronted goose (Gę mała) Anser erythropus - Biebrza marshes, seen by P.Szypulski and others.

[ Dodano: 2005-04-05, 21:32 ]
and:

04.01. 1 LWFG - near Łapy on the Narew (NE Poland), seen by M.Polakowski

[ Dodano: 2005-04-08, 21:31 ]
Back to my own sightings.
Today, Gdansk Gorki Zachodnie, left bank of Smiala Wisla. I saw a pair of Hen harrier (Błotniak zbożowy) Circus cyaneus, and a flock of 7 tern that I strongly and sincerely believe to have been Arctic tern (Rybitwa popielata) Sterna paradisea . First of all, the overall, general impression that I got of the birds was different from the familiar impression given by Common tern. The form, the voice, the motion - all somewhat different, I couldn't at first tell in what respects it was different, but - I reckon - those general impressions, silly though they may seem without concrete information about details, are not to be underestimated.
Then, after a short while, I saw the birds at rest, perched on the breakwater posts that were extending some 25 meters from the beach into the sea. The tail seemed to have protruded beyond the wingtips, the legs seemed to have been really short, the bills seemed to have been all red - but I wasn't 100% sure about these features. But the breasts and bellies were so obviously dark-grey that it would have been really uncommon in Common tern to have breasts and bellies like this. It looked much more like in Whiskered terns to me (and they weren't Whiskered for sure).
Also, there was a visible sort of slope where the bill ended and the forehead began. In Common tern it's more flat, more vertical. The difference is very subtle though - but it added to the features listed above and left me with a strong belief that what I saw were my first Arctic tern (by the way, pretty early passage, isn't it ).

[ Dodano: 2005-04-10, 22:50 ]
Correction: the profile in Common tern is horizontal, of course, not vertical

A sort of a partial confirmation of my friday's sighting: 1 Arctic tern (along with 1 Little tern) was seen in the mouth of Wisła yesterday by S.D?browski and J.Fuss.

I have seen today at least 6 Serin (Kulczyk) Serinus serinus at the border between Gdansk and Sopot (low-growing vegetation-, open area). I am not absolutely certain, but, to the best of my knowledge, this species is getting increasingly scarce in Poland

Other today's sightings (not mine this time):
2 [/b]Citrine wagtail (Pliszka cytrynowa) Motacilla citreola at the Żywiecki Reservoir (Beskid Żywiecki mountains in mid-southern Poland) seen by M.Dyduch

1 Saker falcon (Raróg) Falco cherrug seen in the Barycz Valley (SW Poland) by A.Zalisz

[ Dodano: 2005-04-20, 14:42 ]
Interesting birds seen in Poland in recent days:

Pallas's Gull (Orlica) Larus ichthyaetus - Bugaj ponds, Upper Wisla Valley

Citrine Wagtail (Pliszka cytrynowa) Motacilla citreola - Lubelskie Voievodship

White pelican (Pelikan różowy) Pelecanus onocrotalus - Tarnów region, currently Zator Ponds, Upper Wisla Valley

[Alcedo]

Well...... I'm thinking that mikus.zet is the person who's only writing posts on last days/weeks on this topic. My english is not so good as yours because I'm learning English for just few years so I won't write posts on this topic this is my first and mabye last post

I'll be only some kind of observer

[mikus.zet]

Some more rarities from recent days, actually - both of them from yesterday:
Long-legged buzzard (Kurhannik) - imm. bird in the Lubuskie region (mid-western Poland) reported by P.Czechowski in the evening without notifying anybody straight away despite the possibility to do so - naughty, naughty boy
Pallid harrier (Błotniak stepowy) - seen by M.Radziszewski in Przygodzice Ponds (S-W Poland)

[Tetrao]

I've been at Farskie Lake on last Friday. The place is terible - typical Upper Silesian industrial pond sorounded by coul slag-heap - awful! But clearly the birds aren't very particular

Eg.
Bluethroat - I saw 3 singinging males (of 5 present) and two females

Lesser Black-backed Gull, subspecies graellsii or heuglinii - a rare migrant, in Silesia.

Bearded Tit - 1 male , first record during the breeding sezon on the reservoir.

Redshank - few displaying pairs, posibly breeders

Swift - migrating groups

Teal - 10 pairs, migrants

Dunlin - 1 bird feeding with Plovers

and many others

[mikus.zet]

My visit to the mouth of Reda a week ago rendered:
3 Canada Goose (Bernikla kanadyjska) of which one was a hybrid - it had a yellowish bill and the whiteness on the cheek a bit dull
4 Barnacle Goose (Bernikla białolica)
5 Whimbrel (Kulik mniejszy)
2 Oystercatcher (Ostrygojad)
Also, some Common Crane (Żuraw) preparing for nesting, and all the Anas duck species except Pintail.

Polish birding highlight this week has been a male Ring-necked duck (Czerniczka) in the Upper Silesia region, found first on Tuesday and seen by many observers ever since, but discovered by P.Kmiecik (Pawelele in this forum) and R.GwóĽdĽ.

Today in Gdansk-Przymorze I've had the pleasure to spot my very first Hoopoe (Dudek). A female Canada Goose from the pond in Przymorze has been sitting on eggs (or so it seems to me) for some time now. We haven't recorded the succesful nesting of this species in Poland so far and by no means we should wish them luck , since Canada pose a serious threat to the native European goose - Greylag.

[ Dodano: 2005-05-15, 17:05 ]
Some more „hair-standing-on-the-back” birds from the past two weeks:
Some Avocet (Szablodziób) have been seen here and there (mainly NW Poland),
Booted Eagle (Orzełek włochaty) - two records, from the Upper Wisla Valley and Biebrza Marshes,
Collared Pratincole (Żwirowiec ł?kowy) in Dzwonowo Ponds (NW Poland), single Citrine Wagtail (Pliszka cytrynowa) has been spotted in roughly the same region,
Bufflehead (G?gołek), male, visiting various bodies of water in the mid-west (Wielkopolska).

My visit to the Ptasi Raj reserve on Friday paid off with a very fine sighting of a Stone Marten (Kuna domowa) – my first in the full daylight – a beautiful creature.
On Saturday the inspection at Przymorze ponds revealed a long-awaited event to have eventually taken place – the offspring of Canada Goose, six of them, have hatched from their eggs. I am not very enthusiastic about it though.

[Kejbii]

A large flock - ca.2000 - of migrant White-winged tern Sterna leucopterus (Rybitwa białoskrzydła) has been present today at a complex of ponds close to Siedlce, central E Poland. Seen by Corvus & Bielik, users of our Forum

[mikus.zet]

Rare birds seen in Poland over the past month or so:
Some more Booted Eagle Hieraetus pennatus reported form the South of Poland and from the Biebrza marshes, Citrine Wagtail have been spotted in various locations, not only in the long-established breeding sites such as the mouth of Reda (where, by the way, I still haven't seen any of them this year, but where the nesting is reported to be pretty succesful so far), Dotterel Charadrius morinellus - one bird seen in Bieszczady Mountains, Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea spotted on three or four occasions in various places in Western and S-W Poland. Two extremely rare passerines were cought and ringed on the Baltic Sea coast: Melodious Warbler Hyppolais polyglotta and Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala (the latter - second record for Poland, the former - I haven't seen any stats, but it's extremely rare as well). Black-Winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus was reported twice from different locations, Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola recorded in isolated sites in S-E part of the country.

During my visit to the mouth of Reda on June 1st I saw: 1 Redpoll Carduelis flammea (breeding birds of this species are very, very scarce in Poland ), 1 Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus, a few singing males of Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, various ducks: Mallard, Garganey, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Widgeon, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, some Tringa waders that I failed to ID Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia was singing, but didn't show.

Gosh, that's been a tiresome piece of writing. I'm glad it's over now.

[ Dodano: 2005-06-11, 16:39 ]
and of course wrong editing of the last part of the text. it's because i've worked my fingers to the bone and i'm very tired......

[Tetrao]

[mikus.zet]

[Motacilla]