00:24Hello again, and good morning.
00:28So I'm back at Lake Erkini, unfortunately I only have a couple of days to spare this
00:33time over the Easter break, so I thought I'd take a little drive up here and see if there's
00:41any early signs of spring migration happening, and I'm very pleased to say that within literally
00:49ten minutes of arriving here, I've spotted a penduline tip foraging along the reeds here.
00:57So that's a really, really fantastic sign, and I'm guessing that he's either built or
01:04building his nest somewhere along here, along the little canal, so in a little while I'll
01:10walk further down and see if we can spot something.
01:15But in the meantime I'm going to stick around here, because there's a little reed warbler
01:19there as well, having a feed, so I'll try and get some images and footage of them foraging
01:26along here, and then we'll move on up and see what else we can see.
01:30So, yeah, I'll catch up with you in a little while.
01:44So, quick little update, I found the nest, and it was actually just on the tree to the
01:52left of where I was looking, hiding in plain sight.
01:55So, I haven't seen him go in or out just yet, so I'm going to hang on here for a
02:03little bit,
02:03and see if there's any movement on the nest itself.
02:09He's probably, this being so early in April still, it's probably just the male building
02:17his nest, because what they do, these little birds, is they, the male will build two or
02:24three nests, and he'll probably have a female in each of them, and he'll just come and go
02:31from each of them.
02:32So most of the rearing and the sitting on the eggs is done by the female, and he has his
02:40little harem, and he goes from nest to nest basically.
02:44So, he's probably just in the stage of building his nests, and trying to attract females into
02:49them.
02:51So, I'll hang around here, and see if there's any action on the nest, and then I'll take
03:00a little walk and see if I can find his other nests.
03:04So, yeah, I'm going to hang out here for a bit, and see what else I can see.
03:07So, I'll catch up with you in a bit.
03:17So, the little pendulum came back to the nest very very briefly, and I managed to get a couple
03:23of shots of him, and I've now changed my angle, and I'm hoping that he's going to come back
03:28again.
03:30I just wanted to tell you a little bit about the nest, because they're actually amazing
03:34little pieces of construction, engineering, all made by this amazing little bird.
03:41And they use spiders web, leaves, twigs, and the fluffy seeds that are out at the moment
03:49on the trees, to create this amazing hanging basket type nest.
03:56Usually they do it over water, I'm guessing for safety reasons, and for the fact that there's
04:02ready food available.
04:03There's so many bugs skimming the water, which they like to feed on.
04:08So, yeah, but they're quite incredible little constructions, and amazing little birds that
04:15make them.
04:17So, I'm going to hang out here from this angle, and see if I can get an even better shot,
04:21and
04:22then I'll carry on down the canal, and see what else I can see.
04:26Okay, so the little pendulum didn't come back.
04:34So, with only one day here, one full day, I can't really spend too much time there, unfortunately.
04:42So, I've decided to walk a little bit further along, and see what else I might find.
04:54He might actually be building more nests further along, and that was just a little inspection
05:01visit to check that his nest is okay, and ready to accept a female.
05:11So, I'll walk a little bit further, and see what else I can find.
05:25If you find it, go ahead and find it.
05:27I'll follow you on Twitter.
05:27See you next time.
05:27Bye.
05:27Bye.
05:31Bye.
05:33Bye.
05:37Bye.
05:40Bye.
05:41Bye.
05:41Bye.
05:43Bye.
05:53So I just found another nest, this is quite a bit further away from the bay, so I'll set
06:02the tripod up and see if he comes to this one.
06:05I'm pretty sure it's probably the same as a bird.
06:09Okay, so I'm at the megasecond nest that I found, and the exciting news is that it looks
06:18like he's found a female.
06:29And they're coming in and out of the nest.
06:39So that's fantastic, I've managed to get, I think, a little bit of footage, and I'll
06:46have a go at getting some images in a second, if they come back very easy in, and the second
06:53one is on the branch.
06:55Just about.
06:59I think that's probably the female who's having the inspection, having a look to see if she
07:04approves.
07:08Oh, and they're both there.
07:11Fantastic.
07:18Okay, let me try and get a couple of shots now, I think.
07:24A bit backlit just at the minute.
07:27So, I'm overexposing by two thirds of a stop, because they have a rather drab, grey sky
07:41behind.
07:43Let's take a quick look to see what I'm getting.
07:48Okay, so that's about right, as far as exposure goes.
07:54Oh, he's back on the nest.
08:00So he's fantastic.
08:02He's got himself a mate.
08:08So that was pretty awesome, and I think I managed to get him a couple of decent shots,
08:13as well as some nice footage of the little pendy lines.
08:18So I'm really happy about that, as they're such fantastic in the birds.
08:23And to see them here already, it's April 14th, I think today.
08:29So, to see them so early on, and building mists already, and pairing off already as well,
08:40so that's amazing.
08:43So, I'm just continuing my drive along the embankment here, and I think I will head off
08:51to the other side of the lake, to see if I can find any predatory birds.
09:00Some herons, some herons, eekerts, that sort of thing.
09:07I've seen a couple of squaco herons already.
09:11So, I'll take a look around the other side, at the triangle, the north-eastern corner of the lake,
09:20to see what I might spot them.
09:22So, I'll catch up with you then.
09:24See you then.
09:30So, unfortunately my brief visit to the triangle didn't prove to be very fruitful, in terms of finding some more
09:38early arrivals for spring.
09:43Other than a couple of squaco herons, and some little eekerts, I didn't see that much at all.
09:50I was hoping to see beater, or purple heron, something like that, something more interesting, more unusual.
09:58But, they didn't materialise, so, it's still early in the season.
10:04And, I'll be back hopefully in a couple of weeks time, in May.
10:08And, hopefully I'll be bringing you some more videos then, with a few more interesting creatures.
10:16So, until then, thanks again for watching, and I'll see you next time.
10:21Bye for now.
10:49Bye for now.
11:18Bye for now.
11:29Bye for now.
11:53Bye for now.
