Saturday 29 November 2014

Bristol Rose-coloured Starling

Nice capture from local birder Lee Gardiner (with thanks)
 Can you spot the bird here ?
Peek-a-boo
Area I saw the bird either stationary or in flight

With an additional day off this week I opted to head down to Bishopston, Bristol to try and catch up with the reported Rose-coloured Starling as I'd never seen this species before. Thanks to advice from local birder Lee Gardiner (@urban_birding) I found the area shown on the above map after two slight hold ups with the local recycling service that completely blocked the streets I was going down as they were so narrow.

I've never a great fan of birding around houses but the local residents seemed very friendly and were quite intrigued to ask me about what the bird watchers had been doing by their local church. 

After a couple of laps of the area I returned to my start point on the church park where the bird was last seen and as if by magic the Rosie came in and landed on the top right hand edge of the bush. Accompanied by a number of House Sparrows the Starling was keeping his head down, no doubt to avoid the local Sparrowhawk doing the rounds. 

When another birder arrived the bird did take flight and did treat us to some great views and you could really see his salmon pink colouring. Despite our patience and checking among the Starling flocks we didn't manage to locate the bird again.

If you are heading down I'd suggest you start your search in the region of 

St Bonaventures Parish Club and Church, the gardens that back on to the car park is where we saw the bird for a prolonged period.

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