Graham's Birding Blog: What has 12 wings...

..and goes "Preeet-preet"?
The flock of 6 Bee-eaters I had flying over Waxham yesterday!
It was really nice to see the Bee-eater feeding from wires at Gladford last weekend, but finding 6 birds over Waxham, even though they just flew straight through, was much better. It had been a fairly quiet day. I'd been stood behind Shangri-la cottage for about half-an-hour looking for a possible Icterine Warbler that I'd heard brief song-snatches off. Listening for the song again I was aware of a "Preeet-preet" call coming from the sky and my thoughts turned immediately to Bee-eater, and sure enough there was the source of the call emerging from behind the nearby trees that were initially obscuring it from me. Just as I was about to lift my bins I noticed another bird behind it, then another....and another! I lifted my bins and sure enough all four birds were Bee-eaters, with gleaming yellow throats and aquamarine underparts. But then another bird flew into view and I dropped my bins to count exactly how may birds there were - six! I enjoyed the view of all 6 birds as they passed by and then tried to grab a couple of photos of the birds. Unfortunately, they were a bit too distant and my auto-focus wouldn't settle on them.

Bee-eater, Glandford, Norfolk, 20 May 2012

Even though I missed getting some snaps of today's Bee-eaters there were a few other photo-opportunities. A Turtle Dove has taken up residence in Waxham dunes and can be heard 'purring'. He sat up in the sun for me for some nice photos. Also a male Marsh Harrier flew uncharacteristically close to me today, obviously distracted by the Oystercatcher that was trying to drive it away from its nest.