The Juvenile Birder

Can't See Everything Every Time! We arrived at 6.45am at a private site for Golden Pheasant. We started wandering in the woods, looking for them. After a bit of searching, we saw one in someone's backyard, there was no netting in the yard. We were lingering around the garden to see if it flew or was ringed and we were going to knock on the house when we heard someone talking in the garden we had just seen the Golden Pheasant in. We walked towards the noise and saw a man calling something over. We asked him whether the Golden Pheasant was his pet or a wild bird and he then tells us that it is indeed his pet, who he had raised at put in his garden. He said its name was Cocky and he was trying to call it over to feed it. He also told us about how he had raised many Golden Pheasant in the past, but when he put them in his garden, they just flew off. This was because he didn't ring or clip his birds. After realising we were searching for plastic, we ended up leaving and looking ...

 Another 3 Bite the Dust! image from mentor Rob from 28/10 We set off at 1.30am in hopes of seeing an Alpine Accentor. We arrived in Slaughden at around 7:00am. When we arrived, it was quite dark, so we walked towards Martello Tower and waited with the many other birders. We met birders Matt and George who told us there was a lump on a pipe in a crack at the tower. They said it was the Alpine Accentor because it roosted there overnight. It was around 7:13am so the light was getting better, making it easier to make out the bird. They let us look through the scope and I managed to get a good view of it. It was definitely the Alpine Accentor , with multiple people saying that, because we could make out the yellow on the bill, chestnut flanks, and the white spots on the wing. After enjoying it, it flew onto the roof and just before 7:30am, took off flying high away from us. We then looked for it for 4 hours knowing that it did this yesterday. We met some great birders including Rob K, ...