2x YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs Inishmore, Galway!!!

Following on from the Eastern Kingbird yesterday and the Belted Kingfisher there's now a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler) at Inishmore, County Galway!!! The bird is in Kilmurvy Wood.

STOP PRESS!! There's now actually 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers 1 in willows by the cemetery and the 1 in Kilmurvy Wood!!!

NB Belted Kingsiher (male) still present at Lough Fee

If you're bored of Yanks, there's also Blyth's Reed Warbler still present too!!

Pictures of one of the birds here

An afternoon with a confiding Red-breasted Flycatcher

Last week I had a fantastic trip to Flamborough where highlights were many.  One of the supporting cast members of this incredible day was one or two of the three Red-breasted Flycatchers that were giving those rare views. Out in the open, with no people about making noise, pushing in front to get their picture etc... It was more-or-less just me and the birds, perfect!

I managed to get the following record shots which I'm fairly please with. I'd only had the camera a couple of days so still learning re set-up etc!

BELTED KINGFISHER in Ireland too????

Reports tonight of a 'large grey-backed' Kingfisher' from a 'beginner' birder from Lough Fee between Letterfrack and Leenane!! What else is going to be found over there...

Hot on the heels of the Western Palearctics first Eastern Kingbird:

Pictures: here

How to get there: here

EASTERN KINGBIRD PHOTO

Wow! Check out the picture of the Eastern Kingbird... if that doesn't make you want to get in a car/boat/plane somethings wrong!

https://twitter.com/GalwayBirdNews/status/254291046060670979/photo/1

An incredible set of photos here:

http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/sighting/49527/Birding_Opportunity.html

EASTERN KINGBIRD in IRELAND! MEGA

MEGA!! PICTURE NOW HERE

FIRST FOR WESTERN PALEARCTIC!! Great found by Hugh Delaney

INISHMORE AT KILMURVEY

Aran Islands on Inishmore Island at Kilmurvey at midday.  Boat tomorrow from Rossaveal. Departs 1030am, and returns 5pm.  Tel 00353-91568903 to book

Alternative Boat from Doolin departs 10am returns 4pm. Telephone Bill on 00353-657075555

Check out: http://www.aranisland.info/ferries.html and http://obrienline.com/

EVENING UPDATE:  The bird apparently roosted at 1805 in the main wood behind behind Kilmurvey House

WOW! What a day at work! Raptorfest!

Just a quickie tonight as I'm tired! Not surprising after the strenuous day at work today... Highlights included:

• Hen Harrier (male)
• Marsh Harrier (c12)
• Merlin (2)
• Short-eared Owl (1)
• Barn Owl (3)
• Plus All the common stuff...

Barn Owl 

Hen Harrier

I'll have a look through my photos in the morning to see if there's any others that are any better, though I'm fairly happy with these for a first attempt... at least you can tell what they are!

More on Rare Birds in Great Britain in 2011

I've just spent the last couple of hours powering through the latest issue of British Birds (October 2012 Vol. 105: 555-636) - the Rare birds in Great Britain in 2011 round-up. What a great read, with some stunning rarity pictures too.  Highly recommended.

Some of my favourite pictures include:

Blue-winged Teal by Wayne Davies
Upland Sandpiper by Gary Thoburn
Pallid Harrier by Chas Moonie and Rob Brookes
Greater Yellowlegs by Marcus Conway
Isabelline Shrike and Siberian Rubythroat by Hugh Harrop

In addition to the species referred to in the post below, there was some good memories of the past birding year including:

• Solitary Sandpiper: Dave and I had incredible views of the St Mary's bird whilst it was at Lower Moors, where it showed to a matter of feet!

Solitary Sandpiper by Andrew Vinson

• Greater Yellowlegs: Managed to catch up with this while it was settled at Hauxley

Greater Yellowlegs (from my phone)

• Marsh Sandpiper: I'd forgotten I'd seen this bird! Showed nicely at Blacktoft (no pictures)
• Red-eyed Vireo: Part of a great haul at the Scillies last year, nice find by Dave (no pictures - no chance!)
• Isabelline Wheatear: A nice late autumn treat at Spurn

Isabelline Wheatear (from my phone)

• Olive-backed Pipit: Had two birds together on St Mary's at Windmill, these birds were showing really well

Olive-backed Pipit (one of two in same field: from my phone)

• Dark-eyed Junco: Not as rare as the Spanish Sparrow, but much more interesting and much more satisfying!

Dark-eyed Junco (from my phone)

A bit gutted I missed the Baltimore Oriole, Black-and-white-Warbler on St Mary's and kind of wished I'd had the balls to have twitched the Veery and Siberian Rubythroat....

A couple of interesting records within the report probably pertain to a Killdeer from 1980, and Great Reed Warbler from 1961!!! Apparently the observer of the Killdeer forgot to send the record in!  the Great Reed Warbler is a fascinating story... worth getting the report just for that alone, totally bizarre!

Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 2011: How many did you see?

The new, October volume of 'British Birds' is now out:

Saw this beauty last year on Scillies

This 54th annual report of the British Birds Rarities Committee presents details of rare birds recorded in Britain in 2011.  How many did you manage to tick off?

A number of potential 'firsts' from 2011 are still under consideration, including White-winged Scoter Melanitta deglandi, Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus, Asian Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica daurica/japonica and Eastern Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros phoenicuroides...  The report includes the following highlights:

• 2nd Madeiran Petrel Oceanodroma castro, Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus and Eastern Crowned Warbler Phylloscopus coronatus: I didn't see any of these birds but I did see the first Eastern Crowned Warbler so can't complain too much!.
• 3rd Purple Gallinule Porphyrio martinicus, Siberian Blue Robin Lavivora cyane, Rufous-tailed Robin Lavivora sibilans and White-throated Robin Irania gutturalis: I was lucky and got great views of the White-throated Robin:

White-throated Robin: Taken on my phone!

• 4th Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis and American Black Tern Chlidonias niger surinamensis: Didn't get this Sandhill Crane but I did get the last one! I did see the American Black Tern

American Black Tern by Robert Hardy

• 5th Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla: This is my bogey bird, big style!!!
• 5th and 6th Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea: Sometimes you get lucky... and I did! No photos though unfortunately.
• 6th Audouin's Gull Larus audouinii and Pacific Swift Apus pacificus: Again a couple of bogey birds for me!
• 6th and 7th Spectacled Warbler Sylvia conspicillata: Nope!
• 7th Wilson's Snipe Gallinago delicata and Northern Waterthrush Parkesia noveboracensis: Nailed both of these bad boys!!!

Northern Waterthrush by Andrew Vinson 

Wilsons Snipe: Taken on my phone!

• 8th Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri, Siberian Rubythroat Calliope calliope and Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis: Did get two of these, but not really the ones I wanted!

Spanish Sparrow: Phone shot - too cold to press the buttons!

• 10th Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis and Veery Catharus fuscescens: I saw the dove, and had the pleasure of tipping-off the UK twitching scene about the Veery (which I didn't go for) as it was a mates mate who found the bird and allowed me to publish the record here first!

Veery by Stephen MacDonald

Some great memories above! Get your copy now from the British Birds Website

Harriers still putting on a show at NDC

My day was taken up by catching up with the work I'd dropped for the easterly winds last week in order to ensure I don't miss any of my looming reporting deadlines!  Luckily I was entertained by two cracking T20 World Cup cricket matches in South Africa vs Australia, followed by India vs Pakistan - wish I was in Sri Lanka please! Awesome cricket and even more awesome birding!

Last night I had planned on spending the day looking round the local area to look for Yellow-browed Warblers and Little Buntings, but the reality of a cold and overcast morning torpedoed that idea and I stayed in bed!

I did get a text message from Zing tonight (thanks) informing me that a similar number of Marsh Harriers were again present at North Duffield Carrs, with 8 seen in the air together at one stage which is really cool!

BONXIE in the LDV (and lots of Marsh Harriers)!!!

I decided to go and check out the local floods to see if there was any birds worth noting today.  Just as I pulled up at my first destination I got a call to say that there was a Bonxie (Great Skua) to the north of Selby heading towards the Lower Derwent Valley (LDV). Wow! Local Mega!! (I think there's been a few York Recording Area records; somewhere between 2 and 4 I think) I'd just got to a decent viewpoint so started scanning, hoping, then thinking, if it was going to turn up it will have gone over my garden! Ouch! That would have been a monster of a garden tick!! Trying not to let that put me off I kept scanning back and forth but unfortunately there was no further sign of it, so, just like the [at least] 2 Arctic Skuas and 2 Gannets that I've missed this year they go on the big pile of dipped birds!! Would have been a good bird to have gripped Tim off with while he tarts about on North Ron!

The floods were rapidly increasing this morning, looking at the flood banks was a bit like looking at Murchison Falls! Pouring over..  The birds were moving around all the time as their feeding/roosting spots were going under.  There was 100+ Lapwing, 60+ Golden Plover, lots of Snipe and 2 Ruff with several hundred Starling in amongst them. The water also flushed out loads of duck, several hundred Teal, Mallard and Gadwall with a good (increasing) number of Wigeon and a few Shoveler.  Counting birds was near impossible due to them never keeping still, mainly due to the water but also by the continuous presence of several Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Marsh Harriers. If all that wasn't enough, it was blowing a gale, right into my face! I gave it a few hours before retiring back home for a few hours of the T20 Cricket world cup!

Marsh Harrier 

Marsh Harrier 

Marsh Harrier 

Sparrowhawk 

Swallow (almost got it!)

Late afternoon saw me back down at the Geoff Smith Hide at North Duffield Carrs. As above, there was a substantial increase in the water level here compared to yesterday, but still enough places left for roosting Marsh Harriers, good job too as there was between 10 and 12 that came into roost tonight.  Unfortunately they didn't play ball for photographing them as by the time a couple came close there was hardly any light left!

A couple of the Marsh Harriers

The sky was full with Swallows and House Martin, thousands of them, perfect for a Hobby I thought, unfortunately (for me) the Hobby had already been through, 30 minutes before I arrived in the hide! One of those days!  The floods on Bubwith as viewed from North Duffield had a small flock (c12)Tufted Duck and there was 3 drake Pochard too.  Thousands of Black-headed Gulls this evening. Additional interest was provided by a pair of Kestrel, single Barn Owl and a male Sparrowhawk that hovered (yes that's right) before dropping into a reedbed, picking out some prey and flying back to its perch next to the hide!

Tomorrow's quest is for a Yellow-browed Warbler or Little Bunting given the presence of these inland today... wish me luck!

Pallas Grasshopper Warbler Finders Account/Pics

On Wednesday, my mate Ade George, ringer in charge at Whitburn (Souter Bird Observatory), County Durham found the 3rd county record of Pallas Grasshopper Warbler (PGTips) - this follows the first record for the county in 2010 (also at Whitburn though not caught) and the second record for the county earlier on the same day over at Hartlepool Headland (seen briefly).  Interestingly there was also one seen well up in Aberdeenshire on the same day, and one apparently in Lincolnshire the day before! How many went undetected!

There had been some pretty decent conditions over the few days preceding this so hopes were high of some good birds all along the east coast, some of us did OK, however it was Ade that struck gold!

Read Ade's 'Finders Account' on the Souter Bird Observatory blog.

© Ian Mills 2012

Even made the local press!! http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/twitchers-flock-to-see-rare-bird-1-4975176  

Marsh Harriers still roosting despite massive floods!

I popped across to North Duffield this evening to see if the site was underwater like most of the rest of the valley and to see if there was any Marsh Harriers still roosting if there was somewhere for them to do so.  So far the water is not covering the whole area and the Marsh Harriers were still present and I reckon there was at least 10-12 birds roosting tonight - At one stage there was a line of 6 birds in the air together!

Additional interest was provided by some Pink-footed Geese that dropped in, as well as an assortment of waders and gulls but nothing out of the ordinary.  A couple of Barn Owls were out hunting and a Tawny Owl was calling by the hide again.

More from Flamborough: I love this place!

Headed over to Flamborough again this evening, much much quieter than yesterday, though I didn't cover the exact same area as I wanted to explore a few different places.  Did manage the following though:

5 Redstart
3 Whinchat
3 Lesser Whitethroat
3 Garden Warbler
1 Blackcap (male)
1 Willow Warbler
1 Chiffchaff
2 Wheatear
86 'Alba' Wagtail
35 Meadow Pipit
4 Swallow
1 Barn Owl
1 Kestrel
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Song Thrush
5 Siskin
1 Golden Plover
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Reed Bunting

Plus the usual Tree Sparrow, Linnet, Goldfinch, Yellowhammer etc.  Didn't take too many pics today but here's some of them... and one from yesterday that I really like!

 Kestrel

Lesser Whitethroat 

Song Thrush 

 Whinchat (and Sheep)

Just the Whinchat

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl 

Red-breasted Flycatcher - really like this photo! One of 3 found yesterday, this individual would come to within 10 feet of us and at one time flew straight out at me to catch a midge! Not as crazy as the Spotted Flycatcher that took on a dragonfly!

Back in the local area we're rapidly sinking under water! Should be good for Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks for the local area year-listers in the next few days!  Decent flock of waders/gulls forming near Elvington where had several hundred Lapwing, 80 Golden Plover, 1 Dunlin, 2 Ruff and a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull.  Today the waders had increase to 200 Golden Plover, 560 Lapwing, 2 Ruff, 3 Dunlin and best of all 2 Grey Plovers! Definitely one to keep an eye on!

What a Day!!!

What a day that was! Awesome!  My mate Ade caught a PGTips at Whitburn, and another couple of mates Tim and Jack scored with Lancy on North Ron check out Tims pics of this and a Little Bunting on the North Ron blog!!! What about me? Well, I didn't fare too badly either....

I had a meeting this morning over in Beverley so I thought it would be rude not to check out the coast afterwards so headed over to the north of Flamborough where it was visibly different to my visit last Sunday, i.e. there was some birds to look at! I didn't bother with the south side where there was Greenish Warbler, 5/6 Yellow-browed Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, Firecrest, Red-breasted Flycatcher...

Some of the highlights from where I went today included:

3 Red-breasted Flycatcher
2 Yellow-browed Warbler
1 Barred Warbler
2/3 Spotted Flycatcher
6+ Pied Flycatchers
c15 Redstart
5/6 Whinchat
12+ Wheatear
1 Common Whitethroat
3 Garden Warbler
2 Reed Warbler
4+ Blackcap
c12+ Willow Warbler
c5+ Chiffchaff
Brambling
12+ Song Thrush
Decent numbers of Robin

I managed to get the following shots... I do like my new camera! Will be great when I get chance to read the instruction book so I know what setting is what!

Pied Flycatcher 

Pied Flycatcher 

Red-breasted Flycatcher (1 of 3 found today) 

Red-breasted Flycatcher (1 of 3 found today)

Redstart 

 Whinchat

Whinchat 

Yellow-browed Warbler (1 of 2 found today)

WHITE'S THRUSH FINDERS ACCOUNT with pics...

Woke up this morning wondering if I'd be regretting not trying to get on a charter to Fair Isle for the Magnolia Warbler, luckily I wasn't.  As I stepped outside it was clear something different was going on.  A look around as I walked the dogs and the penny dropped. It was quiet. No House Martin and no Swallows flying around the house. All gone.

A day in the office was hard, wishing I was working the coast somewhere, then from lunchtime onwards it got worst, White's Thrush on the Farnes (READ THE FINDERS ACCOUNT HERE, see awesome in-hand pictures etc here and some more new photos here) the first in the county since 1914!! Then some pretty decent birds scattered from north to south...Blyth's Pipit, Olive-backed Pipit, Richard's Pipit, Paddyfield Warbler, River Warbler, Booted Warbler, Sykes Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Little Bunting, Common Rosefinch more Red-breasted Flycatchers and Yellow-browed Warblers, tonnes of Redstart by all accounts with other typical migrants such as Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher etc...

I've got a meeting in Beverley tomorrow so fingers crossed I may be able to head to the coast afterwards for a hour or so...

Almost as exciting as the list above, one from yesterday....

Spot the Bluetail....