Phoenix Park
After work today I drove over to Phoenix park. There’s been talk about the arrival of Redwings and I wondered if I’d see any in the park.
What I saw was even better!
A Fieldfare. Were they here this early last year?
A sure sign of winter - Fieldfare, Phoenix park, 12th October 2010.
If you thought it was too early for a Fieldfare, I think I saw about 20 possible Swallows flying around this evening in the park. How’s that for a clash of seasons?
Juv Swallow or Housemartin, it was difficult to tell. October 12th, 2010.
Mistle Thrush in the grass.
Larger and greyer than a Song Thrush. Key to Mistle Thrush id is the white underwing which you can just make out.
Redwing or Fieldfare? If that's a white underwing then it's a Fieldfare, but it was seemed too small. This bird was in a flock of about 10 which flew above my head. I did see some Redwings but didn't get a photo of any (unless this is one)
Before you look at next photo, you should try and work out what's hiding in the grass..
There were a couple of Jays flitting around, they were too far away for a decent photo though.
6.45pm, would you adam and eve it
And already time to head home.
All in all a very quick hour of birding – but amazed I saw a Fieldfare and it was really nice to see the Jays and Redwings.
Grand Canal, Drimnagh
October evening, Grand canal, Drimnagh
Well, whaddaya know, a whole weekend of heavy grey skies and come Monday, when most of us are back at work, and the sun splits the sky all day. As soon as I got home from work, I headed out for a walk along the canal.
I didn’t see anything unusual along the canal, just the usual suspects, Mallards, Mute Swans, Moorhens, Jackdaw, Black headed Gulls and Hooded Crows.
Hooded Crow, Drimnagh. Unmistakable with grey and black plumage.
One of the many hoodies in Drimnagh.
Male mallard (wearing dog mask).
Female mallard
and another female mallard......or is it?!?!?
If you look closer, you can see the green plumage beginning to show and it's beak is plain yellow = male mallard in eclipse plumage
In comparison, the female shows no signs of any green and her bill is orangey brown, never yellow.
Male and female Mute Swan forming a pair bond
I was puzzled to see this happening in October? I don’t actually know, but I though they’d start forming bonds coming up to breeding season? Not just before winter?
Mute swans
They performed quite a bonding display.
Cob (male swan) on left with darker orange beak compared to the Pen (female swan) on the right.
The knob at the top of the beak is also bigger on male Mute Swans (left).
A familiar sight, the male making himself seem bigger by raising his wings.
Within an hour the sun had already set and it was only 6.45pm. Going to have to make sure I get walks in at lunchtimes because soon it’s going to be dark as soon as I leave work… 
101010
This morning we headed down to Irishtown Nature Reserve for our first outing with Ricardo Collins. Great morning for waders down at the shore, close views of Dunlins and their sewing machine action, Turnstones, poss Greenshank, Redshank, Oystercatchers, Great Crested Grebe in the sea, far off Mergansers and Garganey, Cormorants, a flock of Golden Plover and also a first sighting this year of a Brent Geese fly by (they were heading Bull island direction).
Down near the Poolbeg towers where Susan said she always used to see lots of Stonechats, we didn’t manage to see a single one – not good, well, there was a possible sighting of a female Stonechat but it was too far off to be certain. We did however see a female Reed Bunting and several Robins, Blue tits and Blackbirds.
The tide had come in high and all the waders had disappeared by the time I got back to the car where I had left my camera so I decided I’d head off to Kilcoole to see if 101010 would bring me luck in spotting the Wilson’s Phalarope.
When I pulled up in Kilcoole, Brian was getting out of his car as well, so we headed down the tracks together.
After many stops, the closest we got to the Phalarope was a Greenshank, so Brian called it a day. Happily, I didn’t have to get back home so I continued on down the tracks and saw this, but, I think it’s another Greenshank.
The pluamge of Greenshank and Wilson's Phalarope would be quite similar
But the legs seem too thin and the beak is too grey, if it was WP the beak would be jet black and the legs would be a thicker yellow, so I think this is a Greenshank.
Down where the inland water flows into the sea, there were Oystercatchers, Turnstones, Herring and Black headed gulls.
3rd Yr Herring Gull, white spots on primaries, a 2nd yr is simialr but wouldn’t have the spots
1st yr Herring Gull, black eyes, 2nd and 3rd Yrs have pale eyes
Juv Oystercatcher, black tip to beak
Adult Oystercatcher, all orange beak, no black tip.
I left the inlet and walked back towards the carpark. In one of the lakes I spotted these gulls.
If you look closer there's something different about one of these Black headed gulls
Common Gull, yellow beak with black band. Not too sure if this is a 2nd yr or adult
Common Gull in flight, the white band along the primaries
Further down I spotted my first Shoveler,
My first decent sighting of a Shoveler
Linnet.
Back on the beach there were plenty of Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Wheatears. No Lapland Bunting that I could see.
MEADOW PIPIT, Ian
Meadow Pipit in the evening sun
Very rustic looking Wheatear, showing it's white rear.
Curlew heading to bed.
Resting on a bush just before the carpark I saw this lovely little Dunnock.
Dunnock
Dunnock
Before getting back into the car I took a walk down the laneway behind the carpark and saw a family of Long Tailed tits.
Long Tailed Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Is it just me, or is this LTT wearing read eyeshadow??
A good days birding. My first Shoveler and Common Gull – and sighting of Brent Geese this year.
Happy days.
Ring Ouzel?
Would a Blackbird make it’s home here?
The side of Lugduff mountain, Glenmalure valley, Wicklow. The longest glacial valley in Ireland.
I parked my car at Baravore ford, to go walking around Glenmalure Valley and see what I could see.
If Blackbirds wouldn’t make their homes here, then I think I saw several Ring Ouzels, but I’m not sure.
The left hand bird has very pale chest and head and black back and wings, the others are mostly black all over.
Ring Ouzel? Very black back feathers, but Song Thrush head and very light chin and chest.
There was nothing clear about whether this bird was a Ring Ouzel or a female /juv Blackbird going through extreme moult.
The beaks of the birds I saw were brownish, the back was black, the wings were black with whitish bits, the chest was like a Song Thrush and the head was extremely light. I couldn’t see any yellow eye ring.
It’s the light head that’s throwing me – if it were a black head with a pale chin and chest I’d be more certain of a lean towards Ring Ouzel…but the lightness of it’s upper half makes me wonder was I just looking at a juvenile Blackbird.
This is a photo of the blacker bird which was in the same tree as the bird above.
This was one of the blacker birds, blackish beak and faint yellow eye ring?
Same bird- this shows some white plumage at the top of it's chest and along the shoulder .
I was there for a while, but no singing occurred to help me id the bird by song, there were a few alarm calls but I think the alarm call of the Blackbird and the Ring Ouzel are quite similar – well, there’s a bit of a difference, but the alarm calls were always just a few clucks, so it was impossible to tell.
Any comments on this bird – very welcome.
And actually this bird threw me too. It was so small I thought it was a Goldcrest, then a Wren, but then I saw it’s yellow and was thrown. It had the yellow of a bright Grey Wagtail.
A flash of yellow caught my eye from a tree above the Avonbeg river
Pale chin, creamy, fawn chest, dark legs (so Willow Warbler ruled out)
Great yellow supercilium reaching the ear, black tip to yellow beak, some yellow in chest
White undertail, quite plain back and wings
Needle like bill of a warbler, but which one? I don't think Chiffchaffs have yellow superciliums?
This bird jumped around very quickly and was gone in about 20 seconds, so these photos are all I have. What’s not coming out in the photos though is the yellow. Again, any comments on bird id very welcome.
A Wren. I know that much.
Up at the top of the mountain I saw 3 Ravens flying around
There was an adult Raven attending to a nest - isn't 25th Sept too late for this?
I also saw a Kestrel hovering around, 3 Robins, Blue tits, Coal tits, a male Bullfinch (I think) and a male and female Chaffinch.
The area was amazing and so was the weather, it was cold though. Hopefully down to the weather and not the deathly history of the place (just google Battle of Glenmalure 1580 and 1798 Rising).
Glenmalure Youth Hostel, Wicklow, open for business
http://www.anoige.ie/hostels/glenmalure - no running water or electricity, but you couldn't find a hostel in a more scenic location
I went for a walk past the old youth hostel and as I was walking I began to think that for the birds who make their home down at the bottom of the valley, the sunlight disappears very early in the evening, it wasn’t 5pm yet but the sun had disappeared – so what do they do about their evening song? You know when the birds catch the last rays of sun and sing from the highest branches.
Do they sing as the last light hits the bottom of the valley or do they wait until the sun is going below the horizon?
I certainly didn’t hear any evening song (I wanted to hear the Ring Ouzel/blackbirds) – so maybe an early morning visit or a stay at this hostel would provide the answer through the dawn chorus. If you wake up alive.
The artlilery range is next door.
The 1798 memorial at Baravore ford, Glenmalure, Wicklow.
Red Kite in Autumn
I think this deserves a post all to itself.
'Red Kite in Autumnal setting'. Copyright Doug Simpson. Posted with kind permission
OY27 Redkite, Yorkshire
If you read my post on Saturday you may remember that I saw my first tagged Red kite over my parent’s house in Yorkshire.
OY 27 Red Kite, Yorkshire
OY27
I sent off the tag read to http://www.yorkshireredkites.net and yesterday received this reply from Doug Simpson, the Yorkshire Red Kite co-ordinator:
I know this bird well …. It is one of four rather special birds, these being our first-ever brood of four young – see image. What made it even more remarkable was that the parents were a first-time breeding pair. They’d been ‘adopted’ by a gamekeeper at Arthington who made sure that they didn’t go short of food…
He also went on to say that the other three siblings are doing fine and have gone on to successfully breed in the area.
He kindly attached an image of OY27 when it was a chick, which he has said I can post here:
The first ever brood of 4 Red Kite chicks, all have survived. OY27 is second from left. Photo by Doug Simpson, posted with kind permission.
Doug also sent me a photo of the proud father -
Beautiful photo of the father of the four chicks. Photo by Doug Simpson, posted with kind permission
Doug took this photo with a small digital camera through his telescope!!
Sometimes when you’re looking at a bird you kind of forget the history and experiences the bird has been through in order to survive to the point where we get to see them.
The fact that OY27 might not have been born if that gamekeeper hadn’t kept feeding it’s parents – maybe the parents wouldn’t even have survived if it wasn’t for the gamekeeper! makes the sighting even more interesting.
Thanks again Doug for the photos and info, next time I (hopefully) see OY27, it’s going to be a different experience, feeling that I know some of it’s history.
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