Bull and Howth

North Bull Island, Family of Little Egrets flying over.

Despite this beautiful blue sky, the weather forecast was for ‘heavy showers’, so I decided Bull island and Howth were good locations for the day, I could do some birding with my car nearby if I needed shelter from the rain.

Middle of the pic - Too early for Shoveler - I couldn't see what duck this was with the large bill. It deffo wasn't a Mallard, there were plenty of them around and this one was not a Mallard. So I have no idea.

Can you spot the 2 Pied wagtails and the Wheatear without double clicking?

Gross to see a Wheatear in amongst the litter we leave.

Female Wheatear?

This was the third rainstorm to pass over and since the tide was in, I decided I'd drive over to Howth.

In Howth, it was summer, summer, summer time

Or so this Swallow thought - tis nearly mid September now Ms Swallow and nearly time for you to fly back to South Africa.

Learning my Gulls is something I’ve found difficult, so something I’ve tended to avoid, but this afternoon I tried to focus and pick out different stages of Herring Gulls amongst all the various gulls that hang around Howth.

1st winter Herring Gull? Pink legs, light grey feathers on its back, dark bill getting paler.

..and dark eyes..by its 2nd year a Herring Gull's iris will have become pale, by the time its an adult it will have a red ring around the outside, when it's in it's first year the iris is completely dark.

It will take a Herring Gull 4 years before it loses it's black tail band, an adult Herring Gull will have a pure white tail.

Not 100% sure if this is a 2nd year, think it might be 1st year winter again, with the sun shining on it's dark iris making it look lighter.

2nd year Winter Herring Gull with adult plumage growing through? Bigger 1st winter Greater Black backed gull to it's left.

A 2nd year Herring Gull? Not 1st year because of pale iris and not 3rd year because gull still has carpal bar of juv feathers, also 3rd year should have white spots on primary tips.

Adult Herring Gull sporting the 'fierce' look. The streaked head is a sign of winter plumage, in summer it's head would be pure white.

Adult Herring gull in winter plumage

Adult Herring Gull - you can see the red eye ring around it's eye. The bill has finally become all yellow with the orange guiney.

Adult Greater Black backed Gull

1st winter Greater Balck backed gull. Pink legs, all black bill, dark eyes, definite pattern to feathers and Massive.

Yep, another rainstorm approaching - 6th of the day.

After another rainstorm, there was another rainbow.

Amazing

Rainbow over Howth Head

Turnstone, Howth

Arctic Tern or Common Tern? I'm going juvenile Arctic Tern.

This was the final heavy cloud of the evening. After this mofo covered the sun, there was going to be no reprieve, so it was time to call it a day.

Another very good day birding. I felt I learnt my Herring Gull stages – just didn’t see a 3rd yr gull – but that gives me something to look out for next time.

Mystery birds in Howth

Broadmeadows Estuary, Swords, Sunday morning

After yesterday’s sighting of the Ruff I headed back down to Swords to try and get another, better look. On the way down to Swords I stopped at Bull Island, there wasn’t much happening there (no Brent), I also stopped at the Texaco garage to see if the Glossy Ibis was there but, again, it wasn’t.

Black tailed Godwits, Redshanks, Lapwing, Herring Gull - Swords Estuary

With my scope I spotted the Stone Curlew, it's the one with the white breast in the middle of all the Godwits and Redshanks *EDIT - First of all I meant Curlew Sandpiper, Secondly, it's actually a Greenshank.

I saw the Ruff again and after a couple of hours I got back in my car and headed over to the other side of the Estuary.

The other side seems to be Mute Swan and Mallard territory.

Swan Road

Male Mute Swan

Bar Headed goose?? Escaped ??

Is this resident here at Broadmeadows – do people know about it being there?

I left the punk goose to the Swans and Mallards and drove over to Howth harbour.

Starling in Howth. Just look at the green sheen in the feathers and the fawn brown edges - then the bright white darts on the jet black - beautiful - and Then it began to 'sing'! Amazing bird.

A woman threw a piece of bread into the air

Then some Spanish tourists threw in a fish - juvenile Herring Gulls

You can see the young Herring Gull at the bottom got the fish (Greater black backed above).

It had a fight on its hands to keep the fish

But it was fast and was able to fly awy from the rest. The gull on the left is losing it's juvenile feathers.

And off it flew - just look at the detail in the feathers, it will take 4 years to lose all these feathers to acquire full adult Herring Gull plumage.

So now to the MYSTERY BIRDS…

Swimming around in the harbour were 3 auks – I can’t work out if they’re 1st winter Guillemots or Razorbills – any opinions very welcome.

Close up of the first bird - the black stripe through its eye could be either Guillemot or Razorbill 1st Winter, but the pointed beak and streaks on its side suggest Guillemot *UPDATE- This is an adult Guillemot in winter plumage

2nd bird - no black stripe through eye and not a pointed bill = 1st winter Razorbill?? *UPDATE - correct

Let me show you my white underwings - Guillemots have black armpits - not visible here - so not a Guillemot? *UPDATE- 1st winter Razorbill

and my moves

Bill is stubby not pointy though = 1st winter Razorbill

Any opinions on the punk goose and the Guillemot/Razorbill auk in Howth harbour very welcome.