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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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

Today the weather was much better, so I went for a walk around the fields.

I got several Jay sightings, Chaffinches, Long tailed tits, Blue Tits, Rooks, Carrion Crows, Wood Pigeons, Magpies AND…

a Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard

Pale band across the breast, big rounded wings, yellow legs, short neck, short tail length = Common Buzzard, possible juvenile (lack of definite fine cross bars on underwings and lack of dark tail tips).

Close up of Common Buzzard, something I've never seen before

I had been out for a few hours and needed to get back home. I kept an eye out for any other sightings, walked through a tunnel and in front of me was a Buzzard eating a dead rabbit. As soon as it saw me it slowly lifted up and flew away to my huge disappointement. If only I had walked through the tunnel way slower I would have properly seen the Buzzard about a metre away from me.

 

If I had have tiptoed at 0.001mph through this tunnel, I would have fully seen the Buzzard eating this rabbit (mid right)

2 Buzzards, waiting to see if I was going to take their rabbit

I did climb over a fence and wait in vegetation (nettles!) for about 20 mins to see if they’d come back forthe rabbit, but they didn’t, so I headed on.

Red Kite - they must get so tired of being seen off

This one escaped the Carrion Crows

this Red Kite flew over the sheep for a good while and they didn't even look up

Red Kite doing acrobatics, surrouned by 'am I bovverd' sheep

Finally I saw something I’d never seen before, a Red Kite on the ground

A Red Kite on the ground - a first for me

Red Kite, Yorkshire

I’m at home in Yorkshire for the weekend, because 40 years ago this weekend my parents were married (in Dublin). Imagine.

Red Kite, Yorkshire

Worn feathers of a 6 year old Red Kite

 I also saw a possible juvenile flying further away, I’m thinking it’s a juvenile because it’s feathers are in pristine condition.

Perfect Red Kite silhouette, no missing feathers

Primaries and Secondary feathers missing and some tail feathers

Yellow tag = 2004 chick (so this bird is 6 years old), Orange tag = Yorkshire

Tag guide taken from yorkshireredkites.net

All sightings of tagged birds around Yorkshire should be reported to www.yorkshireredkites.net 

I found this really nice article in the Yorkshire Post from April 2010, featuring Doug Simpson, the man behind the Red Kite re-introduction programme in Yorkshire http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-view/Red-kites-flying-high-more.6265807.jp 

  I also saw several Rooks mobbing this Sparrowhawk/Merlin? 

Sparrowhawk? for once mobbing the Rook

Close up - could it even be a Merlin?

All of this was seen from our house at home – amazing. 

Down in Kilcoole, we were lucky enough to have good sightings of a Sparrowhawk, a Buzzard being mobbed by Rooks, a Green shank, 2 Sandwich Terns in amongst the waders, a Sedge Warbler, an adult Razorbill out in the sea, Cormorants, a solo Greater Black backed gull, Teal, possible Wigeon, Mallards,  Oystercatchers, at least two Northern Wheatears, a Stonechat (which I didn’t see, but heard lots of talk about how there are fewer Stonechats in Kilcoole since the harsh winter in January), Black Tailed Godwits, three Little Grebes and of course a Mystery Bird.

If you didn't get to do any birding at the weekend you can click on this to find the Greenshank

Click on this to find the juvenile Sandwich Tern begging for food from it's parent.

Click on this to find Razorbill in winter plumage

The Mystery Bird, Kilcoole, Sunday 12th September.

Possible Bunting? Female or Juvenile Reed Bunting? Lapland Bunting??!?!?

That’s some eye ring around the eye, unless it’s just the way the light is shining on it. I don’t see any eye stripe or supercilium, it has a white undertail, can’t see colour of legs or detail of the bill, but that might be a possible moustachial stripe with creamy/white chin? -I think this will remain a mystery because of the quality of photo – but I think it’s a Bunting and of course I think it might be a Lapland Bunting! If it was feeding on the ground I’d be convinced.

(For a great, definite photo of the Lapland Bunting showing in Balbriggan last week click on Mark Carmody’s flickr page here and here’s an image of a Reed Bunting here.)

The time was 1.30pm already and I thought I had to go home…..then I got a phone call and felt like I had been told I was allowed to stay out to play for longer!

With another few hours to call my own and seeing as I was already down in Wicklow I thought I’d drive down to Wicklow head.

But could I find it?!

I must have driven up and down the R750 6 times, I even asked a woman where Wicklow Head was and she told me to drive back up the R750 and turn right – which I felt I had already done. I even had my OS map in the car – but still I couldn’t find the road where you park near the Lighthouse and walk up the head (I’ve been there before), eventually I gave up and drove over to Vartry Reservoir.

At Vartry I saw 7 Great Crested Grebes all swimming together, a flock of Goldfinches, Grey Wagtails and Cormorants, all of which were really cool to see (even though I did get a text from S who was at Wicklow Head where apparently there were great views of Peregrines).

6 blobs on the water, aka Great Crested Grebes (one with head under water)

Oh yes, I also stopped off at Wicklow port before Vartry and found my third year Herring Gull.

3rd winter Herring Gull. Pale iris, white spots on black primary tips, pale grey feathers all the way up its back and bill starting to turn yellow with black tip turning into a spot.

If I had’ve had even more time I would have loved to have driven over to Military Road, I love it over there, but the sand in my timer had run out, so I headed back up the M50 home. Another great day birding where the hours just disappeared (too quickly).

Thanks to South Dublin branch for organising the Kilcoole outing.