Little shearwater

 

I was supposed to be out on a pelagic off Loop head on saturday morning but due to rough weather it was cancelled. The weather didn't look too promising for a sea watch but good enough to give it a try. It started well with leach's petrel and a few skuas, sooty shears, a blue fulmar and balearic shear. After the morning fry and some wader hunting on nearby beaches we moved to the Fodry to try our luck again. The seawatching spot here was fantastic, a little higher than the bridges but a much wider area of sea infront and a lot more protection from the wind. We were barely there 30 mins when the little shear was picked up coming towards us. It was so far to our right that there was no panic and both of us were able to get onto it very quickly with the directions from the finder. The bird was immediately obvious, flight, size, colour, just everything was different. The angle of the body was slightly angled up, wings arched slightly and shallow wingbeats below the horizontal. When flying away from us it was very common sandpiper like! It never banked high, never near the vertical reached by manxies rolling out of the troughs. Flying low over the water, it disappeared into troughs regularly but our elevated height allowed us to get better views than would have been possible at the bridges. Every time it re-emerged from the trough it was instantly obvious, it was never lost or confused with the manx which were streaming past. Its hard to know but it was probably on view for 3 mins or so, plenty of time to take it all in, certainly a lot longer than we would have had if we picked it up from the bridges.

 It was also great that it was just 3 of us there, the directions were clear and straight forward,- the memory of the panic when a fea's went past the bridges  a few years back will always stay with me. Awful directions, several seconds from the initial muffled call until any directions came out and then the panic of a mass of bodies diving across infront to view it from on top of the hollow.I don't think I will be going back to the regular spot again!

Hard to convey just how obvious the bird was, it was very difficult to make out the eye due to a combination of the evening light and distance. I had a zoom eye piece, and after finding it at 20x I zoomed into 60 which was too much. I could find the bird easily but the shake was just too much to really enjoy it. Zooming out a little to around 50x was perfect. I couldn't make out any secondary bars but a sooty shearwater like pale panel on the far secondaries was always clear.
The following day was another good one, a few leaches, sooties, balearics, a black tern (which I couldn't get onto) juv little gull and a great selection of skuas. The views of the skuas were great, they were usually picked up coming towards us from quite a distance, their flight style and shape could be watched and compared. Have a few pages of sketches Im hoping to work up this week. Will be interesting to see how they compare with skua watching when the wind is a lot stronger and juvs are the common plumage in the coming weeks.

Snowy Owls and seawatching

 I travelled upto Aranmore Island off Donegal over the weekend for the snowy owl and was hoping for some seawatching. The weather looked good for seawatching Saturday and clearing up to enjoy on the snowy on the sunday.

 Saturday was a slow day, a few sooty shearwaters, artics and bonxies were the best. Myself and a friend spent a few hours searching for the snowy owl in the afternoon with no luck. Later in the evening, we sat out on a hill top hoping to pick it up, just before 9pm it appeared and for the next 40 minutes we enjoyed some incredible views. The bird initially sat in the last rays of evening sun preening before flying to few prominent lookouts in between bouts of hovering upto 100 metres high. It stooped disappearing into heather, re-emerging a few minutes later and feeding on a small mound. It was a little distant and dark to make out what it was feeding on.

 The following day the bird was sitting in a hollow created by turf cutters. Similar hollows all over the same hill side held dozens of feathers and a few pellets.

 I worked up a few sketches today hoping to work on a larger painting when I get some more time.

 This ring-necked duck was on a small lake near Finntown on the way to Aranmore, I saw it on the same lake last October and assumed it would have left for the summer. On the way up it was with a female tufty, no sign of any offspring though.

 This was one of 4 Pomarine skuas seen over the weekend from Aranmore. 3 of which held full 'spoons' and showed immaculate plumage, all skuas seen appeared to be to adults.

Sooty Shearwater, this was one of almost 300 seen on Sunday, along with 6 Great and a single balearic shearwater. The Lighthouse was a fantastic seawatching spot, plenty of walls to shelter no matter what direction the wind is coming from and a great panoramic view. The birds could be followed for long periods and we enjoyed most of the great shears and skuas for almost 3 minutes. Great, pro-longed and often close views of everything that passed.

Recent birding

 Bearded Reedlings

It was a quite day in Wexford on Saturday, but only 2 juv reedlings showed well despite the great weather. A few waders had returned, 12 dunlin and 8 ringed plover, no juvs yet but nice to see autumn migration starting.

   

 This sanderling was one of over 200 on the beach at Pilmore in east cork last week. I spent the evening there, 24 hours before Irelands first Mongolian plover dropped in!

 Juvenile Dunlin from Pilmore last week. About 150 dunlin were on the beach with the sanderling, this was the only juv, the silver ring on it's right leg was unfortunately illegable.

 With the Mongolian plover on Pilmore I worked up a field sketch from China in May, have a few more sketches I'll hopefully get back to work on soon.

Sparrowhawks

 

Juvenile sparrowhawk

In the last 2 weeks, 2 families of sparrowhawks have fledged in my local parks. The juvenile above must have only just left the nest, it was on of atleast 3 that were very vocal and easy to find in the tree tops. 

The birds stayed in the tree tops for the whole evening but gave great pro longed views.

 Fratillary

 Four spotted chaser

 Orange tip

 Painted lady

 Whinchat

Was up in Coronation Plantation in Wicklow recently hoping to find crossbills, groppers and whinchats, in the end I had to settle for just 2 family parties of whinchats. The juvs were pretty skittish, remaining low down in ferns for most of my time there.

 Juv Whinchat

 White tailed eagle

I spent 2 days in Mountshannon hoping to see the young eagles before they fledged. The weather was pretty miserable the whole time I was there, thick fog and drizzling rain meant that the island was barely visible at times! During a few brief clear spells, good views of the male could be had with the 60x.

Bearded tit

The bearded tits seem to be doing well this year, had great views of atleast 4 males and several juveniles at one site in the south east recently. I spent the whole day there and didn't see an adult female, hopefully they are on nests working on the next brood.

 Male reedling

Immature female

Sydney Pelagic

Wandering albatross juv

 On Saturday morning I travelled out of Sydney on a Halicat pelagic, unfortunately it was the only one during my stay as I would love to go out again! It started great with 2-3 humpback whales just out side the harbour,  1 breaching right out of the water. Wandering, shy, yellow-nosed, black-browed and cambells all seen really well. I took out the sketch book briefly but I quickly felt a little queasy and gave up.

Shy albatross

Shy albatross's were constantly around the boat, following us almost back into Sydney harbour. 

Cambells albatross

Black-browed out numbered Cambells but there were still plenty to be seen during the trip. I havn't edited or cropped any of these images, the birds were at arms lenght at times, and the light was stunning for most of the trip.

Black-browed albatross

Hard to know how many were around the boat during the day, had 22 sitting on the water when we reached the deep water shelf with many more circling around. Beautiful birds and hopefully it won't be so long before I see them again.

Short-tailed shearwater

We had a few shearwaters during the day, but the only one to come close was a single short-tailed. It sat on the water just off the boat and allowed it's pale claws be seen to confirm it's identity! 

Fairy Prion

Several prions were around the boat for most of the trip, only rarely would they come close enough for a photograph. Obvious against a dark sea, they disappeared completely when looking against a lighter background. 

Australia

Beach Thick-knee

I have been in Australia for almost two weeks now, visiting my brother in Sydney. I have also tried to get in as much birding as possible with a trip up to Cairns and the surrounding areas. The time of year wasn't the best but have been happy so far, getting great views of most of my target birds. Lots of waders on the mud right below the promenade were a nice surprise. This thick-knee was one of two on Wonga beach, a reliable site for them, but a long walk in hot weather!

Bush thick-knees

These thick-knees were a little more co-operative, 2 of 3 that spent the days under a tree in a quiter area of the centenary lakes in Cairns.

 Noisy Pitta

I was delighted to finally find my first pitta in cairns, on the blue arrow trail overlooking the city. The hike wasn't the toughest, but the 'viewpoint' was very disappointing, completely enclosed by tall trees blocking the view of Cairns below! Fortunately I had already seen what I went for, this was one of 2 seen really well on the trail.

Sacred Kingfisher

 Sacred Kingfishers were quite common, this was one of a pair in the Centenary lakes park in Cairns. I think I saw all the kingfishers in Queensland at this time of year, and was lucky to get great views of them all.

Sooty tern

I went on one of the tourist boats to the reef, stopping off at a sea bird colony off-shore. I was really hoping for bridled terns, but despite searching I had to settle for a few thousand sooty's, noddy's, booby's and a couple of lesser frigatebirds. Had great close and pro-longed views of 3 green turtles, shame I don't have an under water camera!

Australian Bustard

I had some gen on where to find the bustards from staying in the Kingfisher lodge near Cairns, driving a few dirt roads eventually led to my first, followed quickly after by several more. The bird above was one of a pair that refused to move off the road!

Salt-water Croc

I had been hoping to find my own croc by searching from lay-by's over looking rivers but had no luck, eventually I gave in and travelled on a tourist boat from Daintree. I had told them I hoped to see birds and after a quite first trip, I was offered a free trip on the next one where we got great views of this 4 1/2 metre croc plus little and azure kingfishers, Brahimy kite and a few other great birds. 

Great knot

Upto 75 great knot were on the sea front in Cairns at high tide everyday. Most were in winter plumage, but a  few showed some advanced summer plumage. On my final evening I picked up a red knot with the naked eye, delighted at how obvious the bird was, will hopefully be as easy when I find a great knot in Ireland someday! With the knot, there was good numbers of bar-tailed godwits, grey tailed tattlers, red-capped plovers, black-fronted dotterels, lesser sandplovers, whimbrel, 2 terek sandpipers and a sharp-tailed sand. It must be a fantastic location in winter when there are huge numbers wintering here.