Colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls at Sandy Cove

19/12/16 - In the roost at the Forty-foot.
Red PRN6: - Ringed as an adult on a nest at Mietkow in Poland on 26/05/15. It was first recorded in Ireland on 03/08/15 at Sandycove, and stayed in the same area until 01/03/16. It was recorded back in Poland on 30/03/16 at Sulislawice, and again on 08/04/16. On 17/04/16 it was at Lobnitz gravel pit in Germany, and was back at Sandycove on 19/07/16. It has been seen there regularly ever since.

This map from the website http://ring.stornit.gda.pl/, run by the Polish ringing group Polring indicates at least 2 records from the Netherlands, which I couldn't find on their database. The German record looks like it might be on passage.

26/12/16 - Close to the shoreline at Sandy Cove.
Green AKAJ: Ringed as a pullus on the nest on 01/07/11 in Hamburg. Its first Irish sighting was on 02/03/12, it stayed until 22/05/12, well into the breeding season. It popped up on Merseyside on 09/06/12, before coming back to Ireland from 18/12/12 to 06/04/13. Looks like a bit of juvenile wandering about in its first year.

It has returned to Ireland every autumn since, first sighting dates vary from 27/06 to 02/08, and it stays in the Sandycove area until returning to Germany (presumably) to breed. It usually leaves in the first week of March (dates vary from 01/03 to 12/03). There is only one record from mainland Europe besides the original ringing record, and that was on 08/04/16 when it was at Niedersachsen in Germany

26/12/16 - Close to the shoreline at Sandy Cove.
Yellow 2X1J: Ringed as a juvenile on 03/12/13 at Sandycove. It stayed in the same area until its last sighting on 12/03/14. Since then it has followed the same general pattern as other Med Gulls, arriving at Sandycove every autumn between 21/07 and 17/10, and staying through the winter until leaving in Spring, with last sighting dates between 22/02 and 18/03

Its breeding ground seems to be on Pionierinsel Island at Niedersachsen in Germany, where it was seen regularly between 10/04/15 and 20/06/15, returning the following year when there were sightings on 14/05/16 and 22/05/16 at the same site. It was identified as a male with territorial behaviour in 2015, and was retrapped and measured in Germany on 23/05/15.

Rogerstown Estuary - 22nd Dec

A morning trip to Rogerstown Estuary in search of winter finches etc. Very birdy. The hedgerows at the top of the reserve had large numbers of birds, including a Yellowhammer, large flocks of Linnets, smaller numbers of Reed Bunting, Common Stonechat, Redwing, Song Thrush, and a Mistle Thrush. Deeper into the reserve were flocks of finches, including more Linnets, many Chaffinch, some Bullfinch, a Goldfinch and a Common Siskin.

The tide was out in the estuary, and the mud was loaded with many hundreds of Lapwings, as well as several species of wildfowl including Eurasian Wigeon, Common Teal, Common Shelduck and Brent Goose. Waders included Whimbrel, a Curlew, Common Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Knot.

An interesting feature of the reserve was an enormous roost of at least 300 Wood Pigeons.

Best bird was probably a Raven that flew over, though a Common Kingfisher in one of the ditches was also a nice surprise.

Adult Yellowhammer

Reed Bunting

The farms on the reserve are used for rare breeds of domestic livestock, some of them are pretty freaky to look at...

Dun Laoghaire - 19th Dec

Back in Ireland for Christmas, and back to my favourite coastal site. Most of the usuals present, including Black Redstart, Water Pipit, Black Guillemot, Common Guillemot and Mediterranean Gull.

Female/ immature Black Redstart. I hadn't seen any reports of this species this winter, but I went looking on the off chance and got lucky!

Rock Pipit. This was the palest individual I saw, which contrasted strongly with the rest which are much darker (see next picture). All other plumage details point to Rock Pipit, it's just very pale. Maybe a first winter bird?

A more conventionally coloured Rock Pipit.

Winter-plumaged Black Guillemot

Winter-plumaged Common Guillemot. Nice to see these two together showing the differing structure and posture.

Common Redshank

Eurasian Oystercatcher with a limpet.

Mediterranean Gull. At least 58 spread between the piers at Dun Laoghaire, Sandy Cove and The Forty Foot. Most birds were at the last spot. 

Ring number PRN6. Mediterranean Gull ringed as an adult in Poland on 26/05/2015. It spends most of the year in Ireland, and is most often seen at Scotsman's Bay (probably at the roost at The Forty Foot). It has been seen twice at a coastal site in Germany, as it travels between Ireland and Poland (5 sightings) where presumably it breeds in the summer.

Juvenile Herring Gull 

Juvenile Great Black-backed Gull

Harbour Seal

Long-eared Owl at Jones' Beach - 10th December

Last weekend a Long-eared Owl was reported from Jones' Beach. It wasn't seen during the week so I assumed it was gone, but decided to try anyway as I hadn't anything better to do. I bumped into a couple of other birders at the Coast Guard station, and we joined up to scour the median. The place was absolutely jumping with Red-breasted Nuthatches. While I was waiting for a flock to approach me so I could get a decent photograph I noticed that their call notes change. Suddenly there were a lot of alarm calls, and I guessed they might have found the owl for me. I moved forward, and sure enough, low down in one of the conifers was a magnificent adult Long-eared Owl.

The views were unobstructed, and absolutely fantastic. It was very alert at first, as I didn't spot it until I was fairly close, but after moving back a bit it settled down.

Sibley suggests that the male has some rufous markings on the belly which I don't see here, so my assumption would be that this is a female. I can find no reference to this in any of several other sources I checked so I'm a bit unsure about that. It is very strongly marked underneath, much more so than those I've seen elsewhere (UK, Dubai).

Red-breasted Nuthatch. Thanks for the heads-up!

Horned Lark in the car park at West End 2.

Short-eared Owl at Shawangunk Grasslands - 26 Nov

Finally managed to get up to Shawangunk at the right time of year for the Short-eared Owls. I got on site at about 3:30. At first the only birds in sight were a fair number of Northern Harriers. I counted a minimum of 7 (4 ring-tails and 3 'grey ghosts') but there were probably more than that. Maybe a dozen or so in total. The first Short-eared Owl showed at about 4:30, followed quickly by others. I saw at least 4 in flight together, so there were almost certainly more than that.

Conditions for photography were not great, nevertheless here is a shot containing no less than 3 Short-eared Owls!

A pair of Northern Harriers.

Western Tanager in City Hall Park - 25th Nov

City Hall Park has really turned it on this autumn with yet another rarity, this time a Western Tanager which was found yesterday morning. Accordingly I caught an early train and got down there before the crowds. I found it quite quickly, in same area it had been seen yesterday. There were a few other birders there, and pretty soon everyone was on the bird. It moved south in the park, staying pretty high in the canopy, and I left it after about an hour. A nice quick twitch!

Female Western Tanager showing the smallish pink bill, white wing-bars, and yellow underparts.

The light was very poor, and the bird stayed high so the photographs are particularly bad, but what a bird!

Ash-throated Flycatcher in Lido Beach - 20th Nov

Two separate Ash-throated Flycatchers were seen in New York this weekend. A bird has been present at a small park in the town of Lido Beach, on the south shore of Long Island, since last weekend. A second was found at a small park in Brooklyn. I decided to try for the Lido Beach bird, a smart choice as it turns out, several birders were pulled up by the NYPD in Brooklyn as the park wasn't really a public park. The clue was that you had to sneak through a hole in a fence to get to it. I believe a couple of summonses were issued.

Despite the very high wind blasting the coast today I found the Ash-throated Flycatcher after about half an hour of searching.

Quite a smart individual all round.

The only other one of these I've seen was in Connecticut almost exactly a year ago, so a state bird for me.

Yellow-breasted Chats in Lower Manhattan - 12th November

This has been a bumper year for Yellow-breasted Chats, with birds turning up all over the place, including Marshlands, Central Park and several sites on Long Island. Most have been short-stayers (hence my failure to connect), but this week two tiny little patches of green in downtown Manhattan hosted one each, for several days. Having no family commitments on Saturday morning I headed down to see if I could finally catch up with one of these enigmatic 'warblers'.

 My first stop was the graveyard at Trinity Church on the corner of Broadway and Wall St. This was the same spot I had a Connecticut Warbler last year. I found the chat quite quickly, but there isn't too much cover for it to hide in! It was a little flighty, but eventually settled down for a few pictures.

If this brute is a warbler, then so am I, but no matter. The Sibley Guide that is my preferred source illustrates the eastern and western races (but doesn't give the scientific name for the ssp. so I had to find that elsewhere. The National Geographic guide since you ask). This is clearly the eastern race, Icteria virens virens. The western ssp. I. v. auricollis has a white malar stripe, which this doesn't.

Sibley also illustrates the male as having a monotone, all-black bill, while the female has a two-tone bill, pale below dark above. (though no mention of this is made in the text of any of my North American field guides). I see a monotone bill, not black though. I do see dark lores, but not the black I was expecting Maybe a juvenile bird, but no idea of sex.

The individual in the tiny pocket park called Millenium Park, a few blocks further north is quite different. The lores are clearly black, and the bill is strongly two-tone, and blunter. I'd say the sex is certainly female, maybe a first-year bird, or could even be an adult.

In the same park was this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. It has made this tiny spot its home as every tree had neat rows of holes drilled in them.

First-year Hermit Thrush, also using the gravestones in Trinity Church graveyard as a perch.

Slate-coloured Junco

Pink-footed Goose in Valley Stream park - 5th November

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason,
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Unless that is a state rarity like a Pink-footed Goose should turn up down the road. In the last few years the numbers of this species migrating from Greenland down to the north-east coast of the US have been increasing steadily. They are now annual on Long Island, and this individual arrived with a group of Canada Geese earlier in the week. It has taken up residence on a lake in a small park called Valley Stream state park.

Amongst the Canadas was this fairly small, square-headed, short-billed Cackling-type goose. It doesn't have all the characteristics that would make the ID certain, but it's quite interesting.

Nelson's Sparrow at Plumb Beach - 9th October

After last week's failure I headed down to Plumb Beach to try and find Nelson's Sparrow. The weather was pretty horrible, but I prevailed, and, close to the outlet of the stream I started to find some sparrows. The birds were pretty flighty, and not inclined to sit at the top of the grass stems for very long, but I did find 5 birds, two of which sat still long enough to confirm that yes, they were Nelson's Sparrow. Unfortunately the birds I could photograph were not exactly classic, at best Saltmarsh/ Nelson's hybrids.

Compared to the Saltmarsh from last week this bird has a smaller bill and less brightly coloured malar stripe but the flank streaking should be more smudged.

The white belly is also more clearly defined, and the background colour of the breast and flanks is less white, and more buffy. Still

Saltmarsh Sparrows on Randall's Island - 3rd Oct

On Saturday a report on ebird mentioned Nelson's Sparrows at a small saltmarsh at the north end of Randall's Island. Having Monday off I headed there instead of to work. I very quickly located the marsh, and the first birds I saw were three Saltmarsh-type sparrows. I got excellent views over the next half an hour, but I couldn't convince myself that I was looking at any 'pure' Nelson's One individual seemed to have a palar malar stripe, but the breast streaking of all three birds was quite clear, not at all smudged in the way I would expect.

Bird no.1, Saltmarsh Sparrow. Classic features, malar stripe more brightly orange than breast, strong bill, clearly dark streaked flanks

Possibly bird no 2. (could be no 1 again, they moved around and it was hard to be sure which was which). Similarly well-marked individual to no.1, and also a Saltmarsh Sparrow.

Bird no.3. A much paler malar stripe was the only feature that resembled Nelson's, everything else here say Saltmarsh. A high proportion of Nelson's Sparrows show indications of hybridisation with Saltmarsh, and I think this bird might fall into that category, hybrid Saltmarsh x Nelson's Sparrow.