Blue-winged Teal

I made a quick trip to Coonagh last Sunday(1/9/13) morning followed by a visit to the Charleville Lagoons.  Things were quiet at both sites.  The tide was out at Coonagh so the absence of waders there was no surprise.  A Snipe was the only wader on view at Charleville, a site that was always good for scarce Sandpipers in the past.  I did come across several Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers that provided some good photo opportunities. See shots below.

I returned to Coonagh on Tuesday(3/9/13) evening as weather conditions were perfect and the tide was high. Waders again proved to be in short supply, a small flock of Lapwing being the only species present.  I was scanning the upper lagoon hoping to see if there was any sign of the Garganey that had been hanging around all summer when things took a dramatic turn for the better. I picked up what looked like a drake Blue-winged Teal in the distance.   Closer inspection confirmed the identification.  It was the second record of the species for the site, the first being in October 2010, and the sixth record for the County.

Drake Blue-winged Teal ©Tom Tarpey

Drake Blue-winged Teal  with Coot ©Tom Tarpey

Drake Blue-winged Teal  with Shoveler ©Tom Tarpey

Drake Blue-winged Teal with Coot ©Tom Tarpey

Blue-winged Teal are normally slow to moult out of eclipse plumage and generally the drakes don't appear in full plumage until November.  This bird has well advanced head feather moult. The body feathers generally seem to be still in eclipse mode however there are some signs of the white thigh patches starting to emerge.

While I was looking at the Teal a female/juvenile/type Garganey came into view.  Tony Mee and I had seen what appeared to be two birds in similar plumage flying around the site about ten days earlier but we didn't get a chance to view them on the water.  This bird looks like a possible juvenile bird.  It is noticeably different to the adult female bird that I saw there the following evening (4/9/13) in the company of an eclipse male.  This bird appears buffer in tone and with a less pronounced head pattern than the adult female.  All of these sightings point to the likelihood that the pair may have bred successfully at Coonagh this summer.

 Garganey ©Tom Tarpey 

Going back to Charleville, the adult birds there were looking the worst for ware after the breeding season, whereas the juvenile birds were looking much fresher. 

Adult Chiffchaff ©Tom Tarpey 

Juvenile Willow Warbler ©Tom Tarpey 

Whitethroat

I paid a number of visits to Gooig Bog near Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, in the past few weeks in search of Spring migrants.  This partly dug out bog, straddling the Limerick/Tipperary border, is always a good spot to catch up with the first arrivals.  Most migrants have been at least two to three weeks later than previous years because of the persistent northerly winds and poor weather on mainland Europe.  I saw my first Whitethroat of the year there yesterday and heard a few others nearby.  I also had my first Cuckoo there one evening last week and Willow Warblers in the middle of the month.

Whitethroats can be skulking in behaviour and are reluctant to show themselves even when singing so it can be quite difficult to get a full clean view shot. Unlike may of the earlier arrivals they appear to be arriving on schedule this year.

Whitethroat  ©Tom Tarpey

The Cuckoo appeared late in the evening but was still calling vigorously and causing consternation among the local Meadow Pipits.  I just about manged to get a few shots in the fading light. It appears that the arrival of Cuckoos here was at least a week behind normal due to the poor spring weather.  This impact can clearly be seen from an ongoing satellite tracking study of Cuckoos in Britain (http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies). Of the five birds in the study only one had arrived back in Britain by April 26th and up to today the number was still only at two, with a third bird having briefly crossed into England and promptly reversed south back to France. One bird still remains in Morocco.  Considering this information the the first two birds reported in Limerick on April 23rd and 25th appear to be very much at the head of the posse this year. 

 The BTO study is well worth a look.  The movements of the birds can be tracked on a daily basis throughout the year. It shows a very marked south easterly bias on the southward migration through the central Mediterranean, down into Libya or Egypt, resting in the Sahel belt in Chad and finally wintering in the Congo. The northward migration is quite different with birds moving north westwards initially, filtering up to Nigeria and the Ivory coast before crossing the western Sahara.  They also take a more westerly route through Europe via Spain and France.  Interestingly it shows that some of the birds spend less than two months of the summer in Europe.

Cuckoo (male) ©Tom Tarpey

Willow Warblers are perhaps the most characteristic species of places like Gooig Bog, as they are fairly abundant and they tirelessly fill the area with their descending song through Spring and early Summer.

  

Willow Warbler ©Tom Tarpey