Scarlet Tanager

It was a great week for American passerine vagrants in Ireland and the Scarlet Tanager found by Harry Hussey last Tuesday (3/10/17) at Mizen Head, Co. Cork, a firth Irish record, was one I was keen to catch up.  I missed out on the previous one at Garinish, Co. Cork in 2008 so I made the long trip to west Cork on Friday (6/10/17) along with Tony Mee to see this one.

Fortunately for us the bird showed up within an hour of our arrival and gave us some good views on and off over a 20 minute period.  We also got a view of a Yellow-browed Warbler at the same location and one very brief view of the other American passerine in the area, the Red-eyed Vireo at Toor on the north side of the peninsula.

 

Little Stint

There were at least fout Little Stints at Blackrock Strand, Co. Kerry last week (25/9/2017). Two of the birds are featured in the shots below.

The two photos below include a juvenile Dunlin moulting into winter plunage, to the right of one of the Stints.

Curlew Sandpiper

The variety and numbers of scarce migrant waders picked up noticeably on the west coast during the last week of September.  I took a trip to Blackrock strand in north Kerry on 25/9/2017 in the hope of getting a few shots of the adult White-rumped Sandpiper that had been in the area during the previous week. While a got some brief views it never stayed around long enough to to allow me to capture a few shots.  The five Curlew Sandpipers present were much more obliging and were often willing to come close to the camera along with the four Little Stints and the many Dunlin and Sanderling on the beach.  All of the photos below are of juveniles; the lone moulting adult bird on the beach escaped the lens.