Crossbills

Crossbills are one of the few species that have prospered in commercial coniferous plantations.  Lodgepole Pine and Sitka Spruce seem to be attractive to the species.  The following are a few shots taken recently in west Clare.

2nd year Female

Adult Male

Juveniles

Juvenile

Autumn Waders

Most of my wader watching this Autumn was in the Seafield, Quilty and Lahinch areas in Co. Clare.

Curlew Sandpipers, which breed in the Siberian Arctic, were the first of the scarcer waders to arrive at Seafield beach in early September. These two juvenile birds were present on 5/9/2020.

The first Little Stints, which breed in northern most extremities of Scandinavia and Russia, arrived later in the month. This bird was one of three present on 18/9/2020.

This lone juvenile Knot below was also in the wader flock on 18/9/2020 along with the Dunlin, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Sanderling and one remaining Curlew Sandpiper.

Juvenile Dunlin

Adult Turnstone with juvenile Knot 

Juvenile Sanderling

The Loop Head peninsula also provided some wader watching opportunities. It usually holds a flock of Golden Plover in the Autumn.  While counting the flock of 35 birds on 14/9/21 I came across these two Buff-breasted Sandpipers.  These transatlantic vagrants are usually fairly approachable, but unfortunately not in the company of the nervy Goldies.

Ruff is another scarce wader in West Clare and I spotted this one on the 17th fairway at Lahinch Golf Club as I was driving past it on 6/9/2020.

Pacific Golden Plover

A 1st summer Pacific Golden Plover was found by Geoff Pearson at Doonbeg, Co. Clare on June 29th, 2020.  It was a first County record for Clare and also a new tick for me when I got to see it on June 30th.  It was great to get such a rarity so close to home here in the mid west, as most previous records have been in the south east and the north west.  Coincidently I also saw my first American Golden Plover at this site several years ago.

Bonaparte's Gull

Jeff Copner found a very smart looking adult summer Bonaparte's Gull at Clahane, Liscannor, Co. Clare in early August.  I caught up with it at the end of the month (26/8/2019) at Liscannor Harbour.  I had previously seen this American species in winter plumage, so I was pleased to see that it was still retaining much of its breeding plumage. Young birders Brian McCloskey and Cathal Forkan were on it when I arrived.

Bonaparte's Gull with Black-headed Gull

Brian and Cathal had also picked up an adult winter Mediterranean Gull.  It's a scarce but regular species in the mid west so it's always nice to come across one locally.

Bonaparte's Gull with Mediterranean Gull

 

Gull Quest to Kilkee

I set out for Kilkee, Co. Clare on Saturday March 23rd to look for the 1st winter American Herring that was found there earlier in the week.  The bird had been seen there earlier in the morning by Murf, so I was hopeful it would show again at some stage.    Most of a loaf of bread later, I had to head for home without connecting with it.

As it was a fine bright day we managed to have some good birding, in spite of the yank no show.
First up was a 1st winter Iceland Gull at the shoreline, followed quickly by a  Red-throated Diver in the middle of the bay.  Next up was a 1st winter male Long-tailed Duck who obligingly came closer to the shoreline.

Long-tailed Duck

 Next up was an adult Iceland Gull that was attracted by the bread.

  

Adult Iceland Gull

We had a few interesting looking gulls including this adult Herring Gull below that apperared to have yellowish legs.  The primary pattern suggested the that it was the local race Larus argentatus argenteus rather than the northern race L.a. argetatus, which can have yellow legs.

Herring Gull with yellow legs.

There was nice mix of waders around, lots of Sanderling, some Dunlin, Oystercatchers, Redshank and a few Turnstone.

Turnstone

As luck would have I met a few Kerry birders when I was heading away and they eventually caught up with the bird later in the day.


Call back later for more details!

Yellow-legged Gulls

The past winter once again brought a handfull of new Yellow-legged records for Limerick with four birds recorded, slighty up on last winter's haul of three individuals and including at least two new birds to the area.  First up was a 2nd winter bird at Thomond Weir in Limerick City on 31/12/2017, the eight record for the County.  For a bird about to enter its third calendar year it had advanced plumage on much of the scapulars, tertials, lesser and median coverts as well as a few all white tail feathers.  It also had a distinct yellow tone on its legs.

Advanced 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull

A week later on 6/1/2018 another 2nd winter bird turned up at O'Callaghan's Strand in the City.  This bird however had noticeably less advanced plumage on the lesser and median coverts than the new bird found the previous week.  Interestingly it looked like and behaved very like the 1st winter bird that frequented the same area a year earlier.  It was relatively tame as big gulls go and was still exhibiting the same begging posture and calls as the previous year's bird.

Returning 2nd Winter Yellow-legged Gull.

Next up was a 1st winter bird again at O'Callaghan's Strand on 17/2/18, a ninth record for the County.

1st winter Yellow-legged Gull

Finally I found an adult bird frequenting the area between Corbally Weir, on the northern edge of the City, and the Athlunkard area on the Co. Clare side of the River Shannon on 13/1/2018.  Once again this bird's habits were very similar to the 3rd winter bird that I found in the same area a year previously.

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

Radde's Warbler

I struck it lucky last Monday (30/10/2017) when I arrived at Loop Head, Co. Clare just as John N. Murphy and Tony Mee were viewing a Radde's Warbler that John had found a few minutes earlier by the south side of lighthouse road.  This lively bird gave great views all day as it fed along the roadside bank and occasionally in the adjoining field. 

It was a first record for Clare and a great find by Murf!  While I had seen a few of them on the south coast last year I delighted to see this one closer to home.  It was completely unphased by all the attention from birders who gathered to see it and provided lots of good photo opportunities.

It was a good day's birdwatching with several Yellow-browed Warblers, Chiffchaffs, a male Blackcap, a Merlin and large numbers of Redwings, Song Thurshes and Blackbirbs.  This Chiffchaff was one of three in a small cluster of willows near Kilbaha village.