White-winged Black Tern

I was back in my local patch at Coonagh during the week to check up on the summering wildfowl and search for autumn migrants.  Following a week of strong winds, starting southeasterly, then moving to southerly and eventually to westerly, there was a good chance of something interesting showing up.  This turned out to be the case when a juvenile White-winged Black Tern was found there today.

This is the third record of the species for County Limerick, the previous ones being 1875 and 1990, and the first for Coonagh.  The site is proving quite attractive to migrant Terns with Common, Arctic and Black Terns all recorded here on a number of occasions in the past few years.

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 

Snipe

I was back at my local patch in Coonagh last Saturday morning along with Tony Mee.  The tide was high so we were expecting to see good numbers of waders roosting in the lower lagoon.  We did have a flock of Lapwing but surprisingly few Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank.  A Common Sandpiper on the river bank was a nice surprise as they are not particularly abundant that far up the estuary.  We also picked up a few Snipe including this one below lurking at the edge of the small intermediate pond.  

Snipe ©Tom Tarpey

There was a nice variety of duck present including two small parties of Shoveler and a few Wigeon that we assumed were recent arrivals, although a lone Shoveler had been seen there on a few occasions over the summer.

Shoveler  ©Tom Tarpey

We also had party of five Gadwall and brief views of what appeared to be a pair of juvenile Garganey.  Both of these species have been present at the site over the summer so it is tempting to think that they may have successfully bred. In the case of the Gadwall this was the third summer that the species has been present at the site.

Gadwall ©Tom Tarpey

 

Redpoll

I paid a few visits to the Coonagh Nature Reserve in late May and early June to see if the improving weather conditions and easterly airflow would deliver any new migrants.  Things were generally quiet on the migrant front though I did come across a pale looking Redpoll on the river bank at the southern end of the site on May 25th.

Redpoll  ©Tom Tarpey

Garganey

I was also keeping a look out for any signs that the pair of Garganey that showed up earlier in the month were staying around to breed.  I found a drake there on May 25th, hiding away in a small pool off the south eastern end of the upper lagoon along with a drake Pochard.  Things were looking even better the following week when I found two pairs and also came across lone drakes on two occasions.  As the lone drakes were quite flighty it was difficult to tell if there were more than the two pairs present.  Interestingly one of the pairs was found outside the nature reserve boundary in the lagoon on the eastern side of the motorway adjoining the tunnel portal.

Distant view of Garganey pair at the eastern lagoon  ©Tom Tarpey

Garganey

I paid another visit to the Coonagh Nature Reserve on Sunday morning (May 5th) to check it out for new arrivals and was pleased to find a pair of Garganey.  This duck is a regular but scarce summer visitor to Ireland and can often be difficult to catch up it due to its discrete habits at potential breeding sites.  These birds were roosting on the grassy verge of the small middle lagoon and seemed to be relatively approachable. The species is quite rare in County Limerick, though maybe under recorded.  This was the sixth record for the County and the second for the site, the first being on a male on the same lagoon in mid May last year.  The birds eventually took to the wing and moved off into one of the many pools in  the willows on the south side of the upper lagoon.

Garganey  ©Tom Tarpey

Several Sedge Warblers have taken up residence on the site by now and the males were loudly advertising their presence.  Another recent arrival, a lone Whitethroat, was also making an occasional burst of song.  A single male Wheatear was also present.

Wheatear ©Tom Tarpey

There was a very large hatch of insects on the site, mostly Olives, and these were being mopped by the large flock of Black-headed Gulls present.  There was no sign of the Little Gulls that were present in the previous two weeks, though John Murphy did mange to find one there later in the day along with a fine summer plumage Spotted Redshank. 

One other species that I was surprised to see there on Sunday was Scaup.  A duck and two drakes were busily engaged on bouts of head bobbing, presumably some form of courtship display.  I had seen two pairs there in the early winter but had not seen athere in the past few months.  Most duck breeding in northern  or Arctic regions have moved on some time ago so these birds were a little bit of a surprise hanging around this late into the early summer.

Scaup ©Tom Tarpey

Little Gulls & Arctic Terns

This is my first venture in the world of blogging and what better place to start than my local patch, the Coonagh Nature Reserve in Limerick.  Geoff Hunt found a Little Gull and a large flock of Arctic Terns there last Friday.  I paid a visit there on Saturday afternoon, April 20th, and was pleased to see that the Little Gull had been joined by a second individual and that most of the terns were still these.  I also had my first Whimbrels of the year there with a flock of 18 passing overhead initially and a single bird later.



Little Gulls  ©Tom Tarpey

There were about 45 Arctic Terns present, most of which were feeding on the upper lagoon.  They appeared to be taking insects just above the water surface.  Arctic Terns are scarce in Limerick generally and largely confined to the lower Shannon Estuary.  This exceptionally large flock seems to have been pushed up the estuary in the gales a few days earlier.

Arctic Terns ©Tom Tarpey