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.

Glossy Ibis

The Glossy Ibis at the Coonagh Nature Reserve is proving to be a bit more regular in the past week or so. It was seen on four out of four visits, up to Saturday April 5th.  The bird is showing a distinct preference for the middle pond during high water in the Shannon,  but it remains remains quite wary and difficult to approach.

Glossy Ibis at Coonagh

Coonagh Nature Reserve

The Coonagh Nature Reserve has been hosting County Limerick's first Glossy Ibis in the past few weeks. The bird is quite wary and generally can only be seen when it is flushed from its feeding area in and around the small pond located between the two large lagoons.  I could only manage a few distant flight shots on Sunday morning last (23/3/14) to add to the few distant shots from the previous week.  It was first found on 7/3/14 and has only been seen there twice since. The third shot below was taken on 14/3/14 while the bird was roosting on the southern shore of the Shannon at low tide, having just left the reserve.

Glossy Ibis

It's a quite time at Coonagh now that the visiting winter wildfowl have departed but evidence of spring is present in the arrival of small numbers of Sand Martins and a Wheatear.  Most of the remaining wildfowl have paired up and hopefully will stay on to breed.  There are at least three pairs of Gadwall, three pairs of Pochard and three pairs of Great-crested Grebes along with larger numbers of Tufted Duck, Coot, Little Grebe, Mute Swans and a few pairs of Mallard, Teal and non migrant Greylag Geese.

Gadwall Pairs

One of three pairs of Great-crested Grebes

Apart from the the spring migrants of the past week the site was also visited briefly by a female Hen Harrier, always a nice sight  to see on any birding trip.  A Jack Snipe has also been seen there on a few occasions recently.

Hen Harrier

More Gulls

The exceptionally stormy weather brought large numbers and a good variety of Gulls to coastal areas in Ireland from Arctic regions this winter.  Smaller numbers penetrated further in land including a first winter Glaucous Gull in mid January here in Limerick City and a second winter Iceland Gull in early February. Glaucous Gulls have been relatively scarce in Limerick over the years, being out numbered over two to one  by Iceland Gulls.

First winter Glaucous Gull

Second winter Iceland Gull

The bad weather also brought in larger than normal numbers of Herring Gulls and a first winter Ring-billed Gull to the City, joining the long staying adult Ring-billed Gull.

First winter Ring-billed Gull (above) and first winter Common Gull (below) for comparison

The long staying adult Ring-billed Gull has spent at least the past five winters in Limerick City and it is most often found near the slipway at O'Callaghan's Strand.

Adult winter Ring-billed Gull

  

On a recent trip to Dublin I got an opportunity to see one of the rarer gulls that turned up in Ireland over the winter and pick up a new tick in the process, the second year Caspian Gull at Sean Walsh Park in Tallaght. It paid two short visits to the park while I was there but proved a bit tricky to photograph.

 Second year Caspian Gull

Mediterranean Gull

With the short days and poor weather recently opportunities to get out and take some photos have been fairly limited.  Today (December 22nd) was exception so I got an chance to see if the recent storms had deposited anything new locally in Limerick City.  I picked up a first winter Mediterranean Gull on the pond at Healy's Field in Corbally.  This site attracts small numbers of roosting gulls and on occasions can also have a  a range of waterfowl. Several Shoveler, Mallard, Coot and smaller numbers of Tufted Duck, Mute Swans and Little Grebes were also present.   A Chiffchaff feeding in the willows at the edge of the marsh was a nice additional extra.

First winter Mediterranean Gull

Shoveler

 

Mallard

There were good numbers of Herring Gulls, mostly juveniles and sub-adults, and smaller numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls along the Shannon between Thomond Weir and O'Callaghan's Strand but no signs of any white-winged gulls.  As expected the annually returning Ring-billed Gull showed up at the latter site.

Adult Ring-billed Gull

Pied Flycatcher

I took a trip to Garinish on the Beara Penninsula in Co. Cork last Friday in search of  migrants. I got to see the long staying Western Bonelli's Warbler but did not manage to get any satisfactory shots of it. I did find a newly arrived Pied Flycatcher that seemed to be quite flighty and not very approachable.

Pied Flycatcher ©Tom Tarpey

The site has been a mecca for autumn migrants in the past few weeks and it had a good range of species on the day. Turtle Dove, Whinchat (2 birds), Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were also present in addition to the two previously mentioned species.

Turtle Dove ©Tom Tarpey

Whinchats ©Tom Tarpey

Barred Warbler

I took a trip down to Hook Head, Co. Wexford, last Monday to see if the juvenile Red-backed Shrike found the previous week was still around.  The Shrike showed itself  fairly quickly in a low hedge just a few fields away from the lighthouse. While I was trying to get a few shots of it a Barred Warbler crossed in front of me and landed in the same hedge.  I just managed to get two shots of it before it disappeared.

Juvenile Barred Warbler ©Tom Tarpey

Rear view of juvenile Barred Warbler ©Tom Tarpey

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike ©Tom Tarpey

The Hook peninsula had good numbers of migrants present.  Slade Lane had a  Yellow-browed Warbler while there were several Spotted Flycatchers, a Blackcap, a Whitethroat and a Garden Warbler in the area around the old graveyard.

Yellow-browed Warbler  ©Tom Tarpey

Spotted Flycatchers ©Tom Tarpey

The fields around the lighthouse also held good numbers of Wheatears and a lone Whimbrel.

Wheatears ©Tom Tarpey

Whimbrel  ©Tom Tarpey