2 days winter birding in Limerick and Cork.

I was asked by a friend if I wanted to go to Cork with him as he was sorting some business out down there, and thought we could get a bit of birding in as I knew of a couple of spots he might like to hit in Limerick, so I said why not. The first day was spent in Cork so we met up with some friends from there and headed to one or two spots. The bird of the day had to be the Long-tailed Duck which was posing nicely for us. This was the closest I ever got to a Long-tail Duck and we were all very please with it. The second day was spent in Limerick with both Hawfinch and the Lesser Scaup (which was just over the border in Clare) on the list, and both gotten as well. It was a great weekends casual birding for sure. In total we had 84 different birds which given the time of year was pretty respectful. The bird list was as follows, Coal, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, House Sparrow, Green, Chaff, Bull, and Hawfinches, Song and Mistle Thrush's, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Siskin, Goldcrest, Pied and Gery Wagtail, Jackdaw, Rook, Grey Crow, Magpie, Raven and Jay, Starling, Treecreeper, Stonechat, Black Headed, Med, Common, Herring, Lesser Black-backed, and Greater Black-backed Gulls, Kittewake, Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Cormorant, Great Northern Diver, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Great-crested Grebe, Dunlin, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank, Greenshank, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Coot, Moorhen, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Mallard, Pochard, Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Tufted Duck ,Long-tailed Duck, Gadwall, Snipe, Collard Dove, Stock Dove, Wood  Pigeon, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Greylag Goose, Pale Bellied Brent Goose, Pheasant, Kestrel, Peregrine, Buzzard and Sparrow Hawk.

 Hawfinch in Limerick.

Lesser Scaup, on the right hand side of the Greater Scaup in Co Clare. 

 Tufted Duck.

 Siskin

 Stonechat

 Treecreeper

 Long-tailed Duck

Whooper Swans

Shoveler Duck.

Grey Wagtail

Oystercatcher

The Oystercatcher is a bird that I feel is over looked way to often and I`m one of the culprits as I don`t think I`ve covered them on my blog. It has to be one of our most colourful  shore birds that we have in Ireland and Europe. They often go about their business probing the ground looking for small shellfish hiding in the sand on the shore or cranefly larvae and worms in the soil on your local green area. They have a distinctive call and like the Curlews call just reminds me of the seaside. So the next time your out and about near the shore, listen and look out for this little gem.

Some shots from the weekend.

I was out and about this weekend given the nice weather ( and all my given out about the poor grey days we were having I had to get out ) and did a bit of birding. I spent some time at Rogerstown/Turvey on Sunday and I was in Howth today. Birds of note over the weekend were Red Kite, Hen  Harrier, Merlin, Peregrine, Buzzard, as well as the usual suspects, while in Howth Purple Sandpipers were feeding around the base of the pier.

 

Sometimes you have to settle for a record shot!!

There was a bird of interest seen in Co Louth over the past few days and it was a bird I haven`t seen so it would be a shame not to head for it. The bird in question is a Richard`s Pipit. I headed for Louth on a wet grey dull day and thought I might as well kill 2 birds with the one stone (forgive the pun) and head for Northern Ireland and get the Ruddy Duck for my year list. The Pipit proved a difficult bird to get near as it was very flighty and would disappear for long periods of time in a nearby field. So I managed a few distant shots only. When I arrived in Oxford Island Nature Reserve in Co Armagh I headed straight for the south hide where I had the Ruddy Duck, they were distant but showing well. The light was very poor so I didn`t get and shots of them, but there was a nice surprise there for me, in among a big flock of Pochards was a male Red-crested Pochard, a new tick in Ireland for me. So give the poor weather conditions (again) it turned out to be a great day out.

Poor light and the distance of the Richard`s Pipit made it hard to get an real decent shots.

 As with the Pipit the Red-crested Pochard was a fair distance away as well.

Brambling

I took a walk around Tuvey reserve in Rogerstown to see what was about. There had being a big flock of finches in Rogerstown over the winter and in the flock were about 7-10 Bramblings. By now the flock was not even a tenth in size with good numbers of Chaffinches and a a lone Yellowhammer. So I wasn`t holding out much hope of a Brambling showing up, so I sat down and enjoyed the sun (a rare sight in Ireland these day) and eventually the birds started to show. After maybe 2 hours a Brambling joined the flock and started to fed with them. Always great to see these little birds as the don`t breed here and we don`t get many of them in the winter.

Continental Cormorant

I was out in Broadmeadows Estuary again as the Continental Cormorant was still around and I`d said in a previous blog that I needed to get back to see if I could get any better shots. Well once again the bird was keeping its distance and the weather was grey and misty but I manage to get better shots than I previously had.

In this shot you have the Continental and a Juvenile Carbo above it.

Purple Sandpiper

I was down by the shore today in Skerries Co Dublin as it was such a fine day (seeing as we haven`t had many in Ireland this year so far) it would have been a shame not to get out birding. While there I had good but distant views of 3 Eiders (2 males and 1 female) as well as good but distant views of 3 Red-throated Divers. One of my favorite shore birds was on show and showing well, yes the Purple Sandpiper. They don`t seem to mind humans and you can get nice and close for a shot or two. The ones I was watching were so relaxed they had a bath in a rock pool in front of me, I also had nice views of Sanderling and Redshank. On the way back I stopped at Broadmeadows Estuary to have a look and see if there was anything around. Boy what a evening, great displays for 500+ Golden Plover and some nice views of Black-tailed Godwits. So here`s a shot or two.

 Redshank Sunning himself in the lovely spring sunshine.

 Sanderling sitting and snoozing while they wait for the tide to turn.

Black-tailed Godwit at Broadmeadows Estuary

Just a fraction of the amount of Golden Plovers at Broadmeadows.

Ruff ruff!!!

I remember it wasn`t that long ago I found my first Ruff and how pleased it made me, so seeing two together is always much more pleasing. They were a bit flighty so getting close was always going to be tricky but in the end I got close enough for a shot or two. Now all I have to see is a full summer plumage male ruff displaying and that will be the icing on the cake.

 You can make your make up your own caption, but I like to think it`s saying Aye!!! who left this cola bottle here!!.

Even more Waxwings

I had a MRI on my ankle today to see how bad the damage to my ankle is as I`m still limping around the place. Then on my way back from the clinic I came across 60 Waxwings feeding up on berries and quenching their thirst on the side of the road, so this was an opportunity not to be missed. 

A nice start to 2013

2012 ended for me on a sour note, I badly sprained my ankle so this meant getting out birding just wasn`t going to happen for me. Not only that but the hard drive in my computer crashed which meant I was offline and there wouldn`t be much I could do for a while. So now that I am some bit mobile I am making up for it as much as I can, and what a start to 2013 I`m having with 3 good rarities for my yearly list (Common Crane, Continental Cormorant, and Hawfinch ) and 1 life tick been a Long-Billed Dowitcher I really can`t complain about how the year has started for me and it 2013 and all. I`m beginning to think 13 is my lucky number.

 Continental Cormorant, I must head back to see if I can get a closer shot. But nice to have this one as well.

 The Cranes were quite flighty, so this was only a record shot.

A life tick and another bogey bird down for me.

 Another shot of the Dowitcher with a Godwit behind him.

 I of 2 Hawfinches I had in Curraghchase the other day, this seem to be the best spot in Ireland for these birds.

And another shot of the Hawfinch here.