Canadian Intro

I've had a really enjoyable, leisurely stroll along the Toronto waterfront today, having arrived late last night following a smooth flight. The place is packed full of a nice selection of birds literally within a stone's throw from downtown (the city centre in plain English speak). Highlight for me was the masses - literally 1000s - of Long-tailed Ducks close in all along the harbour wall. I've probably seen more of these beauties today in the crisp winter sun, than I have in my life before.

The ringos were pretty confiding too, and it was possible to stroke a couple of the first-winters that evidently hadn't become accustomed to the human race yet. Lovely stuff, and even though these boys are as common as you like on this side of the pond there's still something about any Nearctic gull, wherever they are, that makes me transfixed. Look at the intricacies and variability of the 1st-winters in these shots.

And given that this trip is one of those 'non-birding' ones, we did the tourist thing and shot up the CN Tower late afternoon.

The other side of the pond

I'll soon be heading off for a week's trip to Ontario - visiting Toronto and Niagara. I'm looking forward to another winter trip to North America, just like when I went to New York in January 2009. It'll be good to get my eye in on some bits and bobs larid wise too before it kicks off over here, though the juvenile American Herring Gull at Baltimore, County Cork has already got me in the mood. There were an impressive dozen species of gulls at Niagara the other day, so hoping I'll get a look in with some of these bad boys - Kittiwake, Bonaparte's, Little, Franklin's, Ring-billed, American Herring, Thayer's, Kumlien's, Glaucous, LBB, GBB and a single Slaty-backed Gull.

It won't be a hardcore birding trip, and sometimes it's good to mix it up a little bit. In fact, it will just be nice to be in good health as when I was in NY a couple of years back I got a bit of a bug that had me done over for a day, and then feeling pretty grim shady for the rest of my days there. Anyway, here are a few I prepared earlier (New York, 2009).

American Herring Gull (photos 1 to 6)

Ring-billed Gull (1st winter)

Ring-billed Gull (adult)

Pale-bellied Brent

Snow Goose (1st-winter)

Hooded Merganser

Pied-billed Grebe

American Robin

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Winter Fun on Fuerteventura

The fun started yesterday morning - with an early morning charter flight with the lovely Thomson airline, a company that I'd been delayed by 56 hours with in Israel a few years ago. This time though, things were smooth - apart from some twat that the stupid air hostesses had allowed to buy 12 cans of Stella on the flight. Lee and I therefore arrived on the island just after midday and away we went, and off on the trail of rectifying a bird that had been taken from me by a white van man and a cunning Englishman who didn't know a word of Spanish.

Heading south after picking up the extremely cheap rent-a-car, first notable bird was an adult Egyptian Vulture over Barranco de la Torre - but this was just the sideshow. In no time at all, we'd pulled into Rosa de Catalina Garcia, a tidy little reservoir/pool that was full of birds in the otherwise waterless landscape.

Rosa de Catalina Garcia, Fuerteventura

Ruddy Shelduck

Berthelot's Pipit

Ruddy Shelducks were pretty obvious - at least seven (most seen at once), but probably more came and went during the afternoon - and so too were those pesky Stilts, LRPs and lots of Berthelot's Pipits mincing around and about. A small group of Teal held something more interesting - a nice Blue-winged Teal, that spent most of the afternoon alert and on the move with its slightly smaller congeners. I always enjoy vagrants from across the pond, no matter where I am, so this was a bonus. However, after an hour of no show - and Hans and Bosse arriving - I was starting to get worried about the main prize.

BWT - upperwing

BWT - underwing, belly and legs

It was all well and good that I'd seen some nice bits and bobs, but with the books not marking themselves back home, there was only one reason why I was on this pretty rancid island - and after patiently waiting, the Allen's Gallinule flew out of the reeds and then proceeded to feed on the more distant muddy edge. It looked something like this... presumably an adult bird, with a rather dull bill. If you want to see it up close and personal then have a look at this shot from my mate David Monticelli.

The gallinule for most of the afternoon remained fairly elusive, though did spend periods of time probing on the reed fringes for food. Other birds included Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper... a nice assortment of waders. Also good to remember where I was by the fact that Lesser Short-toed Larks and Trumpeter Finches came down to drink at the pool, and Spectacled Warblers were pretty common too. Oh yeah, this bad boy showed late on too.

Not too well-versed with what's what in terms of historic Canaries records, I can't imagine there have been too many Great Bitterns? There was also a 1st-winter Spotted Crake in the reedbed last thing in the evening, before the sun set and I got whisked off to some shit hole of a resort called Caleta de Fuste (where I'd stayed in 2003) and to The Trafalgar Pub for dinner. It was the first time I'd ever been to an English bar abroad - I thought bloody Johnny Vegas and his Benidorm crew were about to walk out any second. At least the beers were cheap.

I only had a hour or so of birding light this morning before the flight, and being on the island perhaps for the last time, it was rude to leave without its endemic chat. So I old-schooled it and went down to Barranco de la Torre, the place I'd seen them most consistently 8 years ago. And though the tamarisk clumps had grown considerably two Canary Islands' Chats were found in the time available - a male and a female. 30 Trumpeter Finches and a few scratchy Sardinian Warblers were in the mix too.

The Ryanair flight left on time, and I was back home in my London flat for just after 5pm. It's remarkable what you can do in a weekend.

Escape - back to the future?

Events this week on Fuerteventura (well done to Bosse and Hans on a fine discovery!) have cast my mind back to the Allen's Gallinule that I saw in Spain in January 2007. I had a decent weekend away for that bird - seeing it and a load of decent Iberian stuff - although one of the everlasting memories was an unfitful night's sleep due to the hire car we'd got not actually having seats that reclined. Anyway, this bird failed to reach the grade and now languishes on Category E of the Spanish list. Reasons for this are that it was apparently a known escape from a local wildlife park and Britain's most famous twitcher (not Garry Bagnell, before anyone asks) claimed to have been told by a local that the bird had been picked up by a man in a van!

adult Allen's Gallinule, El Rocio, Coto Donana, Spain January 2011

Even though there was another Allen's Gallinule and an African Crake found on the Canary Islands that January, evidently this circumstantial evidence meant nothing given the apparent compounding evidence against it being a wild bird. People evidently are happy to keep anything and everything in captivity.

Back to the weekend just gone, after a bit of a dull day both bird and weather wise, I spent a couple of hours at Cross Ness with JA on Sunday. A 1st-winter Grey Plover, 1200 Dunlin, a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls, single Water and Rock Pipits were the highlights.

Thames gulls and American peeps

Had a mooch around a few sites in southeast London today. Started off at Crayford where, on some wasteground, a large flock of larids had a 3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull and a ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull (red ringed SN6T; this coding matches rings used by the North Thames Gull Group so I assume it'll come from Rainham or Pitsea - I'll update when I hear back from Paul Roper).

North side LBB

Cross Ness was quiet, with an adult and 2nd-winter Yellow-legged Gull amongst the small numbers of gulls on the foreshore. 500+ Dunlin were decent, but as always, there was nowt amongst them. I then had a walk around North Greenwich where there was a nice bright-legged Yellow-legged Gull opposite Greenwich Millenium Village and a few Teal. Not much else doing mind.

The most productive birding of the day was internet based, when in the early hours of this morning my old mate and one of the WP's finest photographers Vincent Legrand passed on a link of a Red-footed Falcon from the Azores... needless to say, he's no fool and a quick look revealed that it was an Amur Falcon (photos here, here and here)! Now those islands get a fair few vagrants, but this has to rank up there with the best.

And I almost went up for the Cley 'peep', but thought better of it after another tiring week and going to bed late. Although I've therefore not seen the bird, I actually thought it was a Semi-p until the 'Thursday shots' revealed some retained rather rufous-fringed feathers that made me reconsider. A really interesting bird. Here's one I found earlier... in September 2009 on the Azores.

At all times, it felt slick and streamline, and this bird fitted that classic 'miniature Dunlin' phrase that's often associated with Western Sandpiper. Obviously so much earlier in the season, you can't really compare much plumage wise. On the same trip, I bumped into this rather rufous-looking, long-billed Semipalmated Sandpiper (presumably an eastern female?).

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Corvo, early Sept 2009

What would a bird like this look like a couple of months on?

Two great results

Ok, I've not mentioned this before on here. But, as you know by the name of this blog, my patch is Rotherhithe - even though it's pretty dire most of the time, at least I'm fortunate to live on my patch. And I live on an area of water called Greenland Dock...

aythya flock on Greenland Dock

So with 2012 and the dreaded Olympics only just around the corner, there was a proposed application to put 225 extra moorings on Greenland Dock for the Olympics next summer. I, along with loads of other local residents, had written with concern for this development (thinking that the extra moorings would become permanent rather than temporary). Thankfully, today, I heard that the planning committee refused it by majority vote because due to environmental concerns and loss of amenity for both disabled and able-bodied sailors using Tideway Sailability. We're still a little worried that the Council will try other means to get these moorings installed, as it'll be a decent money spinner for them. But the first battle, at least, is won.

Great Crested Grebe and co., Greenland Dock

Oystercatcher, Greenland Dock - graced the place for a few days in early spring a couple of years ago

Scaup - one of four present on Greenland Dock last winter

And the second massive result is that God has spoken - the Long-toed Stint at Weirwood Reservoir was one (seemingly an adult). For all those people who were doubting any video material, then suffice to say it just about did what it needed to do regarding proving the bird's identification.

Rotherhithe regulars

Between the 50 or so books that I had to mark today, I did manage to squeeze in a bit of local larid action. It wasn't as if I was targetting this genus, it's just the way it goes around here. It's basically gulls or bust, except when there's a freeze up, and especially on a day like today when there was little point looking for passers in Russia Dock Woodland due to the wind.

Black-headed Gull, Greenland Dock

Herring Gull, Greenland Dock

Basically, I saw very little - and even went to King George V dock on the other side of the river for a quick look. Had a pleasant time in the blustery conditions, taking shots of the commoner species, and got frustrated with a red-ringed 1cy Herring that just wouldn't play ball for detailed ring reading (presumably a Rainham/Pitsea bird). The aythya flock up to c.50 now, though still pretty poor given it's almost December but a sign of the mild conditions to date. All pretty mundane stuff, especially with the news of Gary Speed. Had a nice McFlurry on the way home to round things off.

Common Gull, Greenland Dock

Wish you were here? Yep, I do... but a shame it was just one of the many sails on the boats on Greenland Dock just outside my flat this a'noon.