Last cach of the season?

Back on the tip today, in rather balmy conditions - well, at least I could feel my hands throughout the morning! It took a long time for the large gulls to come in, although by late morning/early afternoon a couple of 1st-winter Caspian Gulls showed up. I found this bird that in the end showed nicely: -

Nice contrast in colouration between the secondaries and coverts.

Black terminal band on the tail contrasting well with the relatively unbarred uppertail.

Finely barred axillaries. This is at the darker end of Casps on the underwing-coverts though.

Still looking nice and full bellied, despite looking slick otherwise in this alert posture. The good old spindly legs show up well here too.

Quite a sturdy individual with knackered greater-coverts and scapulars moulting through. Retained tertials still nicely dark though looking predictably worn at the tips.

There was also another individual, that showed less well but still gave some decent views as it fed in amongst the other gulls: -

Good to see them this late on in the winter, and as you can see both birds looked pretty knackered plumage wise. Meanwhile, there were a handful of Med Gulls around (as well as a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls) that added a bit of fun to the Black-headed Gull monotony.

adult Med Gull in the feeding frenzy

It took a while to get the single catch of birds, but thanks to the compactor drivers, a haul of 419 birds were ringed by the NTGG. This included a couple of Common Gulls and more Lesser Black-backed Gulls than the last time (as they're now starting to move through), as well as lots of Herring and Black-headed Gulls. Once again, I ringed a few birds, got the opportunity to see the gulls up close and personal and had a really good time.

More on these little chaps at some other point

2nd-winter Kumlien's/Iceland Gull comparisons

After those January storms that produced a load of kumlieni, perceived kumlieni, pale-winged kumlieni and whatever else people were trying to sniff out of the massive numbers of Iceland Gulls that reached our shores, it seems as though the show is now almost over. Just the odd bird continues to linger, including the second-winter I saw a few days ago in Dover that continues to cause a bit of controversy. Its Herring Gull-like structure has echoed calls from some of it being an aberrant individual of this species, something I disagree with.

Completely unenhanced image of the 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gull in Dover. Note the decent kumlieni pattern of obvious dark outer webs and primary shafts to the outermost 4-5 primaries (P6/7 to P10) contrasting with the pale inner primaries. There's also a nice ghost mirror on P10 too.

Perhaps this is actually the real deal? The fact that it doesn't necessarily feel like a nominate glaucoides isn't all bad, as those in the know rave on about the structural differences - with kumlieni being larger and longer-billed etc. All sniffs of turd for a field birder on a lone individual where sexual dimorphism is rife in larids, but who am I to argue.

Thing is though - what's really noticeable on this bird is its retained greyish/brown tail band. I imagine this bird last winter would have been a bit of a beast, with none of that squinting you need sometimes to see the apparent pigmentation on juvenile kumlieni. This bird will have been the real deal. However, the colour shade of the mantle feathering coming through on this bird is extremely dark - Herring Gull dark - but that's no issue. Have a look at this interesting article on adults (actually written by somebody who lives with kumlieni, instead of some pseudo-expert talking about what they see on the computer screen) and scroll down to mantle shade and you'll see what I'm on about. Particularly see how presumed glaucoides can so easily be picked out just on mantle shade from kumlieni.

For some reason there have been a lot of second-winter Iceland Gulls within this influx, and with this has come a lot of 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gull claims. And I got amongst this in Ireland a few weeks ago in true fashion. I'd been looking forward to seeing a 2nd-winter kumlieni up close and personal by the River Shannon at Limerick and was confronted by this bird, that in fairness put on a good show coming to our bread and an Afro-Caribbean woman's more exotic concoction of 'stuff'...

But what's important to mention with this bird is that it's not a Kumlien's Gull - it's one of those brown-washed Iceland Gulls and a pretty average one at that. The primaries are relatively concolourous, with not a hint of any ghost mirroring that you'd be looking for on a solid kumlieni. Additionally, there's no contrast with the outer and inner primaries with the wash extending throughout and though it's got a slightly darker eye than some 2nd-winter glaucoides, the tail band is pretty naff.

Right then, before I sign off for the night, it'd be rude not to whack out a couple of shots of 2nd-winter Iceland Gulls from my Irish trip a couple of weeks ago. They're pretty smart, albeit rather white and non-descript birds in many ways but you get a fair bit of variation in bare part colouration and moult!

2nd-winter Iceland Gull, Killybegs, Donegal Feb 2012

2nd-winter Iceland Gull, Reenard Point, Kerry Feb 2012

Hasta luego folks. Always discovering :)

Merganser meltdown

The weather was pretty vile today, though not quite as grim as had been predicted. Certainly decent weather for ducks, and with local stuff really quiet and an afternoon low tide, Josh and I headed down to Whetsted GP near Tonbridge to have a look at an exotic visitor.

Hooded Merganser, Whetsted GP, Kent March 2012

Presumably somebody's most loved pet gone awol? Or frozen out from the low countries earlier in the winter? Or, inconceivably, could this further Kent's reputation as the British hotspot for this transatlantic visitor? I doubt the latter, but now the floodgates are well and truly open for this species by the BBRC (following acceptance of the first on North Uist, Outer Hebrides in Oct/Nov 2000). So long as it doesn't linger like the Radipole bird and develop an appetite for bread, then you tick hungry chumps need not worry as you'll be whacking this bag of bullsh*t straight onto your beloved BOU lists. At least there is some back up yankage nearby with those Snow Geese today at Scotney, some of you might say.

You can just make out the white wing bar here - on better photos by others, this is extensive and suggests an adult female 

A bad hair day

The drake Smew on the adjacent pit was typically smart, if not a bit distant in the drizzle. Birding at Crossness was really slow though, with a couple of NTGG ringed gulls the highlight in what seems to be that in between time of year - gulls, wildfowl and waders are emptying out while we're still a way off the summer migrants coming in.

Dover Kumlien's

I'd been meaning to get down to Dover for a while, ever since I was emailed the finder's photos of this 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gull a few weeks ago. At that time, I was pretty quick to email through my views that it was a pretty solid looking 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gull. So, with a nice neutral day of light (important for looking at the subtleties of this subspecies/cline), I headed down with Karen to get some first hand experience of this bird. Needless to say, in doing so, drove straight past perhaps one of the rarest birds in the country at the moment (??!!), a Hooded Merganser.

Anyway, back to the gull. Upon arriving in Dover - which in fairness to the place is attempting a bit of a face lift - it didn't take too long to find the bird. It was first of all chilling out on the slipway by the hoverpad before deciding to cruise above the Prince of Wales pier with Herring Gulls and a few nice Kittiwakes.

I'd not really seen a Kumlien's Gull like this previously, and if I'm brutally honest, it felt very Herring-like in its proportions; perhaps a good thing compared to a lot of the Iceland-like Kumlien's Gulls I've seen previously. Additionally, it displayed a very obvious tail and mirrors were apparent in P6-P10 (with an obvious ghosting of a mirror in P10). What was also very interesting was the rather dark adult-type mantle feathering that was moulting through, far darker than what you'd expect on nominate glaucoides Iceland Gulls, and perhaps even a Kumlien's Gull...

Throat Action

Loads of rarities turn up every year, but the pinnacle of these are more often than not yank passerines. And while driving along a country lane in Kerry last week, news broke of a Common Yellowthroat in Gwent. I was pretty pumped at the time, though evidently not enough to bother going last Sunday (the day after I got back from Ireland) as I opted for local birding. With the opportunity to go with a good team (Gary, Mike and Paul) as well as good weather today, I headed west on the Yellowthroat trail.

It wasn't lying either... there was one that way

Early morning, and the bird was still around unsurprisingly. It was quite tricky though for sure, as this species often is in its natural New World habitat (and on Scilly in 1997; the only other British Yellowthroat I've seen). It was skulking, keeping low to the ground although after a couple of hours or so of waiting and fleeting glimpses, I managed to see this really smart little bird. Well worth the trip out west, with its black speckled bandit mask, vivid yellow throat and yellow undertail-coverts.

Crowd behaviour was remarkably good, and an excellent reminder that people can behave as well as this being testament to a twitch that was smoothly organised by local birders. There were just a few birders speaking a little bit loudly when the bird was showing, so no wonder they couldn't hear the bird calling - they were either deaf, dumb or both. But that was the only beef that went down in Rhiwderin this morning.

second weekend slackers

Next stop was Cardiff Bay. We eventually managed to find where to park to get to the foreshore, and once on site scanned through the hordes of Black-headed Gulls. I really liked this place, as like the Thames areas I bird, it was a real gritty place with loads of birds (well, gulls and a few Pintail) and no people continually asking 'have you seen anything interesting?'. A couple of adult Med Gulls were nice and then, floating out offshore, was a 1st-winter Bonaparte's Gull. Kind of expecting the adult more, this was a real bonus and it had a good fly around before heading east exhibiting its lovely white underwing, two-toned wings (including white outer primaries) and nice black terminal tail band. Quite an advanced individual moult wise.

Possibly the worst photo of a 1st-winter Bonaparte's Gull... ever (rear bird by the way!!)

With the sun continuing to shine, last stop of the day - as it was now mid afternoon - was Cosmeston Lakes for the returning drake Lesser Scaup. Although I was expecting point blank views of this bird, it wasn't to be and I had to settle for ok views in perfect light. Nice to see the neat nail at the bill tip, the greyish wingbar in the inner primaries and of course those nicely dark vermiculated mantle. Sheen colour variable from green to purple.

 

Bigfoot. Note the two-toned wingbar - white on the secondaries, grey on the primaries. A nice classic pattern for this Lesser Scaup's upperwing.

Can't complain with today's yank haul though and a really pleasant relaxed day. Thanks to Gary for driving, and all three for the good company. And petrol was considerably less than £35.

139 declared plus 10 ringers

I got back from Ireland late last night after an excellent 8 days of action with Alan C and Staines. Following the last blog post, where we'd been up in the north of the Republic, the last 4 days saw us head south through Clare, into Limerick briefly, and then to the extreme southwest taking in Cork and Kerry.

juvenile Kumlien's Gull at Kilbaha, County Clare

On Wednesday, we hit the spots that you so often do when the seawatching's quiet at the Bridges of Ross. But this February, with wingers everywhere, there were a load of gulls at the mouth of the River Shannon. The highlight was a juvenile Kumlien's Gull on rocks to the east of The Lighthouse Inn, along with 2 1st-winter Med Gulls. While up at the lighthouse at Loop Head 6 Iceland Gulls were cruising on the thermals, and near Carrigaholt we found a further 4 Iceland Gulls lapping up Rinvella Bay. Chough were spiralling around too, and sharp-eyed Staines picked out a nice Otter chilling out along the shore at Kilbaha too.

After a nice morning's work, I wanted to see the Kumlien's Gull that had been lingering in Limerick. So within an hour or two, we were in Stab City and I was severely disappointed: -

tenuous to say the least...

Squint and you may just about get a bit of colouration in those primaries

Even the pigeon has turned its head away in shame after looking at that (lack of a) tail band

Anyway, a nice Ring-billed Gull that flew over livened up proceedings before we headed south and spent the night in Bantry. Awakening to a bright morning on Thursday, we mooched to the harbourside where a 1st-winter ringer was playing ball early doors along with a dopey looking Iceland Gull.

This dopey guy didn't fancy its chances with gulls of its own size, so kept with the smalls in Bantry harbour.

Having had our fill of these guys above, we headed west and were soon in on the action at Castletown Bearhaven in southwest Cork. Here, with a few trawlers going in and out of southwest Ireland's largest fishing port, it was another winger fest. There were 13 Iceland Gulls and 4 Glaucs, as well as an adult Ring-billed Gull and 3 Mediterranean Gulls (including a ringed adult bird).

A trawler bringing in a few larids into Castletown Bearhaven

G-Unit

The rest of Thursday was pretty desperate, and a sole 3rd-winter Iceland Gull out towards Firkeel was all that we could find on the rest of the Beara peninsular. We rocked up pretty early doors at Waterville, ready for the last couple of days of the trip in County Kerry. Friday morning was pretty murky, so much so that after a 20 minute look into Ballinskelligs Bay for scoter, we decided to chalk it due to poor visibility and headed around the coast to check out the gulls at Portmagee. Another 'white-winged gull', but not not one to add to the totals as this bird was presumably an adult Herring lacking pigmentation in its primaries, though its slightly paler mantle compared to some of the nearby Herring Gulls perhaps suggests it's a Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid? Structually, however, it fitted a Herring Gull.

Back to the real stuff though at Reenard Point, Cahersiveen. An adult Kumlien's Gull with darkish markings to P8-P10 was top of the haul, backed up by another 7 Iceland Gulls. Some lad from the nearby restaurant helped us out, emptying a load of fish scraps in front of us... which were devoured quickly by the gulls.

Note darkness on P10 extending onto both webs and down the primary shaft

Nearby on The Iveragh, the Spoonbill was still at Cromane, doing absolutely nothing but sleeping as usual, along with a second-winter Iceland Gull. However, we weren't going to hang about as the weather had closed in and we had more sites to hit and birds to see. Unfortunately the poor weather meant that we only gave Rossbeigh a token effort, as it was hopeless looking for scoter so who knows whether last year's rhinoceros was about? Probably not, but we couldn't be sure.

A super slick, relatively advanced 2nd-winter Iceland Gull at Reenard

The river just upstream of Blennerville had a couple of Ring-billed Gulls - an adult and a first-winter - while heading west along the north side of the Dingle peninsular produced my first Irish Lesser Scaup; a drake at the west end of Lough Gill. Despite there being 15 or so Greater Scaup on the lough, it kept with the Tufties. At Fermoyle, with relatively decent seas due to it being sheltered, there were 1000s of Common Scoter and a careful search through them produced a quality count of 12 Velvets and a Long-tailed Duck. The last hour or so of light was spent at Milltown, Dingle watching gulls come into the estuary and have a pre-roost wash. Again, there were loads of Iceland Gulls - 7 in total - plus a bird that seemed to fit the bill for a 2nd winter Kumlien's Gull. Whatever Kumlien's Gulls are anyway?

Note the uniformly biscuit-coloured primaries, darkening towards the tips.

 The next morning we headed back out to Milltown and spent a couple of hours watching the gulls again before breakfast. There was a real dark juvenile argentatus that had me going for a short while, before it decided to bare its rump. The previous day's Kumlien's-type Gull was still about, as was another bird that looked very similar; perhaps slightly paler on the body though it had retained a dark eye. I've seen worse Kumlien's claims this winter in Britain, but let's be honest, 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gulls this side of the spectrum can be proper bullsh*tter's birds and we don't necessarily know what's going on between Newfoundland and Iceland. Sure, these are northwestern birds but that's as far as you can often go.

Typical scene from this week's trip - a Glauc, a Kumlien's and 2 Iceland Gulls

Just one of 110 seen during the week

Anyway, a tour of other sites produced a couple more Iceland Gulls at Ferriter's Cove, though they quickly dispersed as some scrotes decided to practice their golf swing on the beach flushing all the gulls in the process. The final afternoon of the trip was spent bashing some sites close to Tralee - the highlight being a nice adult Ring-billed Gull at Barrow harbour and an adult Glaucous Gull at Carrahane Strand. 

Kittiwake in Dingle harbour

So, that's that. Despite lacking that little bit of proper bang - something like a Thayer's - I ended up seeing 4 Kumlien's Gulls (adult, 2 2nd winters, juvenile), 110 Iceland Gulls (25 adults/near adults, 4 3rd winters, 35 2nd winters, 46 juveniles), 25 Glaucous Gulls (2 adults, 1 3rd winter, 8 2nd winters, 14 juveniles) and 10 Ring-billed Gulls (7 adults, 1 2nd winter, 2 1st winters).

Surely worth more than £35?

Add in an American Black Duck, a Lesser Scaup, 4 vagrant Canada Geese, a Black Brant, 2 Ring-necked Ducks and a Tundra Bean Goose and it's easy to see why I'd recommend a week of chilled out birding along the Irish west coast in winter.