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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (4 Viewers)

Out on Monday had a female velvet scoter off salterstown, along with at least a dozen great northern divers (can anyone identify the fish pictured below?) In the strong clear light one or two looked like possible white billed divers but not to be...(a good possible was seen over the weekend from hermitage). Also a dead grey seal pup with white spotted fur at salterstown - seal was emaciated.

I'll be out in Dundalk a few times over the christmas - an alternative to teh spiritstore is McManus' but will be no less packed - dont really know other bars in Dundalk but could say one or the other on the 28th?
 

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Hiya,

Just though I'd say hello to some of my Irish friends.. I'm an Aussie living in Co Clare - been here for nearly 18 months now. I'm not 100% up on my birds over here.. but I'm trying my best to learn! Where are all the woodland birds at this time of the year.. the woods are so bare...?

I've just got myself a snazzy new camera (Lumix FZ7) & have tried my lunck at some of the nearby woods... I came home with a few nice shots of some deer?!

Cheers,

Dan
 
dpj said:
I'm an Aussie living in Co Clare

Howya mate! Many of the woodland birds have departed for the south but there are many great birding sites in Clare (black throated diver, grey phalarope, ring necked duck, american gulls etc) and you're only a stonesthrow from Galway (Nimmo's Pier consistently turns up good rarities at this time of the year - and at Nimmos you can get very close to the birds for point and shoot with that Lumix). The best sites in Clare right now will be on the shore or on lakes and, i guess, the burren for raptors. There is an excellent local web site: http://www.clarebirdwatching.com/index.php.
Good birding!
 
Breffni,

Thanks for that... I'll check that website out now! I love the Burren & Galway Bay etc.. so I'll get myself a decent field guide from the Library and head-out there again soon!

I remember in the summer I saw birds on the water (medium sized.. black/brown in groups of about 5 or 6)... ducking-and-diving in Galway Bay.. they were even shooting from underwater into the sky a few inches and back down again (much like you see penguins do).. I assume they were feeding on something?

I didnt have my bino's with me.. any idea? They would then just floast on the surface in small groups before going under again..!

Dan
 
dpj said:
Breffni,

Thanks for that... I'll check that website out now! I love the Burren & Galway Bay etc.. so I'll get myself a decent field guide from the Library and head-out there again soon!

I remember in the summer I saw birds on the water (medium sized.. black/brown in groups of about 5 or 6)... ducking-and-diving in Galway Bay.. they were even shooting from underwater into the sky a few inches and back down again (much like you see penguins do).. I assume they were feeding on something?

I didnt have my bino's with me.. any idea? They would then just floast on the surface in small groups before going under again..!

Dan
Could be sea ducks such as scaup or comon scoter but i would guess black guillemots given that you didn't need bins and they look a bit like penguins...they cavort like that in april/may as part of their display.
 

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dpj said:
Thanks for that... I'll check that website out now! I love the Burren & Galway Bay etc.. so I'll get myself a decent field guide from the Library and head-out there again soon!

Dan

Hi Dan, a good field guide would be the Collins Bird Guide by Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterstrom and Peter J Grant,
ISBN number 0 00 711332 3. Good luck with your birding.
 
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breffni said:
I'll be out in Dundalk a few times over the christmas - an alternative to teh spiritstore is McManus' but will be no less packed - dont really know other bars in Dundalk but could say one or the other on the 28th?
28th is fine with me. I've no preference on which pub, I don't really know the pubs in Dundalk these days so I'll leave that up to the rest of you.

Blackcaps arrived in my garden this week like clockwork, same week in December 3 years in a row.

Hi Dan, hope you're enjoying life in Ireland. Won't be long now till the woodlands come to life again.
 
Scoters in close to the beach at Termonfeckin yesterday as you will see from the photo below. Good birding weather today but didn't see anything unusual. No divers seen today which makes a change as there have been quite a few around over the past few weeks. 6 Little Egrets flew in to Lurgangreen together this afternoon and a seventh then joined them, will be interesting to watch them in the Spring to see if they nest in that area. I wonder where they are roosting at the moment ... where is the nearest heronry?
 

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Breffni - Thanks very much for your help with the ID... I'll check that guide out and have a closer look (thanks margarettM).

I'm loving Ireland life Sandra... plenty of pints and good craic!

Dan
 
Goosander female at Giles quay yesterday - bird was about half waydown the shingle beach on the east side with about 20 red breasted mergansers, who were displaying madly at it. Another long awaited Irish tick! Also a flock of redwing and a flash of a possible brambling near the ballymascanlon hotel.
 

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Our next talk and slide show will be entitled "The Wildlife of South Africa" and will be given by Billy Clarke. It will cover a cicuit through Northern South Africa,
Namibia and then back through the east side of Botswana. Billy is a renouned wildlife and bird photographer - you may have seen one of his shots on the cover of Wings magazine recently.

Prior to Billy's talk a review of rare and scarce birds seen in County Louth during 2006 will be given by myself.

The event will take place at the Spirit Store, Dundalk Quay starting at 8pm on the Monday the 29th of January 2007.

All are welcome!
 
Sounds good.

Stopped by Mell quarry today. Access is more or less impossible now. I could see most of the lake through the fence though and there was very little there, around 5 tufted ducks (no sign of last year's ring necked), some coots, a few mallard, 2 little grebes and a cormorant. I wonder has all the work going on there driven most of the birds out.
 
ardnasx1 said:
Had a hen harrier in Dunany today near the church and two slav grebes off Hermitage. Anyone see the red throated pipit in Rogerstown?
Didnt see it on the ground,but had it on call and in flight a number of times
(very distinctive call in comparision to the meadow pips it was with) when the birds landed in the stubble they just disappeared.
 
Enda said:
Didnt see it on the ground,but had it on call and in flight a number of times
(very distinctive call in comparision to the meadow pips it was with) when the birds landed in the stubble they just disappeared.
There are some shots of it here: http://www.irishbirdimages.com/

BTW for those interested in a Christmas drink we are meeting in McManus's pub Seatown, Dundalk (042-9331632)on 28th Dec at about 7:30 (in the hope of grabbing some seats at the front...)
 
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red throated pipit from rogerstown today very elusive bird to see (apart from in flight) and in 5 hrs today this was the only time we saw it this well when it flew into a tree for a short time
 

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Enda said:
red throated pipit from rogerstown today very elusive bird to see (apart from in flight) and in 5 hrs today this was the only time we saw it this well when it flew into a tree for a short time
Well you certainly managed to get a good photo Enda .... worth the wait, I hope.
Saw a flock of fieldfares in Dunany, in a field down the road where the yellow wagtail was seen last year. Also saw a merlin near Port.
Checking out the hedgerows at home, Sandra counted 34 Yellow hammers at the bottom of the field beside our house, they seemed to be flocking with reed buntings, sparrows and green finches.
 
MargaretM said:
Well you certainly managed to get a good photo Enda .... worth the wait, I hope.
Saw a flock of fieldfares in Dunany, in a field down the road where the yellow wagtail was seen last year. Also saw a merlin near Port.
Checking out the hedgerows at home, Sandra counted 34 Yellow hammers at the bottom of the field beside our house, they seemed to be flocking with reed buntings, sparrows and green finches.


See you all there on the 28th
 
Peter Phillips said:
See you all there on the 28th
Sandra, Tommy and myself should get there before 8 pm, so if anybody is there earlier maybe they can hold on to some seats.
Saw the red throated pipit at Rogerstown today, there was also a flock of tree sparrows there.
 
Counted 103 great northern divers sheltering at the mouth of carlingford lough yesterday. Also noticed the kingfisher has returned to shities lough, hopefully will overwinter (shilties lough is a tiny inlet 100 metres square near carlingford that regularly supports amazing biodiversity when not being used for dumping - you just park on the hard shoulder to view) - yesterday a little egret, a pair of little grebe, several moorhen, a pair of teal, at least one snipe, a mallard, reed buntings and a few black headed gulls...
 
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