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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)

Big arrival of migrants yesterday with 200+ whimbrel, 22 white wagtails (mostly males), 4 wheatear (all males), several phylloscopus warblers along the hedgerows at balaggan. A male peregrine was hunting the shore and put up at least one purple sandpiper (like a very dark knot) from the rocks at low tide.
 

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Went for a walk up Boyne canal today and saw a pair of long tailed tits, Another first for me. There were also Great tits,coal tits,song thrush,bluetits,blackbirds,reed buntings, a young mute swan and a grey heron. I'm beginning to recognise the different calls of birds, something I never taught I'd be able to do. Ger.
 
700+ pale bellied brent, 40 whimbrel, 200 golden plover, 35 grey plover, and 3 sandwich terns on the shore today...the terns the first i've seen this year. There was also a flock of 20 odd 2/3 W great black backed gulls, 2 great northern divers and a red throated diver off shore...
 
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700+ pale bellied brent, 40 whimbrel, 200 golden plover, 35 grey plover, and 3 sandwich terns on the shore today...the terns the first i've seen this year. There was also a flock of 20 odd 2/3 W great black backed gulls, 2 great northern divers and a red throated diver off shore...

Littoralis rock pipit at clogher sunday,white wags at bellurgan and corncrake reported clogher head sunday.
 
Yesterday evening at Mullaghattin: grasshopper warbler singing, 4 crossbills (male female and juvs), a long eared owl called a few times at dusk.

Mullaghattin is here: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=54.021587,-6.273537&spn=0.037919,0.109692&t=h&z=13

There are several others though!

Gropper was not present the previous night when I visited, so must have just arrived.
What sounded like a distant little grebe (but not quite sure if that's what it actually was) was calling from the area south of the road, but it does not seem like typical habitat for the bird to frequent. BTW that whole area is bone dry so any rain forecasted over the coming days will be welcomed. While walking that area recently I could not get over the number of frogs present; there were thousands and trying to avoid walking on them was a test!
No woodcock roding yet.
 
Was out and about around 6am on Sunday morning. The hedgerows and fields were absolutely buzzing with feeding/signing birds. Well worth forgoing the lie-in!
Came across two predated eggs - photo attached - anyone any idea of the species?
Plenty of linnets, all four tit species in one tree, yellowhammer, buzzards, willow warbler and a through the trees a female blackcap. Thought I heard a cuckoo too but it was coming from a distance and the wind was blowing.
 

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Was out and about around 6am on Sunday morning. The hedgerows and fields were absolutely buzzing with feeding/signing birds. Well worth forgoing the lie-in!
Came across two predated eggs - photo attached - anyone any idea of the species?
Plenty of linnets, all four tit species in one tree, yellowhammer, buzzards, willow warbler and a through the trees a female blackcap. Thought I heard a cuckoo too but it was coming from a distance and the wind was blowing.

Might be a robins egg if it was very small (no bigger than a euro). The pair of yellowhammers would be an interesting record for the bird atlas: http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/
 
Its a pheasant's egg. Robins eggs are eggshell blue.

Owen

Not the ones around here Owen, but dont take my word for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Robin "The eggs are a cream, buff or white speckled or blotched with reddish-brown colour, often more heavily so at the larger end" - The reference is from Evans G (1972). The Observer's Book of Birds' Eggs. London: Warne. pp. 85. ISBN 0-7232-0060-2. I've had a look into several robins nests and they were always reddish to some extent, not blue.

The colour of most birds eggs is quite variable and the egg in question may well be pheasant.
 
Not the ones around here Owen, but dont take my word for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Robin "The eggs are a cream, buff or white speckled or blotched with reddish-brown colour, often more heavily so at the larger end" - The reference is from Evans G (1972). The Observer's Book of Birds' Eggs. London: Warne. pp. 85. ISBN 0-7232-0060-2. I've had a look into several robins nests and they were always reddish to some extent, not blue.

The colour of most birds eggs is quite variable and the egg in question may well be pheasant.

You are right Breffni. Memory getting to me. A long time since I saw a robins egg. Cream with red speckles.

Still definitely a pheasants egg though IMO.

Owen
 
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