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

County Galway Birding (local patch) (1 Viewer)

184 Dowitcher species. Flew in front of the car as I was parked up scanning for waders. More than likely a Long-billed but we'll never know. Looked for but not re-found.
185 Grey Phalarope. 20 seen on a sea watch this morning. 6 Bonxies and 3 Arctic Skuas the only other birds of note.
 
184 Long-billed Dowitcher
A few pics of some Lapland Buntings from today also.

Dermot
 

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Rahasane

Had a good look around Rahasane yesterday. Highlights were 2 Black Terns (is it on the year list already?) and a 1st-w Little Gull hawking over the open water, 2 Ruff and a Curlew Sandpiper. It's well in flood now, so most birds were concentrated in hidden corners at either end of the turlough, though not huge numbers, mostly Black-tailed Godwits (<100), Curlews, Bhgs, Teal & Wigeon, plus small numbers of Golden Plover, Lapwing, 3 Pintail, 2 Gadwall, 4 Redshank, 1 Dunlin, 3 sightings of Kingfisher and good views of 3 otters together.

Troakie
 
Some pics of the eclipse drake Blue-winged Teal at Truska Marsh today. Pic also of one of the two "puddles" it and the LB Dowitcher are/were using.

Dermot
 

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Can't believe its more then a month since my last post on the forum. Great to be busy but the birdwatching has taken a temporary back seat for the moment.

Just a gentle reminder of the talk this Friday

Friday 24 September,
Birds in Connemaraillustrated records for the new Atlas of

Birds of Britain and Ireland and other highlights by
Dermot Breen,
NPWS
Conservation Ranger and member of the Irish Rare Birds Committee, Anno Santo Hotel, 8pm.
 
I came across the pipit while walking between the two marshes at Truska on Saturday. Its with a flock of 30+ Meadow Pipits and they favour the hilly section on the East side of the machair. The flock is very flighty and it can take a while to find it among them due to this and the undulating terrain in which they can hide away in little hollows and behind rocks.
For those of you who mightn't be aware of the basic features for separating them from Meadow Pipits and Rock Pipits are the lighter brown-grey upperparts, largely unstreaked back, softer and lighter streaking on underparts, blackish legs, behaves more like a Wagtail species (deliberate walking, more upright stance), obviously pale supercillium and lores, etc.
It was lumped with Rock and Water Pipit until relatively recently. Buff-bellied Pipit breeds mostly in northern Canada and West Greenland. I strongly suspect this guy probably made landfall in Iceland and followed migrating Icelandic Mipits down here. Theres a good identification piece on Buff-bellied Pipits here though photos aren't great
http://www.surfbirds.com/ID Articles/pipitplate.html

I had a first-winter male Blue-winged Teal at Rahasane Turlough yesterday. Must be one of John Murphy's birds that he had there about a fortnight ago there. Hundreds of duck and good numbers of waders, large and small. Water levels have dropped alot in the last week amazingly, worth keeping an eye on.

Dermot
 

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190 American Golden Plover, juvenile, Truska, Slyne Head/Ballyconneely, 6th October (DB).
Pied Flycatcher in one of the gardens also.

First-winter male Blue-winged Teal, female Garganey, 3 juv Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Knot, a few Ruff and one first-winter Med Gull at Rahasane Turlough yesterday and the third-winter Glaucous Gull at Nimmo's Pier while passing.

Dermot
 

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Was invited to give a talk in Glenamaddy today and then a guide walk to the turlough. Which was nicely finished of with the sighting of a Lesser Yellowlegs. This is the 4 recorded sighting for the county. A life tick also. Which is just sweet. The turlough is a very under watched and very similar to Rahasane Turlough, so has the huge potential to deliver some great birds. The usual mix of birds also present.

191 Lesser Yellowlegs. 9 October 2010
 

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Adult American Golden Plover, 2 Little Stint, 2 Curlew Sands and 6 Ruff at Rahasane today. Yellow-rumped Warbler found on Inishmore this afternoon.
 
192 Ring Ouzel, 3, Inishbofin (A.McGeehan).
193 Common Redstart, 1, Inishbofin (A.McGeehan).
194 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 1 Inishmore, (H.Delaney).

Juvenile Dotterel this morning at Aillebrack just before the Golf course. Juv AGP from Truska also dropped in.

Dermot
 

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195 Long-tailed Skua, Inishbofin, AMcG.
196 Yellow-browed Warbler, Inishbofin, AMcG.
197 Barred Warbler, Inishbofin, AMcG.

Is Hobby and Snow Bunting on the list already?

Dermot
 
The Barred warbler was on bofin for four days. Anthony and I each had a Yellow Browed. For the past week we had 2 Pied Fly 2 Spot Fly pto 10 blackcaps at any one time. 1 Willow Warbler and a number of chiffchaff. The Barnacle Geese appeared over the island on fri 15th am.
 

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