County Galway Birding (local patch) (1 Viewer)

Two more gulls missing from the county year list I believe

128 Kittiwake
129 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Totals from Rossaveel today were the adult American Herring Gull (on a day trip), 3rd winter Glaucous Gull, 1st winter Iceland (seen by John Murphy), adult Little Gull and this other beast again, still making my mind up! Some poor phone shots attached.

Dermot

130 Chiffchaff, Ballynew, Cleggan, 23rd February. Wintering bird. About 800 metres away from where I had a bird last winter while also Bird Atlasing - same bird?

Dermot

Irish woodlands and Forests sell off.

Irish woodlands and Forests sell off.
The Irish government is to sell its woodlands and forests to private companies. Details at www.woodlandleague.org.
Get siginig people! Anything with Bertie attached can't be in our interest.
Paul

A few more for the county year list...

131 Peregrine, 14th, Carrowmore (E of Tawin)
132 Stock Dove, 20th, Cregballymore (SE of Ballinderreen)
133 Yellowhammer, 20th, widespread in Lough Fingall area (ESE of Ballinderreen)
134 Long-tailed Duck, 22nd, 2+ off Aughinish causeway.

Also today, 11 Sandwich Terns at Inishroo and 2 at Doorus.

Troakie

135 Sand Martin. 2 at Ardrahan on Thursday last. Also three (a pair and a single bird) Buzzards between Kilcolgan and Gort.

136. Wheatear - female at Ballinderreen Turlough this morning.

Also a buzzard at Caherpeak (SSE of Kilcolgan), circled up high then drifted NNE.

Troakie

137. Willow warbler in song a couple of times briefly this morning near Ballinderreen.

Also singing Blackcap, and Buzzard overhead mobbed by a Raven.

Troakie

First Glaucous Gull of the year for me at Nimmo's Pier today, also first Willow Warbler at Waterside with Sand Martins all over the place. Sanderling at Nimmo's with a flock of 20+ Turnstones.

I was privileged to witness a not often seen spectacle of nature yesterday. Walking by Lough Kip river, two Red Grouse got up about 30m away from me from two different spots about 25m apart. I was very surprised to see that they were two males. They flew across the river and landed in the same patch about 100m away. On landing they both started crowing. No need to guess what happened next. They both made a dash for each other and a vicious fight ensued. The weaker bird disengaged and flew a short distance away. The ‘victor’ started to crow again. Cue for the weaker bird to try once more. He made a beeline for the other and hostilities were renewed. After a short fight the weaker bird (presumably the same bird) disengaged again and flew back to the same spot. After a short rest he decided to try again. A slightly longer fight ensued until the weaker bird gave up and flew away down the river, ceding the territory to the victor. I had a grandstand view through my bins from my slightly elevated position. The whole incident lasted about three minutes at most.

I’ve been walking up there since 1986 and don’t ever recall seeing two males fly up from the same patch. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have seen the ‘main event’ that happened.

Do willow warblers migrate in flocks?

Last Saturday I walked the Western Greenway (the old railway line from Newport to Mulranny). I heard a dozen or two willow warblers singing, a few chiffchaff and saw 1 wheatear and 4 swallows and not much else exciting. Group walking and birdwatching are not very compatible. Too much Yak-Yak-Yak for one thing and every time I stop to look at a bird I get left behind and find it almost impossible to close the gap. Birdwatching apart, I was a little challenged to keep up with some seriously fit and dedicated walkers.

The following morning we did the same walk in reverse. I got up early, left ahead of the posse and got some birdwatching in at my own pace. The contrast to the previous day could not have been more striking. Almost every cluster of bushes within earshot along the 19km stretch had a willow warbler singing in it. I easily heard hundreds, possibly up to 1000 in a four hour walk.

Could this be due to a big influx overnight or are they just more vocal in the morning?

Several summer vistors heard around Galway city over past couple of days:

138 Sedge warbler and
139 Grasshoppper warbler at Dangan yesterday.
140 Cuckoo near Barna Golf course today.

Willow warblers singing everywhere. Looking online their territory size is 1-2 per hectare which equates to 100-200 per square km!

Brendan sounds like you are one of the lucky few to have seen Red Grouse displaying. Seen alot of activity around with all our summer visitors. Few shots form the weekend taken in Menlo grave yard.

Just started a blog which might replace the web site.
http://birdsgalway.blogspot.com/

Montagu's Harrier at Knockranny, Moycullen, on 11th & 12th April came in at 138. The first record for the county.

142 Common Sandpiper. Pairs near Derryrush and Maam Cross in Connemara this morning.

I had my first sighting of a Grasshopper Warbler this morning near Dangan playing fields. A good and prolonged sighting. I didn't know that the tail vibrates like the clappers when they are singing.

Directions: Walk upriver on bank of Corrib to metal stile at end of playing fields. Cross stile. About half way to next gate to private land there is a clump of briars on left. Gropper singing here.

Tom,
Nice blog. Great Photos.

Forgot to post for county list: I had a Common Sandpiper at Lough Inch yesterday, the 19th. My earliest ever sighting.

First Starling chick has hatched at the Rosmuc National School nest web cam this morning. Pity the kids are on Easter Holiday's, but there should be a lot of activity by the time they are back on Tuesday. Teachers will have fun next week trying to teach the kids.
http://www.birdsgalway.blogspot.com/

143 Swift. 5 over Shantalla on Saturday last.

Seem to be a few missing from the yearlist I think, 144 - 157?

Manx Shearwater
Pintail
Marsh Harrier
Corncrake
Great Skua
Thayer’s Gull
Common Tern
Arctic Tern
Little Tern
Barn Owl
Swallow
House Martin
Whitethroat
Lapland Bunting

Dermot

158 Spotted Flycatcher Menlo

A few more shots on the blog www.birdsgalway.blog.spot

159 Turtle Dove (Mike & Miryam Harris).

160 Arctic Skua, Spiddal, 17/05/2011

There have been a pair of linnets which have appeared in my garden in Knocknacarra over the past couple of week and have become regular viistors. It seems unusual to me for them to be visiting a suburban garden feeding on a seed feeder along with greenfinches and house sparrows. Over the same time there have also been pairs of redpoll and goldfinch which I dont normally see in my garden at this time of year. I was wondering if they could have been displaced by the recent fires further West?