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

Birds fae Torry (7 Viewers)

"Training my scope on my neighbours is starting to pay dividends"-well I hope it's not on Aggie or we may not have a BF bash leader in two weeks.

And for goodness sake we're not going twitching birds like Purple Sands and Black Guillemots in 2 weeks are we. Who on earth would want to see them-let's stick to a masterclass in Eiders with sails and hardcore local patching

Hey, the Purple Sands and Black Guillemots are local enough. It's possible the WW Black Tern wasn't all that local. Just off patch, in fact.

Don't worry about Aggie - I've told all my neighbours I've got this mate from Edinburgh who's so hard he can take anyone Torry and that he's coming up in a couple of weeks. They were very impressed and have decided to form a welcoming committee. I'm sure you'll be relishing the challenge Dr G.
 
An interesting but slightly frustrating sighting today. I was scanning over the city centre mid afternoon when I saw a bird of prey heading steadily inland. I wasn't sure what it was at first but then realised the long, angled wings, short tail and 'paddling' flight were right for one of the Asio owls. It was a long way off though - a mile at its closest. The wings actually seemed relatively short and rounded so my suspicion is that it was a Long-eared Owl - too far away to be sure though. Presumably it was just in off the sea.

Also a couple of Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the harbour this afternoon.
 
An interesting but slightly frustrating sighting today. I was scanning over the city centre mid afternoon when I saw a bird of prey heading steadily inland. I wasn't sure what it was at first but then realised the long, angled wings, short tail and 'paddling' flight were right for one of the Asio owls. It was a long way off though - a mile at its closest. The wings actually seemed relatively short and rounded so my suspicion is that it was a Long-eared Owl - too far away to be sure though. Presumably it was just in off the sea.

Also a couple of Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the harbour this afternoon.

Raptors never play the game right. All the interesting ones are either miles off or flying away from you. And how easy it is to lose them, despite their size.

There was a minor influx of Blackbirds (including more than a few females) at the weekend round my way. Several seen flying high in that neurotic way that Blackbirds have when they're migrating. But it's been a dull couple of weeks otherwise. I'm praying for a real cold snap to get things going.

Cheers,
 
Red throated Diver,to the east of Victoria Bridge,on the River Dee 20 minutes ago.

There seem to be a few more coming into the harbour these last few days.

I finally managed to get a Redwing for the house list, one feeding a few gardens down. Also quite a few Blackbirds again.

I went to see the White-winged Black Tern at Loch of Skene again this afternoon. I only saw it briefly on the loch but later watched it feeding over the fields to the north of the loch. I wonder how much it's finding there.
 
I went to see the White-winged Black Tern at Loch of Skene again this afternoon. I only saw it briefly on the loch but later watched it feeding over the fields to the north of the loch. I wonder how much it's finding there.

I finally succumbed and went to see the tern myself this evening. It goes against all my non-twitching instincts, but it was only 2 miles off my normal route home from work and it has been there for several days now!

It was quite an attractive little bird and sat on it's roosting platform the whole time I was there (about 45 minutes). I still think the arrival of about 5000 geese just before I left was more impressive though.
 
Hey, the Purple Sands and Black Guillemots are local enough. -just kidding-vainly hoping to instill some discipline in to Peterborough's most notorious lister. Hope she might appreciate the local avifauna of the Tree and the Plotties instead of salivating over the prospect of increasing her year list

It's possible the WW Black Tern wasn't all that local. Just off patch, in fact.-well see if you can sweet talk it into staying for another week

Don't worry about Aggie - I've told all my neighbours I've got this mate from Edinburgh who's so hard he can take anyone Torry and that he's coming up in a couple of weeks. They were very impressed and have decided to form a welcoming committee. I'm sure you'll be relishing the challenge Dr G -we can just play your Slint and Fugazi CD's and that'll keep them at bay

Bur seriously it has been a pretty quiet autumn on the East coast of Scotland so far-though one or two good birds in the last week-let's hope it peaks in a week or so up in Aberdeenshire
 
Had my first town Woodcock of the winter (I see the odd one in the town centre about three or four times in a winter) over Greyfriars House, Broad Street car park east this morning at 09:10.

Also about fifty Fieldfare, in two groups, west at 08:30-45 this morning from the house.

Cheers,
 
Had my first town Woodcock of the winter (I see the odd one in the town centre about three or four times in a winter) over Greyfriars House, Broad Street car park east this morning at 09:10.

Also about fifty Fieldfare, in two groups, west at 08:30-45 this morning from the house.

Cheers,

Not really the Torry area but interesting all the same.
 
It's quite good to hear of sightings that are within view of my Torry flat, even if they're outside of Torry.

I saw my first Woodcock of the autumn this morning - a bird flipping over the rooftops along Victoria Road. Even when you're half expecting them, Woodcocks are always a surprise.

This talk of thrushes reminds me that I finally managed to see my first Redwing from the flat a couple of days ago. I've seen a few more since.
 
I'm just pleased to see this thread has such an avid readership. Even if people are only looking out for reasons to section me, I take it as a compliment.

It's been a few days since I had a proper look round, so I braved the moderate mid-morning drizzle and strode purposefully off round the Ness. A 'good sprinkling' of thrushes was noted, a couple of dozen Blackbirds, several Song Thrushes, half a dozen Redwings and one Fieldfare, mostly around the Allotments. I wasn't paying too much attention to the Eiders today but still saw at least three 'be-sailed' birds, a drake on Greyhope Bay and later two more on the harbour. One of these showed a bit of an orangey bill, which is more typical of the borealis types I've seen before.

Regular readers will know that I'm always on the look out for evidence of miscreant activity. I'm not sure if this qualifies but, rather morbidly, there were three dead rabbits inside the Battery, alongside various discarded fireworks. The Herring Gulls were finding the rabbits to their liking (see picture one). Their opinion on the fireworks isn't yet known.

The rain veered towards the heavy side of moderate so I headed back to the flat. After it stopped raining the wind picked up and there was quite an impressive flurry of Gannets moving out to sea - most of them adult birds. Also a few Kittiwakes and auks, mostly going south. Another overdue house tick was gratefully received, a female Red-breasted Merganser circling the harbour before continuing south.

I went down to the pier on the north shore early in the afternoon for what was a pretty high tide. There I basked in the magnificent spectacle of over two hundred roosting waders (see picture two). 79 Turnstones, 98 Redshanks and the Purple Sandpiper Totaliser moves on to:

72

Kerr-ching! Well done everyone - a great effort. Four of the Purps had red colour rings on their right legs (see picture three, specially for Dr G). Quite a few have been ringed at Girdle Ness in recent years, although I don't know if they use colour rings. I just checked the colour ringing website and it appears that birds with red rings on the right leg were banded in the Netherlands. Hmm...In-ter-esting.

The fresh southerlies brought in three juvenile Swallows, my first for weeks, which were hawking over the Plotties. There was also a Mistle Thrush over and a pair of Stonechats on the north shore.
 

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Kerr-ching! Well done everyone - a great effort. Four of the Purps had red colour rings on their right legs (see picture three, specially for Dr G). Quite a few have been ringed at Girdle Ness in recent years, although I don't know if they use colour rings. I just checked the colour ringing website and it appears that birds with red rings on the right leg were banded in the Netherlands. Hmm...In-ter-esting.

Whereabouts is Girdle Ness again? ;)
 
Four of the Purps had red colour rings on their right legs (see picture three, specially for Dr G).

Ever thought of being the Simon Barnes of the photography world-How to be a bad....... And you weren't playing Slint to the purp sands were you-from their looks........
 
Four of the Purps had red colour rings on their right legs (see picture three, specially for Dr G).

Ever thought of being the Simon Barnes of the photography world-How to be a bad....... And you weren't playing Slint to the purp sands were you-from their looks........

Sometimes I make a bit of an effort,
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/44212/ppuser/3550
Might even have a proper go later today. It was a bit gloomy yesterday, and I didn't have the proper gear with me!

Slint are rather quiet a lot of the time (as I'm sure you know ;)), so I could have been playing it to them.
 
Wow. That's a really nice pic. Why aren't you putting these on your thread?

That was taken two years ago, when I used to try a bit harder! I might try and get some better pictures today, particularly as the light is very good. I normally only take the wee man out with me, which isn't as good for photos. I might get the big man out today.
 

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