[Harry Hussey]

Hi all,
After complaining and generally feeling hard done-by on Saturday,the weather had cleared up a little bit yesterday(Sunday),so I managed to arrange a lift to east Cork.Few migrants(basically none!)were at the harbour at Knockadoon Head,so we decided on a short seawatch,where I year-ticked Pomarine Skua(x2),but had little else.
Great prolonged perched views were had of a Merlin,allowing it to be aged/sexed/assigned to race as a 2nd-cal female of one of the European races(aesalon or subaesalon)
We went around to the eastern side of the head,where I had only ever seen Whitethroats and the like,but I've always thought that it looked good for a certain rare species that I've seen only once before...
Oddly enough,after commenting on this,my friend had a brief view of a male Whitethroat,and while looking towards this with the naked eye the species that I'd long predicted for the area flew past-female type Golden Oriole!!
We had it twice in flight and for under a minute perched in a sycamore,by which time it reverted to typical form and disappeared into the copse.Unfortunately,it was never seen again.
On the way back brief views were had of the Marsh Harrier that I found at Ballyvergan reedbed on Wed,but still no Groppers heard!
Today I went back down to the same area:no Golden O,but had a Turtle Dove near the "tower" at Knockadoon.No sign of the harrier either.
A few ringers went to Saltee this evening to spend a few days there,and despite not arriving until late they had 1 Little Bunting,1 Short-toed Lark,1 Woodchat Shrike and 1 Tree Pipit!
Amazingly,considering the rarity of some of these here(esp.the bunting),only the pipit would be a tick!;-)
Going down there on Friday evening:would hope that some of these will stay and maybe that we'll find some good birds ourselves...fingers crossed!
Harry H

[Steve]

Hi harry

Tell me why NOTHING ever appears On the west coast, I cant ever understand how Birds from The US dont turn up In Eire first
That oven bird a few years ago in England being a prime example.

Is it not Birded???

[Harry Hussey]

Hi Steve,
You will remember that I have commented on the low numbers of birders here?Well,to make things worse,the geographical spread is very uneven,with most living in Dublin(which isn't really that good an area for birding,not for rarities anyway!),a few in Cork,and almost none on the west coast.I know of 6 in all of Kerry(3 of whom are friends of mine),1-2 in Clare,2+ in Galway,1-2 in Mayo,1(?)in Sligo and 1-2 in Donegal!
I think that even the south coast is underwatched!!
We should get at least as many American passerines as the UK if not more,and probably do!
The only drawback to increased coverage would be an increased sense of frustration if,say,7 potential ticks were found on the one day in different corners of the country...
Loop/Bridges of Ross are birded,and some areas in north Kerry are regularly checked by the locals,also Tory gets good coverage,but only in Sep(when I hope to visit the "Irish Fair Isle" and maybe find our first River Warbler/Lancy/RF Bluetail/Booted Warbler etc,or MY first Citrine/Yellow-breasted Bunting/Pechora/PG Tips etc)
Harry H

[Steve]

The law of flight, Wind direction, and probability MUST mean that loads of rare birds are missed, The fact that from The US east coast, Eire is the nearest landfall ??? I think a BF trip to Galway or somewhere is on the cards???