County Galway Birding (local patch) (1 Viewer)

[birdsgalway]

County List 2010
55 Pochard (Corrib)
56 Goldeneye (Lough Atalia)
57 Tufted Duck (Corrib)
58 Little Grebe (Lough Atalia)
59 Great Crested Grebe (Corrib)
60 Scaup (Lough Atalia)
61 Lapwing (Lough Atalia)
62 Teal (Corrib)
63 Shag (Galway Docks)
64 Great Northern diver (Galway Docks)
65 Spotted Redshank (3) (Dermot Breen Kilcaimin)
66 Moorhen (Waterside)

 

[John Carey]

67 Dipper Salmon Weir Bridge

Might be the only tick I get this year!

 

[Dermot Breen]

A few more for the list from the long weekend.

68 Red-throated Diver
69 Whooper Swan
70 Greenland White-fronted Goose
71 Greylag Goose
72 Barnacle Goose, 180+, Inishark. Seen from Aughrus Point, 11km away.
73 Brent Goose
74 Gadwall
75 Pintail
76 Shoveler
77 Red-breasted Merganser
78 Kestrel
79 Merlin, Inisturbot.
80 Coot
81 Golden Plover
82 Grey Plover
83 Knot
84 Sanderling
85 Black-tailed Godwit
86 Black Guillemot
87 Woodpigeon
88 Skylark
89 Mistle Thrush
90 Blackcap, Oranmore
91 Blue Tit
92 Chough
93 Greenfinch
94 Siskin
95 Redpoll
96 Bullfinch
97 Reed Bunting

Dermot

 

[Dermot Breen]

98 Mediterrean Gull, 3 adult winter at Inner Mannin Bay, Ballyconneely. Regular spot for them. They don't seem to be anywhere near as reliable at any other site in Galway. First-winter with them alst month making four together.
99 Long-tailed Duck, adult female, Bunowen Pier.

Dermot

 

[Dermot Breen]

Got caught out in a blizzard up at the very back of the National Park today, not nice.:storm:
100 Common Crossbill, Bealnascalpa, Letterfrack. 2-3 birds. Great views of a 2nd cal male with an off white wingbar! Adult male singing also, breeding season for Crossbills already.
101 Eurasian Whimbrel, Barnaderg Bay, Letterfrack. This bird was at this same site around the time of the Little Blue Heron. Also 3rd cal male Long-tailed Duck.

Dermot

 

[AOD]

102 Jay Rosscahill and 3 in Moycullen. Bittern seen in Wexford yesterday. Would be worth someones while to take a wander around the reedbeds on the Corrib methinks!

 

[John Carey]

You could skate around the Corrib Reedbeds at this rate! Corrib count on Saturday......bet I get a Bittern Me Arse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have we grey wagtail?...one at NUI today.

 

[abi107]

Hello all

This is my first time posting to this forum. I've been browsing the messages for a while, but only registered with birdforum in the New Year.

I'm very impressed by the total of 206 birds seen in Galway in 2009. I saw about half that number in Galway last year.

I have a couple of birds to add to the 2010 list:

104. Shelduck (Rusheen Bay)
105. Stock dove (Rusheen Bay)
106. Black-throated Diver (Furbo).

I had lovely views of a snipe feeding in the fields at Rusheen, as well as one almost flying into my car at Gentian Hill.

Aoife

 

[Dermot Breen]

Hi Aoife

Welcome to the forum. Keep posting any interesting sightings and don't forget to post them to Chris Peppiatt for inclusion in the Birdwatch Galway Quarterly reports [email protected]
http://www.birdwatchgalway.org/

A few more for the list
107 Gannet
108 Common Scoter
109 Pheasant
110 Long-tailed Tit

Dermot

 

[birdsgalway]

I struggled for years to encourage Goldfinch in to my garden with a little bit of success earlier in the year with 2 regular coming to the feeders. With this cold weather I just counted 17. Also had 4 garden ticks this week Redwing, Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit and Black-headed Gull. Two new flyovers a Snipe and Oystercatcher.

Aoife welcome to the Galway Tread.

 

[AOD]

111 Marsh Harrier Curraghline yesterday.
112 Water Rail Curraghline yesterday.

Holy Chr*%t it was cold out on the Curraghline yesterday! Well worth it though with good numbers of harriers about with 8 different Hen - including two males - to go with the female Marsh. Other raptors surprisingly in short supply with two kestrels being the only other BOPs. Had been hoping for a Short-eared Owl to be pushed in with the cold spell. Plenty of food species around though with Redwings absolutely everywhere.

 

[John Carey]

Ticked 42 species between Nimmos and Rusheen today.

Highlights were the ring-billed on the slipway at Nimmos, got within 3 feet of it as I was violated by every gull and pigeon in the place due to the loaf of Pat the Baker I was carrying. The beach was full of redwing and snipe along with the usual gulls plus a curlew and some ringed plover.
A Golden Plover on the beach near the aquarium with 2 Grey Plover. Another one at Rusheen along with lots of Grey.
Rusheen had a good compliment of birds, Barwits, Dunlin, Redshank, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck etc. Stock Dove at the inlet near Gentian Hill along with a few Greenshank and a Whimbrel. No terns to be seen anywhere but lots of groups of snipe (4/5 birds per group) all over the place.
Was it cold?....put it to you this way-There were no brass monkeys anywhere either.

:t:

 

[birdsgalway]

A few pics from a very cold and frosty Galway. All taken around Lough Corrib Menlo and Anglingham.

 

[Dermot Breen]

Was out at Angliham again yesterday. Tons of diving duck present. I'd say about 70% of the surface water out there was frozen over. Can't imagine that happens too often out there. I had the male Ferruginous x Pochard again and a new Ring-necked x Tufted hybird also. Where are all the geniune articles??? What it is about me, Galway and hybrid ducks? I think I might have come across one hybrid duck in my two winters in Donegal. In the last year and a half in Galway just off the top of my head I have had 2 Ferruginous x Pochards, 2 Ring-necked x Tufted, 3+ Scaup x Tufted, 1 Pochard x Tufted, 2 Green-winged x Eurasian Teal.
3 Woodcock there also (which are everywhere at the moment), including one unfortunate being chased a male Peregrine, not a big difference in size between the two.
Pic attached of ice accumulatingaround one of the islands.

Dermot

 

[John Carey]

Have yet to see a bloody woodcock!

Lapwing and Fieldfare on the NUIG campus today....all looking fairly starved.

 

[Dermot Breen]

How have you managed not to see a Woodcock?? Walk any shrub in the county at the moment and you're sure to put up a few.
The mind boggles at the number of thrushes that are dying at the moment. The poor feckers are starving to death by the shed loads. Huge numbers in Cork and Kerry at the moment. There were 1000+ Snipe on Sherkin Island, Cork yesterday and 15,000 - 20,000 Redwings on Bolus Head, Kerry on Saturday!

Dermot

 

[Helsinki Birder]

Amazing to see the difference here in cork with the "thaw". high wind storm with heavy rain here, but all the snow and ice is gone...and so are the thrushes!

Owen

 

[birdsgalway]

113 American Herring Gull put in an appearance today at low tide on the rocks opposite the slipway at Nimmo's. Best seen from Long Walk. I last seen it on the 29th November. Tim Griffin and Mike Davis last seen it on the 2nd or 3rd December.

 

[birchall]

The excellent detective series 'Wallander' (BBC1 9.00pm Sundays) has some birdwatching tonight. I don't know how much or how little. Might be worth a look. In fact, with or without Wallander is always worth a look

 

[John Carey]

Is Bill Bailey making birding cool? I am enjoying his show but then again...thats just me!

Anyone else do the swan census at the weekend? I managed to get 13 whoopers at Anglingham which was 13 more than expected.

I also took a trip down the bog road on the Curraghline. Holy Sh1t...it is wrecked. It breaks my flippin' heart to see a place treated like that. Those people should have their hands cut off. I don't think I can ever go there again..It's too awful.I mean it's pretty obvious who is doing all the dumping-I reckon it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to put this evidence together
1-Abandoned goverment issue childrens buggy
2-Mange ridden piebald horses
3-Dismantled caravan

mmmmmmmmmm....let me think?

Sorry for the rant...but needed to get this of my chest.