County Galway Birding (local patch) (1 Viewer)

Peter Phillips · Jan 24, 2008

birdsgalway said:
Peter
Ye have set the bar high in Louth so lets hope. Would be nice to have similar treads for other counties.
Just had a Twite at Nimmo's possible 5 not sure as someone distrubed them before I could be sure, but more then likely 4 Linnet. (2.10pm)
Tom

Well done. I think it was Tim Griffin Iwas talking to about setting up a feeding station for Twite at Nemos. I will try to get the reference. I know somewhere in Britain they are doing it quite successfully. Anybody reading this thread know about feeding Twite? If you do could you forward a website or link or reference please, that would be great.

I cant believe there are no gull photos up yet. So let me be the first. They are from 29th and 30th December 2007.

Peter Phillips · Jan 24, 2008

And this Argentatus Herring Gull

I just noticed this while uploading the picture. Paul Kelly picked out the Argentatus Gull. The brown mantle feathers are brown with a narrow cream fringe, giving it a darker backed appearance is this a diagnostic feature in Argentatus?

The normal Argenteus Herring Gull is below. The mantle feathers on the Argenteus have a more marbled pattern.

Brosnabirder · Jan 24, 2008

birdsgalway said:
Tom
Nice shot for your first attempt. A difficult bird to photo. What is your setup?

Thanks, the scope is good, Kowa 823M, but the camera is pretty rubbish. Hitachi HDC-55IE. Just got lucky with bird, popped up in front of me so worth a try digiscoping it. Bit of practice needed but really just want to get a semi recognisable shot for id purposes.
Just hand held camera at 20x on a zoom.
Nice gull pics.

birdsgalway · Jan 24, 2008

Gulls as per your request

A couple of Icelands and the American Herring Gull

Brosnabirder · Jan 24, 2008

Hello all,
Would anybody happen to have directions for Cartron? I found Cartron on the Discovery map but I don't know the area at all. A Grid Reference would be very useful. Any help appreciated

birdsgalway · Jan 24, 2008

Tom
From Galway drive out the Tuam Road, after Claregalway take the left turn at the Central Tavern , 3 miles turn right just before Peggys Bar, then take the next right at about 50 meters. About 500 meters there is a large grey shed on the left close to the road, there is plenty of room to park the car. Tim Griffin had the birds in a small field on the right. The birds were orginally found near the grey shed on the left. The farmer is very helpful.
Photos taken 30/12/08 about two fields in behind the farmers house at a large shed.
Tom

Brosnabirder · Jan 25, 2008

Thanks a million Tom. Very full directions. Won't get chance to go until Sunday so fingers crossed. Long stayers anyhow. So far

Very nice pics by the way. They're not called Cattle Egrets for nothing

Brosnabirder · Jan 25, 2008

Peter Phillips said:
Well done. I think it was Tim Griffin Iwas talking to about setting up a feeding station for Twite at Nemos. I will try to get the reference. I know somewhere in Britain they are doing it quite successfully. Anybody reading this thread know about feeding Twite? If you do could you forward a website or link or reference please, that would be great.

I cant believe there are no gull photos up yet. So let me be the first. They are from 29th and 30th December 2007.

Peter,
Just googled Twite feeding station and got a few hits. Twite were provided with supplementary food at a research site in the Pennines. From my brief read it seemed they were fed at or near breeding sites.
Tom

birdsgalway · Jan 25, 2008

BirdWatch Galway are hosting an illustrated talk this Friday evening (25th
January) at 8PM at the Anno Santo Hotel, Salthill, Galway.

The talk is titled 'The social life of Choughs in Connemara' and it will be
given by Mike Trewby (Conservation Officer with BirdWatch Ireland who has
been working on Chough ecology and conservation).

There is no entry fee, but donations can be made on the evening and will be
gratefully received.

birdsgalway · Jan 25, 2008

Michael Davis had a 1st winter American Herring Gull on the slipway at Nimmo's yesterday. Tim Griffin reported seeing it this morning (10.15am).

breffni · Jan 25, 2008

Might get over to Galway for a day next week - that bufflehead didn't return to lake ateduan (sp?) by any chance, is it worth a visit?

Peter Phillips · Jan 25, 2008

Brosnabirder said:
Peter,
Just googled Twite feeding station and got a few hits. Twite were provided with supplementary food at a research site in the Pennines. From my brief read it seemed they were fed at or near breeding sites.
Tom

The Pennines sounds right. It still might be worth trying them with niger at the pier to keep them around.Especially this time of year as seeds start running out coming into springtime.

We have a feeding station at Dublin Zoo which is great for Redpoll. Up to 50 feeding on the ground in March the last two years. They only seem to arrive as the natural food sources gets depleated. In the new year numbers start building up till march. Then a sharp decline early April. If the Twite get the hang of it they might well come back year after year. Were Twite more regular at Nemos in the 80s and 90s? There might still be a small flock doing the rounds in Galway Bay. In Dundalk Bay they seem to move around quite a bit probably in response to new feeding opportunities.

Nice shots of the Gulls and Cattle Egret. One of them would be nice at Cruisetown Strand.

birdsgalway · Jan 25, 2008

Just back from Nimmo's. The 1st winter American Herring Gull was there for about 15 minutes along with 8 Iceland and 2 Glaucous Gulls. Will post a few picts this evening.
Twite are scarce at Nimmo's prior to the single the other day it was 2005 I had 4 together at the pier.

birdsgalway · Jan 25, 2008

breffni said:
Might get over to Galway for a day next week - that bufflehead didn't return to lake ateduan (sp?) by any chance, is it worth a visit?

Not sure about Atedaun check the Clare web site for recent sightings

http://www.clarebirdwatching.com/scarce-rare-sightings.html

Paul Troake · Jan 25, 2008

A few things of note today....a flock of 20+ common scoter off Black Rock, and at Mutton Island a 1st-year Med gull & 4 little gulls.

Yesterday I found a large starling roost beyond Monivea, after initially following a couple of roost-bound flocks 8km away. The roost turned out to be in a spruce plantation, and when I arrived birds appeared to be streaming in at a rate of about 300 per second (very hard to estimate though). This continued for 20 minutes or so - do the maths and you get 360000! May be some were flying round in a big circle to fool me, but I'll hopefully get a better idea next time I'm out that way. I've not heard of any roosts closer to Galway, but would be interested to hear if anyone knows of any.

Troakie

birdsgalway · Jan 25, 2008

Paul/Troakie
The only Starling roost that I know of is at the reeds at Menlo Pier, but would not have the numbers you have encountered at Monivea. A wonderful sight.
Tom

birdsgalway · Jan 25, 2008

Three photos taken to day at Nimmo's
Group photo of 7 white wing Gulls
1st winter American herring Gull with 1st winter Glaucous Gull
1st winter American herring Gull in flight

Peter Phillips · Jan 25, 2008

birdsgalway said:
Three photos taken to day at Nimmo's
Group photo of 7 white wing Gulls
1st winter American herring Gull with 1st winter Glaucous Gull
1st winter American herring Gull in flight

Super stuff lads your local patch is off to a flying start.Keep up the good work.

MargaretM · Jan 25, 2008

Fantastic to see a local patch for Galway. Hope it sparks off lots of new ones around Ireland. Will keep dipping in to see what's new! Excellent!!

gareth_blockley · Jan 25, 2008

birdsgalway said:
Photos taken 30/12/08

Wow thats some bird predictions going on there! :-O

I'm watching the news of gulls at nimmos's pier daily at the moment. I will be over in Ireland in march, and though it wont be a birding trip as such i'll definately be going to nimmo's.
I wondered if anyone had a map or could mock one up to show the piers location and give some tips on best viewing conditions. It would be much appreciated

Cheers

Gareth

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