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

Norfolk birding (5 Viewers)

now being ided as yellow bellied!

Down to the yellowish tinge to the throat and underparts. This was the view of the experts and the book agrees. ;)

Got some record shots.

Dave
 

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Congrats, James McC ! !

In the worst weather through which I've walked any distance, I staggered to the Point, at times being halted by the gale force NW winds. Waterproof trousers became soaking wet inside.

Whose idea was it to put a gravel drive most of the way out there ?

The journey back was far easier, with the wind behind.

A couple more record shots, before the big guns post theirs.
 

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Weather charts look good for tonight and tomorrow if I'm reading them correctly. Coupled with the fact that it's going to be swamped with birders here tomorrow means something else good will almost certainly turn up. It's got to be my turn again for a good finders tick!
Enjoy the bird/birds/carnage!
 
Have uploaded some of my pics of the flycatcher on to my blog. Not brilliant but may add to the debate before the big boys show their's!

Great twitch, really felt that the bird had been 'earnt' in the wind, rain and shingle!! Good to see so many familiar faces that I hadn't seen for a while (and those I had!)


Josh - I took some pics of you running away from the twitch, but I don't know how to resize (!) so you're off the hook!!
 
Empid I.D.

Not sure if any further opinion is needed on this flycatcher - and though I recognize that views in the field absolutely trump looking at photos on a computer monitor - I will still throw in some comments about the Empidonax pictured.

Going by what I see in the views above, I would support the diagonsis of Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. As Kenn Kaufmann rightly states in his book, "a large dose of caution" is required when identifying out-of-range, and especially, silent empids; that said, I see a fairly wide eye-ring (most Willow/Alders have thin eye-rings, some none at all), the expected greyish-yellow throat, and a very short primary projection. This latter character speaks against both Willow/Alder and Acadian. (It does not eliminate Least, however).

One thing that observers in the field might see, and I cannot really in the photos, is the exact hue of the back. Kaufmann says (and I have noticed this in the field myself) that Yellow-bellied and Acadian are both much greener than either Least or Willow/Alder (which might be described as grey-green or dark olive). I get a hint of this in one of the shots here (with the back to the camera), but the light is far from ideal, so I wouldn't bank on it. However, in the field, I think this difference would be noticable - if maybe more than a little difficult to pick up without experience of the other species in the genus. :t:

Good luck!
 
What are the tide times tomorrow please?

High tide on the North Coast is about 9 ish depending on where you are. Expect it to be early , very big and the tide to hang on with the high north winds and spring tides. In fact not a day to be messing about below the high tide line unless you realy know what you are doing.

Any one on the coast in the morning be worth checking out the pipits as 2 Richards pipits present mid week in addition to the Hunstanton one.
 
Just a note of caution in interpreting the photos that I have seen posted so far - the colour reproduction particularly for those on Surfbirds provides a very poor (and misleading) impression of the birds actual colour tones in the field - presumably as a function of the light conditions. The mantle had a clearly greenish tone and the underparts were a clearly yellow colour, though somewhat sullied, including the throat.
 
And there was me quite chuffed with my find of grey phalarope on north scrape !!

Best bird in norfolk since the holkham nuthatch of 21 years ago, well done James.
 
Hi. Did the flycatcher go missing or fly off earlier? Thankyou.

I have walked the point many many times.. and I must say that was the worst conditions for walking up there I have ever been through. Rain and very strong NW winds .. it wasn't much fun..But worth it for the Empid!
I was stuck at work in Norwich (in Norwich until 3.30pm and managed to get up there within 2 hrs!) Mainly running into the wind with bins only.

The bird only showed briefly late in the evening and there were people in the crowd that had not even seen it when I was standing there. It was keeping very low and tucked away in the far right of the plantation. The bird is not going anywhere tonight in these conditions .. even though most birds there do normally move on fairly quickly at this time of year (not much to feed on!)

Good luck to all going tomorrow .. I suggest getting there early before it decides to wing it across the marshes. Just hope it survives the night!

As for the ID .. I reckon Yellow-bellied Fly seems the more likely based on the primary projection, yellow tinged throat and plumage. I have only seem Y bellied and Least in the US .. so, one of the others would have been nice but what a first for Britain!! and in Norfolk

Right now i'm going to crack open another beer

B :)
 
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Have uploaded some of my pics of the flycatcher on to my blog. Not brilliant but may add to the debate before the big boys show their's!

Great twitch, really felt that the bird had been 'earnt' in the wind, rain and shingle!! Good to see so many familiar faces that I hadn't seen for a while (and those I had!)


Josh - I took some pics of you running away from the twitch, but I don't know how to resize (!) so you're off the hook!!


thanks for being so understanding about the fact that i was wearing 'bermuda' shorts, 'hawaiian' shirt and sandals in a raging northerly gale - there was a perfectly valid reason ! ;)

well done Stuey, bet finding the Phal gave you more satisfaction than the Flycatcher, so imagine how James felt!
 
How much yellow?

doesn't seem people who were there can even decide on its colour!

Hard to be sure, in the field how much yellow tones / wash could be found on the bird. Tended to be facing the other way or at an angle from behind.

This yellowness means bird could be a yellow-bellied flycatcher. Would the yellow of a typical yellow-bellied flycatcher be a stronger shade though?

Can the ID be nailed?
 
Don't how to describe really how awesome it was seeing that bird!!!!!!!!!! There is no Smilie on BF that it is mega enough to add to this post!!!

Got loads of pictures - only just home - the most atrocious walk out to Blakeney Point EVER for the most awesome bird EVER (well maybe not ever, but you know what I mean!;))

Got some awesome pictures and will post them HERE, Surfbirds and my blog shortly.

I was in the Sheringham Shelters at the time news came through - never seen the shelters empty so fast!!!

The pictures below have been added to surfbirds, birdguides, rare birds thread on here and my blog - more pictures now added to my blog, also crowd shots and video at Sheringham etc.

FULL ACCOUNT OF THE DAY.

Seawatching at Sheringham 7.40am until 1.30pm

Overslept (again!) Arrived Sheringham 7.40am instead of the intended 5.15am!!! Managed to sit on my camp stool in front/to side of Justin. It was freezing cold and the waves were rolling!

Too tired after sorting all flycatcher pictures out to list everything, but basically there were TONS of Red throated Divers, Bonxies and Gannets. Small numbers of Little Gulls, Arctic Skuas, a few Arctic Terns, 2 Barnacle Geese at 9.10am going east, 4 Brent Geese (see picture below), Auk sp.'s, Guillemot, Common Scooters, Wigeon, Eiders, Dunlins, Sandwich Terns, a single Manx Shearwater at 1.03pm.

We were waiting for the "Holme" Sabines to glide past, when at 1.30pm news came through of a possible Alder/Willow Flycatcher on Blakeney Point. I have never seen those shelters empty so quickly!!!!! I struggled up the steps with my stuff (thanks Dave H. for helping me) and whizzed along the coast road (well I tried - someone who obviously wasn't a birder crawled along in front of me all the way to Cley). Got the last of the few places left on Coastguards carpark.

The walk up the point was the most horrendous conditions - the worst I have experienced - it was torrential, driving rain and a head wind just to add to the hellish walk - I found it difficult to put one foot in front of the other the wind was so strong!

Andy and Justin had left the Sheringham earlier to go to football - Andy was cursing when I rang him, as when news came through he had been just about to leave for football! Connor was on his way too and Pete S. and Eddie M. were way ahead of me and had the seen the bird long before I got there. Got to The Plantation and first saw the Alder/Willow Flycatcher at 3.10pm - an awesome bird! People were saying that it was a possible Yellow bellied Flycatcher which if so, it would have been the first for the Western Palearctic!!! I watched the bird on and off, but less so at dusk until approx 6.15pm. Connor and Billy and both Andy W. and Justin L. all got to see the bird. Lee Evans arrived and after seeing the bird, collapsed with relief and dived under his coat for shelter. The weather was absolutely dreadful and it constantly rained heavily on/off but there were a few spells of brighter weather when I was initially arrived which enabled me to get the following shots. Don't know how to describe really, how awesome it was seeing that bird!!!!!!!!!! Didn't expect that today with north west winds!!! There was around 100 birders there at most, although I am sure that will increase in the morning!

Left the plantation at around 6.30pm - the walk back was shattering, but slightly more relaxing! It was one of the most atmospheric walks back ever, the foam from the pounding waves (now high tide) covered the sands and it looked like the beach was covered in snow! Part of the way back I walked along with Ashley Banwell and another man and a Purple Sandpiper literally walked across us on the shingle at 7.20pm! Got back to the carpark at 8.05pm and I felt completely burnt out! There were still loads of cars in the carpark - several people would be walking back in complete blackness. Got home late.

Looking through my Peterson Guide and my photos - the flycatcher didn't have enough yellowish underparts to be "yellow bellied", but which of the others it is - I'll leave that to the experts! It did look yellowish in the field though!

Best Wishes Penny:girl:


HUGE THANKS to James McCallum and Paul for finding the bird - Congratulations!
 

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Hi. Did the flycatcher go missing or fly off earlier? Thankyou.

It showed last at around 6.30pm I think, having shown well, but relatively briefly a handful of times since c5pm. As others have said, conditions were pretty dire (not a particularly pleasant walk out for my 9 year old son!). It was exceptionally windy and I would have thought with the overnight weather, more than a fair chance of it staying put?..

Good luck to those in the morning.
 

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