County Galway Birding (local patch) (2 Viewers)

John Carey · Mar 7, 2008

Hello Everyone,

About Time I got involved in this forum. If anyone was around Loch atalia last sunday-very strange looking duck down there. It could possibly be an escapee or a hybrid. Large size.About Pintail or Shelduck size. All white body-looked almost dirty. Grey-brown head and tail feathers and orange legs. Also had a strange light coloured stripe down the back of the head. There were a lot of shelduck there at the time but at the opposite end of the inlet.

15 Scaup also there last sunday.

Dermot Breen · Mar 7, 2008

Got word back about a ringed Brent Goose I had at Nimmo's on 9th Feb. Martin Byrne had it 2 day before me there also. It arrived into Stranford Lough on 15th October then was seen down in Tralee on 17th November. Certainly getting around. Details below;

80 27-Oct-06 GMU Q740175 Tralee Bay Barrow Harbour 482

907 01-May-07 HG Skerjafjörður Álftanes/Lambh./Grandi

907 01-May-07 GG Skerjafjörður Álftanes/Lambh./Grandi 120

79 15-Oct-07 KM J506721 Strangford Lough Ballyreagh (Maltings) 1500

62 15-Oct-07 GM J506721 Strangford Lough Ballyreagh (Maltings)

73 17-Oct-07 KC J506721 Strangford Lough Ballyreagh (Maltings)

59 18-Oct-07 HT J512717 Strangford Lough Finlays Road

230 17-Nov-07 JMU/FM Q740175 Tralee Bay Barrow Harbour

311 07-Feb-08 MBY M297243 Galway Bay Galway City/South Park 230

345 09-Feb-08 DBR M297243 Galway Bay Galway City/South Park 100

Fergus Parker · Mar 7, 2008

Has anyone looked for the Cattle Egrets recently? I may take a trip to Galway next weekend.

Fergus

birdsgalway · Mar 7, 2008

Dave
Any pics of the interesting Herring Gull with yellow legs. Looks like you got a 'full house' as far as the gulls are concerned.

Rockermartin
Any pics of the hide at Whitburn?

John
Great to see you on the this tread the first of many post. The hybrid duck was at Waterside last year. It was indicated that someone had a private collection on one of the islands on the Corrib and release them. Pic below. Also another pic of a strange duck at Nimmo's July 2007.

Dermot
What was the number on the Brent Goose. You have listed the locations of where the bird was sighted what do the numbers refer to.
79 15-Oct-07 KM J506721 Strangford Lough Ballyreagh (Maltings) 1500

Fergus
I have made a few phone calls regarding the Cattle Ergets. Will know latter this evening.

Tom

birdsgalway · Mar 7, 2008

Update on the Cattle Egrets is that the farmer in Corrundulla last seen one individual in the original field where they were found last Saturday 1st March. His son seen two in about two fields into the farm the same day. There is a report that they may roost in Cleg wood which is opposite Pegs Pub. Thanks to Ian Brophy for contacting me.

Talking to Tim Griffin today and he had the 1st winter American Herring Gull and 2 Surf Scoters this morning with the usual collection of Icelands and Ring-billed Gulls.

Thursday Morning I had both American Herring Gulls on the slipway until a responsible dog owner allow his dog to run into the flock of gulls and Swans. :C

On Wednesday evening in fading light I was within 20 feet of the Forster's Tern had the camera it was a full frame shot but ISO800 the pic where just so grainy. oh for a bit of sunshine.

John Carey · Mar 8, 2008

Thanks tom,

Thats the chap alright. Dirty Grey fella with the brown head. Had my brain wrecked. Does anyone know species etc.

Good Photo.

John

Brosnabirder · Mar 8, 2008

Fairly quiet today on the count between Silver Strand and Oranmore. Really windy too which didn't help. Did anybody see anything unusual in their areas?

dfd · Mar 8, 2008

Nimmos

birdsgalway said:
Dave
Any pics of the interesting Herring Gull with yellow legs. Looks like you got a 'full house' as far as the gulls are concerned.

Tom

Tom,

Pic of gull with yellow legs included below - thanks again for the gen. argenteus seems likely looking at shot.

Dave

Paul Troake · Mar 9, 2008

Brosnabirder said:
Fairly quiet today on the count . Did anybody see anything unusual in their areas?

Hi (Brosna)Tom

Good to hear you were out counting. The highlights from our section, Aughinish to Kilcolgan, were a black-throated diver close in at Parkmore Quay, Doorus, and a female/imm. merlin which settled for a while on the Aughinish causeway just a few yards behind the car we were peering out of.

Not much to report from my recent birding ventures. I had a green sandpiper on the Abbert River, west of Cloonkeen Bridge (SE of Tuam), on 28 Feb. Apparently they're seldom recorded in the county, though I suspect there's a small wintering population along the rivers in that part of the county. On the same day I watched a merlin over Killaclogher Bog in dim dusk light in close pursuit of a twittering skylark. Both eventually dived in to a large gorse bush a few yards from me, though the outcome was not ascertained. Skylarks seem to be a very scarce wintering bird in that part of the county, despite being common along the Galway Bay coast.

In the past week or so I've noticed good numbers of razorbills in the bay. Had over 600 one day off Silver Strand, mostly heading in to the bay, which is the most I've recorded there.

Troakie

Brosnabirder · Mar 9, 2008

A Black-throated Diver would have been nice yesterday.

Green sandpipers have been recorded in most months during the autumn and winter at a sandpit beside the Little Brosna callows too. Some could be on passage but some birds surely winter. Also there is the note in the 1991-2000 Birds of Galway on birds seen on the Killaclogher River near Tuam. Maybe you're right and they are a commoner wintering species than is sometimes recognised. The kind of places they favour wouldn't exactly attract many birders in winter to check for them.

We saw a Skylark singing its head off behind Ballyloughan yeterday.

Paul Troake · Mar 9, 2008

Interesting to hear of the Killaclogher Green Sand records Tom. This is the same river that becomes the Abbert River downstream (why some rivers have two names I don't know!) where I saw mine. My sighting earlier in the winter on the Shiven River is not all that far away, just the other side of Mountbellew Bridge. As you say, not many birders staring at rivers out that way.
Went exploring the west side of Lough Corrib this afternoon. Not many ducks, but one Crossbill over a small pine plantation.

Troakie

Brosnabirder · Mar 9, 2008

I didn't know the Killaclogher and Abbert were the same river at all. It is a bit unnecessary alright.

birdsgalway · Mar 10, 2008

John
It is anyone's guess what species a 'Heinz 57'

Dave
Thanks for posting the pics would need someone more expert then me to confirm the ID.

Troakie
Will have to tag along with you some day to pick up a Green Sandpiper.

Tom
Was on the count from Mutton Island Causeway to Lough Atalia, all the usual suspect. Did not see the Forster's Tern, Surf Scoters or the Juv AHG during the count, however the Surf Scoter and the Juv AHG were seen latter and negative news on the Forster's. the Heinz 57 was still on Lough Atalia

A few head shot photos from Nimmo's take today and yesterday.
Lets hope this storm blows in a few surprises

Fergus Parker · Mar 10, 2008

Thanks Tom,
My dad and i are thinking of coming down to Galway next Saturday. We will look for the Egrets. We are not that good at gulls but will look at Nimmos anyway, sounds like a good spot for Iceland Gulls.
We were at Sligo on Saturday. Good numbers of Barnacle Geese, Wigeon and Teal and a guy there pointed out a Pink Footed Goose a new bird for the two of us. He also told us that sometimes a Canada Goose is present but we didn't see it. He said a rare diver had been spotted in the harbour recently. We looked and saw a few Great Northern Divers one of which was very close. An excellent day out.

Fergie

John Carey · Mar 10, 2008

Thanks Tom (Cuffe),

I went to Atalia again on sunday and the Heinz 57 was still there. The Scaup seem to be hanging around too. I flushed 2 snipe close to the water works building, they seem to be content to share the waste ground with the litter!

Dermot Breen · Mar 11, 2008

Hi all

I noticed the following on www.clarebirdwatching.com
"Saturday 8th March 2008 The Foster's Tern was back near Doorus on the Clare/Galway border (Finbarr MacGabhann), between 2.30 and 3.00pm along side two Sandwich Terns."
Did anybody see it/a Forsters Tern at Nimmo's Pier on Saturday also and if so at what time? I have suspicions that there may be two different individuals involved here. Two birds have been seen together in the recent past in Galway if my memory serves me correctly.

Dermot

Dermot Breen · Mar 11, 2008

Btw, Tom that ringed Brent had a lime coloured ring on right leg with letter S on it, yellow ring on right with letter J.
As for the numbers at the beginning of the resightings I think there for "office-use only" as they say.

Dermot

birdsgalway · Mar 11, 2008

Dermot
Was on the iwebs count on Saturday from Mutton Island to Lough Atalia. No sign of any Terns. Got talking to 3 visiting birds at about 12noon who had no luck looking for the Forster's. I meet them again at about 6 and that still did not connect with. Anytime there are high winds the Forster's appears to favour that part of the bay around Doorus.
Tom

Paul Troake · Mar 12, 2008

Colour-ringed Black-wits

Hi all

Thought it may be worth posting an email I've received from the the Black-tailed Godwit team, who are particularly keen to track colour ringed Black-wits on their return migration to Iceland (see text below), so please keep an eye on any that you encounter over the next couple of months. Any sightings of colour ringed individuals can be reported to [email protected]. I reported one at Kilcaimin at the end of last August which it turned out had been seen at Kilbaha, Co. Clare a year previously, and originally ringed in Iceland in July that year.

Troakie

Dear godwitologist, As most of you are aware, during the last two years we been focusing ourstudies on the wintering ecology of the black-tailed godwits at severalareas of the range. During this period, the tracking of colour-ringedindividuals was very intense particularly in areas where detailedinformation was missing, namely in West Portugal and Sout Ireland. We have also added 100 colour-marked individuals to the black-tailed godwitschemes, all marked on these wintering locations, plus several otherhundreds ringed elsewhere across the range. We now wish to unravel another question on the fascinating tale of theIcelandic Black-tailed godwits, and to do so we request your help! The question we now face is “Which migratory routes are mostly used byblack-tailed godwits during spring migration”. Our current data show thatsome birds wintering in Iberia and France migrate north mostly via theNetherlands, while others take another route via England. Interestingly,quite a few birds wintering in Ireland also make a westwards detour,towards England, on their way to Iceland. These suggestions however, areextracted from a small sample, since only few godwits from thesewintering locations were recorded during migration so far. As we have increased considerably the numbers of colour-ringed godwits atthese winter sites, we are aiming to get more migration sightings so thata good sample is recorded. We are also organizing a trip to Iceland sothat we can record the arrival of these birds, which hopefully have beenseen on migration. In order to tackle this question we ask for your help in recording thecomplete colour-ring combinations of any marked black-tailed godwits youmight encounter during these next two months. Recording their location,moult stage (as % of breeding plumage and bill colour (% of orange),habitat used for foraging and ideally length of stay, would be veryhelpful for our study. Please be aware that some of these birds have now been fitted with flags!Several other black-tailed godwits colour-ringing schemes also use flagsso it is important to note the colour and position of the flag and alsothe total number of colour-rings on each individual. We thank you for all your input on this project and we hope to send youvery colourful life-stories of these individuals any time soon… All the very best! The Jadrakan Project team

John Carey · Mar 13, 2008

Hello Folks,

Here is a sighting for you - little egret at Oranbeg Roundabout!

Ok, he was not on the actual road but flying over it towards the bay. I wonder does anyone else bother to look uo when they are stuck in traffic?

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