Belclare Todd's Canada Goose

I visited Belclare Turlough on Sunday to try and finally see the Canada Goose that Eamon Delaney found here earlier in the winter with the Greenland White-fronted Goose flock. This was my fourth time visiting the site to try and catch up with this Canada. On the last two visits there was no sign of the goose flock at all. Like most turloughs in east Galway, Belclare has been without much water at all. This winter has been one of the driest that I can remember.

Thankfully I picked up the bird with the GWFs in the usual fields immediately to the west of the turlough, just below the Primary School. It looked good for an interior Todd's Canada Goose to me. It certainly was slightly larger that the adjacent flavirostris but didn't particularly dwarf them. It was also proportional longer bodied but not necessarily as comparatively as heavy. The neck was very giraffe-like especially when alert. It also had a good broad throat strap.

Unfortunately after 30 minutes the flock became increasingly stressed by an extremely noisy passing convoy of rally drivers and their minion boy racers in supped up cars, some of which regularly backfired mimicking gunfire. The flock took to the air and circled the site several times and looked like they were keen to return to the same fields to resume feeding. Not unsurprisingly the constant barrage of noise eventually drove the birds away from the site and were last seen flying high and to the west.

Inishbofin Canada Goose

I was out with our Corncrake Fieldworker Sam Birch to carry out the first Corncrake census of the year last night. We had eight calling birds. Weather conditions were good but some of the birds were only calling sporadically so it's possible we might have missed a few. Twelve were recorded here last season which makes it the best spot in Galway for the species. They are only regularly recorded elsewhere in the county on Turbot Island and Omey Island. Local islanders have been reporting birds in areas in which we had none last night. Male Corncrakes have a bit of a tendency of moving around the island and even to other islands as the season progresses possibly in search of better habitat or a female. The vegetation has gotten off to a very slow start which doesn't help things. It has been unseasonably cold even for Ireland at this time of year with temperatures struggling to reach double figures for the last while. Things would what to very quickly as June is just around the corner.

While out there I came across a single Canada Goose on one of the small loughs. It's clear it wasn't a wild bird as it allowed quite a close approach. Two or three Canada Geese were released out on the adjacent island of Inisturk, Co. Mayo a year or two back I'd suspect it may well be one of these. At least two were seen at Roonah Lough during the winter by Pat Lonergan and were again mostly likely the same birds. Quite a few white farmyard geese dotted around the Inishbofin also.

 

Donegal 16th February 2014.

I headed on up to Donegal last Sunday to have a look at Killybegs. There's has been a bit of a dearth of Kumlien's Gull in Galway so far this winter in what has generally been an excellent winter for them particularly in the south of the country. Derek Charles had a count of eight Kumlien's on the Saturday at Kbegs. Derek along with Seamus Feeney and Graham Mitchell were also there again on the Sunday however the numbers of gulls had noticeably decreased compared to Saturday according to the lads. A few hours produced a count of 4 Kumlien's, 7 Icelands and 10 Glaucous. All the Glaucous Gulls were first-winters apart from one second-winter. Most of the Glaucs I've seen so far this winter in West Galway and Mayo have been adults.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Killybegs, 16th February 2014.

 

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Killybegs, 16th February 2014.

First-winter Iceland Gull, Killybegs, 16th February 2014.

I moved on from here on up to Sheskinmore Lough. There was a white Snow Goose here last winter with the small flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese and I don't think many birders had checked the site this winter to see if it had returned. Anyway it doesn't look like it has but instead the GWF flock has been joined by a Canada Goose. The views were either obscured or at a long distance when it was on the ground and the best views were probably of it in flight. It appears to be either a large parvipes or a small interior but definitely a Canada Goose of some description. It was no more than 20% bigger than the accompanying GWFs. The neck wasn't particularly long apart from when on high alert. The bill structure wasn't stubby nor very long or shallow. It also had no gular stripe.
Sad to see the Greenland White-fronted Geese flock reduced to just 21 birds. All these small GWF flocks in Ireland seem to slowly dying out with many flocks in the West of Ireland having disappeared in the last twenty years or so. The breeding success of the flavirostris population seems to be extremely poor as a tiny proportion of adults ever have the opportunity to breed.


Spot the Canada!

Canada Goose (second from the left) with Greenland White-fronted Geese, Sheskinmore Lake, Co. Donegal, 16h February 2014.

Canada Goose with Greenland White-fronted Geese, Sheskinmore Lake, Co. Donegal, 16h February 2014.

Canada Goose with Greenland White-fronted Geese, Sheskinmore Lake, Co. Donegal, 16h February 2014.

 

Mayo Feb 2014

A few shots from a trip up to Achill and Belmullet last Sunday 9th February, mostly Glaucous Gulls again. Dave Suddaby had a count of 40 around the Cross area of Belmullet yesterday.
Here's a short video of six Glaucous Gulls on Cross beach lining up to get stuck into the Common Dolphin. https://vimeo.com/86717373

Todd's Canada Goose Branta canadensis interior, Leam Lough, 9th February 2014.

Another dead Common Dolphin, Cross beach, Co. Mayo.



First-winter Ring-billed Gull, Keel, Achill Island, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Iceland Gull, Keel, Achill.

First-winter Iceland Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Iceland Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

Adult Glaucous Gulls, Keel, Achill.

Adult Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

Fourth-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.

Fourth-winter Glaucous Gull, Cross Beach, Co. Mayo.