Dermot Breen's Blog: black brant

Saturday, 4 April 2015

California 16th February 2015

Been very busy with work of late, more of that in due time. Continuing on with the US trip I started the morning of 16th February in search of an American Dipper that was being reported from the Leo Cronin Fish Viewing Area near Point Reyes. After a bit of searching along the river and its two tributaries I came across the bird on the Lagunitas Creek which lies just below Peters Dam. Cracking bird and a bit more approachable than our own European/White-throated Dipper. The light was a horrendous for photography underneath the huge redwood trees and early in the morning.

On leaving the Point Reyes area I came across a small flock of Band-tailed Pigeons around the village of Olema, my first and last of the trip. A little further on up the road I had a large flock of Pine Siskins feeding in Eucalyptus trees at Millerton Point beside Tomales Bay, another overdue lifer. From here I headed up to Bodega Bay. This is supposed to be another good area of coastline for waterbirds. My first stop here was by Diekmanns Bay Store which overlooks Bodega Bay. A wintering Lucy's Warbler was using shrubby vegetation just below the small store. There were numerous Nashville and Orange-crowned Warblers also wintering here but no sign of the Lucy's Warbler. Several birders came and went in the hour I was there but it didn't show for anyone during that time.

I explored the bay itself and had very close views of Great northern Diver, Slavonian, Black-necked Grebes right by the roadside. There wasn't the large numbers of waders or wildfowl that I was expecting despite the low tide. As I headed out to the west side of the peninsula I encountered a thick wall of sea fog making it impossible to look out onto the Pacific. This was another spot I was hoping to pick one or two murrelets/auklets namely Marbled or Ancient. I never did manage to see either of these on the trip.

While I was passing by Diekmanns Bay Store again I decided to have a look at the shrub from the waterside. I flushed a small grey warbler from an isolated patch of willows on arrival. Thankfully I managed to get brief but good views of the Lucy's Warbler a few minutes later. I finished up reasonably early in the evening as I was travelling up to see the wintering Falcated Duck up north at Colusa the following day. The traffic along the north side of San Pablo Bay on the 37 was grim but I eventually made up to Williams which is very close to the Falcated Duck site.

American Dipper

Black-necked Grebe

Slavonian and Black-necked Grebe

Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes

Slavonian Grebe

Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver with crab.

Black Brant

Mostly Lesser Scaup with some Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead and Western Grebe.

Female Goosander

Female Red-breasted Merganser

Peregrine

Marbled Godwit

Coloured ringed first-winter Western Gull

Nashville Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Pacific Wren

Varied Thrush

Monday, 11 February 2013

9th/10th February 2013

Started off the day on Saturday at Rossaveel where there were 200 - 300 large gulls around the harbour. However there wasn't a single gull of note present. 100 more large gull on the beach at Spiddal but same story.
Rusheen Bay and Nimmo's Pier also deadly quiet.
Paul Troake had the Black Brant again on Friday near Newquay, Co. Clare so I headed down that way. A quick look in the usual fields failed to produce any geese so I went out as far as Lough Muree to check if they were out there. On arrival I noticed the male scaup-type duck on the lough along with a Greater Scaup, three Pochard and a female Tufted Duck. At a distance the head shape looked spot on for a Lesser Scaup. I began to wonder if the Lough Gash bird was on the move as this was also a first-winter bird. I bumped into Jeff Copner just after this and we both tried to get closer looks at the bird. We managed good views in behind the NUIG building. It looked smaller than the male Greater Scaup, closer in size to a female Tufted Duck that was present. Again the head shape had a definite peak to the rear of the crown with a tiny spike at the very rear of the crown which alot of male Lesser Scaup can show. There was a greenish sheen to the head. The upperparts were a noticeable shade darker than the Greater and unlike most hybrids I've seen previously the upperparts weren't as solid dark grey but with what looked like proper vermiculations. Unfortunately the closer views also showed that it had way too much black on the tip of the bill closely matching Tufted Duck. It also flew at one stage which revealed that 2/3's of the primaries were clearly white. It's most likely a Pochard x Tufted Duck hybrid. A nice reminder to check the wingbar on any possible Lesser Scaups in future. Were this bird seen at a distance where it mightn't be possible to check the bill it could easily be flagged as a male Lesser Scaup.

First-winter male hybrid duck.

First-winter male hybrid duck, particularly Lesser Scaup-like here.

First-winter male hybrid duck.

Sleeping first-winter male Greater Scaup on left with the hybrid duck and Pochards.

After Lough Muree I checked a few more fields near Newquay and managed to pin down the Black Brant in amongst a flock of Pale-bellied Brent Geese. The views were distant so I couldn't get any shots on this occassion. I've attached a shot of what must be the bird that I had near Traught in Galway on 4th November.

Adult Black Brant, near Traught, Co. Galway, 4th November 2013.

I headed further South from here to check on the male Ring-necked Duck that has been on Lough Roo, no joy here as it was getting dark and I just didn't have the time to check the hidden corners. I did have this leucistic Curlew nearly though, shots crap as it was near dark at the time.

Leucistic Curlew, Pouleenacoona Turlough.

I headed up to Achill island on Sunday to check to see if the Black Duck was still up there and sure enough it was. I'm surprised that anyone has managed to get any decent shots of this bird as the whole duck flock are particularly flighty on this very open lake. I really had to struggle to even get these record shots. It was accompanied by three female hybrids which showed limited white borders to the speculum and pale tails.
I also had a male Ring-necked Duck on Keel Lough with a flock of Tufted Ducks with a first-winter Iceland Gull drifting over also. This was only the second Ring-necked Duck I've seen this winter. The bays and coves around Doogort, Dooagh and Keem were all extremely quiet with virtually nothing in them.

Male American Black Duck, Sruhill Lough, Co. Mayo.