Black Redstart, Waxwing & Recoveries

A few more shots from the last two weeks or so. Black Redstart that I had on the shoreline at the end of the Murlach laneway near Ballyconneely on 14th January. I had a Black Redstart here on 29th November so I'm presuming it's the same individual.

A few record shots of a lone first-winter Waxwing that was near Maam last week. It was very vocal and mobile I assume as there were no berry holding bushes or trees in the area. I later had presumably the same bird flying by about a kilometre up the road.

Two interesting recoveries during the week also. First was a Kestrel chick we ringed last summer at Errislanan which turned up in a moribund state and in very poor body condition at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, UK on 11th November. It was handed in to Gower Bird Hospital but was too far gone and had to be put down unfortunately. It had moved a distance of at least 440km between the two sites. This is our first Connemara Kestrel recovery outside of Ireland (John Lusby has had a recovery of a Kerry bird turning up in France however). This bird had come from a brood of four chicks and was the third smallest. The youngest chick was actually too small to ring. This was one of two clutches that we ringed on the 22th June and both were very late nesters. Amazingly a chick from the other nest we ringed that same day was controlled on Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork on 25th October!

Irene O'Brien at the Errislanan Kestrel site, 22nd June 2016.

Big and small Errislanan Kestrel chicks, 22nd June 2016.

Another recovery of sorts was a Mediterranean Gull that I had in Kilkieran Harbour on 7th October 2016. It had been ringed on Lady's Island Lake, Co. Wexford as a chick. Amazingly this same bird was re-sighted afterwards on 16th December 2016 and 9th January 2017 at Funchal in Madeira! That's a distance of 2370 km between Connemara and Madeira. Coincidentally this bird was part of a county record gathering of twelve Mediterranean Gulls at Kilkieran at the same time. I've visited every now and then since but the birds disappeared shortly after this but only today I had a flock of 19 birds sheltering at the outflow from seaweed processing factory with a large number of mainly Black-headed Gulls. All of the Meds today apart from two second-winters were adults, no first-winters for some reason?

2X2N Mediterranean Gull, Kilkieran Harbour, 7th October 2016.

Black Reds & GWF's

A selection of different species from the last fortnight or so. I had two Black Redstarts on the roofs of the Trident Ballyconneely Holiday Homes on Monday. These are actually the first "Black Reds" I've seen at Slyne Head. The last record for Slyne comes from 1893! The species has always been relatively scarce compared to the south of Ireland and even adjacent county Clare. While like many scarce species, records have increased during the last decade or so, they are still years where none are recorded at all.

I was delighted to see a flock of 23 Greenland White-fronted Geese flying into Mannin Bay near Ballyconneely on 27th October. They were flying east just offshore presumably after following the coastline south. When I last saw them they were heading into Roundstone Bog but I doubt they stopped. Sad to say that these were the very first "GWFs" I've seen in my ranger area since I started in 2008. Historically there were several different flocks in what is my area (west of Maam Cross). Roundstone Bog held one of the last remaining flocks up until around the late 1990's. All gone now. There is (was?) only one flock numbering in the single figures left in Connemara which I've written about previously http://dermotbreen.blogspot.ie/2014/03/the-very-last-greenland-white-fronted.html I suspect this flock may have been heading onto Rahasane Turlough. I had a flock of 15 birds there on 24th October and this had increased to exactly 50 birds on 1st November. Nice to see around three pairs with juveniles although there were 60 there last winter. The results from 2014/2015 International Census of Greenland White-fronted Geese was only just recently published. The long-term future of Greenland race of White-fronted Geese doesn't appear all that great in contrast to most geese species.The full report can be seen at the link below and I've pasted the summary here.

The global population of Greenland White-fronted Geese in spring 2015 comprised 18,854 individuals, a very sharp 9.6% reduction on 20,797 in the previous spring. This is the first time the population has fallen below 20,000 individuals since 1985. Half of the decline could be accounted for by the loss of 1000 geese on Islay between years, and another 500 from elsewhere in Britain; 10,266 were counted in Ireland, 8,588 were counted in Britain. Reproductive success was very low at only 6.1% in Ireland, but 12.9% in Britain.

 http://gwfg-conservation.wikispaces.com/file/view/Greenland%20White-fronted%20Geese%20in%20Britain%20%26%20Ireland%202014-15.pdf/564727409/Greenland%20White-fronted%20Geese%20in%20Britain%20%26%20Ireland%202014-15.pdf

Yellow-browed Warbler, Slyne Head.

1st win male Black Redstart, Slyne Head.

1st win/ad female Black Redstart, Slyne Head.

Reed Bunting, Slyne Head

 

Reed Bunting, Slyne Head

Icelandic Redwing, Slyne Head.

Greenland White-fronted Geese, Mannin Bay.

Greenland White-fronted Geese, Mannin Bay.

Greenland White-fronted Geese, Mannin Bay.

 

Greenland White-fronted Geese, Rahasane Turlough.

Great White Egret, Rahasane Turlough.