Tacumshin Waders 7th & 8th September 2017

I was down in county Wexford earlier in September to give a talk on the Merlin of Connemara to the Wexford Naturalist's Field Club on the evening of the 7th September. While I was down in that part of the country it would have been a shame not to have a look at the excellent Tacumshin Lake. I rarely get down to Wexford these days. It's a good ten hour round drive from Clifden. Tacumshin never fails to disappoint in September as it now has a long established reputation for produced vagrant American waders. There was a great selection of species present when I was down. Surprisingly the numbers were very low with just under 100 each of Dunlin and Ringed Plover present. There had been much better numbers present earlier in the week but thankfully most of the specialities hung around. My totals included an adult moulting Semipalmated Sandpiper (found by Killian Mullarney that very morning), juvenile Baird's Sandpiper, juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper, juvenile Little Ringed Plover, juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, juvenile Marsh Harrier, ringtail & adult male Hen Harrier. In all I had seventeen species of waders at the site. It was nice also to see the Little Ringed Plover as I've definitely don't see many in Ireland especially since I'm based in the west of Ireland. I think I've seen more Semipalmated Plovers than Little Ringed Plovers in Ireland! After Killian left the site around midday on the 7th I had the whole place to myself. Incredible really that for one of Europe's premier for rare American waders, it would just have the one observer on site in early September but that's Ireland for you. If this was the UK I would imagine that would be a whole lot different!

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper with juvenile Dunlin, Tacumshin Lake.

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper with juvenile Dunlin, Tacumshin Lake.

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake.

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake.

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake.

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper with juvenile Dunlin, Tacumshin Lake.

Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper with juvenile Dunlin, Tacumshin Lake.

Adult Semipalmated Sandpiper with juvenile Dunlin, Tacumshin Lake.

Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake.

Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford.

Juvenile Dunlin, Tacumshin Lake, 7th September 2017.

Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford.

Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford.

Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford, 7th September 2017.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford, 7th September 2017.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford, 7th September 2017.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover, Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford, 7th September 2017.

Ballyconneely Buff-breasted Sandpiper

I found this lovely little juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper down near Ballyconneely yesterday on the area of machair commonage between Ballyconneely Bay and Crompaun Bay. While this looks great for Buff-breasted Sandpiper, this is the first time I've definitely had one here although I did have a flock of six or so possible Buff-breasted Sandpipers distantly in flight here in 2011. 2011 was a mega year for the species. There was a flock of fifteen on Loop Head, Co. Clare and a record breaking twenty eight birds at Tacumshin Lake, Co. Wexford, the latter being the largest flock ever seen in the Western Palearctic. Ninety three birds in all were recorded that year. They are no longer considered an official rarity in Ireland as there were 478 records up to the end of 2011. Incredibly Tacumshin Lake has recorded 158 birds up to the end of 2011 (per 2012 Irish Rare Bird Report). It wouldn't surprise me if the Ballyconneely bird ends up in Tacumshin in few days time as most wandering vagrants usually end up there at some stage or another. 14 Buff-breasted Sandpipers have been recorded in county Galway to date (four undocumented birds at Rahasane turlough from 1993 - 2000 also) . The last Galway record was back in 2013. The last two years have proved to very poor for the species e.g. I think only three were reported in Ireland in the whole of 2015, one in Kerry and two together at Tacumshin.

Globally they are quite a rare species and are classified as Near-Threatened by the IUCN. They are confined to the Americas normally breeding in dry, open short-sward tundra in Canada and wintering on intensively grazed grassland in Paraguay, southern Brazil, north east Argentina and Uruguay. The entire population is estimated to number only between 16,000 to 84,000 individuals. For comparison sake the global population of Dunlin numbers from 4,600,000 to 6,500,000 individuals! They were apparently intensively hunted in the early 20th century and the population has never really recovered from this as the population is still decreasing even though hunting isn't an issue any more. Even though they are the second most recorded American wader vagrant in Ireland it's still great to come across one. They really are a beautiful looking wader and it always amazes me to think of this small wader crossing the Atlantic Ocean on its own steam. This little guy was quite approachable after it got used to my presence. It seemed to be able to find plenty of insect life for itself in the form of Cranefly and moths.



Closest thing to the old prairie in the west of Ireland - machair.





Devouring a Cranefly (Daddy Long Legs).



 

I've never noticed the nostril shape before, almost like an old telephone handset.

 

Wolfing down another Cranefly.

 

Mweenish Buff-breast Sand

Visited a few wader sites in the East of the county on Sunday. Off to a poor start with Muckrush up first. Arrived early on site only to find two shooters standing in the reedbed next to the main bay. Wasn't much point in walking all the way down to the lakeshore as firstly they had flushed everything in sight and secondly there was the good possibility of getting accidently shot!
After last weekend Glenamaddy Turlough was well worth another visit. I was a little surprised to say the least when I arrived to see that water levels had dropped by at least three metres which meant there was no significant area of water left just mud as far as you could see. Despite all the mud the only waders present was a single Black-tailed Godwit and 50 Lapwing. I'm not sure what is the story with this place as it seems to be the opposite of every other surrounding turlough. I visited it during the Spring when nearly all other turlough were nearly dry, Glenamaddy was full to the gills and when most other turloughs are full, the water levels can be very low. I had a very quick look at Rahasane Turlough in the evening and the water levels had actually risen there - go figure!

I then took a trip out to the Mweenish Island area of Tawin near Clarinbridge. Its nearly a 8km walk out to the tip of the island and back. Having only seen a single Curlew Sandpiper and less than 10 Dunlin (all in flight) in the area I made my way back. I ran into Paul Troake who was also in the area. He then proceeded out to the salt marsh which I had just checked and managed to find a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Thankfully I wasn't that far away and headed back out for a look. This is the third Buff-breast Paul has now found in the same area. The previous two records were on 15th September 2011 and 9th September 2007. Paul also had a White-rumped Sandpiper on the same day in 2011 and I had a Baird's Sandpiper the following day.
I also had a look for Paul's adult Semipalmated Sandpiper out on Aughinish Island that he had up until yesterday but there wasn't any sign of it.

Top highlighted area holds big numbers of waders at low tide. Middle spot is where all the Buff-breasts & single White-rumped have been and the lower area is where the Baird's was in 2011.

Buff-breasted Sand

Selection of the best of the weekend lot. Had planned to check the Roonagh/Corragaun Lough stretch on Saturday but left it late waiting for the low tide. Got word that Seamus Feeney and Declan Skehan had found a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Corragaun Lough in the morning. Caught up with the sandpiper in beside the lake itself with about 130 Ringed Plover and 30 Dunlin. The whole flock was very flighty and I couldn't approach the flock too closely. The whole lot got up and relocated out onto the large open area of salt marsh/machair. I had a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper here last year on 10th September. I think there's another previous record of the species here also.
Checked several of the beaches and Roonagh Lough itself but nothing special doing.

The first half of Sunday was a wash out so took a trip out to Rahasane Turlough in the afternoon. Aonghus had a Pectoral Sandpiper here on Friday, the first autumn Yank wader in the county. Water levels which were worryingly high up until only last weekend have dropped dramatically. All the action was as usual up at the East/Craughwell end. A flock of 50 Black-tailed Godwits were the same that I had the previous weekend at the opposite end of the turlough as they contained the same juvenile colour ringed bird along with a new colour ringed adult, the juvenile Spotted Redshank and the juvenile Ruff.



Juvenile colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit



Juvenile Spotted Redshank in the there somewhere, I swear.

I also came across these two Garganey. Obviously a first year and adult bird. I reckon the young bird could be a male due to the equal width white bars bordering the speculum. Don't think these are broad enough for an adult male, while the forewing colour isn't strong or bright enough either. Great shot here showing from left to right eclipse adult male, (adult?) female, first year male and eclipse adult male.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/5055727866/

 

First-year male and adult female Garganey.

  


First year male and adult female Garganey.

  

First year male Garganey