Monday 27 July 2015

Inishdawros 22nd July 2015

Just a few shots from last Wednesday at Inishdawros. The Hudsonian Godwit was never seen again despite several searches, God only knows where it could be now.

Knot

Knot

Adult Little Tern
Juvenile Little Tern

Juvenile Little Tern

Juvenile Little Tern

Inishdawros strand, Hudsonian Godwit site.

Inishdawros strand, Hudsonian Godwit site.
 

Thursday 23 July 2015

HUDSONIAN GODWIT

What a day! I took a trip down to the strand which leads out to Inishdawros 4km south east of Ballyconnely (on the R341 on the way to Roundstone) to see if there were any small waders in yet. I've been checking this site now for seven years now and only had my first notable wader here last year in the form of a Curlew Sandpiper. Anyway there were around 30 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin, 2 summer plumaged Knot and an adult and two recently fledged Little Terns out on the mudflat today. I drove out across the mudflat in the van but decided try and get some shots of the Little Terns. I parked it up back at the end of the road leading down to the shore as I didn't want to get stranded with it out in the middle of the flats with the incoming tide. As I moved back down to the shoreline a large wader flew right by me. As it bank it showed jet black underwings and reddish underparts and displayed a striking clean white square rump. It could only be a bloody Hudsonian Godwit!! My heartbeat immediately increased significantly. It looked like it landed just behind a large seaweed covered rock along the waterline. As I crept up behind the rock and peaked over the rock, there it was sat by the waters edge. It spent all of its time by itself and didn't associate with any of the few Redshank, Greenshank or Oystercatchers that were present. It flew off towards the mainland shoreline where I lost it to view. It reappeared back in the original spot a while later and repeated the same behaviour. I last saw it at 1725hrs.

For those thinking of travelling for it, your best chance is probably to aim for two hours either side of low tide which is at about 0400 and 1600hrs tomorrow. The mudflat can be reached from the cul de sac with the orange cone on a fence post and blue signpost for Calla Beach House or from the layby by the main coastal road a few hundred metres to the west (please don't block the rough trackway down to the small pier here).

Link to the site on google maps below with latitude and longitude,

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3998022,-10.0350249,4600m/data=!3m1!1e3

53°24'09.9"N 10°02'18.0"W

53.402757, -10.038321














 

Wednesday 8 July 2015

First-year male breeding Merlin

I dropped into one of the Merlin families that we ringed two weeks ago to check if they had successfully fledged. There were at least two juveniles (male and female) out of the nest and I suspect the other two chicks were in the area also. The adult female was on site the whole time. At one stage a male showed up which I initially thought was the adult male but it was apparent that it was a "brown" male. I naturally assumed it was one of the chicks. However I managed to get a few woeful record shots of it and on later inspection it proved to be a second-calendar/first-summer male. The light was atrocious at the time as it was raining for most the time. While the UK and to a lesser degree the east of Ireland has been experiencing a heat wave recently, typically for the west of Ireland we've had rain and windy conditions for the last while with temperatures struggling to even reach the high teens.
The male can be aged as a young bird by the newly moulted adult male-type black inner primaries contrasting with the old brown outer primaries and new grey scapulars, rump and tail although these aren't too easy to see in these crap shots. Female Merlin tend to nest for the first time earlier than males. Two different studies put the average age of first breeding of female Merlin at 1.3 ± 0.1 years and 1.3 ± 0.6 years while the age of males was 2.3 ± 0.1 and 1.9 ± 0.7 years. Another study in Northumberland, UK found that 18% of breeding pairs contained a first year female but only 8 - 9% contained a first year male. Adult pairs tend to breed early in the year and are more productive than pairs with at least one first year bird.
One hypothesis for males taking that extra year to commence breeding compared to females is that they generally require more hunting experience as it largely falls on them to provide most of the food during the laying, incubation and early chick stages of the breeding cycle. Thankfully this young male was able to provide enough food to raise a brood of chicks in this instance. This isn't the first first year male that I've encountered in the small sample size of pairs I've had in Connemara with another first-year male seen two years ago. This relative high rate of breeding first year males may be a sign that all may not be well with the species here. It would suggest that there may be a lack of recruitment of adult males into the population i.e. that survival rates for males past their first year may be poor as females would certainly prefer older more experienced males. It's interesting to consider that the average life span of a Merlin is only 3 - 5 years. I'm assuming the breeding female was a at least a second-year or an older female but they are much more difficult to age but can be aged by the shape of tail feathers and the shape of the tail bars.

Second-calendar male Merlin.

Second-calendar male Merlin.
 
Second-calendar male Merlin.
 
Second-calendar male Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.

Adult female Merlin.
 

Friday 3 July 2015

Narrow-leaved Marsh Orchids

I came across about half a dozen distinct looking orchids about two weeks back that to me look like they could be Pugsley's / Narrow-leaved Marsh Orchids Dactylorhiza traunsteinerii / D. traunsteinerioides. The taxonomic status of Marsh Orchids seem to be rather confusing and ever changing. These six plants were found on blanket bog. They differed markedly from most of the marsh orchids that I see in Connemara. The usual Western/Irish/Broad-leaved Marsh Orchids are usually a much darker pink colour, a more robust plant with much more florets on the spike and aren't generally seen on open blanket bog here. I suspect that these plants were growing on a alkaline flush. Any opinions on the identification are welcome.