Burn baby burn!

The pyromaniacs have been out in full force again this year here in Connemara since Monday with the onset of dry settled weather. There haven been up to 20 fires daily just in the Clifden - Roundstone area. Amazingly just one has gotten out of control so far which managed to jump across a road on the outskirts of Clifden coming dangerously close to a few houses. Just about everywhere I've been to in the last week reeks of smoke. I only heard this evening that every hardware store in the area have run out off gas fueled blow torches such is the demand in recent days. It seems to be mostly gorse that is being burnt in fields as opposed to burning on open bog or commonage which is something to be grateful for I suppose.
2010 was a very bad year for illegal uncontrolled burning with thousands of hectares of bog and forestry all going up in smoke in Connemara. Hopefully everyone will have gotten the urge to burn out of their system before the start of the bird breeding season. It is illegal to burn any vegetation on uncultivated land from 1st March to 30th August in Ireland but of course that doesn't stop alot of people here unfortunately.

The smog was so bad today you could just about Errisbeg hill which was only 3km away from this position.

Bog fire from 2010.



The aftermath. Black desert just about as far as the eye can see. This fire travelled about 6km from one end of Roundstone Bog to the other in 2010.

It wasn't just wildlife that suffered in 2010, many sheep had to be humanely put down due to severe burns.

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.

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

First-winter male hybrid duck.

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.

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.

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

Dunmore East, Co. Waterford

I made an eight hour round trip down to Dunmore East in Co. Waterford on Sunday with the hope of seeing the first-winter Caspian Gull found by Paul Archer there over a week ago. It hadn't been the easiest of gulls to see by most accounts as it would only drop into the harbour for short periods. John Murphy had seen it on Saturday evening so I decided to take a chance. I spent a few hours at Dunmore East first before heading over to Duncannon beach in Wexford for a short while to check the gulls there. There were a few hundred gulls present but I think there may have been far greater numbers recently present here. Most of the gulls present on the day were Black-headed and Common Gulls with hundreds more feeding offshore mostly on the Wexford side of Waterford Harbour. I headed back again to Dunmore East on the car ferry in the hope that the Caspian Gull would show up again in the evening as it had done in previous days. Unfortunately it didn't quite go to plan as there was no sign of the Caspian but I did finish up the day with two first-winter Glaucous and a second-winter and first-winter Iceland Gull. The last bird threw me for quite a while. I originally called it a Glaucous Gull on brief views. I later saw it in the company of a monster of a Glaucous Gull and noticed the very long primary protection strongly suggesting Iceland but still the entire jizz still pushed me in the Glaucous direction. After a bit of discussion with a few other larophiles here we opted for Iceland Gull .

First-winter Glaucous Gull, bird no.1

First-winter Glaucous Gull, bird no.2

First-winter Glaucous Gull, bird no.2

First-winter Glaucous Gull, bird no.2

First-winter Glaucous Gull, bird no.2

First-winter Iceland Gull

First-winter Iceland and Glaucous Gulls.

Second-winter Iceland Gull

First-winter Kittiwake

First-winter Herring Gull

First-winter Herring Gull

Duncannon gull flock

Razorbill

January Gulls

A few shots from today of a lightly marked first-winter Kumlien's Gull at Rossaveel. It looked even lighter in the field compared to these shots. One first-winter Icleand and adult Med Gull also. Less than 20 large gulls present which was disappointing. I think we have the extremely stormy conditions to thank for the Kumliens's and the Iceland.
Also a few pics of a leucistic Black-headed Gull down at Newtownlynch Pier last weekend and one of the Lough Mask Common Gulls.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

First-winter Kumlien's Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

First-winter Iceland Gull, Rossaveel, 30th January 2013.

Leucistic adult Black-headed Gull, Newtownlynch Pier, 19th January 2013.



Leucistic adult Black-headed Gull, Newtownlynch Pier, 19th January 2013.

Leucistic adult Black-headed Gull, Newtownlynch Pier, 19th January 2013.

"226Y" Adult Common Gull, Newtownlynch Pier, 19th January 2013. Ringed at Lough Mask, Co. Mayo.

Florida 20th November 2012

So last day in Florida. I spent the first half of the day in and around Lake Apopka Restoration Area. This is/was one of the richest inland sites in Florida. It was all once farmland and has been converted back into wetlands. Thousands of waterbirds died in mass here a few years ago probably due to
bioaccumulation of pesticides. Most of the site is still off limits to visitors for this very reason. The Clay Island area is one of the few areas where you could access the site was a little frustrating as it consisted of flatland overgrown with tall vegetation which made it impossible to scan from the paths although I did have an Otter rolling around in the dirt here. There was at least one high tower which gave good views of the area. At one stage I did a very quick 360 scan and counted at least 13 Northern Harriers and 11 Ospreys in flight around the tower. There was hardly any open water on view which meant it wasn't great for waterfowl or waders. Plenty of rails and crakes were heard but as usual none were seen.
I also had a look at an area of farmland nearby where a Say's Phoebe has been wintering for a number of years. Unfortunately this Florida rarity wasn't on view while I was present.
Very last site of the trip were the Mead Gardens in Orlando city to twitch a two hummingbirds. I saw the rarer Rufous Hummingbird but failed to see the Ruby-throated Hummingbird here. I somehow managed to miss Ruby-throated Hummingbird completely over the last fortnight.
I had managed to see around 180 species during the fortnight, 124 of which were lifers for me which wasn't all that surprising given that it was my first trip to the States but hopefully not my last. Trip list below.

Painted Bunting

Clay-coloured Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Downy Woodpecker

Orange-crowned Warbler

Ovenbird

River Otter

Osprey

Female Eastern Bluebird

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane

Red-shouldered Hawk

American Goldfinch

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Red Cardinal

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Wilson's Plover House Wren Wood Duck Semipalmated Plover Sedge Wren Gadwall Piping Plover Marsh Wren American Wigeon Killdeer Blue-grey Gnatcatcher Mottled Duck American Oystercatcher Golden-crowned Kinglet Blue-winged Teal American Avocet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Northern Shoveler Greater Yellowlegs Eastern Bluebird Northern Pintail Willet Hermit Thrush Green-winged Teal Lesser Yellowlegs American Robin Redhead Long-billed Curlew Grey Catbird Ring-necked Duck Marbled Godwit Northern Mockingbird Greater Scaup Ruddy Turnstone Brown Thrasher Lesser Scaup Red Knot European Starling Surf Scoter Sanderling Ovenbird Bufflehead Western Sandpiper Northern Waterthrush Hooded Merganser Least Sandpiper Black-and-white Warbler Red-breasted Merganser Dunlin Orange-crowned Warbler Ruddy Duck Short-billed Dowitcher Common Yellowthroat Wild Turkey Long-billed Dowitcher American Redstart Great northern Diver Wilson's Snipe Northern Parula Pied-billed Grebe Laughing Gull Palm Warbler Slavonian Grebe Ring-billed Gull Pine Warbler Wood Stork American Herring Gull Yellow-rumped Warbler Magnificent Frigatebird Gull-billed Tern Yellow-throated Warbler Northern Gannet Caspian Tern Prairie Warbler American White Pelican Forster's Tern Black-throated Green Warbler Brown Pelican Royal Tern Eastern Towhee Double-crested Cormorant Sandwich Tern Chipping Sparrow Anhinga Black Skimmer Clay-colored Sparrow American Bittern Rock Pigeon Vesper Sparrow Great Blue Heron Eurasian Collared Dove Savannah Sparrow Great Egret White-winged Dove Grasshopper Sparrow Snowy Egret American Mourning Dove Swamp Sparrow Little Blue Heron Common Ground-Dove White-crowned Sparrow Tricolored Heron Barn Owl Summer Tanager Reddish Egret Burrowing Owl Northern Cardinal Cattle Egret Lesser Nighthawk Painted Bunting Green Heron Eastern Whip-poor-will Red-winged Blackbird Black-crowned Night-Heron Rufous Hummingbird Eastern Meadowlark Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Belted Kingfisher Common Grackle White Ibis Red-headed Woodpecker Boat-tailed Grackle Glossy Ibis Red-bellied Woodpecker Bronzed Cowbird Roseate Spoonbill Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Brown-headed Cowbird Black Vulture Downy Woodpecker Purple Finch Turkey Vulture Red-cockaded Woodpecker American Goldfinch Osprey Northern Flicker House Sparrow White-tailed Kite Pileated Woodpecker Snail Kite Eastern Phoebe Bald Eagle Vermilion Flycatcher Hen Harrier Ash-throated Flycatcher Sharp-shinned Hawk Great Crested Flycatcher Cooper's Hawk Tropical Kingbird Red-shouldered Hawk Western Kingbird Short-tailed Hawk Loggerhead Shrike Swainson's Hawk White-eyed Vireo Red-tailed Hawk Blue-headed Vireo American Kestrel Blue Jay Merlin Florida Scrub-Jay Peregrine Falcon American Crow Sora Fish Crow Purple Gallinule Northern Rough-winged Swallow Common Gallinule Tree Swallow American Coot Barn Swallow Limpkin Carolina Chickadee Sandhill Crane Tufted Titmouse Grey Plover Brown-headed Nuthatch Snowy Plover Carolina Wren