 |
| Common Scoter |
 |
| Guillemot |
 |
| Bottlenose Dolphins |
 |
| Bottlenose Dolphins |
 |
| Great Northern Diver |
 |
| White Billed Diver |
 |
| White Billed Diver |
 |
| White Billed Diver |
 |
| Gannet |
 |
| Long Tailed Duck |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Velvet Scoter |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Eider |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Gannet |
 |
| Mallard and Wigeon |
 |
| Yellowhammer |
 |
| Blackcap |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| White Tailed Eagle |
 |
| Sparrowhawk |
A wee bit later than intended - blog post number 101.....
Having been a bit disappointed with the "good" birds missed the previous two days, and especially my decision making on the Sunday, I decided I would get up early and head for Fife Ness to once again try for the Barred Warbler and maybe have a chance of something decent on the sea-watching front, with maybe a late Sooty Shearwater or a Skua (anything but Arctic would do) passing by. With relatively strong easterlies forecast I was mildly optimistic that maybe my luck would change, with maybe something good also appearing in the bushes around Crail. The 13th October had been very lucky the year before for me, so......
With the bus timetable having changed it was now possible to get to Crail around 25 minutes earlier than previously, arriving nearer 0930 than the 1000 before. This meant I could now be sea-watching earlier than before which with rain forecast for around 11am would be a good option to have available, with the shelter of the Fife Bird Club hide likely to be much needed. I left the house around 0800 to walk into town. Blackbird and Herring Gull being the first birds to go on the list. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot else to be seen on my rather hurried walk with Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow being seen on Dens Road and Feral Pigeon added just before I reached the bus station.
Jackdaw and Rook were seen near Leuchars but it was the other side of St Andrews before anything else was seen. A Buzzard was near Boarhills being chased over the trees by a few Carrion Crows. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew across the road and landed on the leg of a wooden sign just past Cambo as the bus pulled away from a nearby stop. The wires above a nearby field were laden with numerous Starlings. On reaching Crail I headed along to Denburn Wood to search for migrants. Although it was rather quiet I did succeed in adding Great Tit, Chaffinch and Blue Tit to the list with House Sparrow a little further along the road.
I discovered that the weather forecast on the MetOffice website hadn't been wholly accurate as I struggled to make headway along the road out to Balcomie golf course with the wind much stronger, and a good bit colder, than expected. On the plus side, at least it wasn't raining. I should however have worn a more substantial jacket than my denim. A few Black Headed Gulls were just outside the town in the stubble fields. A lone Pink Footed Goose overflew calling loudly as it passed over towards the coast, swinging northeastwards as it passed over the airfield towards Fife Ness. A few Skylarks tracked over the fields, probably newly arrived migrants. I decided to head directly to the hide rather than popping into Kilminning, though Magpie and Linnet were both added as I passed by the tracks into Kilminning and Balcomie.
Heading across the golf course I could see the distinctive white shape of Gannets heading north in strings of birds. A few gulls could also be seen above the grey waves. Great Black Backed Gull and Shag were on the rocks but not in the usual numbers. Once I managed to get into the hide and the relative shelter it provided from the northeasterly wind, I scanned the rocks out front where I found a couple of Dunlin. Offshore along with the Gannets, one or two Kittiwakes passed. An Oystercatcher flew in to join the Dunlin on the rocky shore. A Shag headed out to sea.
Two Common Scoter headed north low above the waves followed shortly after by first Guillemot and then Razorbill. Common Gull and Eider put in an appearance to add some variety to the stream of Gannets passing. A Wren popped up in front of the hide on a small plant before disappearing again to a more sheltered spot. A Herring Gull drifted by before I spotted a dark shape break the surface of the water. Dolphins. At least half a dozen of them, heading north with Gannets and gulls tracking them from above. The birds helped to pinpoint where to aim the camera in the hope of getting a few photos. Soon enough they were gone again and Gannets and distant unidentified auks took the attention once again. A small grey bird showed briefly low over the waves around halfway out but I failed to find it with the camera and my suspicion that it might possibly have been a Grey Phalarope remained just a suspicion.
I was joined in the hide by Willie Irvine who had arrived to change the lock. A Curlew flew by, low over the rocks, into the wind. I gave Willie a running commentary of what birds were passing as he worked away. The next interesting bird outwith the passage of Gannets was a very distant Diver which looked rather dark and from the photos taken appeared to be a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver. A pretty decent find and the best bird so far. Another Red Throated Diver passed a bit closer in, then another Common Scoter and another Diver a short while later. Four Long Tailed Ducks headed north, my first of this winter, with a Wigeon a short distance ahead. There was a bit of a lull so I looked back at the Great Northern Diver photos and was pleased to see that I had indeed managed to get a recognisable shot or two of the bird, despite the distance (out towards the horizon).
Getting back to watching the passage of birds again, I picked up yet another Red Throated Diver then three Velvet Scoters headed north, the white wing patches showing well against the grey water and the black plumage. A single Wigeon was next to go by, and a few Shags flew past also. A few more distant auks were seen and a Razorbill showed relatively close in, well enough at least to ID through the binoculars. Three Eiders fought their way north, taking the shorter route across the rocks as they headed into the wind and out of sight. I was joined by Willie, the task of replacing the lock having been completed.
A few Kittiwakes were out on the water, a pair of adults and a juvenile bird. Yet another Red Throated Diver passed by. Usually Divers fly by above the horizon line but the birds seen were all low above the water. Four smaller brown birds struggled in off the sea and headed low over the rocks. Skylarks, and the first obvious vis-mig we'd seen from the hide. Another Red Throated Diver and another identifiable Razorbill struggled into the headwinds. The strings of Gannets continued to pass by, a mix of younger birds and obvious adults. Possibly the same four Long Tailed Ducks headed back southwards moments later and a pair of Eider drakes shot by at speed.
The Red Throated Divers continued to pass by with yet another bird also heading north past the Ness. A string of Ducks turned out to be mostly Wigeon led by a Mallard female. Two Rock Pipits landed out on the rocks for a few seconds. As Willie was planning on doing some more birding around northeast Fife ending up at the Eden Estuary and starting at Kilminning, I asked if he minded me tagging along. Thankfully he didn't and I was very grateful not to have to walk back up across the golf course to Kilminning and from there back to Crail. We were hoping that the Barred Warbler would put in an appearance for me but despite the best part of an hour being spent looking and waiting for the bird to show, it stayed hidden. Blackcap, Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit and Feral Pigeon were seen though, rather scant consolation for the effort put in.
A Cormorant overflew westwards and a flock of Golden Plover milled around above us, passing from the airfield to the field nearby and back again a few times. We had decent views from the car of the plovers settled in the field where they were joined by yet more of the same species flying in. Willie also managed to pick out a covey of fourteen Grey Partridges a bit closer to the road. We headed off towards Kingsbarns where three Buzzards were seen near the golf course. The strong wind however was keeping everything else down and out of sight. Another stop at Boarhills produced nothing except a couple of Woodpigeons clattering away through the trees, so we moved on to the Eden Estuary Centre at Guardbridge and some shelter from the wind.
A Cormorant overflew as we walked in towards the hide. Richard Bennie and his son Douglas were in the hide and we chatted a bit about what we'd seen earlier. Once we started scanning around we started adding birds to the list - Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Mallards, Carrion Crows and a mixed group of gulls - Common, Herring and Black Headed being the most obvious. Two Greylags were feeding along the water's edge opposite the base. Greeenfinch, Great Tit and Blue Tit came in to the feeders along with a House Sparrow. Greenshank was spotted among the other waders and a Grey Heron put in an appearance. A male Pheasant was spotted by Willie as it flew across the river to near the stand of conifers. The two injured Pink Footed Geese were in the horse fields. Chaffinches, Tree Sparrow and Blackbird showed around the feeders.
The Kingfisher flashed past low above the water but refused to settle. Little Grebe was seen upstream towards the bridge. Willie spotted a large bird atop one of the wooden poles way out in the estuary. He insisted that it was a White Tailed Eagle but the photos I was able to get through the closed windows didn't completely convince me. I went outside to get a clearer view and succeeded in confirming Willie's identification via the camera and told him that he was indeed correct (which he already knew anyway). We then had a brief view of a Sparrowhawk flying across the river. A flock of Black Tailed Godwits landed near the gull flock and some more scanning picked out Dunlin amongst them and the Redshanks. Richard then found a Spotted Redshank, which was a nice bird to get. Another Cormorant flew upriver past the hide.
Richard then spotted four white blobs way round by the Oystercatcher roost past the radar on the base. Unfortunately the haze made identifying them nigh on impossible with the range not helping (over 2 miles). The likelihood was that they would turn out to be Little Egrets, but with Spoonbill having been seen the day before, hopes were raised slightly. (It was later confirmed by text messgae from Richard that they were 'only' Little Egrets after all, the birds having flown in closer after I'd headed for home). Shelduck and Carrion Crow could also be made out from the photos taken of the 'blobs'. A flock of Teal flew upriver towards the mouth of the Motray where they settled. A large flock of Lapwing appeared to the north of the base and made their way into the outer estuary eventually. A Knot was found among the Redshanks and a Red Breasted Merganser was in the channel.
The female Sparrowhawk gave us a split second view when Richard turned round to see it perched out by the feeders to the right. As he brought it to our attention, the bird realised that the hide was full of people and lifted in a flash. It hung in the air above the hide for a few seconds allowing me to get a few photos before it disappeared out of view. I checked the old paper mill buildings and found the Peregrine perched there, as I'd hoped. Goosander was added to the list before I decided to call it a day and head for home.
It had been a decent day out but frustratingly I hadn't found anything better than Great Northern Diver and White Tailed Eagle, neither of which was new for my year-list, and had once again failed to see the target bird(s) - either Barred Warbler or Bonxie. I had still managed to see over 65 species, so not too bad....................
......However, that wasn't the end of the story of the day's birding, and what had been disappointing at the time got a lot more interesting afterwards. Having gone through the photos taken at Fife Ness, I realised that in addition to the summer plumaged Great Northern Diver I also had a much closer large Diver species, which I assumed to be most likely another Great Northern Diver, moulting from summer to winter plumage. The bill was quite indistinct however and I briefly wondered about the possibility of White Billed Diver, having read that the bill sometimes disappears into the background when the bird is seen from a distance. After about a whole two second's worth of consideration I dismissed it as wishful thinking. I was fairly sure that it had to be a Great Northern Diver rather than either of the two smaller species but decided to post the photos on BirdForum later in the week to ask for confirmation.
The first three posts agreed with Great Northern Diver before the cat was put firmly among the Divers and the suggestion of White Billed Diver was mooted. The discussion then ebbed and flowed for the next 48 hours or so with much debate on why it was or wasn't one or the other species. I posted the photos on the Scottish Birding facebook group where the only comments suggested Great Northern Diver. I was ready to put the bird down as a probable Great Northern Diver (in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter for either the day-list or the year-list), but the discussion on BirdForum refused to die.
Despite searching for photos online of a similar plumaged bird I had more or less drawn a blank for a close enough match to convince me for sure. However, as I was in the process of emailing Fife bird recorder about the bird and the discussion on BirdForum, I happened to click on the link to the debate and found that there had been some rather heavyweight intervention into the debate, along with a photo that looked a LOT like my bird. The intervention was from none other than Killian Mullarney, one of the authors/artists for THE bird book - Collins Bird Guide (aka the Black Bible). What Killian said among other things in his post was "to my eyes this is a White-billed Diver, and I’d be very pleased to obtain such convincing evidence as this if I had one flying past me at the Bridges of Ross!". With a photo taken of a White Billed Diver taken on the 12th of October in Norway linked to, I was now into the just about completely convinced that it was a White Billed Diver camp. It was suggested by a few folk that I should submit the record to the Scottish Rarities committee as a White Billed Diver so that is what I intend to do, although with the bird being identified after the event, and from photos, it is going to be a rather unconventional submission. Time will tell as to the decision goes (though my mind is made up and White Billed Diver is now on my life list - it will come off if the record isn't accepted by SBRC though). I will post the verdict on here at some future date no doubt....
So, having found a "biggie" on October 13th last year, it appears that lightning has perhaps struck once again (though unnoticed at the time) on the same date this year. I wonder if that other GND was 'just' a GND after all...... Can I possibly complete a hat-trick on October 13th 2015?
Species seen (year tick/lifer in bold) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Northern Diver, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Shelduck, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Velvet Scoter, White Billed Diver, White Tailed Eagle, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.