 |
| Grey Herons |
 |
| Jay |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Song Thrush |
 |
| Magpies |
 |
| Magpie |
 |
| Goosander |
 |
| Black Headed Gulls and Common Gull |
 | |||
| Linnet |
With the weather forecast once again not being too great and a need to be home for around 4pm, owing to an evening trip to Edinburgh to see Mogwai in concert, I decided to stay local with my birding. Once again, I targeted Kingfisher, trying to add to my year-list.
I left the house around 1110 having seen Starling, Feral Pigeon and Herring Gull earlier in the morning from my window while checking the weather. In contrast to my early morning trip round to the bus stop there were only Herring Gulls to be seen. Further on up Arklay Street, Carrion Crow was added. A House Sparrow chirped noisily from a small bit of hedge on Graham Street, retreating further into the tangle of branches, when I stopped. A single Starling flew over and a Blackbird scurried off the pavement and under a hedge. On the sports pitches a few Black Headed Gulls were roosting and feeding.
Crossing the Kingsway into Caird Park, I cut across the rather busy golf course filled with weekend golfers. A few Carrion Crows were in the conifers bordering the path as a few Coal Tits fed among the needles and a little further on, I was surprised to find a pair of Mallards in the water in a small drainage channel running down the side of the path. A Song Thrush spooked and flew over the burn into the trees on the other side and a Wren flew down into the scrubby vegetation by the bridge. A few Chaffinches flitted around. I walked along by the burn hoping to see the Dipper, but there was no sign, possibly owing to the dog walker coming the other way with his two dogs. A Buzzard drifted over the trees by the golf course. The next sighting was a Goldcrest feeding unconcerned in a bush by the top pond. Another Buzzard joined the first bird high above the ponds circling on a thermal before drifting back out of sight towards the golf course. I spotted a Jay fly towards the old graveyard and then what looked like another Buzzard flew into the conifers by the road.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Kingfisher again, and so I began another circuit of the ponds. Two Grey Herons flew west below treetop height before landing in a tall conifer. These would have been very easy to overlook had I not seen them fly in, and I managed good views when I drew level with the roosting birds on the opposite side of the top pond. There were a few more dog walkers around so my chance of seeing the Kingfisher had gone. A pair of Mallards and a Moorhen took flight from the edge of the lower pond as I approached, flying to the island. I headed down through the graveyard and found a pair of Jays in the trees near the road. I managed quite close views before the birds flew across the road to the trees by the Dighty Burn. A Woodpigeon crashed out of the trees its wings clapping loudly as it went.
Down by the burn the Jays stayed ahead of me until a jogger ran past causing them to fly back across to Caird Park. Further on along the Old Claverhouse Road, Blue Tit and Robin were heard and then seen. At Trottick Ponds, the main pond held Mute Swan, a pair of Goosanders, a few Mallards and some Tufted Ducks. A few Black Headed Gulls flitted around. Walking around the ponds, I found a few Long Tailed Tits collecting nest material and Great Tit and Blue Tit in the same small stand of trees. I wandered further on up the burn to a small footbridge. A Dipper flew out from the bank and upriver. A few minutes later, two, possibly three, Dippers flew back downstream with one returning upstream having seen off the interlopers from its stretch of the burn. A Kestrel circled then hovered above the reeds, before heading off over the houses to the northeast gaining height as it went. Moorhen and Blackbird were the only other additions before I headed back towards Caird Park.
Arriving back at the park, I spotted a Buzzard flying over the trees and was surprised to see that it had landed on the Mill O'Mains side of the road in the top branches of quite a small tree. I managed to get closer, photographing it from my raised viewpoint through the trees in the park. As I turned to head up towards the cemetery again, I spotted a bird gliding towards Mill O'Mains. Raising my binoculars I found it was a male Sparrowhawk which circled above the housing scheme rapidly gaining altitude before dropping out of my line of sight possible after some prey unseen by me. A small 'charm' of Goldfinches flitted around calling and feeding in the mature trees near the cemetery gates. Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow flew over.
At the ponds the Grey Herons were still in the trees and I managed to find another pair of Long Tailed Tits further up the Gelly Burn towards the main part of the golf course. A couple of Blue Tits and a Coal Tit were seen near the stadiums. I crossed the Kingsway and decided to walk along to the Forfar Road instead of up Mains Loan. This proved to be a good decision as I stumbled upon a Magpie perched on a house opposite me. The bird flew down into a driveway area and I crossed the road and got the camera ready thinking that I might get a flight shot from what are usually quite wary birds. However, it turned out there were actually a pair of these black and white corvids. Not only that but they were rather busy collecting nesting material. Magpies have been slowly increasing in number in Dundee for a couple of years but this was my first sighting of positive breeding behaviour in Spring. I'm not sure how large a pair of Magpies territory is in an urban setting but I suspect there are between 2 and 4 territories not too far from my home, though a lack of trees nearby have meant I've seen none from my window yet. I suspect the day I do, won't be far off now.
At Swannie Ponds, the young Iceland Gull was in its usual place atop the chimney of the house on Pitkerro Road that it favours most of the time for spending its days. On the water, the usual selection of Mallards, Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks, Goosanders mingled while around the edges of the path the majority of gulls roosted out of the water. As always, Black Headed were the most numerous with a variety of Herring Gull plumages next in number. Two Lesser Black Backed Gulls and just a single Common Gull made up the numbers. A foreign-accented girl asked me if there were any interesting birds around so I told her about the Iceland Gull before letting her see it through the binoculars and showing her a photo on my phone. Next up was another birder who though not originally from Dundee was trying to discover the best places locally to see the good birds. We chatted for a while then headed back towards Baxter Park, picking up a Pied Wagtail by the lower pond as we went.
We went our separate ways by the park, with City Quay my next destination. Birds were in short supply en route. I crossed the footbridge over the railway line near the Sea Cadets building and scanned the water of the outer quay area. A drake Red Breasted Merganser and Dave the Diver (the resident Red Throated) were bobbing around on the small waves. On the quayside behind the wall a pair of Oystercatchers and a small flock of Black Headed and a Common Gull were roosting. A small flock Of Linnets flew over and landed on the derelict(?) sheds by the submarine memorial, allowing me good views. Herring Gulls and Starlings as well as a couple of Woodpigeons were on the opposite side of the channel by the dry dock, but there were no other birds to be seen in the main quay area by the frigate Unicorn. I wandered to the river and scanned the 'submarine' rock. Cormorant, Oystercatcher and Herring Gulls were roosting there and a large flock of a couple of hundred gulls were further east out on the Tay. As far as I could tell they were mostly Herring Gulls but time was against me so I decided to head back into town to get the bus home to get organised for my night out.
Nothing new for the year-list but 39 species within a mile and a half radius of home on a Saturday isn't too bad. Species seen -
Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dipper, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Iceland Gull, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.