With daylight at a premium at this time of year plus the limitations that Covid restrictions brings, my birding of late has been rather sparse. The walks to and from work are mostly in darkness now with largely the same handful of bird speciess seen/heard most days (Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Redwing, Pink Footed Goose, Herring Gull and Carrion Crow). However, a Fox at Balgay Hill last week was a new mammal for my commute list. With reasonable weather forecast I should have made more effort to get up and out on Saturday but didn't. However, this made me doubly determined to make the most of the even better weather forecast for Sunday.
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Grey Heron
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Despite those good intentions it wasn't until around 1245 that I actually made it out into the winter sunshine. I decided to visit Swannie Ponds first, via Mains Terrace. Unfortunately things were rather quiet there but the ponds made up for it with almost the full set of expected species - Mallard, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, 2 Goosander, Coot, Mute Swan, 2 Grey Herons and even a Moorhen - the first I've seen there for months. There were a few Norwegian ringed Black Headed Gulls around - Green J63P (last noted in Oslo in July) and White JMK7 (a new one for me here - ringed in March in Oslo) and a couple of metal ringed birds which I only managed to read a few digits of. There was also a Black Headed Gull with a missing foot. Long Tailed Tits were heard but not seen.
From there I headed for Eastern Cemetery where I found a large flock of a few hundred 'winter thrushes' much in evidence - mostly Mistle Thrushes but also good numbers of Redwings, a Blackbird or two and even a Fieldfare (though no sign of any Song Thrushes). Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Chaffinch as well as Woodpigeon were also noted, but no Stock Doves (one of the few expected birds that were missed). A pair of Buzzards, and a male Sparrowhawk which I flushed from a hidden perch as I stalked the Buzzards, were also found before I headed for City Quay. A quartet of Oystercatchers landed on the roof of the "Dundee Carlton" on Broughty Ferry Road. A trio of Grey Herons - one fishing from a pontoon at the Foxlake area of the Quay, and the others roosting elsewhere and a few Herring Gulls was as good as things got there.
A few more Cormorants, another Grey Heron and a few more gulls were seen out on the river but things were disappointingly rather quiet, though the sunset later was rather nice. A small group of Pied Wagtails were seen at Slessor Gardens feeding up before heading off to roost - one in particular had quite distinctive facial markings but doesn't appear to have been anything unusual. I headed for home around 1550 having seen/heard a total of 34 species of bird (32 & 2) and 1 mammal species. All in all a reasonably decent afternoon considering it is December and I was limited to a mix of urban habitats.
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Tufted Duck
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Coot
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Moorhen, Coot & Mallard
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Grey Heron & Black Headed Gull
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Goosander
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Black Headed Gull
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Chaffinch
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Magpie
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Redwing
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Great Tit
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Mistle Thrush
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Coal Tit
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Mistle Thrush
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Redwing
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Redwing
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Mistle Thrush
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Greenfinch
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Blue Tit
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Redwing
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Mistle Thrush
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Fieldfare
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Redwing
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Redwing
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Mistle Thrush
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Greenfinch
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Magpie
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Redwing
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Redwing
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Woodpigeon
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Redwing
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Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Goldfinch & Greenfinch
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Grey Heron
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Herring Gull
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Grey Heron
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Herring Gull
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Grey Heron
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Oystercatcher
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Grey Heron
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Grey Heron
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Herring Gull
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Grey Heron
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Grey Heron
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Grey Heron
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Grey Heron
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Grey Heron
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Black Headed Gull
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Grey Heron & Cormorant
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Cormorant
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Cormorant
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Herring Gull
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Herring Gull
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Herring Gull
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Herring Gull
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Species seen (heard only in italics) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant,
Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw,
Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals seen - Grey Squirrel.
