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| Chiffchaff |
I find it much easier to get motivated to get out birding when I've had a good day the previous day, and moreso when I'm on a run of good birding over the space of a few days. Despite the rather frantic nature of Saturday's vis-migging at Riverside Nature Park, I'd really enjoyed trying to keep up with all that was going on around me and wanted to give it another go. Having looked at the weather forecast, Tuesday morning looked the best bet for a repeat performance. Monday's excellent day out at Balmossie with Lainy, following on from Sunday's Caird Park Hawfinch, meant that it wasn't a chore to get up early and be out the door into the pre-dawn gloom earlier than I usually set off for work on any normal Tuesday.
It was no surprise that only the odd Robin singing in the darkness had accompanied my walk until I reached Loons Road. As I walked towards the crossroads halfway down the hill, a woman was crossing the road heading in my direction. Before she had reached 'my' side of the road, a Fox trotted round the corner in front of her and continued walking towards me with the lady close behind it. As the gap between people was rapidly closing the Fox squeezed through the metal fence and into the garden next to the pavement. Rather than run off across the garden and round behind the house, it trotted along the raised area of grass until it was parallel to me. I stopped and the Fox stopped. We both looked at each other from about 10 feet apart before the Fox continued off along the path in front of the house and I went on my way.
I added Herring Gull, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Wren, Redwing, Jackdaw, Magpie and finally some Pink Footed Geese before I reached the nature park. As with Saturday's visit I headed directly for the top of the hill and got organised for what I hoped would be another productive morning's 'vis-migging' (watching visible migration). The sky to the east produced a short-lived but rather colourful sunrise. The walk to the top of the hill had given me a few species - Herring Gull, Robin, Oystercatcher, Feral Pigeon, Black Headed Gull, Pink Footed Goose, Carrion Crow, Wren, Redshank and Mallard. Some were seen, some only heard, but once I was at the top of the hill, my main focus would once again be the birds that were passing overhead and off to the north and south.
It didn't take long before the birds started to move through. A pair of Meadow Pipits being the first of the morning. A few more incidental birds were seen - a Grey Heron, a Great Black Backed Gull and a Blackbird before there was a run of migrants - Goldfinch, Linnets, Chaffinches and Pied Wagtail. A Goosander flew over eastwards while a Curlew called from the bay. More finches were passing including the first Greenfinch. A surprise bird call made me stop and listen. It sounded like a Raven. As it repeated it didn't take me long to pick out the bird in question - a patch tick for me - a little to the north. Although the light was still rather gloomy I did manage a few record shots. A small flock of Dunlin flew into the bay from the direction of the airport.
The first Song Thrushes, Siskins and Skylarks were all noted, followed soon after by the first Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Bullfinches. Although there was still a lot happening it was a little less hectic than Saturday morning had been. I had decided to use the Sound ID feature of the Merlin app on my iPhone (as well as my usual Tascam sound recorder) to record the calls of the passing birds. To save draining the battery I had plugged the phone into a powerbank and the set up worked quite well - even if it missed out on some of the more distant birds that I was able to hear (though they are likely on the recording but quiet). I would definitely recommend at least trying the option of the Merlin/phone/powerbank combination in situations where you want to get a recording of what is around. Being able to see a list of species (and skip to the first occurence - with a sonagram too) of what has been recorded does save a LOT of time later - though obviously you won't know what may have been missed by the app.
The first batch of Mistle Thrushes showed up around 0820. Grey Wagtail, Starling and Redwing
gave me a few more migrants a little later. Woodpigeons, Feral Pigeons, Tree Sparrows, House Sparrows and Dunnocks were also noted moving through over the course of the next few hours until I left the hill at around 1050 to see what else I could find around the park. Great Tit, Chiffchaff, Long Tailed Tit and Rook were all found around the western entrance and hide area. Stock Dove, Goldcrest, Teal and Moorhen were spotted around the Lochan area. Cormorant and Wigeon were seen out in the bay. A Sparrowhawk hunting over the park and then flying off to the north and a Buzzard on the airport fence were the only raptors to be seen. A Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few Jays caching acorns were welcome additions before I left the park at around 1400 for the walk home.
I decided to walk along the river again which wasn't quite as productive as my previous attempt though Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch, Guillemot, Common Gull, Cormorant and Lesser Black Backed Gull did make it onto the 'outwith RNP' list. A Grey Wagtail was spotted in flight over the city centre which at one time would have been relatively unusual but a number of these birds seem to have followed their Pied cousins into becoming birds of the city centre all year round, with apparent breeding in The Howff in recent years and the birds are now a regular sight and sound above Reform Street and the Keiller Centre areas in particular. I made it home around 1530 having seen or heard a total of 57 species (54 at the park, and 20 outwith). Although not quite as busy as Saturday there was still plenty of activity to see and it was another enjoyable Autumn day's birding with a particular highlight being the 6 species of corvids seen at Riverside Nature Park - the first time I can remember getting the 'set' (of east coast corvids) at one location in one day.
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| Goosander |
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| Raven |
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| Dunlin |
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| Greenfinch |
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Reed Bunting
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| Bullfinch |
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| Curlew |
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Song Thrush
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Mistle Thrush
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| Magpie |
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Meadow Pipit
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| Skylark |
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Herring Gull
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Stock Dove
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| Siskin |
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| Rook |
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Blue Tit
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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| Jackdaw |
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Long Tailed Tit
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| Robin |
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Pied Wagtail
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Common Gull
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| Guillemot |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Cormorant, Goldfinch, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Red Admiral.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Fox
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch (7), Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch (105), Chiffchaff, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock (3), Goldcrest, Goldfinch (39), Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch (41), Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail (1), Herring Gull, House Sparrow (3), Jackdaw, Jay, Linnet (27), Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit (50), Mistle Thrush (76), Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail (7), Pink Footed Goose, Raven, Redshank, Redwing (2), Reed Bunting (10), Robin, Feral Pigeon (uncounted), Rook, Siskin (34), Skylark (41), Song Thrush (12), Sparrowhawk, Starling (14), Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Sparrow (69), Wigeon, Woodpigeon (uncounted), Wren, Yellowhammer (9).
[Figures in brackets are counts of assumed migrant birds and are likely lower than actual figures passing].
