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| Waxwing |
I went to my bed earlier than usual on Friday night as I was feeling a bit under the weather. I felt slightly better in the morning, at least well enough to attempt a spot of birding, though with the option of cutting it short at any point throughout the day. I didn't really have any particular target species I was hoping to see, I would just play things by ear and see where I ended up and what I managed to find along the way. Expectations were relatively low, for both the birds I was likely to encounter as well as for managing to last the day. On the plus side, the temperature was slightly warmer (though not by much) than it had been for most of the week.
I had a few minutes looking out of the window before heading out. This did seem to show a bit of promise as a Fieldfare flew up the middle of my street almost immediately. Blackbird, Blue Tit, Starling, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, House Sparrow and Carrion Crow were all noted in a little over a minute. I finally headed out at around 0905. In addition to those birds already noted I was able to add Great Tit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Black Headed Gull and a Pied Wagtail (not all that common so close to home). Magpie and Woodpigeon were both seen on the ground at the Morgan Academy. I headed into Baxter Park for a look at Spring Grove. Although it was relatively quiet in the grove itself there were birds around nearby with Wren, Redwing, Stock Dove and Robin all being seen. A Collared Dove was perched on a roof as I walked up to Swannie Ponds around 1000.
Mallard, Coot and Common Gull were the new additions there with the local Coots already in quarrelsome mode. A small patch of open water by the path held 2 pairs fighting furiously. I was able to shoot video using my phone as they did so. I headed for Eastern Cemetery next with Coal Tit and Mistle Thrush found relatively quickly in addition to the expected large numbers of Fieldfare as well as a few Redwings. Both Rabbit and Grey Squirrel were active among the gravestones. Skylarks were seen and heard passing over but it was the Fieldfares that mostly kept me occupied for the next couple of hours. I did have a brief view of one of the local Buzzards before heading back for another look at Baxter Park.
Thankfully, things had picked up there a bit by lunchtime and I was able to add Song Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch and Long Tailed Tit along with most of the usual regular species, as well as the occasional Redwing. By around 1330 I had decided to move on again, with a look at City Quay on the cards. However, I decided to check out the Howff area for Waxwings first. There were more Fieldfares and Redwings in there and round about but no sign of any Waxwings. A Grey Wagtail flew over as I headed for City Quay via Meadowside. The Quay area was also mostly rather quiet though I did manage to get Cormorant, Red Breasted Merganser and a Grey Seal out on the river before setting off in the direction of home. A skein of Pink Footed Geese were seen transitting to the north of the city centre in a westerly direction.
When I crossed the road next to the Olympia, I realised there were Redwings and Blackbirds feeding among the leaf litter in below the trees and decided to get some photos, as Redwings have been relatively scarce compared to most years and having tended to focus on the more numerous Fieldfares I decided that I should probably get a few Redwing photos too. I was busy taking photos of these when Lainy phoned me to let me know she'd just found some Waxwings at Kingsway East. I said I'd head up there and see her in around 20 minutes or so. She called me back to say that her husband Adam would pick me up. I said it was ok, I would walk, but he'd already left. Thanks to Adam's generosity I made it in time to be able to get some nice photos of the Waxwings as they fed on Rowan berries, and drank from a trickle of water on the road as the ice was melting.
I hung around for a little while longer once Lainy and Adam headed for home, even though the sun had by this time sunk below the horizon. I knew the weather forecast for Sunday was for grey skies so despite the lack of sunlight, I wanted to maximise the opportunity to get some, hopefully interesting, photos of a species which has been in short supply this winter here in Dundee, with only my single bird at the end of November known to me so far. I had a very brief look at Swannie Ponds again on my way home but there was nothing new to be seen. I made it home around 1600 having noted a total of 38 species but having taken over 2600 photos during the day (though there was a lot of culling when I viewed them that evening to get the number down). All in all, a very decent day out with some very nice photo opportunities, with the Waxwings a very nice bonus to round off the day.
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| Redwing |
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| Coot |
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| Coot |
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| Fieldfare |
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Mistle Thrush
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| Fieldfare |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Skylark |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Grey Squirrel
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Long Tailed Tit
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Song Thrush
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Blue Tit
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Pied Wagtail
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| Goldfinch |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Blackbird |
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| Redwing |
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| Waxwing |
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| Waxwing |
Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Waxwing, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
