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| Fieldfare |
With the rain finally due to clear up on Sunday and having had 2 very good days birding because of Storm Babet, I had the suspicion that there would be potential for lots of birds to be moving during the first few hours of daylight. With Riverside Nature Park having decent habitat for birds to drop in to feed as well as being on the route west following the Tay upriver, it was an easy choice to make when trying to decide where would give me the best chance of getting my 150th species for Dundee in 2023. I would get to the park for around sunrise and see what, if anything, I could conjure up.
I was feeling rather optimistic when I headed out at 0700. Blackbird and Robin were around in the darkness and a little further on the first Redwing of the morning was heard from somewhere up above. Carrion Crow, Magpie and Herring Gull were next on the list and as the light improved so did the number of species with Dunnock and Wren heard before Black Headed and Common Gulls were seen at the football pitches at Lochee Park. The local House Sparrows were waking up too. Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Siskin and Woodpigeon were noted as I wandered on through the cemetery. Mistle Thrush, Pink Footed Goose, Song Thrush and Starling were the final additions before I reached the park just a little over an hour after leaving the house.
Starting at the eastern end felt like a bit of a novelty having spent most of my more recent visits chasing either waders or Bearded Tits around the western end. Robin, Wren, Blue Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird, Redwing, Siskin, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Pink Footed Geese, Bullfinch, Long Tailed Tit and Fieldfare in the first five minutes got things underway for what I hoped would be a very productive morning's birding at the park. As I headed in the direction of the picnic tables for a quick look from there I was able to add Goldcrest, Herring Gull and Chaffinch, with Mallard the only thing noted at the Lochan. A flock of Mistle Thrushes passed overhead. There seemed to be 1000s of thrushes on the move over the park with 'clouds' of birds streaming over, though in brief busy bursts rather than constant passage. Nonetheless it was quite spectacular to see as flocks of 10-20 thrushes are more the normal numbers rather than 50+. Some of the higher flying flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings may easily have had around 100 or so in them.
There were a couple of Red Breasted Merganser down in the bay. I headed up to the top of the hill for more of a 360 degree view. A few Lesser Redpolls flew through among the thrush rush. I messaged Steph to suggest she join me if she was able to, for the spectacle of such large numbers passing though. A flock of Redshanks flew into the bay from the direction of the airport. A few Linnets added to the mix as they too headed west. Black Headed Gull, a Black Tailed Godwit and Cormorant were noted in the bay while Goldfinches and Greenfinches milled around. Jackdaw and Magpie put in an appearance as I watched more thrushes and finches go over. A few Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Skylarks added to the variety of migrants on the move. A flock of Feral Pigeons were seen off to the north. I happened to turn around and surprised a female Sparrowhawk which had been stood on the end of the raised grassy banking. Off she went, low over the park to the north.
A few minutes later, I saw a pipit drop out of the sky into the longer grass just beyond the grassy banking on the south side of the hill. Conscious of the (slim) possibility of Olive Backed Pipit I cautiously moved round so the sun would be on the bird if I managed to see it and I prepped the camera for a quick response. Naturally, the bird spotted me before I managed to see it and flew off southwards calling like a Tree Pipit (as an Olive Backed Pipit also apparently does - I've never seen or heard one before myself though). I managed to take a sequence of photos, though only 3 were usable though these were surprisingly decent given the situation. As I also had my Tascam recorder running I was hopeful that I would have caught the bird call which would allow me to compare the sonagram with Tree and Olive Backed calls. As it turned out, I had managed to get the call and I sent that and the photos to Keith, Ian Ford and Mark Wilkinson. The consensus of opinion was that the bird was a late Tree Pipit rather than my hoped for Olive Backed Pipit - which would have been a lifer and a great bird for the park and a superb bird for my 150th species in Dundee this year.
I photographed a small flock of finches passing over shortly afterwards but when I checked at home later, I couldn't quite place the species. With the Pipit taking all of the immediate interest, the bird in the photos had to wait a few weeks until I gave it a better look. I tried all the likely species based on what I could see on the photos before coming to the conclusion it had to be a Twite. I checked with a few folk, as well as Birdforum and Twitter for confirmation, which was mostly forthcoming. There was some suggestion of Linnet, perhaps a 1st winter bird, but I checked through most of my old Linnet photos as well as lots of Linnet photos online and still kept coming back to Twite. The bird just didn't look like a Linnet to me (or most of the other folk who saw the photos). Twite it had to be, so a retrospective addition to the #Dundee145 list.
What may have been a migrant flock of Starlings came from the direction of the airport and kept going towards Invergowrie, and a smaller flock of Tree Sparrows dropped into the trees. I was joined by Steph although she had stuff at home needing to do, so she was only able to stick around for a limited amount of time. Although the numbers of birds moving through had tailed off a little compared to the initial numbers there were still some impressive sized flocks to let her see what the migration over the park can be like. A Chiffchaff was spotted in the bushes down by the path and a Great Black Backed Gull was seen stood on the outflow pipe. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard calling from somewhere within the park but we failed to see it.
A pair of Mute Swans flew downriver from the direction of Kingoodie. Song Thrush and Stock Dove were added to the morning's list before a flock of Teal drifted out into the bay and a larger flock of Dunlin were seen low over the water flying in. Eventually around 1100, Steph headed for home and I went for a look around the rest of the park to see if there were any rarities within the actual park, rather than just passing overhead. Moorhen was added at the Lochan and a Reed Bunting was in the hedge. Back at the bay, Bar Tailed Godwith was noted among the other waders just beyond the pipe. More scanning of the birds down in the bay produced Common Gull, Grey Heron and Oystercatcher. A small group of Swallows zipped over before doubling back to hawk for insects for a few minutes. A Grey Wagtail flew past just a minute or so after the Swallows.
As I headed down into the lower half of the park around 1210 a Common Darter dragonfly flew up in front of me, which was a bit of a surprise and I also saw a distant butterfly which went unidentified though it was most likely a Red Admiral, a few minutes later. Despite a fair bit of searching, I failed to find anything rare in the lower half of the park too and after an hour or so of searching I called it a day and headed homewards along the river route. Coal Tits were in the trees just outside the park, Pied Wagtail and a Sparrowhawk were noted around the airport and a Grey Wagtail was rather surprisingly noted on the seawall by the football pitches. There were Feral Pigeons around near the railbridge and a Shag flew upriver close in to the seawall as I neared Tesco. There were one or two Cormorants on the river in the area near the roadbridge.
A single Red Throated Diver flew in and dropped onto the water in characteristic high speed belly landing style near Submarine Rock. A single Red Breasted Merganser was nearby. There were another couple of Mergansers in City Quay along with a Grey Heron, Guillemot and Razorbill. Unfortunately, I failed to see the Kingfishers seen recently by Steven Neish and nothing else particularly rare had dropped in either. Despite failing to add my 150th species from Dundee this year, it had been an enjoyable day's birding with a combined total of 61 species for the day - comprised of 53 species at the park and 37 outwith. The spectacle of the thrushes moving en masse was also something I was glad to have managed to see. Probably somewhere amongst the Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares was a Ring Ouzel or perhaps something rarer, but if there was, I missed it with it being impossible to check every single bird and the early morning light being behind most of the birds as they approached/passed. All in all, another really enjoyable day of Autumn birding - and in decent weather too.
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| Fieldfare |
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Pink Footed Goose
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| Greenfinch |
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Mistle Thrush
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Tree Pipit
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Mute Swan
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| Redwing |
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| Teal |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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Fieldfare & Redwing
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| Blackbird |
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Reed Bunting
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Pink Footed Goose
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| Fieldfare |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Dunlin |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Dunnock |
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| Redwing |
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| Swallow |
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Meadow Pipit
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Grey Wagtail
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Pied Wagtail
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| Shag |
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| Cormorant |
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Red Throated Diver
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Shag, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch,
Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Pink
Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser,
Redshank, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush,
Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Pipit, Tree Sparrow, Twite, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Dragonflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Darter.
