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Little Grebe
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The Puffin on Saturday afternoon was as much of an unexpected bonus bird for my #Dundee150 list as the early morning Hawfinch had been earlier in November. It meant that my total was now 146 species from within Dundee this year. I now only needed to get another 4. Geese seemed to offer the best chance of something else, with Barnacle Goose, and maybe White Fronted Goose, being the most likely. There was a slim chance of getting Brent Goose at Balmossie as I managed to do in 2023, or perhaps a passing rarity like Snow Goose (Keith had one from Riverside Nature Park in 2023) or the even less likely Ross's Goose. Checking goose flocks bird by bird is often very frustrating, especially with mobile flocks feeding in places where there is plenty of disturbance. Thankfully, the flock of Pink Footed Geese at Dykes of Gray/Denhead of Gray, at the western edges of the city, seemed quite settled and not easily spooked. Sunday's destination would be the fields where these birds have been of late.
It was another relatively late start. I headed out at 1035. A few of the local Jackdaws were first for the day's list. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Starling, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Magpie were all noted on the walk up past the football stadiums. A skein of Pink Footed Geese overhead, I hoped might be a good omen. Robin, Goldfinch and Wren were all 'heard-only' birds on my way to Clepington Road. Blue Tit, Oystercatcher, Grey Wagtail and House Sparrow gave me a few more species as I wandered on towards Tesco and the Kingsway. Blackbird was seen on Dunsinane Avenue and as I headed along Linton Road, Chaffinch and Greenfinch were next before I reached the underpass that leads to Camperdown Park.
Goldcrest and Long Tailed Tit were the only additions as I skirted along the bottom end of the park. I made it to the cottages at Denhead of Gray at 1145 and quickly found a Treecreeper with a flock of tits and finches in the trees at the eastern end. Buzzard and Pheasant were added as I wandered along the edge of the eastern stubble field. It turned out that the top end of the field had been partially ploughed. There was a flock of Pink Footed Geese in the sloping grassy field to the north but views weren't easy due to the lie of the field and the trees between where I was and where the birds were. It wasn't possible to see all the birds but I failed to find anything unusual amongst the ones I was able to see.
Rook and Linnet were noted but the stubble field between the field I was in, and the 'new' houses, didn't hold any geese which was rather disappointing. I decided that rather than wander uphill to check the rest of the geese flock I might as well pay a visit to Riverside Nature Park instead. The one drawback of doing that was that I had 'travelled light' and left my scope and monopod at home. I wasn't overly concerned as in winter, the sun makes viewing anything in the bay awkward from around lunchtime onwards, so a scope is more or less of limited help. I had the camera as a make-shift substitute though. Tree Sparrow and Skylark were heard on the walk down to Invergowrie along with a Siskin before I reached the underpass below the A90. There was nothing new seen or heard in my brief visit to Perthshire as I wandered down Greystane Road to the end of Main Street.
It was 1245 when I reached the eastern end of the nature park. Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon, Redshank, Teal, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Greylag Goose, Black Tailed Godwit and Mallard were all noted from the area around the hide. Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Goldfinch and Bullfinch were seen or heard as I walked along the track into the main part of the park's upper half. Curlew was heard from down in the bay. I spotted Mark Wilkinson on the raised banking scanning out over the bay with his scope and headed along to join him (and to thank him for the Puffin heads-up). Blackbird and Wren were heard from the bushes and scanning out across the bay added Goosander, Common Gull, Cormorant and Little Egret.
As we chatted, there was a flock of quite vocal Goldfinches in the bushes behind us providing a bit of background noise. Suddenly Mark's ears picked out a Snow Bunting call from somewhere high above us. Once he pointed it out and described what I should be hearing, I managed to hear it too, a short trilling call. We looked for the bird but failed to see it. I thought it had continued on out over the bay, but we decided to check the hill just in case it had dropped down into the grass behind us. We did add a Buzzard while searching for it, but drew a blank on relocating the Snow Bunting. Still, it was species number 147 for my #Dundee150 list. Had it not been for Mark's hearing and subsequent ID skills it would likely have been 'one that got away' for me if I'd been on my own, as although I could hear the call, it wasn't one that was familiar to me (though I have previously heard the birds at Kinshaldy and Out Head in Fife, though not for a number of years now).
We wandered back to check the bay again, adding Lesser Black Backed Gull, Bar Tailed Godwit and Black Headed Gull before Mark headed homewards. I wandered round to check the Lochan where I found a trio of half-hidden Snipe and not just 1, but 2, Little Grebes (not for the first time this year). Given how much of the Lochan is hidden from view by vegetation, I wonder just how much of this summer these birds have been in attendance. A number of Moorhen were also around at the Lochan. I continued my walk round towards the car park, noting Dunnock, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Woodpigeon and Chaffinch. A Sparrowhawk was seen off to the north from the lower half and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew past. A Rabbit was seen as I was about to exit the park at the eastern end. I decided to walk along Riverside to City Quay though I didn't expect to find much on the way. My main reason was that I didn't feel much like making the walk up Glamis Road to Balgay Hill.
A small flock of Curlews were seen on the grass at the airport along with a number of Oystercatchers and Starlings. A Mistle Thrush flew over the road as I passed the University playing fields. There were Pied Wagtails on the football pitches by the Bridge Station restaurant and a few Cormorants were seen out on the river. City Quay proved to be a waste of time and the walk up from there wasn't any more enjoyable than the Glamis Road uphill section that I had avoided earlier. I ended the day's birding having seen or heard a total of 55 species (made up of 33 species outwith the park, and 43 from within the park) including another very welcome addition (in bold) to my #Dundee150 list (again, courtesy of Mark). Incidentally, November's total of 'new birds' (3) had already exceeded both September and October's individual hauls (2 each).
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Pink Footed Goose
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Carrion Crow & Buzzard
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| Buzzard |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Pink Footed Goose
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Greylag Goose
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Redshank, Oystercatcher & Black Tailed Godwit
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Black Tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Greylag Goose, Common Gull & Redshank
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Great Black Backed Gull
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Grey Heron
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Long Tailed Tit
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| Goosander |
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Little Egret
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| Goldfinch |
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Little Grebe
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| Moorhen |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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| Chaffinch |
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| Buzzard |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Black Headed Gull
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Herring Gull
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Black Headed Gull, Blackbird,
Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Cormorant, Curlew, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Herring Gull,
House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mistle Thrush,
Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook,
Siskin, Skylark, Starling, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit,
Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common
Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch,
Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted
Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring
Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Long
Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen,
Oystercatcher, Pink Footed Goose,
Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Snipe, Snow Bunting, Sparrowhawk, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
