 |
| Jackdaw |
I had intended on an early start and a visit to Riverside Nature Park on Wednesday the 21st of May. However, I wasn't feeling particularly great when I got up and as a result I sat about doing other stuff instead of venturing out. A message came through from Mark via WhatsApp at 0730 to say that he'd found an apparent Bean Goose in Invergowrie Bay. Bean Geese are very hard to see in Dundee, even over the course of a typical winter, so to have one in late May was very unusual. The attached photo looked fairly convincing - though I didn't really give it much of a look, as I was too busy getting organised to get to the park as soon as possible. I quickly got ready and was out the door for 0755. My plan was to try to catch a taxi at Caird Avenue to take me at least part of the way to the park.
Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Dunnock, Woodpigeon, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Magpie, Blue Tit, Chaffinch and Starling were all noted on the walk up past the football stadiums with Starling added at Provost Road. I managed to get a taxi at the taxi rank on Caird Avenue and we set off for the bottom end of Ninewells Avenue, from where I could walk to the east end of the park within a few minutes. A Blackbird was seen from the taxi at Glamis Road. I reached the eastern end of the park just after 0820 and had a quick look from the bridge over the railway, but couldn't see the goose. Blackbird, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Blue Tit and Lesser Black Backed Gull and Herring Gull were all noted as I hurried round to where Mark and Keith were, scanning out over the bay.
Word had come through when I was on the way down that a pair of Eider had also been found by Mark and Keith. These would be a new species for me at the park as would the Bean Goose. Mark let me see the goose through his scope and despite the distance the head and bill shape looked pretty good for Bean Goose. However, Keith thought the bill looked more pink than the expected orange. Mark found the Eider for me and although they were distant I was able to add them to my own list for the park. Other birds around were Cormorant, Sedge Warbler, Bullfinch, Swift, Starling, Mallard, Mute Swan and Common Gull. Keith picked up a very distant bird that he struggled to come up with an ID for, and Mark wasn't sure what it was either. There was still some ongoing discussion about the goose. My photos were no help whatsoever. Mark suggested heading across to the Invergowrie side of the bay for a closer look.
We had a quick look at the lochan first, adding Carrion Crow, Moorhen, Reed Bunting and Skylark before driving round to Invergowrie Station. We then headed out to the wooden steps by the boat shed. The goose was much closer, but was now more or less silhouetted against the light. It swam in even closer and we were able to see that the bill was actually pink where it should be orange. Despite the rather Bean Goose like head profile - which seemed dependent on the angle of the head, it turned out to actually just be a Pink Footed Goose, albeit a slightly odd one. As Mark had to get to work, he dropped me off by the park and I headed back in for another few hours of birding there. Keith had also headed home by this time. Out on the river there were a large number of Goosanders (around 40+), and a few Shelduck were down in the bay. Long Tailed Tits were heard moving through the bushes. A few Black Headed Gulls flew in and landed down in the bay. Blackcap and Chaffinch were seen down among the bushes and a distant Curlew was picked out. Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, House Martin, Magpie and Goldfinch were all noted over the next 20 minutes of so, and a quick look in the 'bowl' sent a few Rabbits scurrying for cover.
Back overlooking the bay, a Grey Heron was seen and a couple of Jackdaws flew over. I headed up to the top of the hill for a wider view of the area in all directions. The most numerous of waders around were Oystercatchers which is always the case at this time of year, with the other regulars having mostly headed off elsewhere to breed. Robin, Rook, Woodpigeon, Wren, Linnet, Buzzard and Dunnock all made it onto the list as I spent more time searching from the higher viewpoint. An Osprey came in for a spot of unsuccessful hunting. I picked up a distant duck over towards the reedbeds but heat distortion made it tricky to see precisely what it was and it drifted further out over the next half hour or so. One of the local Pheasants announced its presence from somewhere unseen. A couple of Sandwich Terns turned up briefly in the bay, with one perching for a minute or so atop the traffic cone which was still mostly underwater, before both headed back out over the river.
As the tide began to recede further, I spotted a couple of waders across the far side of the bay, in front of the railway embankment by the reedbed. As I had left my scope at home due to my rush (and the thought of carrying the extra weight on what was forecast to be a very warm day), I was having to rely on the reach of my camera and my binoculars for the more distant birds. The waders appeared to be Redshank sized and their behaviour seemed rather Redshank-like as they fed along the edge of the mud, but the heat distortion meant that I couldn't be 100% certain that they were even definitely Redshanks. I took quite a lot of photos to try to get a better idea, though the glare of the sun meant seeing much on the camera screen was nigh on impossible. Later at home, I was able to see that at least 1 (and potentially both) of the birds was mostly black (in a few photos it was stood next to an Oystercatcher, which showed that the black was actual plumage colouration rather than shadow caused by the strong sunlight - the bird was out in the open and well lit from the sun behind me and in one of my photos the leg colour does also appear to be red rather than orange). It had to be a Spotted Redshank, which was a new bird for my #2025Dundee150.
Stock Dove and Swallow were further additions before I had marginally better views of the odd duck seen earlier, now across the far side of the bay. It flapped its wings and some of the outer wing appeared to be very pale. The head looked to be completely dark but actual detail was impossible to make out using the binoculars or camera. The bird then took flight and headed out of the bay and west upriver towards Kingoodie. I took lots of photos to try to get an ID, but these just increased the mystery. Later at home, I tried to make sense of the bird from the best of the not very good photos. There was no obvious speculum on the wing and the outer wing looked quite pale, though not always consistently. There seemed to be a possibility of a white patch ahead of the speculum area, but again it wasn't consistent and could easily just be a photographic artefact. My best bet was that it was some sort of domestic Mallard, or a hybrid with domestic Mallard in the mix.
I emailed Mark some of the photos later and he too was left scratching his head as to what it actually was. There was a slight hint of Pintail about it - dark head, long and slender wings etc (I did have a partially leucistic drake at the park years ago that might've bore a passing resemblance to the bird, had I seen it in flight) but beyond that we were both rather stumped as to what it actually was - though I suspect it may not have been a 'countable' bird anyway. Mark wasn't wholly convinced with my Spotted Redshank(s) but I can't come up with a reason for the head, neck AND underside to appear consistently black in the photos, though the wings do appear slightly paler (which wouldn't be unusual in a bird not wholly in breeding plumage) and in some photos the other bird appears partially black, but in others paler. The heat distortion and distance (and also the inbuilt digital zoom algorithm of the camera) had made seeing further detail impossible, but from what I can see, I'm about 95% sure one of the birds is an actual Spotted Redshank, so I'm counting it despite Mark's reservations about the ID. The second bird is being left unidentified (Redshank sp.) as I can't be sure if it was another Spotted Redshank less advanced in its moult into summer plumage or just a Common Redshank.
I added Orange Tip, Green Veined White and Red Admiral butterflies once I eventually left the bay following another visit by an Osprey. I eventually left the park around 1345 and had a slow wander homewards in the now rather warm sunshine. Swift, Swallow and Chiffchaff were noted as I walked back along Riverside Avenue and Great Tit was seen at the University playing fields. Black Headed Gull and Oystercatcher were seen at the river by the Bridgeview Station restaurant. I crossed the footbridge over the railway at Tescos where a Pied Wagtail gave me my final species for the day. I ended the day with a total of 54 birds, with a new park tick (Eider - my 149th there) and a #2025Dundee150 tick (in bold). made up of 19 species outwith the park, and 50 (or potentially 51, or even 52) at the park. All in all, it was a very strange day with the initial confusion with the Goose, Keith's very distant mystery bird, the fairly bizarre unidentifiable Duck and the Spotted Redshank(s) - definitely one of those days that having my scope with me would have been very helpful. Taxis are getting a bit too expensive though.....£10.30 for a 3 mile journey...(ouch!).
 |
| Pink Footed Goose |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Pink Footed Goose |
 |
| Pink Footed Goose |
 |
| Pink Footed Goose |
 |
| Common Gull |
 |
| Shelduck & Mute Swan |
 |
| Carrion Crow |
 |
| Skylark |
 |
| Blackbird |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Spotted Redshank (& Spotted Redshank/Redshank) |
 |
| Spotted Redshank (& Spotted Redshank/Redshank) & Oystercatcher |
 |
| Spotted Redshank |
 |
| Whitehroat |
 |
| Unidentified Duck |
 |
| Unidentified Duck |
 |
| Unidentified Duck |
 |
| Shelduck |
 |
| House Martin |
 |
| Swift |
 |
| Buzzard |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park - not including Invergowrie side of bay visit) - Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch,
Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Lesser
Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, (Redshank?), Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Green Veined White, Orange Tip, Red Admiral.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
