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| Ring-necked Parakeet |
Having not visited Broughty Ferry on Wednesday as I had intended doing, I decided that I would spend Saturday's birding there. Although high tide wasn't until after 1500, realistically it would be most of the way in sometime around 1300. There was no great rush to get to Broughty Ferry too early, as long as I made it out to Balmossie in plenty of time to be able to check through all the gulls, ducks and waders there before the beach disappeared under the incoming tide. There was a potential problem however. Looking from my living room window before setting off, I could see that the haar was sitting firmly over the Tay, meaning visibility was likely to be very limited down by the river. However, I've had some luck on days with similar conditions there, so off I went. Although I was hoping to find the 150th species for my #2025Dundee150 list, there weren't any strong possibilities, so it was very unlikely that I'd actually be successful.
It was 0910 when I stepped outside. Herring Gull, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Magpie and Carrion Crow were a very typical winter start to the day's birding. Starling, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Chaffinch and Jackdaw were found on the walk up to Clepington Road as I made my way along towards Swannie Ponds. There was some ice at the ponds again, which can make it easier to read any rings on the gulls. Mallard, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck and Coot were all noted on the ponds, with Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Grey Wagtail in the immediate vicinity. I continued on to Eastern Cemetery where Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Wren, Woodpigeon, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Fieldfare were added. Whether it was down to still being relatively early in the day, or that more birds had arrived, there were certainly more birds around than on recent visits.
As I reached the eastern end of the Cemetery, I heard an odd call, that sounded somewhat familiar but I couldn't quite place it. It sounded a bit like a higher pitched Magpie sort of call but even that didn't feel quite right. As I looked for the source of the call, it soon became glaringly obvious what the bird was that was making the shrill call. There was a large-ish bright green bird in a nearby tree. I took a few photos and moved closer hoping not to spook the bird. It was a Ring-necked Parakeet. A new bird for me in Dundee, but one that could either be an actual wild bird, or potentially an escaped pet. The bird was fairly approachable, though still keeping an eye on me as it preened while perched in the top of a mid-sized tree. I put word out on the local grapevine but having done so, the bird finished preening and flew off in a roughly southeasterly direction.
Crossbill, Dunnock and Pied Wagtail were added before I finally moved on from the cemetery, having spent longer than expected there, though for a very good reason. The haar over the Tay hadn't dispersed, so I expected things to be fairly quiet along the river. A pair of Oystercatchers were on the grass at the foot of Strips of Craigie Road, and a Rabbit was seen as I wandered down towards the river. A Meadow Pipit flew over near the Stannergate car park as I headed out eastwards. A single Pink-footed Goose headed inland. Turnstone and Redshank were seen down on the beach but very little could be seen out on the river. I did succeed in spotting a Grey Seal not too far offshore that seemed to be intrigued by a barking dog on the path. There was still no sign of the haar dispersing and at times it appeared to be getting worse. A Rock Pipit was heard at the castle, and in the harbour area a Grey Heron, a Curlew, a few Redshanks, Herring Gulls and Oystercatchers were standing around on the seaweed covered rocks.
A Cormorant was stood atop the rocky islet just off the harbour entrance. There was no point in setting up the scope to scan what little of the river I could see, as binoculars were quite capable of covering the relatively short distances involved. I continued on out along the river. There were a few Meadow Pipits in the dunes which flew up as I passed by. I found a few Bar-tailed Godwits feeding along the shore, as well as a few Wigeon and a Great Black-backed Gull a little further out. Minutes later, the haar suddenly began to dissipate and blue sky almost magically appeared overhead. I found a small group of Dunlin and Ringed Plover feeding down on the shore as well as a few of the other waders I'd already seen elsewhere. A Linnet flew past me as I continued on to Balmossie. With the sun now shining, I would be able to scan through all the birds at the burn mouth quite easily.
There were a few Eider further out on the river and a few Rooks kicking around down by the burn. A Razorbill bobbed around a bit to the east and a few Red-breasted Mergansers were picked out along towards the Monifieth outflow pipe. A single Red-throated Diver was briefly seen near these ducks and more scanning found a pair of female/immature Goldeneye, one of which flew much closer after a few minutes. A large flock of Bar-tailed Godwits flew past with at least 1 Knot within their number. A Shag was seen fishing well out over the river as I made my way back along towards the castle. A mixed flock of Ringed Plover and Dunlin were put up by a dog walker on the beach. There were still small pockets of mist around over bits of the river, though mostly up towards the bridges and over some parts of the city itself. As I crossed the main road at the foot of Strips of Craigie Road, I spotted a Sparrowhawk circling overhead.
Once across the road, a Feral Pigeon flew in at high speed, with the Sparrowhawk in pursuit. Unfortunately for the pigeon it was flying too fast to pull up into the overhanging bushes. The Sparrowhawk saw me, as I tried to find it with the camera, and thought better of lingering by the visibly struggling downed pigeon. The Sparrowhawk flew off again and I saw that the pigeon was still alive. Unfortunately, its head was hanging limp to one side, suggesting it had broken its neck hitting the wall and as I held it in my gloved hands, its eyes closed and it was clear that it was beyond help. I set it back down on the ground and headed homewards via the cemetery again where a Buzzard was spooked from a gravestone taking my total for the day to 56 species.
The Ring-necked Parakeet left me with a bit of a quandrary. Could I count it as my 150th species for Dundee this year, or not? At home I checked the 'missing pets' pages on Facebook. There was a bird which had escaped in Kirriemuir in the past week, but it was a male (I think mine was a female) and a report of another bird seen in Monifieth before the Kirriemuir bird had escaped. The comments on this Monifieth bird were rather interesting with mention of 'wild birds' being regular in Barnhill and also at Gardyne College. I knew of there being at least 3 or 4 Parakeets there sometime prior to 2020 but I was unaware there were still Parakeets there. Given the direction of travel of mine, and the short distance in a straight line (roughly 0.5 mile) to the college grounds, it seemed most likely that it was one of the 'wild' birds from there after all. Given the lack of any other obvious recent escapees too, I decided that I would count the bird after all, but I would try to add another species before the year-end so that even without it on the list I will have managed to find 150 species from within Dundee. So, I've reached my target figure....but I'm still trying to get at least one more species too.
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| Redwing |
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| Ring-necked Parakeet |
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| Ring-necked Parakeet |
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| Ring-necked Parakeet |
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| Ring-necked Parakeet |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Grey Seal |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Curlew |
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| Turnstone |
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| Dunlin |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Ringed Plover & Dunlin |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Common Gull & Black-headed Gull |
Birds - Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion
Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunlin,
Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed
Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring
Gull, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Knot, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard,
Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied
Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Razorbill, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver, Redshank, Redwing, Ring-necked Parakeet, Ringed Plover,
Robin,
Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Turnstone,
Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Rabbit.
