The Siberian Chiffchaff in Ireland

Cahore marsh bird, 29th December 2020

Cahore marsh, December 29th 2020

When birding local patch in winter I am always on the lookout for chiffchaff. And not to forget listening out for them. Each winter I tend to find several siberian ‘tristis’ chiffers. There are several good wintering sites throughout the marsh for chiffchaff, mainly the common ‘collybita’ chiffchaff which is a common breeding bird in Ireland each year. There is an area of reedbed and scrub at the south end of the marsh that is a favorite for wintering chiffers. This and the long channels which are often filled with tiny flies which the birds are feeding on. Another large private garden at the back marsh also seems to attract lots of goldcrest which often hang around with these wintering chiffers. 

What is a Siberian chiffchaff?

The siberian chiffchaff was once thought to be a very rare vagrant to Ireland, though this has now been proven not to be the case. These small, elegant warblers visit Ireland each year from, yes you guessed it Siberia mainly and are recorded throughout the country on an annual basis. It is not recognised as a full species in Ireland to date and is a subspecies of the common chiffchaff. This will likely change some day, and perhaps sooner than we think. This is a subject I hope to carry out a lot more work on over the next few years. The call is also a very important feature of the identification process of 'tristis' to eliminate the chances of the bird being a pale 'collybita' or abietinus' which I will discuss in another identification post at some stage.

Siberian chiffchaff Cahore marsh, Wexford 29th December 2020 - Cian Cardiff 

This image was taken in strong late

 afternoon sunshine, but still shows the

 key identification features of a ‘tristis’.

 Key features: supercilium standing

 out more than the white eye ring, brownish,

 tobacco coloured ear-coverts, cold white/grey 

wash to the side of the chest, lacking yellow hints

 around the side of the breast and flanks which 

is a feature on most common ‘collybita’ types, cold 

grey/green upperparts. Quite eye catching

 compared to a classic winter common ‘collybita’ chiffchaf

Front on view of the same bird as above.

 This image gives the classic cold looking 

appearance of the grey/greenish crown,

 yellowish supercilium, brown tobacco ear-coverts.

 Dark black legs are also a strong characteristic

 of ‘tristis’ with the other combined features. 

An underwing shot, these little warblers just never stop moving and prove difficult to photograph. 

There's just so much to discover.

#winterbirding #chiffchaffs #warblers #vikingoptical #BirdGuides

Grey-bellied Brant and freind part 2

Grey-bellied Brant part 2.

Kilbogget park, Co.Dublin

On the 27th of December the family of putative grey-bellied brant showed up on the playing pitches of Kilbogget park in south county Dublin. Found by Niall and Noel Keogh, who also found an adult black brant while searching through the pale-bellied flock. This just proves the theory of the brent flocks moving between north Wicklow and south Dublin. Mainly from Kilcoole, Wicklow to Sandymount, Blackrock college and Kilbogget park, Dublin. With a black brant being part of the flock it gives a great idea of the differences in the male grey-bellied type and the black brant. This is a really great opportunity to study the brent/brant complex in the field in Ireland. I hope that this family flock will give some more birders, not only in Ireland but in the UK also to give more thought to the grey-bellied brant as a vagrant during the winter while searching through brent flocks. Though the UK gets prodomitally dark-bellied during the winter. It is still likely the occasion grey-bellied turns up. As can be seen with a presumed returning individual with a pink-footed goose flock in Norfolk. Given that the Irish pale-bellied population is coming from high arctic Canada, and the same for grey-bellied Ireland is the prime country for these geese to spend the winter. 

All of the below images are taken by Stephen King and Niall Keogh on the 27th of December at Kilbogget park, Dublin. These are the best images to be captured of the grey-bellied family to date.

The family unit of grey-bellied types in Kilbogget park, Dublin (Stephen King)

Adult male grey-bellied candidate (Stephen King)

Again a very instructive image. Broad white collar can be seen well from the side, grey stretching from the chest right down to the lower belly, bold grey markings around the flanks. 

Adult male and first-winter grey-bellied types (Stephen King)

Two first-winter and adult female grey-bellied types (Stephen King) 

This is one of the best, and informative images I have seen to date of the female. The grey can be seen very well and clearly here alongside her two young.

Two first-winter, female and male grey-bellied types with pale-bellied brent (Stephen King)

Two first-winter and male grey-bellied types (Stephen King)

An image taken in strong sunlight, which makes the birds appear quite brown on the under and upperparts. Especially the two first-winters. The male still shows the grey/brown wash to the chest, belly and blotchy flank markings.

First-winter and male grey-bellied types (Stephen King)

These images are the same. Just the top picture is edited slightly whereas the bottom is the original. This is a perfect example of how lighting and camera effects can lie and create confusion while trying to get the true colours of a bird. 

Adult black brant with three adult pale-bellied brent (Stephen King) The black brant is a rare subspecies from NW Canada, Alaska and East Siberia, that was once a regular site for Irish birders. But is now quite a rare sight.

This adult black brant is quite an eye-catching bird. Safe to say you wouldn’t need your scope to see this bird while it was feeding on the football pitches of Kilbogget park, Dublin. 

Adult black brant with pale-bellied (Stephen King)

Strong afternoon sunshine on this bird still shows just were this subspecies gets its name from! There is much less contrast between the black neck and chest as it runs down to the vent. White flanks contrasting with the dark brown/black underparts.

Comparison between the black brant (top image) and male grey-bellied brant type (below). The black brant is presumed to be a female due to it lacking a broad white collar. It should, if it were a male show a broad white collar like the grey-bellied type. The upperparts can be seen to be darker on the black brant, as is the breast, belly and vent, with a striking white flank area. The grey-bellied is a duller bird, hence were it gets the name grey-bellied. 

I think the fact that these comparison image and views have been obtained is a huge help to learning more about the grey-bellied brant in Ireland and abroad. I will continue to search for this flock and make some trips to see these birds whenever I can. I would like to thank Niall Keogh and Stephen King for their information and photographs. 

#Wildfowl #Dublin #Wicklow #Winterbirding #Iirshbirding #Vikingoptical #BirdGuides

The Grey-bellied Brant in Ireland part 1.

The Grey-bellied Brant in Ireland

What is a Grey-bellied Brant:

The grey-bellied brant is a brent race (though hybrid has never been fully eliminated) from high Arctic Canada, just like the pale-bellied brent. This race has come to light in recent years on a larger scale, with more and more of these suspected rare vagrants being found in the UK and Ireland each winter. There is still quite little known about this race as a whole. Therefore anytime I get the opportunity to see candidates I make sure to photograph and document them well. 

 For a couple of years I have been fascinated by the brent/brant complex and have written a brief identification guide on the different races that occur in Ireland and the UK. I saw my first grey-bellied candidate at Rogerstown, Co. Dublin that was found by Aidan G.Kelly on the 19th of January 2014. And then found a good candidate at Rosslare back strand with Luke and Sean Gearty on the 4th of January 2019. There was a couple of interesting looking birds with this pale-bellied flock, though unfortunately they were extremely distant.

A very distant image of a potential adult male grey-bellied candidate, Which I now belive appeats to fit a dark-bellied brent better now. Though there was a candidate or two grey-bellied in this flock also, one of which can be seen above the dark-bellied type to thr right. January 4th 1019
This image doesn't show much to go on in terms of features, though it just about shows the bird and what caught the eye on the day.

(Luke Gearty)

Sandymount strand flock, October 29th, 2020

On October the 29th while working on Sandymount strand I came across a large flock of two-hundred plus pale-bellied brent geese that were feeding on an area of seaweed covered rocks that had been swept onto the strand by recent high tides and winds. While scanning through the flock I picked up an adult Dark-bellied brent feeding amongst the pale-bellied flock. As I began to scan the flock again, I came across a very dark brent type. Dark on the upper and underparts (Especially in the first two images as shown below). This mainly being down to the distance and poor lighting while initially photographing the bird/s. After looking at the male for quite some time I then began to scan the flock again and see what else maybe with the pale-bellied. As I saw the male again as it went into a channel out of view, I then spotted two dark juvenile birds (Not as dark as the male) though far darker brown on the underparts than any pale-bellied present. These juvenile birds seemed to be sticking with the male and a female bird that was also in and out of the channels which made viewing difficult. The female bird appeared more like a pale-bellied when I saw it several times briefly. Making me think is this a family flock of hybrid black brant x pale-bellied? Though, when looking at the juveniles I thought these birds are far to pale for any black brant influence. I did not see a third juvenile bird at the time, though it was very likely to have been present and then seen at Kilcoole on the 22nd of December 2020 with its two siblings and both parents. 

Putative Adult male and juvenile/first-winter Grey-bellied brant.
This distant image makes this male look very black brant like, though it is missing that striking broad white collar.

Closer image of the adult male Grey-bellied candidate

Head on view of the adult male grey-bellied candidate

(This closer up image shows the extent of the grey on the males belly and underparts)

(The strong sunlight in this image shows how much a dark, almost black brant like bird can become like a pale-bellied in seconds)

Adult male and Juvenile grey-bellied candidates

Kilcoole family flock of grey-bellied candidates

On the 22nd of December 2020 I received a phone call from Niall Keogh with a query about the grey-bellied candidate family I had found on Sandymount stand back in October. He went on to tell me that he was looking at a male, female and three first-winter candidates in Webb’s field, Kilcoole marsh, Co. Wicklow. I decided to head down after work to see this flock for myself. While on my way, Niall sent me some phone-scoped images and video footage of the family flock. I could see that the adult male appeared to be the same as the bird on Sandymount back in October. Many of my phone-scoped images from Kilcoole are better quality compared to the ones from Sandymount. It is interesting to see how much the juvenile birds have changed since becoming first-winters. They are now quite a bit darker when I first saw them in Co .Dublin back in October.

Adult male:

The adult male is quite a striking individual, though he isn’t the most striking and darkest of the family unit. One of the first-winter birds is darker on both the upper and underparts. This male shows darker upper and underparts than any of the pale-bellied present and appears more like a black brant than a dark-bellied brent at times. Especially given the white flanks mixed with areas of grey markings which stands out to the nacked eye with close views of the flock. The upperparts are quite like a mix of black brant and pale-bellied rather than that chocolate brown/grey hue of the dark-bellied brent. The grey begins on the lower chest/upper belly area and runs down to the vent just like that of a black brant or dark-bellied brent. In good light it is clear to see that the colour is a grey/brown colour rather than a very dark brown/black when seen in poor dull lighting. The collar has become more striking as the winter has progreceed.

The back of the collar doesn’t meet and is very broad at the front and sides, which can be seen well when the bird stretches its neck out.

male, female and two first-winters

Adult Female:

On my first initial poor views of the female I had considered her to be a stronger pale-bellied candidate than a grey-bellied. But, since seeing and photographing her better at Kilcoole on the 24th of December I now believe that she is a strong candidate for a grey-bellied. The female shows upperparts that are more typical of a pale-bellied, perhaps a little darker. There is quite a lot of grey streaking/markings around the flanks also. Which I have often noted on some darker pale-bellied also. Female birds are the more difficult to get to grips with in terms of identification and require quite a lot of time and good photographs to try and get the bird into the grey-bellied candidate category. 

All of the pictures of the female were taken on the 24th of December.

Adult female with a first-winter grey-bellied candidate

female grey-bellied candidate

 

First-winters:

There are three first-winter birds with the adult male and female, the offspring of this pair. Two of the birds are very dark even compared to the male. The third is quite substantially paler though stands out from the crowd of immature pale-bellied present. Two of the dark birds show dark brown/blackish upperparts and underparts just like that of a black brant. The white wing coverts stand out on both of these birds due to how dark they are on the upper and underparts. Both birds show a white area on the flanks, though not as contrasting as that of the adult male. The third first-winter shows a paler grey/brown tone to the upper and underparts. 

Both Dark first-winter grey-bellied candidate

Male, female and three first-winter Grey-bellied brent candidates

Two adult pale-bellied brent for comparison to the adult grey-bellied types

The family of putative grey-bellied and a tag along pale-bellied

I hope to spend more time with this family of potential grey-bellied brants over the next few weeks before they depart for Arctic Canada in Spring.

#Wildfowl #Geese #Brent #Brant #Vikingoptical #BirdGuides #Winterbirding #Wicklow #Dublin