Subtle 2cy dark-bellied brent

 While working on Sandymount strand this morning I came across a flock of 20 brent geese feeding close to the dune pool at Merrion gates. One of these birds was definitely standing out from the 19 pale-bellied even at a distance in the heat haze. It looked like a dark-bellied brent. As I began to move closer to the flock I could then see with my naked eye that this bird was quite stand out, definitely not a pale-bellied from what I could see so far. As I got closer to the bird and set up the scope it was no more than 20 feet away. Giving point blank views. This was a stunning but subtle 2nd calendar year dark-bellied brent. Over the past few weeks there seems to have been an influx of dark-bellys mixing with the pale-bellied along the east coast of Ireland. Jan Rod has been finding most of them and Brian Mccloskey had quite a nice count at Lurgangreen over the past month. Usually we tend to see dark-bellied brent from March into early April in good numbers, but usually just the occasional bird with a flock of pale-bellied at the usual sites. I have not seen an influx like this before really.

Many of the birds that have been found recently are 2nd calendar years. Many of which are sutble in plumage, though still eye-catching enough and showing enough classic features to be identified as dark-bellied. This particular individual was quite interesting when the light began to change. From strong sunlight to dull the birds appearance would change quite drastically. This is to be expected with most birds, but especially when dealing with brent. I was ways quite used to seeing adult dark-bellied at Kilcoole when the large flocks of up to 1000 pale-bellied would begin to gather at Kilcoole marsh in March and April with the occasional 2nd calendar year thrown in over the years. Though over the past few years I have become a lot more aware of immature birds with varying plumages as I have with adults just like the adult I had that was ringed a Presumed hybrid dark x pale-bellied that I saw at Kilcoole earlier this winter. Though I do think that bird was probably still well within range for a pure dark-bellied with white flanks. Who knows what goes on with the Hybridization in remote breeding colonies though! 

The key features that make this bird a dark-bellied include: greyish/brown upper parts with a blueish tinge, brown washed flanks and breast, light chocolate brown under belly and a nice collar that perhaps indicates that this is a young male. Most dark-bellied brent of this age that I am used to seeing in Ireland are far darker on the under parts. Though with the variation within all brent races this is something we should come to expect. It seems that more and more people are taking in the different plumage types of Brent these days and this is leading to more expensive plumages of dark-bellied, black brant and the possible subspecies of the 'Grey-bellied brant'. Always a lot to learn about brent races. Luckily enough they will have departed quite soon to breeding grounds in Arctic Canada and Siberia for the dark-bellied so you guys won't have to read anymore about brent geese 🤔😅

A lot more to be discovered next autumn when the brent arrive back again. And I look forward to seeing what we can find. Hopefully a few black brant which always seen to elude me!

A set of phonescoped image's can be found below. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me which is quite typical considering how close the bird was showing! But there's always next time ⌚📷

2cy Dark-bellied brent (left) adult pale-bellied (right)

#springbirding #Dublinbirding #brent #geese #wildfowl #Vikingoptical #BirdGuides 

Spring gulling in Wicklow

 For many years I have been watching a small estuary in Wicklow Town. Myself and my father would check this site regularly when we both lived in the county. Nowadays I am lucky to have some work in the area and I can check this beautiful place regularly each month. This is Wicklow's only 'large' estuary bar the small tidal lagoon known as the breaches at Kilcoole marsh further north which is also part of the Murrough wetlands.

Broad lough is well known for it's gull flocks, though these flocks rarely produce any rare or scarce gulls. Over my years of birding here the rarest gull I have seen there to date is most likely Iceland which tells you about all you need to know. Though it seems like an ideal site for species such as, Bonaparte's, laughing, Franklin's and Caspian. I'm sure these species have showed up there on occasions as it is a rather underwatched location. The rarest bird apart from gulls I have seen there would be a stunning adult female red-necked phalarope myself and my father found back in June 2015 which was a lifer for both of us and a brilliant finds tick!

I love sifting through the gull flocks here as you just never know what you might stumble upon! The joys of birding. Each August an adult yellow-legged gull returns and stays right through into November at least. This is a rare occasion of a yellow-legged gull returning to the same site year on year. This bird is now returning since August 2015. I first saw the bird that same month at the same location and began to see it ever time I visited the site for a few months. The bird then seems to depart around mid November. Occasionally the odd Yellow-legged gull will drop into the lough for a while and have a wash. I've seen birds from 2nd calendar year right up to adult at this site. No Caspians just yet!

The main gull species at this estuary are common species as you would expect. Herring, great black-backed, black-headed and common gulls. Lesser black-backed gulls also pass though mainly in spring as they migrate to breeding grounds. Any time lesser black-backed gulls pass though a site I get quite excited, as they are notorius for being a species that attracts rarer species such as Yellow-legged and Caspian. I have been lucky to see at least three different adult intermiduis type lesser black-backed gulls here over the years. All three being strikingly dark and long winged, though not fitting the bill for the far rarer Baltic race!

Today (20 April) I was delighted to pick up a dark lesser black-backed in my binoculars as I scanned the gull flock at the south end of the estuary. While setting up the scope on it the flock had moved around slightly. I refound the bird and it was a striking Intermedius type. Dark upper parts (slightly lighter than nearby Great Black-backed) but far darker than any of the other 11 greallsii that where also in the roost. One of which was strikingly pale, a 3rd calendar year type bird which I will attach some photos of below. I managed to document the Intermedius type quite well by phinescoping as I had no camera (typically).

After being at the site for a couple of hours and enjoying studying the Intermedius type I lifted my head from the scope to see a bleached almost pure white 2nd calendar year Iceland gull had popped into the roost also! Bingo, just my second ever record for here. I had also seen a 2nd calendar year at Arklow the week before that had become very faithful to the area. In terms of Wicklow this was a very good day's gulling, it's the little things when your birding these kind of sites! Most of the time you see nothing much at all. A nice flock of dark Arctic type ringed plover with the migrating dunlin where also nice to see. One day I'll find something worth tweeting out as a MEGA there hopefully! 😉

Adult herring gull pair showing fleshy yellow legs (More yellow in real life) I had seen a single adult showing leg colour very similar to these birds at exactly the same spot a couple of years ago. I had seen two adult herring gulls with bright yellow legs like that of a yellow-legged or lesser black-backed at Carne beach a couple of years ago, all of the above being the common breeding race of argenteus. 

Adult/near-adult Intermedius lesser black-backed gull. A striking dark bird, long winged with an unusual primary pattern, mainly mirrors p9 and 10 being so white. A bird I enjoy spending time watching in the field, as they are not recorded very regularly in Ireland, though probably under recorded. 

2nd calendar year Iceland gull in very worn/bleached plumage. Intermedius in the background in the last image. 

Wexford Gull bonanza

                                           Spring birding

                              2cy Caspian gull

 

                       3cy Bonaparte's gull 

For many years I have been extremely caught up on gulls. Myself and my father would spend hours searching through gulls in Wicklow and South Dublin on the weekends when I was off school and he off work. He never really had the same interest in them as me, but never tried to take my very keen interest away. We used to spend are Saturday and Sunday mornings checking Bray Harbour looking for anything out of the ordinary. As a teenager there was just so much variation to take in with all these gulls. Even just looking at a flock of herring gulls was mesmerising, the variation in one species was amazing. So much to learn about these birds that are often regarded as not important or interesting in identification by some! Though, this is far from the case in my opinion. 

Two species that have always caught my attention while viewing them online or in books are the Caspian and Bonaparte's gulls. Both rare species in Ireland, the Caspian has been recorded to a lesser extent in Ireland to date. I was lucky enough to see an adult Caspian gull at Duncannon, Wexford back in 2016. Along with another adult at Kildavin, Carlow back in 2018. I have wanted to find one of these very rare large white headed gulls for many years in Ireland and was delighted when a First-winter (2nd calendar year) bird drifted by me while searching through some herring gulls that were moving south along the Wexford coastline. This was unfortunately only a brief view of a magnificent gull. The bird did not land and just continued south. A very special moment for anyone that is keen on gulls in Ireland to experience. For some reason Ireland seems to be quite a few adult caspian gull records over any other age. Is this due to the lack of knowledge about other ages of this species or are other age groups genuinely rarer? Caspian gulls are a special species of gull, quite a magnetic looking gull in my opinion. And are one that perhaps is going missed in Ireland? Not many Irish birders are quite keen enough on gulls to spend hours and days on end sifting through gull flocks across the country, though this is understable if gulls are not your thing. Though, when the graft is put in by the gullers the twitches are quite happy to tick and run after all your hard work of finding something rare! But that's the way it goes. 

The second gull that has been one that has eluded me for several years is the Bonaparte's gull. A North American species that is closely related to the European Black-headed gull. Over the years I had tried to twitch several of these rare altantic vagrants to no avail. But a 2nd winter bird found by Killian Mullarney in Wexford harbour in March would change this! Myself and John Murphy decided to check the south slob and Wexford harbour for any potential vagrants. After hopping up onto the sea wall to check Wexford harbour we were greeted with a large feeding frenzy of black-headed gulls. It was a low tide, the lowest I've ever seen in the harbour. Leaving a vast area of exposed mud for birds to feed on. As I lifted my eye from the scope I spotted a smaller gull amongst the close black-headed flock, not quite as small as a little but not terribly far off. As I raised my binoculars, the bird flew. Showing a stunning pristine white underwing, this could mean only one thing especially going on the size. This was the species I had long been awaiting to see in Ireland. The Bonaparte's gull! I ran down to let John know and then we tried to refind the bird. For about 10 minutes with no joy. After about 15 minutes had passed since seeing the bird I then came across the bird feeding, far more distant at this stage among the black-headed flock. A clear cut 2nd winter Bonaparte's gull! The same individual that had been found a few weeks previously. Delighted to have finally seen the species, my next mission was to find one of my own. And I did so just a couple of days later on my north Wexford patch. After a day of survey work I decided to give the back marsh of Cahore a couple of hours going over. There had been a nice black-headed gull flock there all winter that had attracted in some little gulls on and off over the winter and early spring. So I reckoned something rare could show up with this every changing flock of birds. Luckily that was true! A large flock of black-headed gulls had came in from the south and began to have a wash when they were flushed by a soaring buzzard. They flew over my head, going west, inland! I quickly noticed that one bird showed a very white underwing, it couldn't, surely not. Yes, it was a Bonaparte's gull! Absolutely amazing to see one on my local patch. A dream bird to see there. The bird countied to fly inland with the flock and then began to disappear out of sight. Luckily enough I had managed 

Watch this space for more substantial gull work in the not so distant future! 

#Gulls #Irishbirding #gulling #Vikingoptical #Birdguides