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
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