Spring, winter and autumn all rolled into one! Birding in Co. Wexford this Spring

On the 18th of April I decided to spend the day birding at Tacumshin lake, Wexford. A fantastic place to spend your time, and you just never know what you will come across! After crossing the lake I began to scan the small flocks of birds gathering to feed at the east end of the lake. As I walked along the east end I flushed two golden plover, out of the corner of my eye I could see the birds, one appeared very grey and darker lacking as much golden tones and black as the other bird. As the birds flew they called, one sounding like a classic European Golden plover and the other sounding to my ear like that of an American golden! I got the birds in my binoculars and watched them land quite close again, to my great excitement one was indeed an American golden plover!! The other was a European golden. The AGP was a plain and quite bland looking individual leading me to think that it was a first-year (2nd calendar year) plumaged bird. A fantastic start to my days birding at the Mecca that is Tacumshin! I watched the bird for quite a while, obtaining some phonescoped images and footage before they both flew off to the South east end of the lake, the American was calling as it went.

First-summer (2nd calendar year) American golden plover... I then slowly walked towards the sluice area of the lake, and then crossing to the patches. Lots of birds on the patches including a flock of little egret feeding along the reed and grass fringes. One of which feeding among the egrets was the long staying first-year (2nd calendar year) Spoonbill which gave me the opportunity of some excellent views throughout the day. The bird showed quite a grey base to the bill, a good amount of retained immature feathering on the outer wing which was leading me to think that the bird was a first-year rather than a second-year. I also did some research on ageing of spoonbill to be sure I had the ageing correct. I never tire of seeing these magnificent birds as they feed by sweeping their bill from side to side through the water.

First-year (2nd calendar year) Spoonbill... As I walked a little further down towards the forgotten corner I decided to scan through main lake for the diving duck flock. Almost immediately I noticed a smallish diving duck with quite a peaked head, it could be could it! And after around 3 plus hours I nailed the bird in flight, it was in fact a female Lesser scaup!! This was the first record for Tacumshin, amazingly a species that had not been found here before! The bird kept close company with the tufted duck and didn’t interact much with the greater scaup present. A female long-tailed duck also among the mixed flock. Thankfully the lesser scaup hung around for a few days allowing many to connect with the bird. I saw the bird again on the 20th of April.

Two back of the camera images of the female Lesser Scaup in flight. Showing the key feature wing pattern of white across the secondaries with a sharp, transition to grey across the primaries.

Some more images of the female Lesser scaup. These images show the general shape of the bird, including the head and body size and shape among the tufted and greater scaup flock. A bird that I am glad I spent so much time on trying to make sure of its identification! The second lesser scaup I have now found in Co. Wexford after a first-winter male in October 2023, at Cahore marsh!!! Only 3 (possibly 2) county records of this species to date. While watching the lesser scaup I picked up a summer plumaged Long-billed dowitcher flying high overhead with black-tailed godiwt and redshank! Long-billed dowitcher 6th bird in from the left (snipe like shape)...

On the 20th I also connected with the purple heron at Tacumshin, oh and 3 short-eared owl and a stunning breeding plumaged male ruff! A magical few days of birding!!