Click on any of the main images for a closer view

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Black-throated Diver and Iceland Gull

Black-throated Diver, Ballinskelligs, 5th March 2024 (David O'Connor).
Black-throated Diver, Ballinskelligs, 5th March 2024 (David O'Connor).
Iceland Gull, Reenard, 5th March 2024 (David O'Connor).

Thursday 18 January 2024

Now 3 Waxwings at Derrymore East

 

Waxwing, Derrymore East, 18th January 2024 (Cait O'Neill).

Waxwing, Derrymore East, 18th January 2024 (Cait O'Neill).
The 'flock' of Waxwings at Derrymore East has grown by one today...

Wednesday 17 January 2024

Male White-winged (and Surf and Velvet) Scoter at Inch

(You can click the bottom right icon of the video to see it full-screen)

Male White-winged Scoter, Inch, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

Male White-winged Scoter with 2 immature/female Velvet Scoters, Inch, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

Male White-winged Scoter with 2 immature/female Velvet Scoters, Inch, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

Male White-winged Scoter, Inch, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

 
  Male and female Surf Scoters, Inch, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

2 Waxwings at Derrymore East

 

Waxwing, Derrymore East, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

Waxwings, Derrymore East, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

Waxwing, Derrymore East, 17th January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).

Wednesday 3 January 2024

Up close with a Great Northern Diver

 One, sometimes two, Great Northern Divers have been sheltering from the almost constant atrocious weather on the freshwater canal by Blennerville Bridge, Tralee, since before Christmas. Still there today.

Juvenile Great Northern Diver, Blennerville, 3rd January 2024 (Michael O'Clery).


Friday 1 December 2023

Scoter-tastic day

There were four species of Scoter available to see in Kerry today, the male White-winged Scoter seen again off Kilcummin, with three Velvet Scoters there too, along with another five at Inch beach. In addition, a male and female Surf Scoter were also close inshore at Inch beach this morning. Numbers of Common Scoter in Kerry are impressive this winter after a couple of lean winters, with perhaps 1500 now in Brandon Bay, and another 2000 off Inch, unfortunately often very far off Inch. As well as those two main flocks, there are higher than usual numbers accumulating in the Sandy Bay / Rough Point area this winter, with about 300 present today.

Velvet Scoters, Inch, 1st December 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Velvet Scoters, Inch, 1st December 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Velvet Scoters, Inch, 1st December 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Male and female Surf Scoters, Inch, 1st December 2023 (Michael O'Clery).
Throughout the eastern end of Dingle Bay today there were thousands of birds, actively feeding on some unseen fish, while a hundred or more Common Dolphins, 3 or more Minke Whales and 30 or so Bottlenose Dolphins (and several trawlers) ploughed through the 'bait balls'. 

Bird totals included 2 Surf Scoter (adult male and female), 5 Velvet Scoter (one adult male, 4 female/immature), along with 1500 Common Scoter, 1 Little Auk, some 3000+ Razorbills and 500 Guillemots. Another extraordinary count was of a minimum of 450 Red-throated Divers, surely one of the largest counts ever made in Ireland? By contrast, there was 'only' 60 Great Northern Divers and strangely, not even a sniff of a Black-throated Diver. They really are rare in Kerry. Some 3000 gulls were chasing the fish right across the bay, mostly Herring and Common Gulls, but nothing rare could be found in amongst those, not even a Mediterranean Gull. Kittiwakes were perhaps noticeable by their absence. 1 Slavonian Grebe and 1 Great Crested Grebe (pretty rare in this part of Kerry) were also off the main beach at Inch.

Red-throated Divers, Inch, 1st December 2023 (Michael O'Clery). There were small groups of Red-throated Diver scattered throughout the Bay, and for many kilometres offshore and, every now and then, groups would arrive and plunge straight into a melee of gulls, auks and Gannets, chasing whatever fish shoals were gathering in the bay. Unusual behaviour.

Mixed flock, chasing 'bait balls', Inch, 1st December 2023 (Michael O'Clery). Numerous gulls, Gannet, auks, shags and Cormorants were all piling in as soon as  a 'bait ball' appeared, though these often only lasted a couple of minutes. Birds would then disperse, and the process would be repeated nearby.

Wednesday 29 November 2023

Glaucous Gull at Kilcummin

 Possibly the same bird as seen on nearby Lough Gill two days ago. There's a dead Common Dolphin on the beach at Kilcummin, which might well be the object of interest for this big bruiser of a gull.

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Kilcummin, Brandon Bay, 29th November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Kilcummin, Brandon Bay, 29th November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

First-winter Glaucous Gull, Kilcummin, Brandon Bay, 29th November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).


Tuesday 21 November 2023

Spoonbill, Long-tailed Duck and Eider

 Although seemingly absent last winter, it seems our longest staying/ returning rarity has made it back once more!

Adult Spoonbill, Cromane, 21st November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Adult Spoonbill, Cromane, 21st November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Juvenile Long-tailed Duck, Cromane, 21st November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Juvenile Eider, Scraggane, near Castlegregory, 21st November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Juvenile Eider, Scraggane, near Castlegregory, 21st November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Juvenile Eider, Scraggane, near Castlegregory, 21st November 2023 (Michael O'Clery).

Monday 6 November 2023

Sinensis Cormorant at Black Rock

 

Sinensis Cormorant, Black Rock, 2nd November 2023 (David O'Connor).

Sinensis Cormorant, Black Rock, 2nd November 2023 (David O'Connor).

Thursday 26 October 2023

American White-winged Scoter - First Kerry record

 A male American White-winged Scoter in Brandon Bay was finally identified from digiscoped video taken over the past couple of days. Although the video quality is pretty poor, there is enough detail visible to be sure of the identity, and eliminate the similar Stejneger's Scoter. In particular, the head shape, with a blocky, rectangular head, and thick neck (when head was retracted, which was pretty much all the time) far more reminiscent of Surf Scoter than Velvet Scoter at first. The rather angular head looked quite different to the typical more rounded Velvet Scoter 'ski-slope' front head profile. The 'bump' on the forehead was also just discernible on video, and in life.

American White-winged Scoter, Brandon Bay, 25th October 2023 (Michael O'Clery).
In addition, the white patch behind the eye, in the telescope at least, had the distinctive 'uptick' shape, and in bright sunshine, the whole flank area was obviously a rich, dark chestnut colour, rather than the black of a male Velvet Scoter, or Stejneger's.

American White-winged Scoter, Brandon Bay, 25th October 2023 (Michael O'Clery).
Sheer distance makes this bird a particularly difficult one to see. For anyone hoping to see it, best to avoid days with much swell or wind. The bird has consistently been seen offshore from Kilcummin beach in Brandon Bay - looking out to sea, left of the offshore islands - and from there, there are unfortunately no convenient sand dunes to get a bit of height to scan the sea, just an earth bank which only provides a couple of metres height. On days with swell, the scoter flocks are out of view for much of the time in the wave troughs. To add to the difficulty, there are now about 2000 Common Scoter to sort through (and a female or immature Surf Scoter). Another annoyance is the presence of windsurfers on any days with a good breeze, as their high speed antics can flush the scoter flocks and drive them further out. Nevertheless, as the last few days have shown, on the right day, the bird can be close enough to see reasonably well.

American White-winged Scoter, Brandon Bay, 25th October 2023 (Michael O'Clery).
It is possible this bird has been present since 11th July, when I first suspected a White-winged Scoter might be with the 200 or so Common Scoter, but sheer distance then precluded any chance of a successful identification. I saw the 'white-winged' Velvet Scoter-type perhaps 6 or 7 times in the following month, but always at ridiculous ranges of 2km or more.

This is the first record for Kerry, and only the second for Ireland.

Many thanks to Eric Dempsey and Killian Mullarney for help with ID and helpful comments on the video clips.

(There is video available of the bird if anyone would like it, but the file size is close to 700Mb, in order to retain the detail from the original digi-scoped clips. If you's like to see it, send me your email to michaeloclery@gmail dot com and I'll send you a WeTransfer download link).