Ring-necked Duck

A rare visitor from North America, the Ring-necked Duck can be found on freshwater lakes and ponds often associating with the very similar looking Tufted Duck.  You can check out my previous post on Tufted Ducks for comparison, it was published in March 2014.

This particular bird was found on the UCD campus and hung around for quite some time (not sure if it's still present).  This bird is a male,  typical of most duck species the female would be an altogether browner looking quite dull bird and not so photogenic

Herring Gull

The Herring Gull is a common resident breeding bird in Ireland.  It can be found almost anywhere there is food to be scavenged, be that in ports like Howth where the following shots were taken yesterday, or further inland living off the waste that humans provide in landfill sites and on the general litter and waste that is to be found just about anywhere humans inhabit.

The Herring Gull is a particularly striking bird, the first thing you notice is the sheer size of the bird, they grow to be very large adults, sitting somewhere between the GBB Gull and the LBB Gull in size.  Luckily there are an abundance of them in and around the Dublin coast so I was able to get some different age groups for comparison.

adult Herring Gull

1st Winter Herring Gull

adult Herring Gull

Osprey

This Osprey was spotted on Pollaphuca reservoir a couple of weeks ago and hung around for over a week, a long stay in one location by Irish standards.  The usual handful of sightings each year usually tend to be birds that don't hang around for more than a couple of days.

I've chased Ospreys over the years and they usually aren't as obliging as this one was, in fact I've definitely missed more than I've seen.  I visited this bird over two days, the second day was in fact the last day it was reported at the reservoir.

Breakfast is served

Bird Atlas 2007 - 2011

Well in the end after almost 10 years from planning to publication the Bird Atlas 2007 - 2011 is in print.  I got my copy in December 2013 and the first thing I noticed was that this is a book of proportions befitting the effort that went into producing it. It's large, it's heavy and comes in at over 700 pages.  I suppose it was never going to be any different really,  it contains the results from over 19 million individual records provided by thousands of volunteers over a four year period for both breeding and winter seasons.

The Barn Owl entry - my very own records are on there

I spent hundreds of hours over those four years rambling up and over the lanes and fields of Co Meath, listening, looking, recording.  At times it was hard, I missed out on so much that was happening around the country because of Atlas commitments.  So many great birds I just never made it to, but there's no regrets, none at all, not when you have in your possession a scientific work as substantial as this to which you contributed even a small part and you see your own name in print and attached to it.

A page from my Winter 2008 records for South  Ashbourne

This Atlas will help shape and direct Bird Conservation throughout Ireland and Britain for the next 10 years and beyond that's how important it is.  I've spent a whole lot of time over the last year and some months reading, researching and just being consumed by the facts, figures and encyclopedic knowledge contained within its pages.

Another White-tailed Sea Eagle poisoned

I've written about atrocities such as these previously on this blog.  This is only the most recent in an ever increasing number of mindless, incomprehensible acts of barbarity carried out against Ireland's birds of prey in recent years.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/eagle-that-was-about-to-lay-eggs-poisoned-in-connemara-1.2179652

Until there is proper, robust legislation to protect our wildlife the perpetrators of these crimes will continue to carry them out safe in the knowledge that in the remote chance that they'll actually get caught the punishment isn't any sort of a deterrent.

Wren

They may be one of the smallest birds we have, but that dosen't stop them making a lot of noise.  This little beauty was in full April voice in front of my house on Saturday morning, what a little belter!

Twite

Twite are an uncommon resident species, best seen in Winter in coastal fields and along the shoreline.  Gyles Quay in Co Louth has in recent years been as good a place as any to catch these small finches, they've appeared there over the last few Winters in small flocks on and off.

A flock of upwards forty birds was back at Gyles Quay in recent weeks and below are a few shots I took on a recent trip along the Louth coast.