Pacific Diver

News arrived on twitter and on irishbirding.com the weekend before last of a real MEGA bird for these shores, a Pacific Diver had been found and confirmed on Lough Fea in Co. Tyrone of all places.  To put this bird in context, the only other confirmed sightings in Ireland were of a bird which was sighted early in 2010 in Galway, and the same bird is thought to have spent some time further South in Co Clare for the next few months.  The Tyrone bird is the only other confirmed and photographed record for the country and one of less than 20 ever if you include our neighbours in the UK.  All this adds up to a MEGA bird for these shores, and although its only January, the best bird for Ireland in the year so far.

So news filtered in late on Sunday and all thoughts turned to Tuesday and would the bird hang around long enough for me to make the trip as Monday was out due to previous commitments.  As luck would have it the news on Monday was good, the bird was still present and showing well.  Tuesday arrived and brought a downpour with it.  The rain never gave up for the entire 2 hour drive and only got worse the closer to Lough Fea I got.

I arrived early enough and within about 30 seconds I had the bird.  It was hard to miss even in the rain.  It was quite literally the only bird on the entire Lough, not so much as a feather to be seen anywhere else.  Incidentally, Tuesday was about the only day last week where the rain was so heavy and the light so poor, you can see how overcast it was as the shots I got are not the brightest I've ever taken, but hey most importantly I got the bird and that was the whole purpose of the day.

There were about six other birders on the Lough and many more have made the trip since.  The bird was on show again today and it's heading for two weeks since it was first discovered so who knows just how long it'll hang around.  It's really not in its natural environment, so far inland on a fairly small Lough, but the fact its hung around this long suggests it must be happy enough and have plenty to eat.

I stayed 'till about 1300hrs and headed back South, stopping off in at Giles Quay in Louth were I had a small flock of Twite on the beach and a single Red-Throated Diver just off shore.  From there I continued to head South to Clogher Head and into Port Oriel were I got a brief view of a 1st Winter Glaucous Gull that had been sighted there the previous week, all too brief in fact as I didn't have time to get the camera out!!

That was the last stop of the day before I headed for Ashbourne happy that I'd life ticked the first real MEGA of 2014.