Nearctic Waders @ Bridges of Ross 10th Sept 2012

Time: 06:50-08:35 & 16:20-19:10

Weather: F4 N, overcast, persistent rain, poor vis at times (am). F1 later F3, excellent vis, warm & light showers sunny (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, Noel Keogh, Joe Adamson, Kris de Rouck & Wout de Rouck.

Sooty Shearwater: 41

Manx Shearwater: 240

Fulmar: 220+

Storm Petrel: 1

Leach’s Petrel: 3

Common Scoter: 1 female

Red-throated Diver: 2 summer plumage

Great Skua (Bonxie): 14

Arctic Skua: 3

Sabine’s Gull: 1 juv.

Kittiwake: 50 incl. 12 juvs.

Arctic Tern: 2

Sandwich Tern: 34

Guillemot/Razorbill: 415

Puffin: 1

Chough: 2

American Golden Plover: 1 adult/2^nd cal-year+ type

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: 1 flyover

Bottlenose Dolphin: c.12 heading West in the evening.

American Mink: 3 between the car park & the watch point at 06:40am.

Northerly winds & persistent rain made for a miserable mornings seawatch. The lack of birds didn’t help either! Noel rather wisely decided to go look for waders down near The Bridges pool and he was duly rewarded by finding a moulting adult/2^nd cal-year+ type American Golden Plover on the intertidal rocks at 08:35am! Those of us still seawatching in ‘The Hollow’ quickly abandoned our post and made it down in time to watch this bird for a few minutes before it took off at 08:48am, calling loudly and heading in a South Easterly direction. We decided then to go check out the local wader sites to see if anything else had come in. Before we could even get back to the car, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper flew over us at 09:05am, heading East! The same bird as last week or fresh in?

Continuing with the Nearctic theme, three Mink were seen running across the path by the blowhole early this morning as we made our way onto the headland. A less welcome component of the American fauna in this part of the world.

American Golden Plover © Niall Keogh

Seatrack Update: mid Sept 2012

This coming weekend (Sat 15^th/Sun 16^th Sept) sees the fifth Seatrack survey of the season taking place, with a start time of 08:00am. If you would like to take part then get in touch with Niall Keogh at seatrack@birdwatchireland.ie for details.

The previous early September survey revealed the beginnings of both diver & tern migration along with a good passage of Sooty Shearwaters. Small numbers of Great Northern & Red-throated Divers were reported right around the coast along with the second project record of Black-throated Diver which was seen passing Annagh Head. Furthermore, six species of tern were recorded, most notably 10 Black Terns from Carnsore Point and vast numbers of Sterna terns off Clogher Head.

Weather patterns over the next few days are likely to suit Atlantic coasts best as strong SW, W & NW winds prevail, calming for the weekend with SE winds predominating along the South coast on Sunday.

Best of luck to all this weekend,

Niall Keogh

Seatrack co-ordinator 

Some early September Seatrack sightings as follows: (E = East, W = West, S = South, N = North & M = Milling)

Saturday 1st September 2012

Bloody Foreland, Co. Donegal (Ralph Sheppard & Chris Ingram)
6 S & 6 N Manx Shearwater, 5 S Sooty Shearwater, 1 S Common Scoter, 1 S Great Northern Diver, 2 S Red-throated Diver, 1 S Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 N Skua sp (Arctic/Long-tailed), 1 S Black Guillemot, 12 S Whimbrel & 12 S Bottlenose Dolphin.

Annagh Head, Co. Mayo (Dave Suddaby)
1 S Balearic Shearwater, 12 S Sooty Shearwater, 2 S Great Northern Diver, 1 S summer plumaged Black-throated Diver, 5 S Great Skua (Bonxie) & 4 S Arctic Skua.

Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare (Niall T. Keogh)
1,056 W Manx Shearwater, 113 W Sooty Shearwater, 300 W Fulmar, 26 W Storm Petrel, 2 W Common Scoter, 6 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Pomarine Skua, 1 W Arctic Skua, 3 W juv. Sabine’s Gull, 7 W Puffin & 1 Lapland Bunting.

Galley Head, Co. Cork (Colin Barton)
711 W Manx Shearwater, 5 W Sooty Shearwater, 1 W ‘Blue’ Fulmar, 5 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Pomarine Skua, 2 W Arctic Skua, 562 Auk sp (Guillemot/Razorbill) & 32 W Puffin.

Ram Head, Co. Waterford (Andrew Malcolm)
94 W Manx Shearwater, 1 W Arctic Skua & 36 W Sandwich Tern.

Brownstown Head, Co. Waterford (Paul M. Walsh & Jonathan Bulfin)
6 E & 45 W Manx Shearwater, 6 E Common Scoter, 2 E Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Arctic Skua, 2 E & 24 W Sandwich Tern & 8 W 'Commic' Tern.

Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Kieran Grace)
340 E & 285 W Manx Shearwater, 1 W Red-throated Diver, 1 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 E Arctic Skua, 4 W & 1 M Black Tern, c.150 M Roseate Tern, c.20 W & C.200 M ‘Commic’ Tern & 3 W Whimbrel.

Wicklow Head, Co. Wicklow (Steve Newton)
80 N Manx Shearwater, 8 N & 8 S Common Scoter, 3 S Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 S Arctic Skua & 56 S Sandwich Tern.

Coliemore Harbour, Dalkey, Co. Dublin (Brian Porter & Katherine Keogan)
2 S Manx Shearwater, 1 N & 1 S Great Northern Diver, 2 N Light-bellied Brent Goose & 4 M Harbour Porpoise.

Clogher Head, Co. Louth (Brendan Sheils & Ger Murray)
500+ S Manx Shearwater, 10 S & 19 M Common Scoter, 1 S Great Northern Diver, 1 N Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 N & 3 S Arctic Skua, 2 N Little Tern, 32 N & 5 S Sandwich Tern, 1 N Roseate Tern, 84 S Common Tern, c.500 M Arctic Tern, 100+ S ‘Commic’ Tern, 1 N Black Guillemot, 2 S Puffin, 8 S Light-bellied Brent Goose & 5 M Harbour Porpoise.

Sunday 2nd September 2012

Bridges of Ross, Co. Clare (Niall T. Keogh, Chris Jones & Rob Innes)

3 W Balearic Shearwater, 627 W Sooty Shearwater, 1 W Leach’s Petrel, c.30 W Storm Petrel, 18 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 1 W Pomarine Skua, 7 W Arctic Skua, 109 W Sandwich Tern & 7 W Puffin.

Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford (Noel Keogh & Brian Porter)
1,370 W Manx Shearwater, 2 W Great Skua (Bonxie), 2 W Arctic Skua, 1 W juv. Long-tailed Skua & 10 W Black Tern.

Clogher Head, Co. Louth (Brendan Sheils)
4 S Balearic Shearwater, 5,000+ S Manx Shearwater, 1 S Sooty Shearwater, 1,500+ S Gannet, 1 N Arctic Skua, 10 S Skua sp. (prob. Arctic), 29 S Sandwich Tern, 1,000+ S Common Tern, c.200 S Arctic Tern & 3 M Bottlenose Dolphin. 

Bridges of Ross 9th Sept 2012

Time: 07:20-09:00 & 16:40-19:45

Weather: F2-3 S-SW, overcast, mist & rain, poor vis (am). F3-4 W-SW, sunny, dry & clear (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, Noel Keogh, Kris de Rouck & Wout de Rouck.

Balearic Shearwater: 1

Sooty Shearwater: 136

Manx Shearwater: 233 (pm)

Storm Petrel: 14

Leach’s Petrel: 3

Light-bellied Brent Goose: 4

Red-throated Diver: 2 summer plumage

Great Skua (Bonxie): 16

Pomarine Skua: 1

Arctic Skua: 3

Arctic Tern: 7

Whimbrel: 31

Bar-tailed Godwit: 8

Dunlin: 14

Ocean Sunfish: 1

Absolutely dead this morning but picked up nicely in the late afternoon. As seems to be the case this year, low numbers of Manx but a good spread of other species. Lovely views of the Sooties in particular today, some in excellent light.

Bridges of Ross 8th Sept 2012

Time: 07:15-10:25 & 12:00-18:35

Weather: F2-3 SW, overcast, bright, clear & dry (am). F2-3 W, sunny, dry, hazy & warm (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, John ‘Brick’ Dempsey, ‘Er’ Neill Hunt, Barry ‘Bazzo’ McCarthy, Paul ‘Tropical’ Thomason, Noel Keogh & Joe Adamson.

Balearic Shearwater: 2

Sooty Shearwater: 59

Manx Shearwater: c.240

Fulmar: 350+

Storm Petrel: 3

Leach’s Petrel: 6

Red-throated Diver: 6 summer plumage

Great Skua (Bonxie): 17

Pomarine Skua: 1 pale subadult

Arctic Skua: 6

Kittiwake: c.140

Arctic Tern: 2

Sandwich Tern: 67

Puffin: 4

Black Guillemot: 2

Teal: 8
Common Gull: 8 juv./1^st-w
Chough: 10
Merlin: 1
Peregrine: 1

Bottlenose Dolphin: c.8 present throughout the day, showing very well.
Ocean Sunfish: 3

On such a calm, warm & hazy afternoon, it felt like we were in with a chance of a Cory’s. Instead we got a most unexpected run of Leach’s Petrels! Weird.

A trip up to the Fodry this afternoon in search of American waders proved fruitless on that front but a flyover, calling Lapland Bunting and a juv. Sabine's Gull following a trawler offshore made it all worthwhile.

Bottlenose Dolphin (video grab) © Niall Keogh

Bridges of Ross 7th Sept 2012

Time: 07:30-10:30 & 12:00-19:00

Weather: F2-3 W-SW later F3 W, sea mist at first then clear, bright & dry (am). F2-3 W, sunny, dry & good vis (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, John ‘Brick’ Dempsey, ‘Er’ Neill Hunt, Barry ‘Bazzo’ McCarthy & Paul ‘Tropical’ Thomason.

Balearic Shearwater: 1

Sooty Shearwater: 114

Manx Shearwater: 322 (am)

Fulmar: 97 (am)

Storm Petrel: 1

Leach’s Petrel: 2

Common Scoter: 2 (male & female)

Light-bellied Brent Goose: 26

Red-throated Diver: 4 summer plumage

Great Skua (Bonxie): 16

Pomarine Skua: 1 dark subadult

Arctic Skua: 4

Sabine’s Gull: 1 juv.

Kittiwake: 55 incl. 32 juvs.

Arctic Tern: 7

Sandwich Tern: 74

Puffin: 1

Knot: 1

Chough: 2

Merlin: 1

Common Dolphin: up to 25 in the morning.
Bottlenose Dolphin: 5+ in the afternoon.

A nice spread of species today but painfully slow passage wise this afternoon. Good rush of Sooties in the first hour and a few bits of interest (close juv Sab’s in particular) in the eve.

Bonxie © Niall Keogh

Comfort is a high priority on the headland! © Niall Keogh

Cutting edge birding as ever from John  © Niall Keogh

Seatrack volunteer, Andrew Malcolm was down at his local watch site at Ram Head in Co. Waterford this afternoon. Very little seabird or cetacean action but he did have a nice Osprey fly over!

Osprey  © Andrew Malcolm

First Grey Phals @ Bridges of Ross 6th Sept 2012

Time: 07:00-16:50

Weather: F3-4 SW, clear, bright, dry & cool (am). F4-5 SW, sunny, dry, hazy & warm (pm).

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh, John ‘Brick’ Dempsey, ‘er’ Neill Hunt, Barry ‘Bazzo’ McCarthy & Paul ‘Tropical’ Thomason.

Balearic Shearwater: 2

Sooty Shearwater: 82

Manx Shearwater: c.400

Fulmar: c.500

Storm Petrel: 2

Common Scoter: 7 males

Red-breasted Merganser: 4

Light-bellied Brent Goose: 10

Red-throated Diver: 2 summer plumage

Grey Phalarope: 4

Great Skua (Bonxie): 12

Pomarine Skua: 2 pale adults

Arctic Skua: 8

Sabine’s Gull: 2 adults & 1 juv.

Kittiwake: 53 incl. 28 juvs.

Common Gull: 4 juv./1st-w

Black Tern: 2

Arctic Tern: 35

Sandwich Tern: 9

Puffin: 1

Whimbrel: 14

Dunlin: 4

Sanderling: 14

Greenshank: 1

Chough: 2

Merlin: 1

Kestrel: 1

Common Dolphin: 2+ in the morning.

Bottlenose Dolphin: 7 in the afternoon.

Slow passage but a nice variety of scarce species today (Pom, Balearic, Sab's, Black Tern etc). The Grey Phalaropes were the long awaited first of the season (first sightings in 2011 were as early as 24th August).

Grey Phalarope © Jerry Cassidy

Bridges of Ross 5th Sept 2012

Time: 07:00-10:00
Weather: F2-3 N-NE, sunny, dry, spray (am)

Observer(s): Niall T. Keogh

Great Shearwater: 1 @ 07:18 (a nice surprise given the weather!)

Sooty Shearwater: 56

Manx Shearwater: 118

Fulmar: 144

Common Scoter: 2 males

Great Skua (Bonxie): 5

Arctic Skua: 3

Kittiwake: 13 incl. 3 juvs.

Chough: 38 flew West towards Loop Head (high site count)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: 1 juvenile still present, near the pool.

Clare birder, John Murphy, who should otherwise be seawatching from The Bridges has been at Kilcummin Head, Co. Mayo & reports the following there this eve (17:30-18:30 F3 W-NW): 10 Sooty Shears, 150 Manxies, 5 Bonxies, 7 Arctic Skuas, 1 Red-throated Diver, 26 Sandwich Terns, 3 Arctic Terns, 200 Gannets & 5 Turnstones.

Dawn at The Bridges of Ross © Niall Keogh

Juv. Buff-breasted Sandpiper, showing well today © Niall Keogh

Bridges of Ross pool, where the Buff-B is hanging out. Mega piece of vagrant habitat! © Niall Keogh