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Pied-Billed Grebe - Blast From The Past Finds

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Pied-Billed Grebe is yet another old school rarity that people dream of finding. When I began birding in the late 90s there had been a long staying individual in Cork harbor for several years, around what had been a grebe hotspot of Rostellan.  It was if no use to me, but it was a bird that I wanted for ages after hearing many stories of it. My first in Ireland was a bird I twitched at Tacumshin, Wexford, which was the first available for some ten years after the disappearance of the Cork bird. But it was to be Cork harbor which would produce one self found bird for me. 11th of December 2010 Over the course of the winter of 2010, Cork harbor was hopping with good birds.  A Surf Scoter was present in the channel off Marloag and it was because of this bird that I picked up a Pacific Diver in the same area a week before. Searching the harbour the preceding weekend to the 11th was proving astoundingly productive.  Starting at Aghada, produced both self found Slavonian Grebes ...
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American Herring Gull - Blast From The Past Finds

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American Herring Gull is another true birder's bird. I wasn't always into large gulls. I hadn't, for example, run and twitched any species of large gull in my days in Ireland, and indeed, the only reason I had seen American Herring Gull at all was seeing the long staying bird at Nimmo's pier whilst going for other, better species. However, as I focused more on more on my own self found list I decided to make more of an effort to pull self found birds out of the pool that is large gulls. I've found a few over the years at this point, so here's a couple of my favorites. Things came to a head when, birding in the dump in Youghal in 2010, I was confronted with a bird that could only be an American Herring Gull .  A 1st Winter bird, with classic tail, rump, undertail covs and underparts, nonetheless, at the time I did not call it. (I count it now). I went away, put the reading and research time in, but in subsequent visits, did not relocate it.  I carried on, worki...
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Autumn 2025 - Latvia and Early Winter

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It wouldn't be Autumn without a yank, and a Pectoral Sandpiper appearing on Laajalahti, one of my regular sites, fit the bill nicely. Pectoral Sandpiper - significantly rarer in Finland than Ireland  With the ski holidays upon us, we decided to do a family trip to Latvia, as a change from Estonia. A child bourne plague descended upon me at the outset of the trip, and I spent the entire drive from Tallinn to Riga shivering and unable to control my body temperature.  The other family members wanted nothing to do with me and my contagion, so I was often dumped on the beach for the first few days. Suits me! The Beaches of Riga bay were beautiful  I spent my time watching Gulls, seeing my first Mediterranean Gull (a first winter) for years, and enjoying Caspian Gulls in far better numbers than Finland. Caspian Gull - First Winter - I think these may be the most beautiful Caspian Gull Photos I have ever taken, of what I must say is a stunning individual. Caspian Gull - 2CY - Th...
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