How To Be A Rarity Finder

A recent statistic popped up in my various social media memories. 

To date I've been birding on 4 continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, and found rare birds on each of them.

Pretty happy with that. 😎

So thought a post on how to go about finding rarities and importantly, how to BE a rarity finder was worth throwing up.

They may sound like the same thing, but I have different views on both.

One is methodology. The other is an outlook. Combine the best of both and you will achieve your goals.

First up, the Methodology.

1. KNOW YOUR BIRDS

This is an obvious one (though people may have different perceptions on what this takes.) 

It stands to reason though, that to find a Lesser Yellowlegs as a vagrant, you're going to have to know what a Redshank looks like (in all plumages)...and Greenshank...and Wood Sandpiper...and then...just to be really fecking sure...Greater Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper and Marsh Sandpiper too.

Lesser Yellowlegs - I've found 6 Lesser Yellowlegs across two countries in the Western Palearctic. Needless to say, this meant an awful lot of time looking through Redshank, as well as time spent absorbing what Lesser Yellowlegs looks like, how they move etc when you do find one or twitch one.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. Eliminating the other possible candidate species often happens instantly, but only with experience of those other species. Nonetheless, something people often ignore is other side of the bird finding equation: not the bird you have identified: but all the other species you had to know in order to eliminate them.

2. PUT IN THE TIME

The alarm will go off at times horrifically early. The temptation to hit snooze or dismiss will always be there. It will only become more powerful with age. Push past it.

Time in the field looking for rare birds is the only way to find them consistently. 

If you fall into a pattern of laziness, saving your time for twitching birds, or only birding your own sites sporadically, don't be surprised if you fail to produce.

Laughing Gull by Ronan McLaughlin

I found this bird at Ballycotton Pier whilst having my morning coffee. I had developed the habit of heading straight out to my favorite locations on the weekend. No dithering about at home, maximizing time in the field. It paid off time and again. In this particular instance, my coffee went cold, with the first mouthful spluttered against the windscreen.

This bird went on to become the longest staying individual on record, even being tracked to Northern Ireland, before returning to Ballycotton for another winter. 

3. TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY

Got a spare hour you didn't expect? Go birding. A few hours of daylight after work? Go birding. A long weekend on the horizon? Go birding somewhere really good. 

Work beside a good birding spot? You know what to do with your lunch hour then don't you?

Spoonbill - Great Island, Cork. I found this bird whilst on a work related training session. A couple of spare hours afterwards, where the choice was get back on the road to Dublin or enjoy birding in Cork Harbour. This, as a mid winter pay-off, in one of the most heavily birded areas of the country was particularly sweet. I also found it in an unusual place, a duck pond that people normally wouldn't look at. 

Stilt Sandpiper - whilst on student placement at Lough Beg, Cork, I soon realized the potential of the location. 

I often went birding at the estuary, several evenings a week (and the occasional lunch break). It produced Goshawk, Roseate Terns (considered rare in Cork until I put Lough Beg on the map for them), and Ireland's 12th Stilt Sandpiper above, stayed almost a week and allowed for twitching en masse.

In particular I had taken to exploring the outer estuary (rather than just the reserve/high tide roost that others focused on).

Sitting comfortably enjoying the terns and waders that use the open mud, I picked this wader up, chest deep in a tidal pool on the mud. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. It looked like a mix between a dowitcher and a Lesser Yellowlegs, with that weird kinked bill and barred appearance. I switched to my 50x lens, and was even more convinced of the ID and was about to make a call out to get some other eyes...then it hopped up out of the pool, stood on a rock, and showed off a pair of long legs any super model would be proud of! Stilt Sandpiper, nailed.

Roseate Terns - annual at Lough Beg, Cork, often in small flocks. 

4. WATCH THE WEATHER

You have to watch the weather. Use it to predict what rare birds will turn up, where they will turn up and where they're coming from. This isn't hard to do, and there's plenty of material to learn from, as well as other birders. 

Pick it up. Learn why birds turn up as vagrants. Learning what species turn up in what weather will come with experience.

Baird's Sandpiper - many years ago, seeing a really nice low moving across the Atlantic, I made plans to hit Kerry for the weekend (from Dublin). It was August. Still early for American waders, but I felt it looked really good for those first arrivals. 

I went looking for runners, but no one was willing to take the gamble. I remember telling Mark Carmody, who needed Baird's Sandpiper at the time, that I would have Baird's Sandpiper on Blackrock strand the next day. He still wasn't convinced.

The next morning, I started out my weekend of birding at dawn on Blackrock strand. The first bird I saw...THE VERY FIRST BIRD...in near darkness (as you can see)...was the above Baird's Sandpiper. 😎

Semi-Palmated Sandpiper - the above Semi-Palmated Sandpiper, at Smerwick, along with some other good birds that weekend, were then excellent bonuses. 😎

5. LOOK UP

The number of birders who don't look up is shocking. Raptors and other large soaring birds, other thermal using species species such as Bee-eater, all can be moving overhead.

Greater Spotted Eagle - A Rarity in Finland. Scanning the skies is a good habit to develop. And I mean really scan them. Don't just give a skyward glance now and again, raise your bins and scan the sky, left to right, up and down. Scope every blip on the horizon. It pays off. 

6. LEARN YOUR CALLS

You're very likely to hear birds before you see them, especially in the passerine arena. The more calls you are familiar with, especially those of target species, the more rarities you will find.

Pallas's Warbler - by Tom Tarpey

Myself and my Brother, Conor, found this bird at Power Head ,Cork in 2011.

Standing on a wall waiting for a Pallid Harrier to come to roost, we heard a distinctive "Tchoo-ing" call from the adjacent garden. We looked at each other and asked "Did you hear that?". A former IRBC member said he hadn't heard anything, but we said that sounded like a Pallas's.

We rapidly hopped down off the wall and each made our way to a different side of the rear hedge.

A bright little gem began to climb to the top and we both nailed the bird's ID at the same time. What a bird!

7. IF IT'S INFLUX, YOU'RE IN LUCK

If there's a species in the middle of an influx, make sure you aren't the only one not finding one. Make sure of that. Put in the hours and the miles until you score.

Indeed, if you're out enough, your find may often prove to be the first of an influx! 

Pallas's Warbler - Knockadoon - Howard Williams

After finding the Power Head bird, I went on to find 2 more the following weekend at Knockadoon. If birds are influxing...why stop at finding just one?

8. WATCH THE SEA

If birding by the coast, always pay attention to the sea. Scan it thoroughly. Watch for birds moving over it. Even if you've scanned it ten times already, give it another go, and then a final time before you leave for the day. It will pay it's own rewards. 

Then there is the dedicated past time of seawatching. There's enormous scope for finding rarities among the swathes of potential vagrants in the petrels, Shearwaters group. Embrace the sea.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Ronan McLaughlin/Owen Foley

Be it watching a flock of Gulls come off the sea on a Kerry beach, or a storm blown flock on a Cork Bird Race. Picking up rarities like Bonaparte's Gull has in my experience arisen from keeping an eye on the sea.

9. SCAN, SCAN, SCAN

Develop the habit of routinely scanning with your binoculars. Treelines, hedgerows, fencelines, telephone wires and poles, stonewalls etc. 

Repeat the process. Don't assume one scan was enough. 

Wrynecks and Red-Backed Shrike from Mizen, Woodchat Shrike from Galley (Ronan McLaughlin). Constant scanning of suitable perching points is a guaranteed tactic for finding a range of migrants. 

Rose-Colored Starling - scanning wires, especially wires with flocks of congener species yields it's own rewards. Rounding a corner on Mizen head in September, and seeing a flock of starlings on the wires and there was this lovely tea coloured gem. 👍

Ortolan Bunting - sometimes scanning comes so easily. A fall on Mizen head, co. Cork meant that scanning came easy. Melodious warbler, Icterine Warbler, Tree Pipit, and this Ortolan Bunting all found with ease on an excellent west cork day of scanning. 

10. DON'T STOP IN SUMMER

The number of birders who seem to view Summer as a time to hang up their bins until September is a pet peeve of mine. If anything, June has become a month to produce astounding megas. July has always had a tradition of incredible Eastern waders popping up and both July and August are times you should be thinking of rare seabirds. 

Work consistently through the year. No arguments.

Gull-Billed Tern (Morocco)

Headed to Wexford in July, Clan Foley decided to stop off at the Wexford Wildfowl Reserve as our first stop. Why? Because no one checks it in summer. Barely 20 seconds in the Pat Walsh hide and myself and my brother picked up a tern hawking over the water...a tern with a gull like bill... Gull-Billed Tern! Don't. Stop. In. Summer!

OUTLOOK

1. BE POSITIVE

Today could be the day. Say this every day. You keep going, even if it's dismal. The next rarity you find could literally be around the corner. If I had a euro for every time I thought the day would be a bust, only to find a rarity at the next stop.

American Golden Plover - a dismal day on Loop Head, Co. Clare, with just a Yellow-Browed Warbler in Kilbaha, turned out OK when we found a nice juv. American Golden Plover at Doonbeg. 

Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpiper - another very quiet day in Co. Louth turned into something exceptional when we found not one, but 2 yanks together at Dundalk docks. 

2. EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS

Some will tell you to only focus on certain groups of birds you're especially interested in. For your own sake and the sake of your finds list, try to take an interest in other types of birds. Gulls, acro warblers, whatever. More to look at means more to find. 

American Herring Gull - many years ago, realizing that large gull species were forming large gaps in my self found list, I set about putting extra effort into looking for them. It didn't take long to produce birds like this one at Baltimore, Cork. 

3. DON'T REST ON LAURELS

If you've found a rarity, maintain momentum. The conditions that bring rare birds in often result in more than one. After you have watched your find to a satisfactory degree, keep looking for other birds. Multi-rarity find days are not so unusual. 

Bonaparte's Gull - after finding the Lesser Yellowlegs at Oued Sous, Morocco (first collage above), I was stunned to then find a Bonaparte's Gull and a Citrine Wagtail in the same area, all 3 rarities being mega for the country.

Black-Necked Grebe and Pied-Billed Grebe (Owen Foley, Ronan McLaughlin, Sean Cronin)

After an epic day of finding Slavonian Grebe, Black-Necked Grebe and Red-Necked Grebe in various locations in Cork Harbor, I was left with a final hour of light on a December evening. Checking what I generally consider as a lesser site, Little Island, I picked up a brownish blob some distance away down the coast, off the golf course. 

I had my suspicions as to what the bird was (but surely couldn't be??).

With light fading I was faced with the choice of giving up and returning the next day to try and refind it...or sprinting down the shore, over the wet rocks and active golf course to clinch the bird. I chose the sprinting option and nailed the ID, Cork's 3rd Pied-Billed Grebe. What a day!

Semi-Palmated Sandpipers - Ronan McLaughlin, Owen Foley

2011 was a fantastic influx autumn for Semi-p in Ireland. After finding one on Pilmore strand, I didn't stop there. Finding one on patch at Ballycotton the following weekend was particularly satisfactory. Who knows how many were missed?

4. TRUST NO ONE

If you turn up to a location and find other birders there it can be a downer, but don't assume it's been covered. Those birders could be having an off day, could have missed anything, or could just be incompetent!

Their eyes are not your eyes. Get to work!

Blue-Winged Teal - showing up to Shannon Airport Lagoon after a weekend of seawatching, walking down the track, I was dismayed to see another birder off in the distance on the embankment. I joined them a few minutes later and the usual chat was had "Any luck? No, nothing much."

I set up my scope and in seconds had a lovely Blue-Winged Teal in my view (the second I have found at the same location). You can just never tell what someone else has seen or not seen.

American Black Duck - Robert Vaughan. Twitching a Tundra Bean Goose in north Cork, I was invited in to Kilcolman reserve by the warden. Part of me was actually prepared to go home after a successful twitch, but I said I would give it a go anyway. The first bird I saw was this cracking male Black Duck. Valuable lesson learned. Always check places for yourself. 

 Black-Headed Bunting - Galley Head. Returning from an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler on Mizen, we decided to stop into Galley on the way back. A Black-Headed Bunting, found some days hence, had not been seen in the intervening period. 10 minutes of birding the area and we had it in our scopes. 

Trust no one. 

5. AVOID NEGATIVITY

There are some birders out there who can't handle inactivity. If it's quiet, they will bitch and whinge. Rare bird finding is a marathon, not a sprint, and they can't handle it. If they become a problem for you, don't go birding with them. Always remember that even a quiet day out birding beats a day cooped up in the office.

Better out than in...that's the correct usage of that saying, right?

6. USERS DRAIN YOU

When you start to be successful as a bird finder, you're going to find people coming at you looking for things. Gen, ID opinions, you name it. 

A lot of people can be worth your time, but learn to spot users.

They can be a drain on your resources and life is just too short.

Beware the parasites

7. THE PRICE OF SUCCESS CAN BE HIGH

Sometimes those successful at finding rare birds find themselves the targets of people who rarely find more than a forgotten 10 euro note in an old pair of jeans. 

Over the years I've heard it all. "Why do you find so much when others out as much as you aren't nearly as successful?" ...he whinged. 

Push past it. These people are going to look pretty silly showing up to your birds week after week. And they will show up, despite the drivel they put out there. 

The cringe when birders who slag you off are turning up for your rares every week.

It's your free time. Your hobby. Don't let anyone try to ruin it for you.

8. FIGHT YOUR CORNER

At times people like the above will try to deny you credit on a find or identification, or horn in on a find of yours. 

Stand up for yourself. You did the work. You noticed what everyone else walked by or overlooked. You made the big call when others were off nodding along to what some "guru" was saying in the wrong. 

Speak up. 

When the first White-Winged Scoter for Ireland was found, after initial positivity on the ID, there came a bit of dithering and climb down on the identification. Sketches on why it wasn't one were put out by Killian Mullarney. The finder, Pat "The Parrot" Lonergan declared that indeed all the evidence pointed to it no being White-Winged Scoter. None of it sat right with me, the head profile and bill profile seemed bang on, and so I went looking for images of the bird. 

700 people on Band, maybe a few dozen more on WhatsApp saw me put the hand up and direct things in the right direction. 

Needless to say, given the author, when the finders account came out it didn't quite reflect the accurate historical record. 🤔

I had no problem then, or now, pointing out what actually happened. Probably won't be the last time I have to do so either.

9. DON'T FOLLOW FASHION

When I really began to find birds for myself, the peer pressure out there was for everyone to have cameras, even if you weren't interested in photography.

There's new fashion fads coming online now, things like sound recording, or thermal imaging. 

If these things genuinely interest you, great. But if they don't, forget about them and focus on the birds. 

The day is coming when the pressure will be to wear some passive sound recording device to capture calls when out birding. Mark my words. If this doesn't spark your imagination, don't allow yourself to be pressured into it. Your own happiness in birding is paramount, and the happier you are the more birding you will do and the more birds you will find.

I once saw a birder get out of a car on Mizen, and proceeded to load himself up with binoculars, scope, camera and a giant parabolic microphone. By the time he was ready to go birding he had no spare hands to raise his binoculars and I thought "That lad is finding nothing today". I was right too. 

10. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Sometimes things just don't go as planned. Yanks appear in a South Easterly. Megas appear when nothing was on the radar. Don't rule something out just because it's the wrong time of year, place or habitat. 

Semi-Palmated Sandpiper - Ronan McLaughlin. A semi-p in November wasn't really on the expected list. An unusual plumage, at an untimely juncture in the year. Lot's to rule out on a winter stint, but quite doable. 

11. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS

At times your view of a bird may be nothing more than a whizz past your windscreen or a flick into a bush. 

Sometimes, something you can't quite put your finger on will scream at you that "That bird was interesting". 

At other times you may be quite happy with your views of a bird, but others out there will be adamant you're wrong. 

Good advice in both scenarios is to stay the course. Wait that bird that dove into cover out, until you're happy you've nailed it. 

If people are saying your ID is wrong, but you know you're right, nail it outright.

Pallid Harrier - Ireland's first. A brief view in misty conditions on a Good Friday morning was enough to convince me this bird required the utmost scrutiny and pinning down. 

Hours of stake out, a quick internet research diversion and bringing in a friend all paid off in the afternoon, when the fog lifted, the bird appeared and Ireland had a new species on it's list. 

When you know you're on to something good, don't give up on it.

Lesser Scaup - Knock Lake. 

Checking Knock Lake on a dark and stormy evening, I managed to pick up a juv. Lesser Scaup among the waves. Viewing was difficult, but I was happy, and put the news out to friends. 

As it transpired, others had been seeing the bird for two weeks prior. Several calls that evening from one birder, each time being told "I'm sure it's just a tufted duck", left me unconvinced. I simply said I would go back the next day and nail photos of it. A first for Dublin, in the bag.  

12. BE ADAPTABLE

Debate will always rage as to whether it's better to focus on patch birding or not. 

Patch birding can be great, but equally, patches can go through horrible dry spells, sometimes prolonged. This can be related to the habitat condition or weather conditions.

Be adaptable. If a patch isn't producing move about to other areas. Follow where the birds are turning up for you.

13. DON'T LET ANYONE CALL YOU "LUCKY".

It's not luck that you started driving at 2 in the morning to be seawatching on a headland at 6. 

It's not luck that you picked up a migrating rare Pipit on call.

It's not luck that you stuck with a patch, bashing weekend in weekend out until you found that mega.

Luck is a term often used by people to minimize the work you did. You're not lucky. You're a bird finder.

14. STAND ON YOUR OWN TWO FEET

Modern technology is fantastic. You can now be in the remotest locations, find something interesting, and download ID articles, run image searches, do your own research on any bird imaginable, all on the latest smartphones.

Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the trend. People can be both lazy and incompetent. Instead, we have created a network of "Instant consult". Birders running birds by others instantly via messaging, rather than working the problem and developing competency.

Years back, I remember swathes of birders rolling their eyes at the proliferation of Facebook groups full of photographers asking to ID birds for them.

The same people never seem to realise that running anything they happen to find, even simple identifications, past friends and gurus on WhatsApp is exactly the same thing. 

Work an ID yourself. It helps you learn. Make the call yourself. Do you really want to be 70 years old and still waiting on some guru to ID birds for you? 

Don't end up like this. It's cringe. Imagine having shots of your own, as good as that pictured here, and still being unable to make the call yourself.

Ending up a Permadude is the worst fate that can befall a birder, but sadly is all too common. If you're singing songs of the first definite Dusky Warbler for Tory, when it's obviously a Chiffchaff...hang up your bins now.

Permadude status inbound. When you're going back channel on your IRBC mate it's laughable...but we're laughing at you...not with.

Worse than the direct ask is the technique I call "Fishing expedition". This is where you ambiguously drop a bird to people or in some forum, seeking opinions, especially ones that suit your narrative. 

The Bray Herring Gull is a perfect example of this with Stephen King and Cian "Spoofer" Cardiff both putting out feelers for two years trying to lubricate an obviously duff bird through as an American Herring Gull.

"A lot of mixed opinions"...this bird was overwhelmingly dismissed buy gullers all over Europe, myself included...but they kept on dropping it everywhere they could trying to get a positive opinion. 

Whenever asked what particular features where American Herring Gull features...he would never answer. 

The sorry tale ended when Stephen King finally got a behind the scenes positive opinion, supposedly from Anthony McGeehan and Bruce Mactavish.

Oh how he crowed. Running straight to twitter to declare the end of the "American Herring Gull Saga". Of course...the experts never put out any public thumbs up for the bird...and his highness's tweet below was deleted in embarassing fashion (but now a routine event for that particular "Tweet Delete" clique)

Do. Not. Be. A fisherman. Learn your birds. Read. Observe. Become competent to be able to stand on your own two feet. Make consulting others a rare event that breaks from the norm.

If you do, In the end, you will find people come to you more than you need to go to them. And that is a good thing.

15. ENJOY YOUR BIRDING

Whatever tactics you employ, be sure to enjoy your time birding. That's the only thing that matters in the end. 

Good birding, and good bird finding!