Hel Hath No Birdies

Red-Eyed Vireo is your classic autumn yank rarity, guaranteed to turn any day from mediocre to brilliant in a flash of green and silvery white.  Hilariously, the Incompetent Rare Bird Committee that is the IRBC accidentally left this species out of it's recent rare bird appendices revision, meaning that currently, Red-Eyed Vireo is not a rarity in Ireland. 😂😂 They can't seem to admit that error or correct it either (which would be an admission) and so the entire country trundles on pretending not to know. 😂😂😂😂 I've seen many REVs over the years in Ireland, but my only self found one fell on the 19th of October, 2011. We had rented our usual house on Mizen Head for October, and Shane "The Faddler" Farrell was staying down with us for a weekend of birding. We had worked quite a few locations around the head in the morning and it was looking like just a couple of Yellow-Browed Warbler and a Siberian Chiffchaff were to be the best on offer. That changed when ...

Buff-Bellied Pipit - Redbarn, Cork Buff-Bellied Pipit is a species with a strange history in Ireland.  Virtually absent from everyone's radar until two birds appeared at Lissagriffin in October 2007, sparking a mega twitch. .  At the point of initial news, one bird was thought to be present. Birders gathered at the Lissagriffin car park the following morning. We were running a mere ten minutes late and I received word from good friend Phil Davis that the crowd were already planning on going in on an organized flush. The "locals" who found the bird, not really locals, but goons who appear on Mizen in October every year same as everyone else 😂 declared that "They would go in first" and call in people if they found the bird. Luckily, Phil, not one to go along with whatever nonsense is happening on any given day in Irish birding, informed people that we were a mere ten minutes away in Goleen, that they would be waiting, and that everyone would go in together. Ya ...

Semi-Palmated Sandpiper is another quintessential autumn rarity. Not a mega by any means, but still a great bird to have on your finds list, and certainly one you can manage with a bit of effort. Over the years I have now found quite a few, with the big influx of 2011 being most productive, but have produced birds in Kerry, Cork, Wexford, Galway and Clare, some of which I will deal with here. 31st August 2009 My first " Semi-p " was a good Dublin tick at Sandymount Strand a loooong time ago, and had seen a fair few at Tacumshin since that time, but finding my own, like other waders discussed, required getting away from the main thoroughfare of Wexford.  Seeing decent weather for American waders inbound, I headed for Kerry, finding Baird's Sandpiper straight out of the gate.  Working my way west from Blackrock strand produced various goodies along the route before arriving at Smerwick Harbor, where, parking up at the wine strand side, I picked up a stint feeding among th...

Blockers. We love those don't we? There are certain species types which remain unattainable in Ireland. For some reason, very most likely due to Ireland's population geospatial/coastal nature, things like rare thrushes, rare raptors and crossbill species just don't get found very often. The habitat for visiting crossbills is certainly there, but much of it is inland.  28th September, 2008. On the night of the 26th/27th of September myself and Robert Vaughan set off for west Cork, intent on a weekend of hunting migs on the headlands. There had been various bits around, including Melodious Warbler, Common Rosefinch etc so we were hopefull. Things started ominously though,when sometime around 3/4 in the morning a tyre completely exploded somewhere around Urlingford. Rob held the torch whilst I got the spare on, but it was one of those "emergency spares" they give with cars these days, and it meant we would have to stop somewhere and get the real tyre replaced as I w...

Summer rolled around and birds settled in to breeding mode. Our local Tawny Owls delighted us with a good sized brood of fluff balls which spent several days in and around the garden, also allowing for occasional views of the watchful adults too. Tawny Owl - Fluffy A visit to Vallisaari, a first for me, revealed spectacular habitat, with numerous Icterine Warbler in full song, a single Red-Breasted Flycatcher in song and and obliging Wryneck. Wryneck Up in Hämeenkyrö, a pair of Marsh Sandpiper were present most of the summer at one of my local patches, allowing for excellent views, along with the usual Black Grouse at this site. Marsh Sandpiper Garden ticks back home included very juicy additions like singing Nightjar and Thrush Nightingale. Thrush Nightingale  Marsh Harrier - Regular over the garden Early summer breeders gave opportunities to see and hear Marsh Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Corncrake and Common Rosefinch. Common Rosefinch  Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - in mid ...