Dermot Breen's Blog: ring-billed gull

Friday, 10 April 2020

Winter birding early 2020.

Thought I'd give South America a break for the time being just to post a few pictures from the past few months. Yet another poor winter for gulls again. Since I came back from my month away my best bird in the subsequent three months has probably been the first-winter/second-calendar Ring-billed Gull that I found feeding in fields adjacent to Lough Fahy on Omey Island. They are still extremely rare out here in Connemara. A handful have been seen at Rossaveel and I've only had two here myself since 2008, both at Ross Beach which may have even involved the same adult which might have returned. They continue to decline in at the former stronghold of Nimmo's Pier. There was just one sighting of one in all of February with none recorded in all of March or April. There used to be a small increase in numbers in Spring associated with the northward movement of Common and Black-headed Gull back to the big breeding colonies on the great western Irish lough and even maybe up to Scotland. I managed to see a grand total of one Glaucous, three Iceland (all at Ross Beach) and one Little Gull in Galway this winter!

Around the same time of the Omey Ring-bill, there was a male Ring-necked Duck on Lough Fahy. Not often you get two Aerican vagrants here during the winter months. This may well be the same the same Ring-neck that I had on a smaller adjacent lough on the island back in September/October. I got my best shots ever of the species then which I must upload here at some stage. This was the first Ring-necked Duck I've ever seen out this way which is a little odd considering they're not even considered a rarity in Ireland now.

Also on the wildfowl front Barnacle Geese have started to utilize a mainland site in county Galway for the first time in living memory this winter at Rinvyle Point. They are regularly found on most of the offshore island around Connemara. The last national aerial survey recorded 1,948 birds across seven different sites in Galway alone. The total Irish population then was 16.237 birds. Maybe I might have an opportunity to pick up the first Cackling Goose for Galway finally.

Adult Glaucous Gull, Aillebrack, 14th January 2020.

Second-calendar Iceland Gull, Ross Beach, 20th February 2020.

Second-calendar Ring-billed Gull, Omey Island, 20th February 2020.

Second-calendar Ring-billed Gull, Omey Island, 27th January 2020.

Barnacle Geese, Rinvyle Point, 24th February 2020.

Greater Scaup and Ring-necked Duck, Omey Island, 27th January 2019.

Greater Scaup, Omey Island, 27th January 2019.

Ring-necked Duck, Omey Island, 27th January 2019.

Leucistic female Eurasian Wigeon, near Moylough, 23rd February 2020.

Woodcock, Connemara National Park, 6th March 2020.

Twite, Rossadillask, 20th February 2020.

Common Dolphin, Sky Road, Clifden, 20th February 2020.

Common Dolphin, Sellerna Beach, 4th February 2020.

Common Dolphin, Aillebrack, 14th February 2020.

Wind blown sand over machair on Omey Island.

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Limerick Caspian Gull

I decided to twitch the second-winter Caspian Gull that was in Limerick city for the previous two days. The bird was photographed by Geoff Hunt on Sunday. It was identified from photos of several gulls that Geoff uploaded onto the UK Gulls Facebook page. I arrived down for first light. It took a while for most of the gulls to arrive back onto the river. The tide was also high which left none of the river bank exposed. I started by Saint Michaels Rowing Club where the bird had been seen over the last two days. I then moved up along the river as far a Thomond Weir where most of the gulls were initially. I was pleasantly surprised to come across an adult Yellow-legged Gull. Quite a small bird but with a pristine clean white head and underparts along with a red orbital ring and bright, thick bill. After a few hours and several trips up and down the river there was no sign until I got a call from joh Murphy who had the gull at the usual spot at 11.30. The bird quickly disappeared and after a while we decided to have a quick look for a flock of Waxwings at a nearby housing estate. No joy on that front either. We headed back into the city and while I was telling an inquisitive passer-by what we were up to, the bird flew in. It greatly appreciated the slices of bread which I produced. It didn't spend too much time on the concrete slipway but when present was quite approachable. I probably didn't hang around for more than 40 minutes only to disappear back into the ether of city buildings. This is obviously the first record for county Limerick with the only other west coast records being a first-winter at Termoncarragh Lake, Co. Mayo on 28th February 2006 and a third-winter at Killybegs, Co. Donegal from 13th to 14th March 1998.
There are only thirteen accepted records for the Republic of Ireland so they are still quite a rarity here. Looking through the list of Caspian Gull reports for Ireland on the Birdguides archive I was quite surprised at the amount of unsubstantiated records reported over the last seventeen years or so, probably more than total of accepted records. The total absence of proper documentation for most of these reports is quite disappointing I must say.