Bird of the year!!!
Yesterday I got a report of a strange looking wader on the Reserve (I was at Edinburgh Zoo!), that sounded, from the description, interesting to say the least! Last night was dominated by easterly gales and pouring rain, so I was reasonably confident that it would still be around...
So at 9am I headed on out to look. Not a small wader in sight!
So I wandered off down the saltmarsh, at which point, a small dark wader with a call I hadn't heard before flew past and landed out of sight ahead of me. Looked promising! But then, as I approached, about 300m away, it flew off, accompanied by a small group of Dunlin & Ringos, and they headed out across the mudflats. Bugger!
So off I went, and spent 21/2 hours looking before being on the verge of giving up. A quick look at a small group of waders feeding on the tideline, and there it was. A rather nice juvenile Broad-billed Sandpiper!!! It was very flighty and a bit elusive at times, but fortunately, it hung around the reserve for the rest of the afternoon, allowing the arriving birders I'd informed to get decent views of it.
This is the first on the Reserve for 21 years, and a Lothian & Scotland lifer for me. So, a good day at last. Tomorrow, we'll see if it's still there, and I'll also try and catch up with some of the other goodies found down the coast today eg Wryneck & Icterine Warbler. Things are looking up, at last!
So at 9am I headed on out to look. Not a small wader in sight!
So I wandered off down the saltmarsh, at which point, a small dark wader with a call I hadn't heard before flew past and landed out of sight ahead of me. Looked promising! But then, as I approached, about 300m away, it flew off, accompanied by a small group of Dunlin & Ringos, and they headed out across the mudflats. Bugger!
So off I went, and spent 21/2 hours looking before being on the verge of giving up. A quick look at a small group of waders feeding on the tideline, and there it was. A rather nice juvenile Broad-billed Sandpiper!!! It was very flighty and a bit elusive at times, but fortunately, it hung around the reserve for the rest of the afternoon, allowing the arriving birders I'd informed to get decent views of it.
This is the first on the Reserve for 21 years, and a Lothian & Scotland lifer for me. So, a good day at last. Tomorrow, we'll see if it's still there, and I'll also try and catch up with some of the other goodies found down the coast today eg Wryneck & Icterine Warbler. Things are looking up, at last!
posted by ELBirder at 6:13 pm
1 Comments:
congatulations on the lifer
Post a Comment
<< Home