Ruff justice- another country 'first'!

I have been lucky in that on two previous voyages a few years ago I saw a common swift off the coast of Suriname that once 'accepted' proved to be the first documented record for Suriname and South America. A year later I got my 'first for Bulgaria' in the form of a Black- throated accentor' - that too being accepted by the relevant National rarities committee. Strike three for the bespectacled, pelagic birding geek yesterday,  in the form of a very nice ruff that flew over the sea from the north, settled briefly on the waves as if it thought it was a phalarope and then flew south for the coast of Suriname! ...........

Week four of a five week survey and for want of a better word the sea birding has been rubbish. Maybe I'm being a tad harsh but many days have gone by without a single bird being seen, and indeed I have even had spells of two and three days without a single feather to gaze upon. Of course spending many hours wave -watching eventually turns up something and I have been fortunate to see plenty of cetaceans, complimented by two red-billed tropicbirds, a few Audubons' shearwaters, a single great shearwater, a few pomarine skuas and a handful of boobies- masked, brown and red-footed. A few birds have settled on deck for a rest during their southerly migrations including a cattle egret and a least sandpiper- but its been slow......oh so mind numbingly slow. At least until yesterday. As I glanced over the starboard rail I picked up what was obviously a wader flying 15 metres or so above the waves and alongside the ship at a distance of maybe 120 metres. It was largely in silhouette in the intense tropical sunlight and I knew I couldn't ID it on that view. Suddenly the bird banked hard left and dropped towards the sea surface and flew towards the ship. The flight was rather languid for a wader and certainly not the ultra fast, mechanical beats associated with so many of the small sandpipers I am familiar with. Head- on, I could see a very nice 'rusty' crown and with improving views, a hint of a pale eyestripe and significantly projecting toes. Then the white sides to the rump were apparent, the weak white bar across the secondaries was a clue, as were the plain, buffy tones to the face and neck and as the bird dropped down to settle on the sea, a pale underwing and dark, medium length bill with a very slight down- curve near the tip. Hmmm- interesting in a vaguely familiar sort of way. Anyway, having grabbed a few record shots (no mean feat from a 15 metre high vessel rolling almost 10 degrees port and starboard at seven second intervals!) I studied the bird through my binoculars and tried to turn it into a rare wader that I had never before encountered, but after a few seconds the bird flew rapidly south. I checked my photos and checked through the key ID points and arrived at a probable juvenile ruff- hmmpf- a nice bird and no big deal, but something niggled away in my head for the rest of my sea watch time. Later I had a look at the Suriname bird species checklist that stood at a respectable 749. Ruff was not on it- yikes! I rechecked the list, rechecked my photos, enlarged them on the computer, rechecked the list again, went through the ID features again then got worried that I was making a silly ID mistake- after all birds look so different on the sea with no sense of scale and the light was bleaching the bird and I was tired, blah blah blah.  At that point I realised that if I was going to claim a country first I wanted a good second opinion on the birds ID. I sent the best photos to my good birding friend Bob McMillan on the Isle of Skye and just said 'can you assist with the ID of this bird' - no prompting or clues, other than that if I had seen this bird in western Europe at this time of year I would not have doubts as to its ID but as it was off the coast of Suriname it could be an important record. Bob quickly got back to me confirming that it was certainly a Ruff. I then sent the photos to a Dutch birding friend based in Paramaribo- Arie Spaans - who is compiling the latest guide to the birds of Suriname and after circulating the photos to other birders in Suriname he was delighted to inform me that yes it was a ruff and that the Suriname bird list now stood at 750 species! Happy days as they say. 

Hermit thrush, North Uist

Just back from a rushed, ferry schedule limited twitch for the Balranald Hermit thrush. I travelled over via the Isle of Skye and ferry from Uig yesterday- saw the bird for 30 minutes or so in the company of Al Mcnee and Bob Mcmillan, then dashed down the road to get a bed in the Howmor hostel. This wee thrush was a delightful bird and my second 'Catharus' of the autumn! With the 'mega alert' going off for tran-satlantic birds from Barra to Orkney it has been a manic 36 hours but in the end it was obvious that I could only twitch one of them being on a limited budget and with limited time.  An hour of birding this morning turned up grey plovers at Kyles Paible and storm petrels in the Minch which rounded the trip of nicely. I just tuned out the alerts concerning the chimney swift and grey-cheeked thrush at the extremities of the Hebridean archipelago and just had a word with myself about being satisfied with one really good bird! 

KP nuts and a saucy Savi's.

Last week I was finalising a plan for a significant twitch to try and catch up with spoonbill on the Montrose basin and Temminck's stint at Letham pools in Fife- both species being needed for my 'Scottish' list. Whilst packing my bag an RBA alert came through at 18:10 informing me that a Kentish plover had been found near Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. With a minimum 3 hour drive to the site and 4 hours of light left it was a non-starter. A quick phone call to my birder friend Bob Mcmillan confirmed that he had found the bird and he obligingly provided an accurate grid. ref. for the site location. Plan B was set in motion very early the following day. As any twitcher knows, the feeling of total desolation following a major dip is not something to dwell on, so I'll just say that after a 03:00 start, a 6 hour return drive of 280 miles and 6 hours on site searching for the bird without success my mood could not really be described as jolly! The bird had obviously been a one- dayer and flown on overnight. To rub salt into my wounds I had received a couple of alerts during my travels informing me that both the stint and spoonbill had stayed in place all day- bummer. Highlight birds for my efforts were limited to 3 bar-tailed godwits and two pairs of very tidy whinchat. Enough said. I did enjoy spectacular views of the Cuillin range on Skye however. 

Anyway, moving swiftly on, a few days later I teamed up with former Highland recorder Al Mcnee for a very early twitch to Loch of Strathbeg to try and see a Savi's warbler. We left Inverness at 01:00, arrived on site shortly after 03:15 and had located the bird shortly after 03:30. Although distant we enjoyed intermittent 'scope' views for the next couple of hours. Although the bird was perched in an upright stance in the tops of the phragmites reed stems, the distance and wind direction did not allow me to hear it. Some you win, some you lose……..

Sad pigeon skulks with 2 day hangover?

- or perhaps I should not try and be a smarty pants and just say 'Mourning dove on Rum for 2nd day'!

40 hours after emptying my seabag, drinking an exceptionally large g-n-t and working through 3 weeks worth of (largely) junk mail, my phone 'beeped' during a woodland local patch sortie and there was an sms message- 'mega highland- mourning dove, Isle of Rum'- yikes- I wasn't sure of the number but knew that there had not been too many previous records of that Bird in Britain! A little later whilst sat on the computer trying to figure out the logistics of Scottish, west coast ferry links, my phone rang and local birder Richard Rafe was on the phone to say that Bob Mcmillan (see the excellent skye birds link www.skye-birds.com) was going for the bird and was I keen to go?!! .....

the approaches to Kinloch, Rum

the next morning we left Ullapool at 06:00 for the drive through Kyle of Lochalsh and over the Skye bridge to Armadale, where, having met up with Bob we boarded the ferry for Mallaig- already running 20 minutes late. As the ferry approached the pier in Mallaig a queue of 35+ green-clad, scope-carrying birders could be seen (im)patiently waiting to board and get to Rum. The crossing was rough and somewhat slower than anticipated and a few folk looked decidedly green by the time we approached Kinloch on Rum. The captain's announcement told everyone that we had to be back at the pier and ready to board at 14:15 - as I stepped off the ferry I looked at my watch and realised that I had 2 hours and 7 minutes to walk around the bay, locate the bird and walk back for the return sailing. It was tight but certainly doable as long as the bird cooperated and showed.......anyway after following the 'Mourning dove' signs kindly erected by the locals (not sure who but many thanks!) I arrived behind the bulk of the other birders and put up my scope in anticipation. A nervous 30 minutes passed before the first poor view was obtained- through a fellow birders' scope and largely of a silhouette that really looked like a collared dove- I was not too impressed. I quickly got tired of the hustle and bustle of the scrum as tired birders, some of whom had travelled overnight from as far a field as Cheshire, Luton and Suffolk desperately tried to get on the bird. I walked back around the house and shortly afterwards one of the rangers walked around me to a different vantage point and then waved for us to join him- the bird was now offering better views and I could clearly see the dark spot on the neck- the bird was skulking, the light was poor, I got no photos. but I was happy to 'tick' the bird. I enjoyed the view for 10 minutes or so and then decided to have a solo walk back ahead of the rush to see what else was about- the woodland just looks as if it ought to hold a scarce migrant or two. Anyway, I didn't find anything of note other than a half-heard 'probable' yellow-browed warbler. Everyone was in good spirits on the way back to Mallaig, some birders slept before the long dash south to PG for the Hermit thrush. I enjoyed watching the kittiwakes and looking back at the imposing outline of Rum. A thoroughly enjoyable and fun twitch!

dramatic scenery and light!