Red-footed falcon

During last Friday mornings' shopping expedition down to Inverness, news came through that the red-footed falcon was still located at Girdle ness so I quickly curtailed my time in the Eastgate shopping centre and headed off for Aberdeen. A few hours later I arrived at the golf course and amazingly upon arrival saw the bird from the car as I pulled up. The light was poor and the foggy conditions were not ideal for photography although the bird was very confiding and allowed a number of birders to get great views.

Raptor rumble

With good numbers of tired, mal-nourished and dehydrated, slow-moving passerines all over the decks it rarely takes long for the passage raptors to notice this floating slow-food takeaway! Over the last few days I have observed 3 kestrels, 4 red-footed falcons and a single sparrowhawk cause mayhem through the ranks of chaffinches, pied wagtails, redstarts and red-breasted flycatchers. Unfortunately the RBF's seem to be the preferred prey item of the sparrowhawk that has been resident for 5 days and undertakes at least 3 or 4 successful hunting sorties every day! 

red-footed falcon (juvenile/1st winter)

Contrary to the ample food supply available, the sparrowhawk and one of the kestrels decided to have an aerial altercation concerning the ownership of one of the menu items- in this case I was not sure of the ID but it was certainly an LBJ to go!

kestrel (upper) and sparrowhawk

sparrowhawk on top!

red-footed falcon (juv/1st winter)

sparrowhawk

red-footed falcon (juv/1st winter)

red-footed falcon- at speed!  (juv/1st winter)

sparrowhawk

red-footed falcon

Black sea- vis. mig. portraits

Wow!- busy, busy!, with lots of migrants on the move over the last few days and with the following species recorded on the deck (not in any particular order) :- pied wagtail(12+), black redstart (1), blackcap (1), redstart (20+), willow warbler (20+), chiffchaff (30+), red-breasted flycatcher (10+), spotted flycatcher (3), robin (8+), wren (1), blackbird (2), song thrush (6), chaffinch (12+), meadow pipit (1), lesser whitethroat (2), red-backed shrike (1) and flying past- lots more of the same and scores of swallows and a dozen or so skylarks! Also had visits from sparrow hawk and two red-footed falcons.

Here's a selection of some portrait shots:-

red-breasted flycatcher

red-breasted flycatcher

black redstart

lesser whitethroat

redstart (male)

red-backed shrike

spotted flycatcher