Yes indeedy, sometimes the luck falls to others and all you can do is twitch stuff found by other people on your patch. Ah well - it made for a fun day on Sunday anyway with some great birds on patch! I'd been out since early doors, taking advantage of the extra hour but hadn't really seen much other than a handful of blackcaps and a few chiffchaffs.
I was just nearly done checking the last bits of the patch when I got the news of a pallas's warbler in Dirk. Old spoons had reckoned he'd had a brief glimpse of one on Weds so this wasn't entirely unexpected but when I got there it had vanished once again. Whilst talking to the finder, he suddenly pointed and said "Isn't that a red-breasted flycatcher up there?!?"
And it was...
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| A red-breasted flycatcher, yesterday |
After a while, we managed to get on the pallas's warbler, even getting some validatory evidence...
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| ooooof, boooom etc |
The theme has continued right up to this very am, when I received a text message alerting me to the presence of a juvenile surf scoter on Long Strand. Indeed and it was even visible from the Majik Patio (tm), meaning not only a FULL FAT PATCH TICK but also a "from the garden" tick - result!
Alas, the record shot leaves a little to be desired...
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| A surf scoter earlier, honest guv |
With a bit of luck it might get in with the 5 common scoter that are knocking around and hang about into the new year....
