Rare Bird Alert weekly round-up: 12 - 18 September 2012

The week's highlights:
Shetland scores its first-ever Red-eyed Vireo way up on Unst
Britain’s second and third Short-billed Dowitchers still hanging loose in Dorset & on Scilly
The juvenile Baillon’s Crake continues to show itself on the edge of London
Landguard’s Spanish Sparrow continues to show from time to time….
Plenty more Nearctic shorebirds continue to find their way across the ocean
News too of more breeding success for Little Bitterns in Somerset

The heightening expectations of all things westerly were very much at the forefront of most birder’s minds this week - a few more pulses of Atlantic weather and associated rippling fronts came our way and, yes, more Nearctic birds came along for the ride.

With the shorebirds came seabirds too, caught up in some northwesterly storms at the start of the weekend - as the lady golfers struggled around Hoylake on Friday in the British Open, local birders where enjoying a little bit of pelagic plunder nearby - but things settled a little as the round-up period drew to a close. The wind still blew, it was still pretty much from the west or northwest, but even though the sun shone, being September, birds still came whatever.

…and to cap it all….the first North American passerine of the autumn made landfall too….

Headline birds
“….and we could, if conditions are really kind, see our first American passerine of the autumn, anywhere from Scilly to Shetland….”

The penultimate paragraph of last week’s round-up popped up with the hope that the weather systems that were heading our way could produce something to get folk excited - and, within an hour or two of the words going live - BINGO! - there it was!

It may not be the rarest of Nearctic immigrants, far from it, indeed the species in question ranks as easily the commonest “US” passerine of all, but to see the words Red-eyed Vireo appear on the pager is still something pretty exciting and pretty special - lose the buzz at the word Vireo in a British or Irish context and you may as well give up now….

…and for birders on Shetland, it was a particularly special discovery - representing the first-ever record of these chunky chaps. Found in gardens at Valyie, on Unst during the late afternoon of 12th, the bird remained faithful to the area, despite some pretty grim conditions, until 15th.

As well as providing the Shetland listers with a somewhat overdue addition to their avifauna, it becomes the earliest record of the species for Scotland (and Britain as a whole actually - beating a freshly dead bird below the lighthouse on Bardsey on September 19th 1998 and a live bird found on Scilly on 20th September 1989). Indeed the only bird that pre-dates this week’s bird is one trapped on Cape Clear Island on 5th September 2004.

Ireland recorded its first Red-eyed Vireo in 1951 (another bird found below a lighthouse, this one out on Tuskar Rock, off the Wexford coast), while Britain’s first ever Vireos were two birds found on the same day (4th October 1962) in the Parsonage, on St. Agnes, Scilly.

Up until the start of the 1980’s, there were still only 10 records in Britain and Ireland, and for many birders, their first encounter with the species came around the bushes near Porth Hellick House on St. Mary’s in the autumn of 1980 (the famous “hyper-zonky mega-crippler” from “A Twitcher’s Diary”….) with just two blank years (1997 and 2002) in the 32 that have followed. Until the end of 2010, there were 119 accepted records for Britain and a further 53 in Ireland - and last year presented a further 10 or so to boost the numbers some more…..

While this bird was certainly a new arrival on Shetland, it is tempting to speculate as to whether it was brand new across the Atlantic or if the bird may have hit somewhere else first - one proposed theory being that it could have dropped off the end of Iceland and then made its way to Shetland (Iceland having recently scored an early Mourning Dove).

Whichever thought is correct, Red-eyed Vireo is still a genuinely exciting bird to see or, better still, find. And with 11 records down the east coast, from Lothian to Suffolk (a remarkable four for the latter county) it is the most likely Nearctic passerine to appear along North Sea counties….you never know your luck!

Far, far rarer than Red-eyed Vireo is, of course, Short-billed Dowitcher but it could be argued that despite its gross rarity status, it doesn’t take too long to adjust to their presence. In no way is that meant to denigrate such a delightful long haul vagrant, but for many birders, American passerine will always trump American shorebird….

….but how can you resist such beautiful birds as the two juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers that continued their early autumn stays, on the wrong side of the Atlantic, at Lodmoor RSPB reserve in Dorset and on the sandy beaches and seaweed-strewn rocks of the birder’s favourite rarity supermarket, Tresco.

Both birds were still in place until 18th at least, and the youngster on Tresco features in this (available in the full round-up) fabulous new video clip, shot by local birder Ashley Fisher…..


Ashley’s awesome movie captures this exquisite bird in all its glory, and it becomes the 65th shorebird species recorded on Scilly - a list that not only includes Semipalmated Plover, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Western Sandpiper, some half a dozen Wilson’s Snipe, 15 Upland Sandpipers, Cream-coloured Courser, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Sociable Plover and a whole heap of more frequent Nearctic species (from Least Sandpiper to Pectoral Sandpiper), it also includes a species that no one will ever see again - Eskimo Curlew - an adult shot on Tresco in September 1887 was the last record of the six seen in Britain and Ireland.

This new addition to the Scilly list takes the island tally to 437 -and follows on from the recent add-ons in the shape of Steppe Grey Shrike in 2009, Hudsonian Whimbrel and Sociable Plover in 2008 and Great Blue Heron in 2007 (most of these being the work of the aforementioned Mr. Fisher!)

The week’s other highlights were a couple more leftovers from recent round-ups - the super juvenile Baillon’s Crake continued to be a tough cookie from time to time at Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve across a second weekend, but was still present on 18th and still showed itself nicely on the odd occasion.

In Suffolk, the male Spanish Sparrow at Landguard Point was seen again during the late afternoon of 14th (having been a no-show the previous day and on subsequent evenings too it seems).

Exciting news to round off this little section of the round-up and its good news too as it was revealed (by the Somerset Ornithological Society) that, for the third year in a row, Little Bitterns have bred within the sumptuous surrounds of the Somerset Levels.

In 2009, a singing male was discovered on Walton Heath (part of the Ham Wall RSPB reserve) and spent over three months on site - from early June to late September. It seems likely that this was the male that appeared elsewhere on the Ham Wall reserve in late May of the following year and found a female to boot. During June and July, there was much to suggest that the birds were a breeding pair and, eventually, at least one fledged juvenile was seen.

Last year, despite a pair of Little Bitterns being present within the Avalon Marshes, there was no confirmed news regarding any success (it was thought that the pair had failed although its possible that something happened, the young can be tricky to find in a vast reedbed!) but in 2012 at least one juvenile was seen in flight with the adult male during late July to confirm that this astonishing site has registered Britain’s second and now third successful breeding of this stunning small heron.

Although long suspected to have bred in Britain, the first, and only breeding pair, prior to the birds in Somerset were the famous couple at Potteric Carr, near Doncaster (South Yorkshire) in 1984. First noted in mid-June, three youngsters were raised before departing in mid-August, and the family of five attracted the attention of the national media (most of whom were camped out in the county at the time as the government of the time went to war with the miners) - making the national news bulletins late in their stay.

The remarkable work applied to transforming the Somerset Levels to what they are now is a marvel of modern-day conservation and with Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and Little Bittern all now successful breeding species in the county, Somerset must be odds on to make headlines again soon - a pair or two of Glossy Ibis would be nice….



Meanwhile, much more of last week's news in the full round-up online including;
Red-eyed Vireo stats and facts
Stunning Short-billed Dowitcher video from Scilly
Baillon's and Spotted Crake video
A photo of a mega rarity in a Cornish valley to die for...