Thursday 5 April 2007

Apologies, Birders!


Sincere apologies to all my birder friends. Polly mentioned a while back that Penny asked her before she left: what about the birds? Or something to that effect. Well here's the long and the short of it, my Ireland bird list for 2007, as of April 5. Bold are life birds. Parentheses indicate a different name in the US.


Great Northern Diver (common loon). Little and Great Crested grebes (in courtship display!).


Mute, Bewick's, and Whooper swans.


Pink-footed, (Greenland) White-fronted, Greylag, Snow, Canada, Barnacle, and Brent (Brant) geese.


Shelduck, (Eurasian) Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, (Northern) Shoveller, Pochard, (Greater) Scaup, Surf scoter, Goldeneye, Red-breasted merganser, and Ruddy and Tufted ducks.


(Ring-necked) Pheasant. Everywhere.


(Northern) Gannet. (Great) Cormorant.


Little egret. Grey heron.


Marsh harrier. Hen harrier. Sparrowhawk. Kestrel (bigger than a Merlin). Merlin. Raptors in general are few and far between. Where my Pacific Northwest birding friends would be looking for a red-tail, the fields are eerily still here.


Moorhen. (European) Coot.


Oystercatcher. Ringed, Golden, and Grey (Black-bellied) plovers. Lapwing (see picture above). Sanderling. Dunlin. Black-tailed and Bar-tailed godwits. Snipe. Curlew (must be different than the N. American variety ~ they seem much smaller). Redshank. Greenshank. (Ruddy) Turnstone.


Black-headed, Ring-billed, Common, Herring, and Great Blacked-backed gulls. Kittiwake.


Woodpigeon and Collared and Turtle doves.


Kingfisher (much smaller and brighter than the North American cousin).


Tree, Meadow, and Rock pipits. Grey and Pied wagtails. Wren. Dunnock. Robin. Stonechat.


Blackbird and Song and Mistle thrushes.


Sedge warbler.


Blackcap. Chiffchaff. Goldcrest (a kinglet). Long-tailed, Coal, Blue, and Great tits.


Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Hooded crow, and Raven. Starling.


House and Tree sparrows.


And finally, Green, Bull and Goldfinches (the latter very different than the American version).


In other news Polly and I are taking off for Kenmare in County Kerry this weekend for the Easter break. It is from there that we will explore the famous Ring of Kerry: a drive around the mountainous Iveragh Peninsula in southwestern Ireland. Driving the Ring is required material for any tourist; and most do so in coaches. We're hoping to get out in front of the crowds by going this weekend in our little car.


In true Irish fashion, most of the locals spend the 3 or 4 day weekend (depending where you work, 4 days for me) drinking. Although companies that require attendance on Good Friday are in turn required to allow for folks to go to mass... The pubs, surprisingly, will be closed. So the off-licenses (liquor stores) will be doing a brisk trade tonight!


Cheers and Happy Easter!

1 comment:

Linda S said...

Hi David and Polly - glad to hear you're getting your tourist legs. Thanks for the bird update (Polly knows how I feel about the bird species!) but I'll be watching for the pub update to follow. Sounds like you're settling in well. We miss you both here at HAL!