Male Garganey. This bird has returned to a small pond every year for the last four years, always in February, which is a few weeks earlier than the species normally occurs here (they are a rare but possibly overlooked breeding species, and the only duck breeding in Ireland that is a summer visitor).
Male Yellowhammer. Declining due to changes in farming practices, but still locally common. There are still good numbers in eastern County Cork, which is where this bird was seen.
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2cy male Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Still waiting for one in my garden (yard), should get some overhead at least later in the year, when juveniles have fledged and are wandering. This bird landed so close that the pic above was digibinned...
Yo fellow Americans- how would we recognize the Sparrowhawk if we saw it here- dark auriculars? Looks damn close to a Sharpie.
ReplyDeleteWe have the opposite problem here, where we may be overlooking autumn Sharp-shinned (surely as likely as Taiga Merlin, which has been recorded here). Juv Sparrowhawk is barred (horizontally) below, unlike the streaked breast of a Sharpie, but they do look awfully similar otherwise, from what I have seen from pics of Sharp-shinned.
ReplyDeleteYellowhammers are cool
ReplyDeleteIndeed Yellowhammers are cool. Heck buntings in general are pretty badass. Agreed, that bird looks pretty damn similar to a sharpie to my only ho-hum raptor identifying eyes... Also - no comments on the goldeneye getting it on in the slideshow yet? I put it in there for laughs about a week ago and still no one has noticed?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I miss Garganey
ReplyDelete