Luxor - 30 March to 1 April

We took the night train to Luxor (highly recommended by the way, lots of fun, quite comfortable and the food was decent), arriving at our hotel on the Nile (Iberotel) before 8:00am. I immediately abandoned the family and had myself dropped off at the well known. Crocodile Island (see following blog entries for details).

The hotel grounds weren't particularly birdy, with the exception of a group of at least 7 Senegal Thick-knees which appeared each evening on the bank of the river just upstream from the hotel. Apart from this the birds were as expected. Lots of various species of heron flying back and forth (including Striated Heron), as well as numbers of Glossy Ibis, decent numbers of Pied Kingfishers, and my only Turtle Dove of the trip.

Senegal Thick-knee. Appeared on the riverbank just before sunset each evening, returning just after sunrise. Noisy, but difficult to approach.

Pied Kingfisher. Ubiquitous on the main river.

Black Kite. Small numbers pretty much everywhere.

Spur-winged Plover. Always near water, and quite easy to approach. They were highly alert, and ready to dive-bomb intruders, so presumably nests were nearby.

Cairo, 27th - 29th March

A family holiday to Egypt for the Easter holidays was a nice opportunity to find some new birds.

We started in Cairo, staying in an apartment on Gezira island in the middle of the Nile. City birding in the Middle East can be pretty limited, but it helps when you have a bloody great river running through the middle of it. Most of my birding was from the apartment, which overlooked both the Nile itself and a small park.

The birds were fairly typical. Common Bulbuls, Laughing Dove, Hooded Crow and House Sparrows were the commonest species. Both Ring-necked Parakeet and Alexandrine Parakeet used the park, as did a number of Hoopoe. Black Kites were everywhere in small numbers, as were Pallid Swift. The river was a flyway for several species of heron, particularly Cattle and Little Egrets, Squacco Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Pied Kingfisher were quite common, but White-throated Kingfisher was much less so. The first of the Egyptian specialities I found was the cleopatra subcpecies of Little Green Bee-eater.

Little Green Bee-eater, ssp. cleopatra. Only on the edge of the desert in the Cairo area

Hoopoe. Only in the park near the apartment.

Common Bulbul.

A surprise was finding a small population of Alexandrine Parakeet in the park.

Possible Black-bellied Dipper in Dublin

Found the day of the arrival of The Beast from the East, this unusually dark-bellied dipper has been hanging around the same spot on the river Dodder in the middle of Dublin. If it is a Black-bellied Dipper it has been pushed across from continental Europe, the closest area that is occurs is probably Denmark.

The Irish race of Dipper, ssp. Cinclus cinclus hibernicus has a narrower chestnut breast band than the British race (C. c. gularis). This bird has a few chestnut feathers only.

Wherever it comes from, this bird shows no signs of homesickness, and seems to be collecting nesting material in preparation for a long stay...

Storm aftermath...

The wind had died down considerably so I repeated yesterday's pattern, looking for what the storm had blown in.

First stop was Bray Harbour, which still had the juvenile Glaucous Gull in the harbour itself, and 2 Mediterranean Gulls feeding in the surf just past the north wall.

I decided to try the south beach, an excellent choice as there were hundreds of gulls milling about, feeding on what was being washed up. A couple of Mediterranean Gulls showed, including one with a colour ring. In the same flock was the adult Ring-billed Gull that has been hanging around all winter. Best of all though were the two adult winter Little Gulls feeding in the surf.

Absolute stunners, these two Little Gulls showed brilliantly, actively feeding in the surf along with the Black-headed Gulls...

 ...where they really stood out.

A few times the birds got very close to the surface of the water, behaving almost like storm petrels

The juvenile Glaucous Gull still haunts Bray Harbour!

The Ring-billed Gull seems to be getting used to me now, this is the closest I've got to it, and it was very calm.

Mediterranean Gull, ring number 3AAA.

Ringed as a nestling on 16/06/13
in Denmark (55.01N, 10.39E). It has spent every winter in the Dublin bay area, with records from Booterstown, Dun Laoghaire, and , most regularly, Bray. A single sighting in Cork 03/02/14 was the only Irish record away from this stretch of coast. It's been seen back in Denmark once, as well as Germany and South Yorkshire (presumably on passage)


After that triumphant start to the day I decided to push my luck and see what was up at ECNR. A large flock of mixed thrushes was in the main field, including about 140 Redwing. The two Glossy Ibis were also in the same field, along with the Carrion Crow x Hooded Crow.

The whole place was very birdy, with new arrivals including a decent group of Meadow Pipits and a solitary Chiffchaff. 3 Bullfinches showed amazingly well in the hedgerow.

ebird list from Bray Harbour
ebird list from Bray south beach
ebird list from ECNR

It looks like one of the wintering Glossy Ibis has come a cropper, only two there today.

Meadow Pipit in the snow

Male Bullfinch showing off.

More bad weather

Another cold weather front from the east brought more snow and heavy seas. This time I targeted Bray harbour for stray gulls, and ECNR for winter thrushes. I struck gold in both places, with the juvenile Glaucous Gull at Bray, and both Redwing and Fieldfare at ECNR.

The winds were incredibly strong, making birding very difficult, so I gave up at about 11:00.

There were a total of 7 Fieldfare scattered in with the Redwing flocks

There is apparently a hybrid Carrion x Hooded Crow at ECNR, and this may be it. I'll need to get a better view of the flanks to be sure.

Juvenile Glaucous Gull at Bray harbour

Gull day in Bray

The cold front last week apparently caused a very rapid drop in sea temperature, with a devastating effect on large numbers of sea creatures. The beach north of Bray harbour was full of large gulls feeding on the large numbers of fish and squid that were being washed up. Highlights were a pair of Glaucous Gulls and a Ring-billed Gull.

In the harbour itself the long-staying Ring-billed Gull showed very well. Here it's posing nicely with a Common Gull.

Bothe this and the next are first winter Glaucous Gull. This individual is similar to the bird I saw at Sean Walsh Park in Tallaght last week, though it seems less well marked, and appears to be developing a pale bill-tip.

A much paler bird than the previous one, probably due to wear.

Dippers and Otters...

An unusually dark-bellied Dipper was reported on the river Dodder in Dublin last weekend. I tried for it, but the water levels have risen considerably with the melting snow so it wasn't the most Dipper-friendly stream. One bird did show however, but I don't think it was the suspected foreign visitor.

Dipper, ssp. hibernicus.

While waiting for the Dipper to appear a pair of River Otters showed up. A completely unexpected bonus in this river flowing through a major city!

They stayed in the area below the weir for quite a while, and made at least two successful catches...

They used the same area both times to actually feed, it must be a regular haunt...

Garden Siskins...

The cold snap has brought some scarcer birds to the Nylger seed feeders. including 3 Siskins today.

More Gulls in Tallaght

The high winds have dropped, but there is still a lot of snow all over the place. There was little traffic on the road, so I took the opportunity to try and clean up on those gulls I missed on Thursday at Sean Walsh Park. First up was the third winter Iceland Gull. It's a bit dirty looking, but a lovely bird nonetheless.

The next target species was a Yellow-legged Gull that has been reported recently. There was nothing doing there, but I did spot a very dark Lesser Black-backed Gull that looks like it might be intermedius.

There was also a gull that may be a hybrid that has been puzzling Dublin birders for a few years. It has some characteristics of Caspian Gull, but not all.

Third winter Iceland Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull, ssp. intermedius

The gull previously identified as Caspian Gull...

Common Redpoll

The Beast from the East

The unusual weather continues, but even more so. Strong easterlies are blowing in, bringing extreme cold and a fair bit of snow. Some interesting gulls have been reported, so I dropped in at Sean Walsh Park in Tallaght for a first winter Glaucous Gull, a real Beast (from the north). There were plenty of other birds there, including half a dozen Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

ebird list for Sean Walsh Park

 First winter Glaucous Gull

Adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull