http://www.birdguides.com/birdwatch Birdwatch•October 2017 11
BIRD NEWS THE BIG STORIES
FIRST FOR BIRD NEWSFIRST FOR BIRD NEWSFirst for bird newsFirst for bird news
FINDER’S REPORTWHEN the rst reports of a
few American waders started
to come in on 3 September,
I knew it was time to start
checking along the storm-
beaches, as I do every autumn.
Earlier in the week at The Long
Rock, Aughris, I had refound a
Laughing Gull that was seen in
the north of the county a couple
of weeks earlier. It was while
looking for this that one of my
birding friends, Declan, found
a juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper. I
had also found a Buff-bellied
Pipit here last October: all very
encouraging.
I started out late Sunday
morning because the tide was
low and the reefs along the
west Sligo coast were exposed.
This gives birds a huge foraging
area among the seaweed
and boulders, so it’s next to
impossible to give it proper
coverage. However, when the
tide covers the reefs, birds are
more easily seen as they feed
among the seaweed deposited
high on storm-beaches duringWayward whimbrel
Séamus Feeney scored a mega-rare Nearctic shorebird
along his favoured stretch of Sligo coast.Hudsonian Whimbrel: Castletown, Co Sligo, 3-9 Septemberspring tides. After stopping by
to see the Baird’s Sandpiper,
I continued west and checked
another three storm-beaches
before reaching Castletown, about
half a mile west of Easkey.
As usual here, I pulled the car
up to the beach and had a quick
scan before getting out. I didn’t
see anything, but as I was leaving
the car, three whimbrels ew in
to the beach about 50 m to my
left. As they banked, I saw a dark
rump on one of them. I don’t
know if my blood pressure rose or
dropped, I just felt something in my
stomach. I just thought ‘Hudsonian
Whimbrel, what now?’
The car was facing the wrong
way for me to get a photo but
I knew that if I got out it might
y off, never to be seen again.
I slowly manoeuvred the car
towards the grass track that ran
along the beach and took a few
photos. The birds ew. My heart
sank. Thankfully, they landed just
a couple of hundred metres to
the east. I didn’t dare get out of
the car. I decided to keep an eyeon them while I contacted my
closest birding friends and
prepared for the long wait until
their arrival.
While the two Eurasian
Whimbrels were feeding with no
obvious concern, the Hudsonian
was feeding nervously, standing
with its neck outstretched,
jumping whenever a Rook
came close or an Oystercatcher
piped. Then they were up and
away again, but only another
couple of hundred metres
further east – though if this
happened again, that would be
the end of it.
When the others arrived, I
was only able to show them
distant scope views. We
were mulling over walking the
beach for a better look, but
there’s not much cover so
the risk was driving them off
altogether. Then, unbelievably,
they ew right back to us,
landing within 30 m. Cue
panic and the checking of
camera settings, the sound
of shutters, the odd swear
word and three happy birders.
The bird eventually settled
a couple of miles west of the
original site and was seen
by many birders over the
following week. ■STATS & FACTS
First recorded: Fair Isle,
Shetland, 27-31 May 1955.
Last recorded: Pagham
Harbour LNR, West Sussex,
9 June-27 July 2015.
Previous British records:
9
Previous Irish records: 4
Mega rating: ★★★★★phone signal meant Martin
had to return to the obs, but
it wasn’t long before the rst
local birders came rushing to
the scene.
For a few hours the bird
proved frustratingly dif cult
to get to grips with. It was
clearly quite active, mobile and
occasionally vocal, but largely
stayed within the sallow clump
and only rarely afforded more
than tantalising glimpses in
the open or brief ight views.
Towards dusk it became
more vocal and visible, even
ycatching at times from the
tree-tops, although by this time
the views in relatively poor light
imparted the impression of
a bird with subdued plumage
tones and perhaps didn’t
convey to the gathering crowd
quite how vividly bright it had
looked in sunshine during the
afternoon.
Surprisingly, considering the
bird almost certainly arrived
overnight or earlier in the day
in the wake of the remains
of Hurricane Gert and might
have been expected to make
a longer recuperative stay, this
late urry of activity proved to
be the precursor to it vanishing,
and it could not be found the
next day. It’s estimated that at
least 200 birders connected in
the few hours that the bird was
available. ■The very bright ‘humbug’ crown stripes of Hudsonian Whimbrel are
apparent as it stands on rocks behind one of the local Common Gulls;
the head markings of Eurasian Whimbrel are generally less contrasting.The cinnamon-toned underwings are fairly obvious on
this fl ight shot of the Hudsonian Whimbrel, while there is
not even a hint of the white rump of Eurasian.IAN LYCETTPHOTOS: SÉAMUS FEENEY1710 p008-011 bigStories FIN.indd 11 15/09/2017 13: