Bird News from Nial Moores
As part of preparation for a possible restoration project (MUCH more on that in later blog posts if all proceeds well), I spent the day in glorious spring weather walking through some riverine habitats, observing aircraft flight patterns, and stopping off to see Korea’s first Great-tailed Grackle, – “untickable” but still remarkable to see out of the Americas.
Although there were access restrictions in some areas still because of fears of poultry flu, additional highlights included two adult globally Vulnerable Lesser White-fronted Geese (both of which fed furiously, and looked rather too plump to have just arrived); more than 100 Eastern Taiga Bean Goose still; my personal first Little Ringed Plover of the year; decent numbers of Dusky Thrush (definitely mostly migrants); a group of eight Little Bunting together (a little unusual in the southeast); several confiding Eurasian Hoopoe (nowadays a fairly common winter visitor to the southeast); two long-staying over-wintering Long-billed Dowitcher together with 11 Northern Lapwing; and the first decent numbers of butterflies, most of which predictably were Asian Comma, but which also included two Blue Admirals.
Checklists for the day on eBird at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S218000310 and https://ebird.org/checklist/S218000689.
