Saturday, December 8, 2012

American Coot

I started my day out in Sixmilebridge early this morning to see the Waxwings that turned up there earlier in the week.  I met John Rattigan who was the original finder of this flock.  As we were there Mike Flannagan and Geoff Hunt arrived at the same time.  We all watched the four birds feeding on the catoneaster berries along the wall of the GAA pitch before John headed off to work in the Museum for the day.  Geoff and Mike kindly invited me to travel with them to see the American Coot up in Connemara, so I was delighted to go along.  On the way we took in the Lesser Scaup at Lough Gash near my house before heading off to west Galway.  When we arrived at Lough Murlach there was no sign of the bird. The Coot eventually swam out into the middle of the lake after a half hour search.  The light was bad and the promised clear sunny weather never materialised, nevertheless we were all delighted just to see the bird and get a few photos.

American Coot © John N Murphy

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