Glaucous Gull

This first-winter Glaucous Gull was feeding on a dead pup seal  along the shore near Cromane, Castlemaine, Kerry late this evening.  The tide was fully in and the Spoonbill was roosting on a headland east of the pier at Cromane.

First-winter Glaucous Gull at Cromane John N Murphy

Little Egret

I was back in search of the White-winged Scoter at Rossbeigh, County Kerry again yesterday.  This time we struck gold and got distant views of the bird about 3-400 meters out in the bay. We were lucky that the sea was calm and everyone who travelled to see the bird got respectable views throughout the day.  This bird is a first Irish record and thought to be of the Siberian race Melanitta stejnegeri and not North American Melanitta deglandi as first predicted.  While in the area we went to see the Spoonbill again and I got shots of this Little Egret in the same pool where the Spoonbill fed.

Little Egret coming into breeding plumage

Adult Spoonbill seen feeding with the Little Egret

Brent Geese

On the way to see the Spoonbill at Cromane yesterday, there were lots of Brent Geese feeding the shore, many of whom were wearing colour leg bands.

Spoonbill

I was lecturing at a small school near Lissycasey in west Clare this morning.  When I checked my mobile, I had missed 17 calls to alert me of a White-winged Scoter found at Rossbeigh, County Kerry.  This is a first Irish record of this Trans-Atlantic sea duck. So a few of us headed off to try and twitch the bird but to no avail.  At nearby Cromane we knew a Spoonbill was overwintering there, as he has done for the past four winters.  With five hours spent looking for the scoter with out any luck, as a bonus, we decided to head to Cromane with the hope of seeing the Spoonbill, to tick it off our year list.  Below are shots of the bird that was fairly approachable.