Northern Wheatears & Wagtails

I came across a freshly sown and rolled field near Ballycastle in North Mayo this afternoon.  There was a flock of 60 Wheatear and a handful of White Wagtails. They were all mainly male Wheatears, and they appeared extremely colorful.  Most of the Wheatears looked like the race Oenanthe oenanthe luecorcora from Greenland.  Later in the evening I found a coastal field west of Killala Bay that had a flock of 70 White Wagtails and six pristine male Pied Wagtails.  These Pied Wagtails were probably migrating with the whites.

Grasshopper Warbler

Warblers were also very vocal today in North Mayo with a few singing male Sedge Warblers and plenty of Grasshopper Warblers reeling off their song.

Glaucous Gull

I took a quick look at Killala Harbour where I had the Thayer's Gull in January and the same first-summer Glaucous Gull was hanging around the pier.  I suspect he is waiting for the wind to shift from the North before he heads home to Iceland.

Siskin

Again, today, while surveying an area of North Mayo, I came across pairs of Siskins as they came down by the roadsides gathering materials to build their nests.

Dipper

I came upon these Dippers nesting in a small tributary stream of the Owenmore River near Bellacorrick in Mayo this afternoon.  The chicks in the nest were almost big enough to be leaving their home which I'm sure they will do over the next day or so.

Whimbrel

I was back in Bellmullet early this morning where there were still a lot of Wheatears and a larger build up of Whimbrel in the fields.

Bellmullet, Mayo

I was back in Bellmullet, Mayo late this evening and had a chance to check out Annagh Head and Termoncarran Lake before it got dark.  There were massive numbers of Wheatears migrating through and Skylarks were also plentiful.  One second-summer Iceland Gull was found feeding with a flock of Common Gulls, but there was little else of note other than small numbers of Whimbrel migrating North.