Myrtle/Yellow-rumped Warblers (Florida) © John N Murphy
At about lunchtime Friday the 5th October
2012 the phone began to hop. Hugh
Delaney had just found an EASTERN KINGBIRD on Inishmore, the Aran Islands in
Galway. As this was a first record for Ireland and the western Palearctic, I
new that I would have to get out to Inishmore to see this MEGA rarity. I was in near by Connemeara but
after talking with Dermot Breen I
found out that the last flights out to the island were full. Also the last ferry that evening would
not get me out within daylight hours to see the bird.
So without delay I phoned the Gerathy brothers at the
Cliffs of Moher Cruises in Doolin, to see if I could charter and early morning
boat to the islands the following morning. They quickly obliged and by the end of Friday night there
were 65 bodies booked for the 7.00am departure from Doolin.
The slow boat to Aran was an agonising trip for
all. As we approach the news was
not good as the bird had not been seen since 18.20 of the previous day. What made it even tougher was the fact
that the Belted Kingfisher in Lough Fee near Letterfrack, had just been
relocate and positively identified.
This was true torture for many of the twichers on boards, as they were now
half way to the Arans and by the time they got back to Doolin after dipping on
the KINGBIRD, they would have a 2 and a half hour drive to North Galway to try
and tick off the Kingfisher. Fortunately enough I had seen one at home in
Ballyvaughan, Clare 28 years previously.
No need for me to rush off and I knew I was back in Leenaun during the
week for some works so chances were that if the bird stuck around I might be
able to catch up with it.
On our arrival at Kilronan, four 16 seater minibuses were
there to meet us and whisk us all off the Kilmurvey at the far end of the
island. Once at Kilmurvey people
scattered about to try and relocate the KINGBIRD. A small group of us decided to check Gort na gCapaill, east
of the spot where the KINGBIRD was last located. I was familiar with this area from previous trips where an
old birding buddy Tony Mee and I way back in the late 1980’s, found Galway’s
first Icterine and Garden Warblers in the willows of this part of Inishmore.
We did a quick scan of the little marsh before
splitting up to search a few small gardens. At 10.28 Finbarr MacGabhann called me down to the marsh
where he and Tony spotted some interesting bird flitting about in a nearby
willow. I got glimpses of it and
at first thought I saw the yellow wing flashes of a juvenile Goldfich. A little pish and the bird rose up
along a willow stake to reveal his bright yellow rump and it immediately became
obvious that it was a Myrtle or Yellow-rumped Warbler. I had seen one here before and hundreds
in the US. So Tony, Finbarr, Barry
Howell and watched the birds for a couple of minutes before I headed off to try
and get a phone signal to release the news (a story for another day).
When I eventually got in touch with Kieran Grace he
told me there was another bird found near Kilmurvey at 10.50. It later came to light that this bird was originally found at 10.26 by John Lovatt and Gerard Murray. Later that
afternoon Chris Batty found another Myrtle Warbler in Kilronan village near the
primary school. Of course this
showed up just as we were all heading to catch the ferry home. Not much time
was spent observing this bird. I got no shots of the Gort na gCapaill bird, and
from looking at images of the Kilronan individual which looked like a bright
first-winter male, I am convinced that the bird we had was duller with less
yellow on the flanks more reminiscent of a first-winter female. Given that Hugh pulled out the islands
second record of Blackpoll Warbler the following day, I would not be surprised
if there were half a dozen Yellow-rumps on Inishmore throughout the weekend.
John N Murphy
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