Patch Birding - Spring 2020

Monaghan. Everyone wishes they lived there…don’t they? I would certainly prefer a coastal patch as the chances of finding decent stuff is surely increased. Duck numbers, even in winter are relatively low compared to other parts of the country. Most springs, my birding would be focused elsewhere such as Wexford but with increased coverage this year, the return has been decent.

Before the lockdown, on 9^th February 2020, after dipping on a Dowitcher sp. found near Dundalk, Co. Louth by Paul Kelly, Dad and I planned to check some lakes much closer to home. Between November and March each year we check the local lakes several times a week. Monalty Lough was our first stop, after a few minutes of scanning we had almost given up when I caught a glimpse of a duck diving with open wings. I immediately suspected Long-tailed Duck, and my suspicions were soon confirmed when it very briefly returned to the surface before diving again. The two of us eventually managed decent views in difficult light. With the sun in our faces, it was very tricky to attempt to age this bird. More views would be needed. The following day much better views were managed, and it was obvious this was a second calendar year male or first-winter bird. Decent record shots were obtained and we went home happy! Only a second county record following on from a bird that Eamonn Larrissey found on Lough Fea in winter 2007.

Second-calendar year male Long-tailed Duck

The following week, the 16^th of February, our usual tour of the lakes was back to normal with almost no birds. After checking 8 lakes our aythya count was only at 4! Desperate stuff. I was meant to be in work at 6 pm that evening and time was getting on. Dad recommended that we should check Moylan Lough, a lake I was never really that pushed on. We were passing nearby so we checked it just in case. Before even getting out of the car we could see that there was a nice Tufted Duck flock quite close in! I set the scope up and started scanning. The first bird in the scope…Ring-necked Duck! Happy days. It showed well and it had me almost convinced this was an adult male, however, I needed to double-check…I needed to see it flap! Again, dad and I managed excellent views. I attached the phone to the scope and started recording. I knew time was getting on and I was anxious to correctly age it before we had to head off. At this stage, I was now watching the bird on the phone screen which was attached to the scope, when it started to preen…I was very hopeful we would see it flap! Our luck was in… it stood up on the water, flapped and showed its dusky belly! To my surprise, it was a first winter! A nice learning experience. Remarkably, this was now at least the 14^th different Ring-necked Duck I’ve managed to see the county and the 15^th record! A Lesser Scaup is seriously overdue. We managed to just about squeeze in the Long-tailed Duck before I needed to be in work. A nice duck-double! The Ring-necked Duck was last seen on the 8^th of March and many managed to obtain excellent views and it acted as a good supporting cast for those who travelled for the nearby Tundra Bean Goose. As the weeks went on it was nice to see the dusky feathering on the belly retreat and become almost adult-like by the time it departed. 

Second-calendar year male Ring-necked Duck

New scarce and rare birds were hard to come by for the next few weeks, however, with fluctuating numbers of aythyas each week, it was obvious that many ducks were passing through the county on their way to their breeding grounds. John Cusack was the last to see the Long-tailed Duck at Monalty Lough in mid-March and managed the best images and footage of it. Once the lockdown was introduced, visits to Moylan Lough and other nearby lakes were done daily. I had great hopes for Moylan especially after Niall Keogh mentioned that inland wader passage can be decent in the right conditions. Birding was very slow which could be expected in a landlocked county in Spring. That being said, late on the 6^th April, I picked up another or the same 2cy male Long-tailed Duck with a small flock of Tufted Ducks on Moylan Lough. With the light fading rapidly it was impossible to tell if it was the same bird that was on Monalty Lough. The following day the bird was gone and a thorough search of ideal nearby sites drew a blank. That was until a week later when I picked it up again only this time on Lough Fea. Excellent views were obtained and I was more than happy that it was the same bird that was on Monalty Lough. I last saw this super duck on the 21^st April when it was displaying like mad to a female Tufted Duck! They’d get up on a cracked plate the ducks! It was joined briefly that evening by a Canada Goose which dropped in after I picked it up from dizzying heights! This really caught me by surprise. I heard a distant Great-spotted Woodpecker calling on the far side of the lake which is still a pretty good bird in Ireland. I re-joined with dad who had been birding the far side of the lake who had two Great-spotted Woodpeckers drumming quite close but due to the thick vegetation, he was unable to see them. On the 29^th April, after 4 tries, we finally got eyes on a Woodpecker, a lovely adult male at that! It appeared to be feeding rather than attending a nest but further visits may prove otherwise. It was still present on the 11^{th of} May. 

Adult male Great spotted Woodpecker

Daily visits to Moylan Lough over a few weeks turned up a lovely flock of 56 Golden Plovers, Common Sandpipers (with a minimum of 3 on the 1^st May), a Lapwing pair appear to be breeding, and a flock of Whimbrels on the 28^th of April. Slow enough birding but beggars can’t be choosers! The early hours of the 7^th May had heavy rain and southerlies. I was quietly confident that there might be a few waders in. I drove out to Moylan Lough with dad and we were greeted with fishermen and a young lad with a dog walking along the edge of the lake. We almost kept going due to the disturbance but just in case we scanned. Due to the now very low water level, there are several little inlets which the waders can bury themselves which makes it a bit tricky to scan properly from the road. The dog ran along the shoreline flushing everything in its wake. As I scanned the far shore, I immediately latched onto a racket coming from above us. A call which I had only heard two or three times before. Wood Sandpipers!!! I still hadn’t seen them however and I was frantically scanning the sky looking for it. After what seemed like minutes and what was probably only a few seconds I had it! However, I couldn’t believe it when I noticed that there was, in fact, two Wood Sandpipers! They bombed past us at close range and got quite high, before lowering down again. Luckily, I managed to scope them in flight for almost two minutes allowing super views. The most striking thing about them was the gleaming white rump. It was the first time I’ve ever been able to pick up the neat, black tail bars on a flying Wood Sandpiper. The bill was relatively short and the underwings were a light grey. The toes projected past the tail. It was gutting to see them try to land back in numerous times only to be spooked by the dog. They eventually continued North-East giving the constant call of what I can only describe as young birds begging for food in a nest. It was amazing to hear their calls echo out around the lake. Without a doubt, the most adrenaline-filled patch moment I’ve had to date! A first county record. Awesome birding! We hoped that they may return to roost at the lake, so we returned just before dawn the next morning and waited for it to get bright. It was obvious fairly quickly that they had unfortunately kept going and were never seen again. 

Moylan Lough looking mega.

The following day was the global eBird big day and we were out birding again to do our bit for the national tally. It was a rather slow day with 6 Lesser black-backed Gulls, 3 Whimbrel, Kingfisher, 2 Lapwing and a Grey Heron which eventually managed to swallow an Eel after a long struggle. We planned to finish up at Ballyhoe Lough that evening. We arrived and I immediately picked up the continuing Shoveler pair in the reeds. The Grey Herons were again after a proper meal when one managed to catch what was probably a 2- or 3-pound Bream x Roach hybrid. It eventually had to let it go as its eye was too big for his belly! As we scanned the lake numerous times, more so just enjoying the nice evening, I was completely stunned to pick up an immaculate drake Garganey! Surprisingly it was out in the middle of the lake and not in the reeds where I would have expected one to be… where was that all evening! We both managed nice views through the scope and it was dads first since a drake at Tacumshin in April 2011. I immediately rang Peter Phillips who only lives over the road from Ballyhoe Lough and he was on-site in minutes to watch this super duck. It was certainly the most obliging Garganey I’ve seen to date, only spending a very short time in the reeds. It spent 90% of its time in the Monaghan section of the lake although a couple of times it swam well into the Meath section of the lake also. Another county first! Sadly, there was no sign the following day on the 10^th of May.

Drake Garganey.

I have found patch birding extremely enjoyable and rewarding. The areas that are being birded, would never be looked at outside of the winter months. It just goes to show what could be turning up inland in the country. Whiskered Tern next.