Bird Observations Day to Day.

Saturday 4 March 2006

The Big Twitch

        

No, I have not been out bird watching again in fact I have been in bed with the cold, told you I was of unsound mind on Tuesday.  I found the  picture  above taken 30th October 2004 at a place called Kilrenny in Fife. On that particular day we were at Fife Ness the very tip of Fife in fact it is the most easterly point of Scotland. We had word that there was a Red Backed Shrike at Kilrenny (Via Pager very modern us birders) so we headed back to that location.  When we got there a small amount of birders had assembled.  The Warden from Vane Farm was with us and he started to doubt the identification. Red Backed Shrikes are quite rare but not what we call a mega bird (great terms we have).  The bird had been caught and ringed and measured and would you believe it, it was a first for the British Isles it was a Masked Shrike.  Now you may all think that birding on the scale I do it is rare, the picture above is of the site the next day as birders from all over Britain flocked to see it and it was like that for many days to come as the little bird was very accommodating and gave us all tremendous views. I have had a lot of trouble with the picture as my copy is not all that clear but I think you can get an idea of the amount of people our little friend entertained.  It was the biggest twitch I have ever been on and was a real exiting day imagine it, the very first time this bird had been seen in Great Britain and I saw it.

                     

The Star of the year The Masked Shrike.

3 comments:

  1. He looks a tiny little bird Joan ~ how did they catch it to be able to ring it ?  ~ Glad you had an exciting day and were among the first in Gt Britain to see it  ~ "hope you are feeling better today"   ~ Ally

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  2. Hi Joan,  I was going to ask the same as Ally, how did they catch such a small bird?  It is very pretty though and lucky you for being there at the time. :o)

    Sandra xxxxx

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  3. This is wonderful Joan, best I can do at the moment is my resident Hobby and a barn owl on Saturday. Not headline sightings but very enjoyable all the same. Hope you are getting over your cold. Take care.
    Sylvia xxx

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About Me

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Hi, I'm Joan I live in Scotland with my hubby of 48 years. We are both retired and enjoying life to the full well nearly. We are always out and about doing this and that. We love the countryside and do a bit of birdwatching and even twitch from time to time. We also visit art galleries and hubby does a bit of watercolour painting. Me I read a lot mainly thillers. I have been been keeping a journal for over five years over on AOL but we are being thrown out so this is my new home.

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