County Galway Birding (local patch) (2 Viewers)

[Dermot Breen]

That's a fair enough statement. You could say the same about most of Ireland. I'm amazed at the amount of stuff that is found in this country considering the low number of active and experienced Irish birders.

 

[shropshirelad63]

No signs of any terns today at nimmos, only 66 Ringies on the playing fields

 

[shropshirelad63]

50 White Fronts at Belclare today, 70 Greylag with a Snow Goose at Rostaff. Couldnt decide where to go for the last hour so i tried to find a Hen Harrier from Menlo....and the last scan of the day produced a ringtail over Coolanillaun:t:

 

[Dermot Breen]

50 White Fronts at Belclare today, 70 Greylag with a Snow Goose at Rostaff. Couldnt decide where to go for the last hour so i tried to find a Hen Harrier from Menlo....and the last scan of the day produced a ringtail over Coolanillaun:t:

That Snow Goose would be the fourth county record with the last being in 1950. The Rostaff flock of Greylags contains a few white farmyard types, could it possibly be one of these do you think?

 

[shropshirelad63]

I,d say it is feral! there was also a hybrid Greylag/Snow sorry i said Snow Goose! i meant a "white" goose....

 

[Dermot Breen]

I think I might have even seen one or two feral type Canada Geese there in the past also which may have hybridised with the Greylags also.

 

[shropshirelad63]

Barnacle Goose amongst 19 Greylags at Oughtarard pier today. also was told of Golden Eagle further to NW unfortunatly i was about 5 mins too late and it had gone:-C just a Raven

 

[Forktailedswift]

Wonder could it have been the white tailed eagle that's been knocking around the lake?

 

[shropshirelad63]

Could be, seem to remember a Golden being seen around the area a couple of years back....

 

[shropshirelad63]

Peregrine over the car yesterday on Glann rd Oughterard

 

[shropshirelad63]

50 Brent Geese at Tawin today and a couple of Ravens, was trying to photo a Plover which was tagged onto the back of about 300 Goldens, slightly smaller and darker with an obvious dark shoulder before a gun went off and scattered all....

 

[shropshirelad63]

sure its just a Golden, just a bit different to the others, centre of pic at back

 

[shropshirelad63]

went to Cloosh in the hope of spotting crossbills, and yes saw a small flock, happy days, theres a lot of work going on there at the mo, and it seems you can drive straight to the the lough-not sure if this was poss before? a small car park has been created, next to the discarded bbq trays and empty tins of Polish lager....some of the tracks marked on the map dont exist-as we found out! oh, and the flies are back:eek!:got bitten to death last year

 

[Finbirder]

Hi

I will be visiting Galway in the beginning of April with my wife for 3 days. We are on a tourist trip but I would like to know if there are some good places also from birding perspective. Is there any chance of seeing some rare gulls in the harbours (Nimmo's Pier?). Ring-billed Gulls, Forster's Tern?Or any other rare species? How about any chance of seeing some nice seabirds from Cliffs of Moher etc.?

On this trip I would love to have some advice on places that are worth seeing both tourism and birdwise

Cheers!
-Finbirder

 

[Helsinki Birder]

Hi

I will be visiting Galway in the beginning of April with my wife for 3 days. We are on a tourist trip but I would like to know if there are some good places also from birding perspective. Is there any chance of seeing some rare gulls in the harbours (Nimmo's Pier?). Ring-billed Gulls, Forster's Tern?Or any other rare species? How about any chance of seeing some nice seabirds from Cliffs of Moher etc.?

On this trip I would love to have some advice on places that are worth seeing both tourism and birdwise

Cheers!
-Finbirder

Hi Finbirder,

There should still be a few gulls at places like Nimmos pier and rossaveel.
The Forster's tern, if still around moves between doorus and Nimmos.
The cliffs of Moher will likely have breeding seabirds such as auks, kittiwakes etc. If you want manx shearwater I would suggest scanning from black head on the north clare coast, west of ballyvaughan. This area should also produce Great Northern Divers. The area is quite scenically beautiful, taking you through the Burren.

Edit: Also, if you get your hands on where to find birds in Ireland by Eric Dempsey, I think you would find it invaluable for sites, maps and where to find any species of interest.

Regards

Owen

 

[Finbirder]

Thank you for the advice Owen! Looking forward for this trip. Nimmo's pier seems like a good and easy place to have a look at as well as the coastline in general.

 

[shropshirelad63]

Hello Finbirder, dont know if you have/are on the trip right now (3rd April) If you get chance, a coach trip to Connemara is worth a trip from a tourist perspective. Dont know how far you want to travel but there has been a Surf Scoter off Lahinch co Clare for several weeks, and its a nice drive with a chance of Divers/Gannets/Scoters etc best wishes

 

[Finbirder]

Thank you for your tip shropshirelad63. Today evening (4th April)we will arrive to Galway and stay there until tuesday April 7th and then have one day in Dublin before leaving back. We are not planning to rent a car but let's see if there will be some day bus tours available to the places mentioned. I think we'll do the Cliffs of Moher first and if there's time then also Connemara. At least I will check the Nimmo's in the City and hopefully have the chance to scan the coastline a bit also.

 

[shropshirelad63]

Look out for these birds at Cliffs of Moher

 

[Finbirder]

Today I had a great trip to the Cliffs. Nice views and weather. So far 43 species. Best for me were 2 choughs, peregrine, gannets, great northern divers, shags, fulmars, kittiwakes. And Guinness beer