Birds fae Torry (2 Viewers)

[Mark Lew1s]

Pheasant brings the girdleness/nigg bay year list up to 150 as far as I can make out....a pretty good total! The total for the Torry recording area should then be 152, unless I've missed anything out.

Never let it be said that I don't spend my free time wisely!

 

[Jane Turner]

I've twitched (from work) and dipped Pheasant on my local patch... fortunately they breed now.

 

[Joseph N]

The Glaucous Gull was yet again favouring the rooves at the junction between Crombie Road and Sinclair Road today - I was in the area at around 9:30 for about 45 minutes, and it showed well at several points, particularly at first on the big white ASCO warehouse, and then on Sinclair Road, where I managed to get within around 15ft of it. A very nice bird to have seen. A photo of mine is attached below.

ATB,

Joseph

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Nice shot Joseph - glad you caught up with her. I didn't see her at all today, and nor did I see the Pheasant. Actually I didn't see much at all anywhere. One Red-throated Diver and three Gannets went north off the Coo, a Redwing was on Abbey Road, three Goldeneye and two Goosanders were on the river. That's pretty much it.

 

[Ken Hall]

Was that a pun by Dr G? Hard to tell isn't it...

The icy grip of winter has been relieved over the past few days here in Torry and the Ness is now largely free of snow. That's probably why there weren't so many birds around today, although I did manage a thrilling patch tick.

A Fieldfare and Song Thrush were still around the allotments. 11 Common Scoters and a Red-throated Diver headed north and a Linnet was in Greyhope Bay. A strongly be-sailed Eider was off the Coo and a Snipe headed over Nigg Bay. A couple of Harbour Porpoises were out to sea. All a bit quiet really. Then I had a patch tick, and what a splended one it was too. Walking along the edge of the rough ground by the football pitch in Nigg Bay I put up no less a bird than a cock Pheasant. Whoop-de-do. Six Long-tailed Tits were in the trees by the embankment and a Buzzard flew over.

Oh dear, if I'd realised you needed a Pheasant for the Girdleness list I could have brought you a pair of them from the garden any time. Ballogie estate is owe me quite a bit for feed, so I'd be glad to lose a few.

Anyway, I too found the Glaucous Gull, where Joseph has indicated. As I was taking the attached photo, I was accosted by Security, but I was able to convince the mannie that I wasn't up to no good. :-O

She's a nice looker Andrew, but not really my type

 

[Joseph N]

Nice shot Joseph - glad you caught up with her. I didn't see her at all today, and nor did I see the Pheasant. Actually I didn't see much at all anywhere. One Red-throated Diver and three Gannets went north off the Coo, a Redwing was on Abbey Road, three Goldeneye and two Goosanders were on the river. That's pretty much it.

Thanks Andrew, I think I was lucky to get as close as I did for that shot. Unlucky on not seeing it yourself today, she does seem like a rather flighty individual.
A fantastic shot you have there as well, Ken!

Joseph

 

[Ian Bell]

. Walking along the edge of the rough ground by the football pitch in Nigg Bay I put up no less a bird than a cock Pheasant. Whoop-de-do.

Just for the record of locally named places,the Football Pitch is known as the Triangle Pitch.There used to be a small breeding population of Pheasants up in the Gramps,behind the railway but with the work going on up there,I would be surprised if they are still breeding in the area.

 

[Ken Hall]

The Glaucous Gull was yet again favouring the rooves at the junction between Crombie Road and Sinclair Road today - I was in the area at around 9:30 for about 45 minutes, and it showed well at several points, particularly at first on the big white ASCO warehouse, and then on Sinclair Road, where I managed to get within around 15ft of it. A very nice bird to have seen. A photo of mine is attached below.

ATB,

Joseph

Hi Joseph

nice to meet you on the Ythan, and thanks for your kind comment on my photo of the Glonk in Torry. I hope you don't mind, but I've made a few adjustments to yours in PSE8 - removal of blue colour cast, brightness, a small crop to get rid of distracting stuff, and a little sharpening. The bird seems to be in shadow so maybe slightly underexposed. Photoshop is a great tool for rescuing images as long as they are basically OK to start with - as yours certainly is. :t:

 

[Joseph N]

Hi Joseph

nice to meet you on the Ythan, and thanks for your kind comment on my photo of the Glonk in Torry. I hope you don't mind, but I've made a few adjustments to yours in PSE8 - removal of blue colour cast, brightness, a small crop to get rid of distracting stuff, and a little sharpening. The bird seems to be in shadow so maybe slightly underexposed. Photoshop is a great tool for rescuing images as long as they are basically OK to start with - as yours certainly is. :t:

Hi Ken,

It was nice to speak to you at the Ythan too, and no problem about the comment on your photo. Thank you very much for improving the quality of the photo, I really appreciate it! I took a while trying to find the best way to edit it and get rid of the darkness factor without blurring the photo, and your Photoshop seems to have done far better in doing that than my program, although of course I am merely just starting to learn about the best way to edit photos. I am going to put your photoshopped version on my flickr, and remove the one I have already put up on my blog. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle. :t:

Thanks very much once again,

Joseph

 

[AL ...]

Saw the Glaucous today round about Lunch time when headin to the ness.
Crackin bird and only the second one I have seen this year 1st being on Oronsay in Aug.
Heres a pic from today.
Cheers
AL

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

And Madame Glonk is once again around this morning. Interestingly I again saw the rather dark looking gull that regular readers will recall featured in my first pictures of the Glonk. Sadly it didn't hang around long enough to get pictures of. Looks interesting.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Actually I did manage some pictures of the dark gull. Will start an ID thread. They're not very good pictures of course.

Edit: here's the thread. Go forth and ID:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=187706

 

[StuartReeves]

I spent most of today in an office which faces north over rooftops by Aberdeen harbour and the River Dee. I was slightly disappointed that the only gulls I saw were Herring Gulls. The only other bird I managed to identify was a Magpie. That was a bit of a 'Ness mega in my day but I guess the status may have changed since?

Back in Suffolk now where it's actually rather colder than Aberdeen today.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I spent most of today in an office which faces north over rooftops by Aberdeen harbour and the River Dee. I was slightly disappointed that the only gulls I saw were Herring Gulls. The only other bird I managed to identify was a Magpie. That was a bit of a 'Ness mega in my day but I guess the status may have changed since?

Back in Suffolk now where it's actually rather colder than Aberdeen today.

Back in your old haunts eh Stuart? Magpie is definitely not a Ness mega these days - I'm surprised it was one so recently.

Funnily enough, Girdle Ness was on the telly just now, on this show:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wvjnj
Which wasn't actually that funny, although it's probably enjoyable if you like a bit of the Doric.

 

[StuartReeves]

It was an all too brief visit; the nearest I got to the 'Ness was lunch in the Nineteenth Hole! I left Aberdeen in 2000 so my experience of Magpie there shouldn't really count as recent anymore.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Our friendly neighbourhood Glonk was around quite a bit today, in the usual area. Also around were the 'interesting dark gull', which I guess is still an argentatus but it still looks weird. I saw it near to a few Herring Gull and it's remarkably small. Argentatus are normally supposed to be quite hefty but this is one of the smallest looking Herring Gulls I've ever seen. Gulls eh. Who'd 'ave 'em.

Several Bottlenose Dolphins were at their frolicking - the first I've seen in a while. Also a Red-throated Diver north.

 

[Jane Turner]

Have a look at LBBG X Herring Hybrids

http://www.freewebs.com/merseybirders/Poss Hybrid LesserxHerring gull Jan08.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3485/3310931229_6da286f499_o.jpg


& HERRING X YLG

 

[Mark Lew1s]

This is interesting! I've seen the gull a few times and just written it off as a drag argentatus. I haven't seen it with any other gulls though...I might head out and try to her some pickies of it tomorrow.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Here's another good one (pics 45-46):
http://www.surfbirds.com/ID Articles/adriaensgulls31203.html
Herring x Yellow-legged.

 

[Mark Lew1s]

The bad weather appears to be influencing Torrys birdlife again. I managed about an hour earlier on before being beaten back by the snow. A mistle thrush and 8 lapwings were in Nigg bay, with over 1000 common gulls on the water there. And then I had to go home!