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Flag poles Med Gull 2 ad winter 1 Juv Redshank 2 Turnstone 1 Perigrine 1 Dunlin 20 Newport Little Stint 2 Dunlin 20 Ringed Plover 15 Little Egret 3 Teifi Estuary Pintail 2 Red Breasted Merganser 4 females Wigeon 10 Little Egret 2 Bar tailed Godwit 2 Dunlin 15 Kingfisher 1 Sandwich Tern 3

There were 3 ringed plover, a single sandwich tern and a common tern on and over the beach. The common tern flew up and down the tide-line for a few minutes, landed briefly and then flew up the valley by the Pebbles Cafe to disappear inland.

Pity the poor mockingbird.  They are despised for singing all night, chided for being a bully at the feeders, and killed in the title of a famous novel.  Surely no bird deserves such persecution?  Sadly, the list of injustices that mockingbirds have to suffer through has a new addition: the mange.  Poor, poor, mangy mockingbird. … Copyright [...]

Additional birds this evening to previous posts, Newport;- 2 Little Stints, (Paul M) Poppit-Teifi ;- 2 Sanderling, c40 Dunlin, c20 Ringed Plover. St. Dogmael's;- Also 4 Red-breasted Mergansers roosting opposite the Quay

Broad Haven: 2 Sanderling & 3 Dunlin. Martin's Haven: Wryneck behind the toilet block, also a Yellow Wag dropped in (see poor quality digiscope pic above), a showy Spotted Fly (better quality pics above), 2 Chiffs, a Willow Warbler & a Whitethroat (plus a good number of Swallows & Linnets). Marloes Mere: a Swift, 40+ Swallows, another Spotted Fly, 7+ Teal.

I eventually got a good view of the wryneck which is still present in the scrub quite close to the path at about 14:30.

In the garden this afternoon - 2 Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler (singing), 10+ Chiffchaffs and Spotted Flycatcher (with a taste for Small Tortoiseshells). 3 more Common Swift overhead.

Time: 0600 - 1400 Weather: Cloudy with occasional showers Wind: SSE (F5) Balearic Shearwater - 2 Arctic Skua - 2 (1P, 1D) Great Skua - 2 Roseate Tern - 1 (@ 0925) Little Tern - 1 Sandwich Tern - 18 Comic Tern - 236 (circa 20% Arctic) Little Gull - 1 (1st W) Mediterranean Gull - 1 (1st W) Common Scoter - 113 (8F, 105M) Teal - 2 Wigeon - 4 Dunlin - 5 Turnstone - 1 Common Swift - 26 Wheatear - 1 Common Porpoise - Common and showing reasonably well Common Dolphin - c.10 @ 0950 and c.30 @ 1100

18 Dunlin, 8 Ringed Plovers, 2 Little Egrets, 1 ea Greenshank, Black tailed Godwit, 2nd W Med Gull & Wigeon plus 450 Canadas.

From the Railings;- 3 Pintail, 1 Shoveler, 15 Wigeon, (41 Barnacles, 2 Snow, 1 Bar-headed Geese), also 2 Knot, 2 Greenshank. Poppit;- 1 ad Arctic Tern, 13 Sandwich Terns, c 30 Ringed Plover. Patch:- 7 Dunlin, 12 Ringed Plover Non CES ringing on Marshes:- 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Cettis, 4 Reed, 18 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Common Whitethroat, 29 Blackcaps in 3 hours this morning. (Teifi RG & Jon Green) Newport;- 15:00 1 Dunlin ! St. David's, Rhossen Farm;- 17:00 yesterday, 3 flavissima Yellow Wagtails. (John & Marion)

News via Richard Dobbins : Wryneck on Ramsey ( Greg ) Wryneck by Holiday Cottage " The Cabin " near St. Davids Hotel ( Mike Young-Powell ) Wryneck still above Porthmeglan @ 14:30 (Nathan)

I somehow think that this quiz will not be diabolical enough.  Or maybe it will be too diabolical.  I tend to misjudge these things, especially when my diabolicalibrator is in the shop.  Anyway, you know the drill.  Identify the birds in each picture in the comments.  First to get them all right wins the eternal [...]

Writing a guide to an entire bird Order or Family is an ambitious undertaking. Virtually all bird groups have their well-known and well-loved members, but virtually all also contain those scarce, poorly-known species that lurk hidden away in tropical forests or on remote mountain ridges, living lives in quiet oblivion, out of sight and out [...]

A late swift above the flagpoles in Goodwick this evening was our highlight; several med gulls were also present as were 2 common terns & 2 sandwich terns (1 adult, 1 juv begging). Turnstone, curlew, redshank, oystercatcher, black-headed & herring gulls, mallard, pied wagtails, swallows overhead & all well worth a ten minute stop. Wexford Naturalists Field Club.

A juvenile Little Stint was found amongst the Dunlin & Ringed Plover flock on the sand dune side of the river this evening (19:00) The walk across the whole sand/mud bank was in search of a "different looking" juvenile plover! Seen by Karen earlier, but then lost. On the sinking trudge back we found the bird on the channel below the Boat Club, slightly upstream.......a very nice to see, juvenile Little Ringed Plover. (Rich D & Karen )

Most of yesterdays migrants have moved on but there was at least 7 Spotted Flycatchers around the farm this morning and saw at least 3 White Wagtails

A very large flock of 430+ Canada Geese, with 2 Greylags and one hybrid at the Gann this afternoon. Later we watched them fly into a stubble field near Kete.

At the Flagpoles a 1st S going on 2nd w Little Gull which flew off towards the Port end but could not be relocated.Also 4 Med. Gulls at Stena end, 2 x 1st S & 2 Adults. Also White Wagtail at Flagpoles end. Just below Harbour Village Goodwick a Juv Dartford Warbler.

St. Ann's Head this afternoon: fairly quiet, a Willow Warbler at the Coastguard Cottages and a few alba wagtaisl buzzing around including at least one White. Gann: 370+ Canada Geese (Stuart had 400+ a little earlier, along with 2 Greylags and a hybrid of sorts) gradually heading south (& then presumably west towards the islands). Also 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Ringed Plover and a Greenshank. 6 Little Egrets included what looked like a family party feeding together on the river - locally bred?

In the garden this afternoon - Garden Warbler, 2 Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, 5+ Chiffchaffs and Spotted Flycatcher. Fly over Yellow Wagtail and Snipe.

Time: 0600 - 1230 Weather: Cloudy with sunny spells Wind: SE (F4) Balearic Shearwater - 2 Sooty Shearwater - 1 Arctic Skua - 1 (D) Common Scoter - 76 (7F, 69M) Sandwich Tern - 30 Comic Tern - 179 (c. 20% Arctic) Little Gull - 1 (1st W) Mediterranean Gull - 1 (1st W) Teal - 5 Red Breasted Merganser - 1 Turnstone - 2 Ruff - 1 Dunlin - 1 Snipe - 1 Greenshank - 1 Little Egret - 3 Kestrel - 1 Common Porpoise - Common and showing well Common Dolphin - c.5 @ 1100 and c.10 @ 1120 Sunfish - 1

The Wryneck was just a from Porthmelgan, the coastal end of the valley, a favourite Wryneck haunt. Good visible migration these past few day, which peaked 3 days ago with 100's of alba Wagtails moving in flocks c30-50 birds, mainly adults all day. Spotted Flycatchers like elsewhere evident, and Blackcaps at Porthclais too numerous to count. Pied Flycatcher & Whinchat at Pencarnen today. Like elsewhere Chiffs, with a few Willow Warblers and Hirundines really moving through now. (John & Marion)

A Wryneck in the Bocca Valley, St. David's Head this morning. (John & Marion) Skomer;- No sign of icterine, seems to have been a clear out overnight. (Dave B)

Sorry for late photo havent had time to get to computer been busy

Yesterday;- 1 juvenile Common Tern with 7 ad & juv Sandwich Terns on Patch at HT. 5 Ringed Plover & 4 Dunlin (Wendy J) Yesterday evening;- The 1st big? Swallow roost of the autumn, c500+ birds hawking around the marsh early evening before roosting on the marsh. Also 3 Greenshank around.

The next national WOS conference, in association with RSPB Cymru and BTO Wales, will be held on Saturday 6 November 2010 in Carno Community Centre, near Caersws, Powys. The theme this year is Wetlands. For full details follow link on the right or click here

In the late afternoon the valley was quieter than the quite hectic morning but a couple of yellow wagtails dropped in briefly - one headed towards Skomer. On Skokholm last night around 300 Canada Geese now roosting on the island. Passage of Spotted flycatchers in the last few days and the first Goldcrest of the Autumn on Wednesday.

New Holland Publishing are sending their four latest titles - ‘Atlas of Rare Birds’, ‘Advanced Bird ID Guide’, ‘Kingfisher’, and ‘Tales of a Tabloid Twitcher’ - for review. And rather than keep them we’re going to give every one of them away to our Conservation Club members! Seriously, how much do you think we would [...]

The Marine Nature Study Area in Oceanside, New York, is, as I have repeatedly stated, a great place to see birds.  The boardwalks through the saltmarsh get you into the habitat in a way that is usually difficult to do without wearing boots and trampling plants, and the constant presence of people there means that [...]

I always feel wistful at the end of summer. Sure, we have a few more weeks before the passing of another golden season is official, but once kids return to school, the writing is on the proverbial wall: summer is gone. Blogging, even our particular brand of bird and nature blogging, has seen many summers [...]

Hey, 10,000 Birds Conservation Club members (or those that want to join), there is still time to enter and win the Pululahua Hostal giveaway.  You have until 24:00 GMT on 5 September to enter.  And there is more good news!  Renato, the owner of Pululahua Hostal, has announced that all 10,000 Birds Conservation Club members [...]

Contribute to bird monitoring in El Salvador by sponsoring the Birdathon! What? Various teams will try to find as many bird species as possible during a weekend in mid-October, as a fund-raising effort for SalvaNATURA’s bird monitoring project.   When? Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 October 2010.   Where? Anywhere in El Salvador.   Who? SalvaNATURA is a conservation NGO based in El Salvador.   Why [...]

From Barry Potter - Pembroke river pm I spent a good ten minutes watching an usually coloured Buzzard this afternoon. It was almost beige in colour with what looked to be a near golden coloured head. I have never before seen one of this colouration.  also seen today amongst other stuff was, wigeon circa 50 oystercatcher 9 grey heron 2 little egret 1 a few redshank greenshank 2 a few curlew  nice flock of linnet and goldfinch circa 100 still a few swallow over the river 24 mute swan  lasting views of peregrine over the mudflats and the usual gulls and corvids

So there it is… August is gone. With it go those lazy days of summer, at least here in North America. Most of our students have either returned to school or resume after the coming three-day weekend. Monday marks the unofficial final day of summer. How are you going to spend this weekend and will [...]

My newest book was several years in the making. Now, it's finally here (and I believe it's also in both "bricks" and "clicks" bookstores everywhere). The title is Identifying and Feeding Birds , and it's just published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. As poet, guitar god, and nature lover Jerry Garcia once sang: "What a long, strange trip it's been." So true, so true. And yes, we've forgiven Jerry for pronouncing nuthatch as "nut-thatch" in the Grateful Dead song "Eyes of the World. " Back to the book: It's my attempt at delivering, in a fun-loving way, all the necessary info for attracting, feeding, and identifying backyard birds in North America. It's based upon my nearly 40 years of ...

As regular readers will know 10,000 Birds has been supporting a fantastic project on Kenya’s Kinangop Plateau which aims to help the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw by persuading landowners to rear sheep and sell wool rather than convert the rapidly disappearing grasslands the longclaw depends on into agriculture (mainly sweet potatoes). (For background info please have [...]

The RSPB are reporting that Bitterns have had their most successful year in Somerset since they first bred in 2008 following an absence of forty years. In all 14 males were recorded this year, seven more than in 2009. The growth in the population comes as conservationists celebrate the best year ever for the bird [...]

Burger King announced it would no longer source palm oil from Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate, after an independent audit showed one of the company’s subsidiaries had destroyed rainforests and carbon-dense peatlands in Borneo and Sumatra. Burger King’s announcement comes after a campaign by Greenpeace, whose efforts triggered the audit. Are Burger King changing suppliers [...]

This weekend was when I finally, finally, finally, after numerous failed attempts this year due to car problems and weather, got on a boat and went on a summer pelagic trip off the eastern tip of Long Island.  I had visions of shearwaters, jaegers, phalaropes, and skuas in my head when Doug and his dad, [...]

The Monk Parakeets of Brooklyn are well-known, perhaps too well known.  YourNabe tells the tale of a recent parrot poaching. Story found via Gothamist. Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

I would guess that most birders at one time or another have played the “What family of birds do I most want to clean up?” game. For me it’s long been the thrushes (I just love thrushes, and some of those Asian Zoothera species are just gorgeous) or perhaps the pigeons (I used to crave [...]

A study in Michigan to learn why Bald Eagles are not recovering post-DDT exposure as fast as expected has discovered that nestlings are ingesting flame retardants and pesticides via their food. It’s suspected but not known that the chemicals are having health effects on the eagles, but, says Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute [...]

On one of those gloomy, gray, and gross days last week I met up with Doug and Shane, those two irrepressible Brooklyn birders, and we made our way to Nassau County, just east of New York City on Long Island, for some birding along the coast.  The cloud-filled sky occasionally drizzled on us, sometimes rained [...]

Here’s a short selection of books we’ll be giving away through the 10,000 Birds Conservation Club over the next month or so: ‘Nightjars of the World’, ‘The Jewel Hunter’, ‘Britain’s Butterflies’ and ‘Britain’s Dragonflies’ (all donated by WILDGuides), ‘Birds of the West Indies’ (a Princeton Illustrated Checklist), and ‘Facing Extinction’ (Paul Donald, Nigel Collar, Stuart [...]

Recently, while strolling along a wooded path (on the grounds of a classic Ohio roadside attraction) with my family, we came upon this sign (above): "Keep Off the Dinosaurs." Our kids are reasonably well-behaved creatures, so we did not think anything of it. Well, I guess I thought the sign had a pinch of the kill-joy spirit in it, but that's life these days in the United States of Litigation. We walked onward. Moments later the unthinkable happened. Liam was attacked by a raging triceratops. Perhaps there should have been a sign for the dinosaurs saying "Don't Eat the Tourists." Thank heavens I had my iPhone with me or I wouldn't have gotten this photo of the attack. We'll need i...

ROK/South Korea is earning itself an unenviable reputation for destroying its environment in the name of capital projects sold (allegedly) to a supportive public. This press-release recently landed in my inbox and I thought I’d post it without too much extraneous comment - except to say that since the debacle of the Saemangeum reclamation (tens [...]

The bad news is that summer is almost over. On the other hand, birding is getting interesting again in many parts of the world, including mine. How about yours? Please share the fascinating details of your best bird of the weekend… I have a few standouts to choose from but fall in favor of the ominous [...]

I’ve had a copy of Steve Howell’s mighty tome on moult (or ‘molt’ as it’s spelt in North America) sat on my ‘to review’ shelf for a few weeks now, but life has been very busy lately and I’ve just not been able to give this detailed and hefty book the attention it deserves. Sent [...]

What can make dawn sky and bright moon even better? Egrets in the air. … Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

This press-release is from last month, but Durrell sent it to me asking if I would be interested in posting it and I most certainly am. The Mangrove Finch Camarhynchus heliobates is a Critically Endangered endemic to the Galapagos Islands with a tiny population and a severely fragmented range: any work done to help the [...]

I know I’m coming across as a paid advertising service for the British Birdwatching Fair, but in all honesty I’m not being (and have not been) paid by anyone connected with Birdfair for writing posts on 10,000 Birds: I’m just a huge fan and love talking about what a wonderful weekend I’ve just had. Forgive [...]

It’s not so much the bird but the circumstances of the observation that makes this, the first record for Europe (?), so extraordinary: out for an evening stroll with no binoculars but carrying a digital camera…a booby flies past and the rest is, as they say, history! Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, [...]

Like to win the superb, brand new ‘Nightjars of the World‘? I was given a copy by Andy Swash, head-honcho of the ethical publisher WILDGuides, specifically for the 10,000 Birds Conservation Club. We’ll be reviewing it and announcing competition details asap - but remember you need to be a Conservation Club member to enter. Trust [...]

At Jamaica Bay a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be with birders who carefully scan through each and every bird in a flock hoping to find a rarity.  Not that I don’t do that, but I tend to get distracted by whatever bird happens to be closest and in good light [...]

We’ve just donated the equivalent of about USD500 to BirdLife’s Zino’s Petrel disaster. The money has come from our Conservation Club after we consulted our Club members whether they would wanted to support this urgent and critical appeal. We’re extremely proud that the Club has been able to make this donation - and if you [...]

As many of you may already know, there has been a terrible fire on the island of Madeira which has had a terrible impact on the Endangered Zino’s Petrel Pterodroma madeira. Dead adult Zino’s Petrel Even before this fire Zino’s Petrel was already Europe's rarest seabird, nesting only on a handful of mountain platforms in the [...]

Don’t tell me that September is almost here. Pretty soon, winter will be on our doorsteps (at least those of us north of the Equator.) On the bright side, birds are coming back! How will you spend this final weekend of August and will you be birding? Share your plans in the comments below. I dearly hope to [...]

According to an August 25, 2010 press release, a record 147 sea turtle nests have been recorded to date, the most nests ever documented at Cape Hatteras and part of 835 nests reported statewide this year: the numbers may increase as the 2010 turtle nesting season continues for several more weeks. Additionally, a record 15 [...]

The Southeast Tourism Society, which promotes economic development through travel and sustainable tourism in 12 states of the Southeast U.S., included the 14th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival as one of the Top 20 Events for Winter 2011. This is a very big deal, as birding events don’t usually make the list. Congrats [...]

One of my favorite birding and nature publishers, Princeton University Press, is giving away a couple of books this Friday. To get a shot at either Birds of Western North America:A Photographic Guide or Birds of Eastern North America:A Photographic Guide (my reviews here), all you have to do is "like" Princeton University Press on [...]