Massive flock of 2 Redwings, Phoenix Park.

First frosty morning in Dublin, Phoenix Park Nov 6th 2011. Car said 4ºC and 3° on Knockmaroon Hill.

It was a chilly one last night and this morning.
The coldest its been.

But this morning, like yesterday morning was absolutely stunning so off I headed to Phoenix Park because Surely by now there should be flocks of Redwing/ Fieldfare about.

After about 2 hours wandering round the park, I'd covered the areas I'd seen plenty of Fieldfare/ Redwing in last year, but berry tree after berry tree was empty and motionless, except for the odd pair of Blackbirds or single Mistle Thrush.

Giving up, I settled myself into the cold morning shade of the woods to try and get decent shots of the 4 Jays which were flitting around.
I had just missed an amazing, close up shot of a Jay when I finally saw movement in some Hawthorn.
The strong supercilium and size of these birds made me hopeful these were finally Redwings.

Bang in middle of the picture you can just see the Redwing

Cropped and lightened you can see 2 Redwings.

Very cool to see.
They were the only Redwings I saw all morning, even a trip to the berry ladden Irish War memorial Park and the grounds of IMMA resulted in the usual suspects, but no Scandinavian visitors.

One of many berry laden trees, Irish War Memorial Park, Dublin. I know it's not Hawthorn but I've seen Fieldfare eating berries other than Hawthorn/ Rowan. The berries from Yew trees seem to be a favourite too.

Tree Creeper, IWMP.There were 2 Treecreepers on this tree, quite a treecreeper wknd for me. Now if they'd just show themselves in ucd for my list!

It was a lovely morning in both parks and around IMMA.

I have an irk though.
An irk which has been irking me for some time but I've never mentioned but it because it seemed too mean spirited - but this morning the irk nearly sent me looking up anger management classes - so I need to vent.

Remote Controlled planes in Phoenix Park are driving me bonkers!
The constant loud noise from these planes people seem so keen to constantly fly in the 15 acre field is like having a bluebottle stuck in your ear for 3 hours.
There's no escape, which seems such a shame when I go to Phoenix Park to try and enjoy the open space and queitness .

Each to their own and everything, but sitting in the woods, the noise of the planes was so loud and so constant that my nerves were nearly shot.

It's a public park and everyone needs space for their hobbies etc, and maybe I wouldn't mind so much but I have an obvious concern about how much the noise and sight of these planes might be deterring birds who would otherwise settle/ breed in the woods.

The planes fly right over the trees and I'm sure would be very intimidating to birds in these woods, but who knows - maybe the birds aren't bothered by the planes at all and its just grumpies like me who are.

Watch out deer, those planes often crash and you could end up with one sticking out of your head. Why deer, thankyou for the warning, I think they're simply horrid and I hate the sound of them.

I was going to record the loudness of the planes from the woods today using my camera- because they seemed  SO loud this morning, I'm not talking small little remote controlled glider noise - these planes have mini engine tanks and have the loudeness of mopeds along with smoke fumes and everything - but felt that was crossing a line and getting into definite grumpy territory, so didn't.
But these guys seem to be in the 15 acre park all the time and there seems no way of escaping them.

Guess I just have to find a way of not being so bothered by them.

PP

Once finished at Bull Island, I drove over to Phoenix Park.

If there were any Redwings around they'd look lovely in this sunshine - also look great in photos.
There weren't.
Or Fieldfares.

So whilst mum gets an estimated flock of around 400 Redwings flying over our house in Yorkshire, I still haven't seen a single one!
Lots and lots of Mistle Thrush around though.

Anyway, I walked over to the lake (the one near Farmleigh, not the near the main entrance), people have been reporting Mandarin Ducks during the last few weeks.
The first time I saw a Mandarin Duck I was on a boat on the River Spree in Berlin and I saw one standing on a ledge.
They're amazing looking birds, but even so, they don't really do it for me.
I suppose it's that whole notion that they're not 'wild' and they're probably escapees from a private collection.
I'm not sure what the background is on these.

>>EDIT>>  Comment left by Niall Keogh explains these are indeed all being released from collections and will prob die in next few months (Mandarin here might survive and breed next season)

Male Mandarin Duck, Phoenix Park, Dublin

Male Mandarin Duck, Phoenix Park, Dublin

Female Mandarin Duck, Phoenix Park, Dublin

Leucistic male Mandarin Duck on left, Phoenix Park.

Not sure what this is? <<EDIT>> Niall Keogh says this is a female Ringed Teal.

Thanks to Niall Keogh for providing this image of male and female Ringed Teal taken in Buenes Aires, Argentina where Ringed Teal are usually found © Santiago Meligeni Lozano

Fright of my life when this deer raised its head from behind the tree stump. It's mating season for the deer in the park and the males are locking horns with each other like there's no tomorrow, whilst the female deer look on. They might want to take a look at this link before they start doing themselves any real damage half of females put off by rutting stags

By 6pm, the light was dying and I was done, so I headed home where my dinner was waiting for me!
Some days are seriously better than others.

No Fieldfares - Phoenix Park

Since the end of September I've been trying to go up to Phoenix Park after work to spot Redwing/ Fieldfare shapes in the Hawthorn trees.
Last year I spotted a Fieldfare knockin Hawthorn berries down it's gullet as early as October 12th, but this year, so far, I've not seen any.
I've not seen any Redwings round UCD either, and I've been looking.
Not hearing of any mass Redwing/Fieldfare sightings either.
Must be mild weather all round.

Last night (13th October) was the first evening I managed to get over to the park all week and I was hopeful I'd see something, but after an hour in the one spot, I didn't.

As always, dusk over Phoenix Park brought with it the heightened noise and activity from the Jackdaws, Hooded Crows and Rooks sorting themselves out in their roosts.

Didn't see any Swallows like I did this time last year either.

Did hear a couple of Mistle Thrushes though.

Last year's post can be seen on the 'old blog' over on Wordpress - which I've just noticed has put an ESB ad on my post !!
When did this start happening?
I remember I opted not to allow free ads on the old blog??
Anyways - last year's Oct 12 2010 post http://drimnaghbirdwatch.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/phoenix-park/

42+ Mistle thrushes in Phoenix Park

Tonight I set off for a mega fat burning walk in Phoenix Park to try and get rid of some of the excess Curry chips and burgers I ate over the weekend at Electric Picnic (and even more of the same the weekend before at the Dunmore East Bluegrass festival).
Good intentions, as usual, were soon happily cast aside when I heard, then spotted, several then several more then several more Mistle Thrushes flying overhead.
I'd be used to seeing a couple - at most 5 or 6 Mistle Thrushes at the one spot at the same time, so when I saw and heard so many together I was curious and went back to my car to grab my scope.
I watched them fly from the small Hawthorn trees up to the higher old oak trees, and then into the Horse Chestnut trees near Oldtown woods, north of 15 acre fields.
I did check to make sure there were no Redwings/Fieldfares in the flock, I knew it'd be too early - but you just never know - anyway, the flock were all Mistle Thrushes.
At one point they had a scare, and a huge flock of them lifted together, which was great because I was able to count 2,8,12,18,24,32,40, 42 - a definite 42 Mistle Thrushes - 42!! And there were others in addition which I could see but couldn't count as they went behind a big tree. Conservatively I'd say there were 50 Mistle Thrushes in that one section of Phoenix park.
I've never seen anything like it.

I've read that when there's loads of berries (which there are at the moment), Mistle Thrushes are happy enough to form flocks to feed from the glut, but once the berry resources start to deplete, the Mistle Thrushes single off and start to fight for the territory of certain berry trees. If I'm incorrect here, please correct me.
I'd also be interested why the Mistle Thrush is happy to form a flock at all, berry glut or no, given that they're not usually flock birds?

EDIT>>>>> from hrh Billy Clarke ' I think the Mistle Thrushes are doing what Crows do, at the end of Summer, they all gather together in a roost so that the youngsters can learn from the elders, once they've been given a chance to learn how to survive, they're on their own and it's back to survival of the fittest and they go back to being solitary defenders of individual berry trees'.
This, to me, makes complete sense, they gather together to learn their tricks of the trade and then it's up to them to put them to the test over winter. Sense.
Thanks Billy.

Also spotted a few Swallows, which after waiting a while turned out to be at least a definite 20, all still happily sailing and playing over 15 acres.
A flock of Starlings, Hooded Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws, Magpies and Wood Pigeons were other sightings - plus bucket loads of midges - compulsory cap wearing from now on in the evenings.

Also heard the screeching cat sound again in Oldtown woods - think it's prob a juv Jay, couldn't get a sighting.
For a millisecond also thought I saw a Gannet, but the large white thing with black tipped wings turned out to be a remote controlled plane - which obviously made much more sense.

As mentioned, I was an EPer over the weekend thanks to Jamie (BWI Development Ofiicer) who asked me and a few others to volunteer on the Birdwatch Ireland stand. Had plenty of good chats with birders, non birders and suprisingly, not too many drunk/ out of it people. Very nice to meet other really sound volunteers too.
30 new bwi members was a plus for Jamie, but it's the knock on effect of the chats and the visibility which I think is of value. Mind you, I would say that, I didn't sign up one single person - epic fail.
But I planted seeds in their minds about signing up, I know I did - why else when I was watching a gig later on did a woman (off her face on whatever) come right up to me and make bird noises before disappearing back into the crowd?!
Now that's a plant seeded.
Or smoked.

Roosting time

I bought a new camera, a Nikon D7000. Yes I did.
My shots are worse.
I know!
It lets me away with nothing.
Not, that even if I did manage razor sharp photos you'd be able to tell from this blog, as the images on here get so hugely compressed and distorted from large files to small in order to be posted.

The D7000 has shattered my illusion that I had a really steady hand, I now realise it was just the sensors on my D40 - they were 'forgiving', whereas the sensors on the D7000 are not.
A lot of my images are blurry, shaky, lack sharp detail, with a multitude of settings in the camera, it's difficult to know in the early stages where I'm going wrong.

This afternoon I went along to a free 3 hour Nikon training session on 'how to use your camera'.
Unfortunately the trainer spent a little too long on what kind of kit there is, rather than showing us how best to use our settings, focus options, fstops, aperture etc
Anyhow, during the class, I was looking out the window and spotted these 2 lads on top of a roof opposite..

The guy on the right, in the wetsuit, just ran and jumped into the River Liffey

The pressure was on for the other lad to jump...

Why would you want to jump in the Liffey? Was there another helpless rabbit?

And then he was gone...trainers n'all.

After the class, I went for a walk in the park again, just to try and see what I'd learnt.
I took a lot of crap shots on Aperture priority and defaulted back into settings modes.
Lots of Hooded Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws around this evening, a few Swallows and Blackbirds..but mostly crows gathering before roosting.

Hooded Crows, Phoenix Park

They lifted

and landed again.

In the '15 acres' field there's a lot of long grass with short grass trails cutting through, which runners and walkers have trodden down as footpaths, the Crows were lining up all along the paths and any patch of short grass they could find.

You can see the line of Crows crowded in along the runners/walkers grass path - I'd never seen this before and I'm not sure what the reason for the gathering is, but it was pretty spectacular.

The Papal Cross, Phoenix Park (in 'sunset'! mode)

I bet you can't guess which country this Ambassador's house in Phoenix Park belongs to? interesting fact no. 214545, instead of building high security walls in Phoenix Park, they dug moats, so the park could maintain an open and unintimidating feel. I think that's very thoughtful.

The Crows coming into roost

Last 2 crows flying in to bed. Tower Clock, Farmleigh, Phoenix Park.

So there you go, that was this evening in Phoenix Park, crows a-gogo.

the park

10 minutes drive from Drimnagh is a park that's more than double the size of New York's Central Park, is bigger than all of London's parks put together and has a history dating as far back as 3000bc (burial site near St.Mary's hospital in the park).
With 1,750 acres of land, Phoenix Park isn't a bad spot to have 10 mins away (15 mins cycle).
I've been up there quite a bit lately, trying to get some walks in and taking the binocs with me.
Tonight I feel I got to grips with telling a Jackdaw, Hooded Crow and Rook apart from just hearing their call.
At the weekend I took my lens with me.

Treecreeper, Oldtown wood, Phoenix Park

Coal Tit with food, oldtown wood, phoenix park. You can see the yellowy cheek of the Irish Coal Tit compared to the bright white cheek of the British Coal Tit.

When I saw this, it struck me how unfamiliar I've become with seeing birds using actual holes in trees instead of nest boxes as nests! Y'know, like the ol' days when there were trees everywhere. For those in the visually challenged gang, there's a little Coal tit in the right hand corner of the tree hole.

A different Treecreeper, Oldtown wood, phoenix park (looks like treecreeper chick).

Over the last few weeks Magpies seem to be having a certain love in with the bark at the bottom of trees, not sure if it's a thing particular to juv Magpies or if there's a particular insect/sap around the bark of a tree at this time of year.

Mallard, down at the dodgy Furry Glen, Phoenix Park

Another Mallard, hiding away so we can't see he's in moult. Or just hiding away from the dodgy people down at the dodgy Furry Glen.

Little Grebe in stunning summer plumage, Furry Glen, Phoenix park

Little Grebe with fish, Furry Glen, Phoenix Park

Dabchickchick. Juvenile Little Grebe, Furry Glen, Phoenix Park

Some of the 400ish Fallow deer in Fifteen Acres (actually about 300 acres), Phoenix Park. I guess one thing I'm not too mad on in Phoenix Park, is that I always feel like someone's watching me. (who had that song in the 80's?!) No matter where I am in the park, there's a feeling that there's an underworld at large and they're keeping an eye on me as I move as quietly as I can through the sunlit woods, the fields, the walkways, the dodgy Furry Glen.

And if it's not human eyes, or deer eyes, or bird eyes, or squirrel eyes, then it's the eyes in the treeeeeesss.

I remembered who sang the song

Great Spotted Woodpecker, Phoenix Park

After dropping Cara off to Heuston, I decided I'd take a walk in Phoenix Park.
Am I glad I did.
Because the snow was so thick and it was so cold, I nearly had the park to myself.
Nearly.

Phoenix Park, Dublin, 5 December 2010.

Long Tailed Tit, there was a flock of 6

Grey Squirrel, Phoenix Park

I know we're supposed to hate them, but it's difficult!

Robin Orange Breast

Jackdaw, Phoenix Park - look at that eye against the snow

Whilst taking these photos I heard drumming up in the nearby trees.
The drumming was similar to that of the woodpeckers I had heard in the woods in Berlin earlier in the year and the woodpeckers I'd heard near our house in Yorkshire.
But here? In Ireland? In Dublin? Above my head in Phoenix Park?

I moved around the wood but the crunching snow under my boots didn't really make for silent moves and the drumming stopped.

With lots of squirrels around, maybe it was a squirrel, sometimes Rooks make a drumming noise..
I hunched down against a tree and sat still.
I sat and appreciated the peace and quiet for the first 20 minutes, after 30 minutes I was distracted with the shapes my breath was making in the air, by 40 mins my bones were pretty much frozen and my muscles and blood supply was starting to complain, I needed to get up and move.
Stubborness sometimes has its advantages though, as I waited another 10 minutes and heard the drumming start up again.

There were no dog walkers, no parents with loud children, the rent boy who had been checking me out had thankfully moved on, so I had the drumming to myself.
I craned my neck around and didn't have to move from where I was sitting, (just as well, my body was pissed off with me and wasn't moving) and there she was!!
High up in a tree hammering away at the bark - my first sighting of a female Greater Spotted Woodpecker in Ireland!
And I managed a photo!

Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Phoenix Park, Dublin (Dec 2010).

Female Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Phoenix Park

Female Greater Spotted Woodpecker, a male would have a red crown.

Dog walkers soon arrived and the Woodpecker flew away, but it was a great sighting and cooler because it was completely by chance and I was by myself.

Tree Creeper, Phoenix park

Tree Creeper.

Wren

Jay, I think I saw 4, but could have been same couple at different times.

Mistle Thrush, was having big scraps with Blackbirds

Redwings and Fieldfare

Redwing and Blackbird, for once not fighting each other over the berries

The female GS Woodpecker again on my way out of the woods.

Hooded Crows, gathering together to roost.

Phoenix park, Dublin