With the arrival of December, it is time to announce the next two Pembroke Area Field Naturalists’ events: the Pembroke Area Christmas Bird Count and the Chris…
Osprey
Spring, that cold, wet joke played on us Cape and Islands folk, begins in less than two weeks. Though it has felt pretty wintry recently, we’ve already ticked off several of our “spring can’t be far away” bird migration milestones. The first Killdeer, those large plovers that nest in grassy and gravelly places, were reported weeks ago - I saw five loudly interacting at the Chatham airport last week. Red-winged Blackbirds are now back in certain swamps and marshes, males loudly proclaiming their territories. Here on the Outer Cape, a few Turkey Vultures are back and fighting with the Great Black-backed Gulls over the various dolphin carcasses in the saltmarshes. Woodcocks have been heard giving their complicated terrestrial and aerial displays a few places, as is possible any time starting in late February.
Signs of Spring capeandislands.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capeandislands.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BirdGuides 683d7fe0-a0e2-4626-925a-e1dd4e0b3790
An adult Glaucous Gull, found freshly dead at Lough Baun, on the Co Mayo coast west of Louisburgh on 10 January, is suspected to have been shot.
The sad discovery is the latest in a line of unexplained incidents from the coastline between Roonah Quay and Cross Lough in recent years, all involving gulls.
This is the third Glaucous Gull to be found dead there in such circumstances in the last few years alone – for the discoverer of the latest bird (which was observed alive and well the previous week), it is the second adult picked up there. Furthermore, an oversummering youngster was found freshly dead at Roonah Lough on 17 September 2018, alongside at least four dead Great Black-backed Gulls. The latest bird appears to have been partially plucked by a predator, presumably a Peregrine Falcon, although this doesn t appear to have been the cause of death.