Who'd be a twitcher ?
25th October 2013
This Autumn has again seen a run of rare birds on the Shetland Isles. The term 'MEGA' is used to describe these rarities and the latest is a Cape May Warbler. These rarities must be an absolute nightmare for the 'Twitching' fraternity, trying to assess whether the bird will stay or go. The last Cape May Warbler was seen in the UK in 1977, so unless you were around the twitching scene then you potentially have a very long, stressful and expensive journey ahead of you. This latest rarity is on Unst, Shetland, the most northerly inhabited island in the UK. Just getting there is a nightmare, once landing on the Shetland mainland, possibly after a twelve hour ferry crossing from Aberdeen or an expensive charter flight, you then have to Island hop by ferry to get to Unst. Such is the priority placed on seeing this bird by many 'listers', they are prepared to pay for a charter flight onto the unmanned airstrip on Unst, a flight and landing only for the most hardy of individuals. I have been fortunate to see these birds in Cape May near New Jersey in America and although, like this individual they were in Autumn plumage, they are still a very attractive bird. That is, however, of no consequence to the 'twitcher', it is only a bonus, 'ticking' this bird is all that matters.
The weather on Unst has been horrendous this week with gale force winds and horizontal rain, but the bird is staying put. This will be a great relief to many 'listers' because there may not be another one in their lifetime.
I wish them luck!
Earlier this week there was another 'MEGA' on the Shetland Isles. This time on Fair isle, a not so geographically challenging encounter as Unst, however, still a very long journey. This bird was a male Siberian Rubythroat, ( WOW!! even the name sounds just fantastic ). It is the 'Holy Grail' for birders, most of the previous records of these birds have been female, still an obvious 'MEGA' but not so prized as the male!
These birds have a history on the Shetlands of staying a few days and then leaving which means people have to 'Bite the Bullet' and react immediately if they want it. It is not such a priority as the Cape May Warbler because it is more likely to occur in the future and more people will have seen one of the previous half dozen or so that have made it to the UK. However, these male birds have an almost mythical status in the UK, most birders just see them as their dream bird. There is just something about them, they are a member of the Chat family, they are not the most colourful, although the male I think is a real 'Stonker' and they can be very skulking in their habits.
Again I was lucky to see one in China, the only one of my whole trip there. We were birding in the overgrown gardens of an abandoned hotel complex, which turned out to be a very good area for many rare Western Palearctic birds. We had seen some lovely rare thrushes, including Siberian, when a small bird emerged from the bushes behind me and It felt like I was in shock, a male Siberian Rubythroat, just looking at me from the leaf litter. I only had my Canon 300 with me because there was too much travelling about to lug a big lens around. I picked up the lens slowly, praying it wouldn't fly away and I managed a few shots before it disappeared back into the bushes never to be seen again! Another man standing behind me named John had openly stated that he was absolutely desparate to see one and I could hear him repeating to himself 'My God' over and over as if he couldn't believe what he had just seen.
To end this blog with a note of realism, which highlights the stressful life of 'Twitchers', a group privately chartered a plane to Fair Isle earlier this week at a cost of £600 each, in an attempt to see the Rubythroat, only to find on landing that it had gone..............
The weather on Unst has been horrendous this week with gale force winds and horizontal rain, but the bird is staying put. This will be a great relief to many 'listers' because there may not be another one in their lifetime.
I wish them luck!
Earlier this week there was another 'MEGA' on the Shetland Isles. This time on Fair isle, a not so geographically challenging encounter as Unst, however, still a very long journey. This bird was a male Siberian Rubythroat, ( WOW!! even the name sounds just fantastic ). It is the 'Holy Grail' for birders, most of the previous records of these birds have been female, still an obvious 'MEGA' but not so prized as the male!
These birds have a history on the Shetlands of staying a few days and then leaving which means people have to 'Bite the Bullet' and react immediately if they want it. It is not such a priority as the Cape May Warbler because it is more likely to occur in the future and more people will have seen one of the previous half dozen or so that have made it to the UK. However, these male birds have an almost mythical status in the UK, most birders just see them as their dream bird. There is just something about them, they are a member of the Chat family, they are not the most colourful, although the male I think is a real 'Stonker' and they can be very skulking in their habits.
Again I was lucky to see one in China, the only one of my whole trip there. We were birding in the overgrown gardens of an abandoned hotel complex, which turned out to be a very good area for many rare Western Palearctic birds. We had seen some lovely rare thrushes, including Siberian, when a small bird emerged from the bushes behind me and It felt like I was in shock, a male Siberian Rubythroat, just looking at me from the leaf litter. I only had my Canon 300 with me because there was too much travelling about to lug a big lens around. I picked up the lens slowly, praying it wouldn't fly away and I managed a few shots before it disappeared back into the bushes never to be seen again! Another man standing behind me named John had openly stated that he was absolutely desparate to see one and I could hear him repeating to himself 'My God' over and over as if he couldn't believe what he had just seen.
To end this blog with a note of realism, which highlights the stressful life of 'Twitchers', a group privately chartered a plane to Fair Isle earlier this week at a cost of £600 each, in an attempt to see the Rubythroat, only to find on landing that it had gone..............