Wader ID Conundrum

After a night of heavy rain and hail showers, it was a surprise to wake to a fairly heavy frost and clear blue sky once again. With barely any wind the abundance of birds in the cemetery were in full voice, and most enjoying the bright sunshine from the tops of tall trees. These included:-

half a dozen Collared Dove,

as many Magpies as I have seen there in recent times,

many, many Robins along with numerous

Blue Tit and

Chaffinch and it was also good to see a few

Greenfinch back after what seems like a long absence. The stars of the show however were a pair of

Blackcap with this male being the only one of the duo to oblige with a pose. There was also a Great Spotted Woodpecker present.

The plan then was to continue to Ferry Bridge, but that was curtailed before even reaching Radipole by a phone call from Daragh Croxson advising me of the return to Lodmoor of a

Long-billed Dowitcher (photo from the archive). It was nowhere near close enough to be photographed, so just for illustration purposes this image is from the archive.

World Distribution

These two photographs (among a few) have remained unidentified since a trip to the west coast of the USA in 2007.

I would be grateful to anyone who can solve these ID problems and send me their thoughts via the 'Comments' box, or any other means. I'd like to thank Dave Chown for his advise, but more importantly for relocating today's bird after it had been seen flying away - thanks Dave.

Eventually I did reach Ferry Bridge were c22 Ringed Plover, c11 Dunlin and a single Oystercatcher were all that could be seen on the foreshore, while counting the Brent Geese today presented no difficulty despite both of them being some way off!

Looking over the road, and into Portland Harbour a good number of Gulls could be seen in a feeding frenzy while on closer inspection they could be seen flying above a number of other birds on the surface of the sea. In all the group comprised Great Black-backed, Herring, Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls, while on the sea were Red-breasted Merganser, Cormorants, Shags and at least c2 Goosander. The photos of the latter are also from the archives.

Goosander (male)

Goosander (female)

and finally a few more previously unpublished photographs from Madagascar.

With almost 1,200 Malagasy Ariary to the GB Pound you only had to convert a few quid to become a millionaire.

Some of the creatures of

the Rain Forest.

Tree Frog

Chameleon

Congregation of Bugs

Unidentified Beetle.