It's five years to the day that I found an avocet at West Hartford on 1st April 2004 - a great "inland" county record and probably my favourite bird on my WH list. I found this bird on what was scheduled to be a quick visit after work, in fact I almost talked myself out of a visit, as a cup of coffee was high on my list of after work requirements - just shows how anything can turn up at anytime, and how a well watched patch can reap rewards after many hours survey.
The avocet was frequently harassed by the gulls on the pool. A pre-work check of the pool the next morning was avocet-less. I'd like to say that the photograph was taken at WH, but it wasn't...
WH has provided many hours of fruitless observation. There have also been some goodies - green-winged teal, marsh harrier, "inland" knot, "inland" bar-tailed godwit, med gull spring to mind, with species that are taken for granted at other pools - eg little grebe (once), tufted duck (scarce), goosander and cormorant (one "on pool" record each). In fact passage waders such as LRP, green sand, wood sand and black-tailed godwit are more regular!
3 comments:
This bird is top of my 'TO SEE LIST' they look so graceful and we will probably pop down at the weekend to see if it's still there. Shame I'm at work or I could of got there sooner.
blimmin heck...five years eh? I remember twitchin that bird with the Boulmer Birder on our way to a bird club committee meeting in some far-flung place...time flies eh!
Ipin - aye, 5 years... time flies and still the bird to beat in WH terms... the November snow goose was good but I suspect an egret sp. will be next addition to the patch
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