Quits

Bananaquit - abundant on St Lucia, noisy and always full of busy!

Non-hummers

A few images from the recent trip to St Lucia. Birding was restricted to the lush resort grounds, limited by the temptation to relax in the heat!

A frustrating trip with regards to the endemic St Lucia Warbler - not taking a flash-gun prevented any decent images as the species stuck to shade - but was extremely confiding...

Of the 3 hummingbird species seen, two were photographed - they'll appear in another post.

Mangrove Cuckoo - easier to find in St Lucia than Florida!

Carib Grackle

Zenaida Dove

Spotted Sandpiper - obliging as they are...

St Lucia Warbler - a stunning species

As if to tease... St Lucia Warbler above my head in the dark...

Green Heron - immature taking a lizard sp.

Lesser Antillian Bullfinch

Little Blue Heron - feeding at sunset below our bungalow

Boobies and the like

First full day on a relaxing break in St Lucia. Little to report birdwise with sub 20 species so far (though 6 are new, so a good percentage!)

It'll be slow pace birding in the heat, with the resort becoming the patch for a few days...

Round the doors

12 waxwing over the house justified the energy spent washing the car this morning.

Afternoon was spent on the bike - West Hartford providing 1 stonechat, 1 short-eared owl and a brute of a female sparrowhawk - first bringing 8 waxwing to my attention, then later lifting a snipe and mobbing the SEO! Raptor numbers were increased with 2+ kestrel and a distant buzzard.

At the Horton Burn 1grey wagtail and a single kingfisher ended the avian and cycling activities.

Landing gear...

Alternate view of the Seaburn 'eater...

Winter Surprise!

A couple of quick snapshots of the amazing Seaburn Bee-eater... stalled to travel down for this as I didn't quite believe that there could be a bee-eater in November - so these pictures were taken mid afternoon as the sun was starting to dip... bit pushed for time this afternoon, so will have a better trawl through the images later in the weekend.

Frustrating!

Lateshift duties severely restricting birding opportunities this week...

Ridley Park in Blyth yesterday was devoid of any bluetail action - 50 or so redwing along with robins and blackbird were the only migrants on offer.

This morning, St Marys' - no sign of yesterdays dusky warbler, nor todays pallas's / long-eared owl. Hods of robin, redwing (dropping in out of the mist), brambling, goldcrest, blackbird.

Journey back produced a lone woodcock lifting out of a garden in Hartley.

It just could happen...

Slav

Saturday evening had seen me out with some of the Crammy and "nearly" Crammy Birders for a few beers - so Sunday dawned a little later than anticipated.  Its been a nice day weather wise, so  I headed up to Druridge Bay Country Park for a mid afternoon stroll with the better half for bit of fresh air.

A Slavonian Grebe had been reported on Saturday, and sure enough it was still present today. Rather obliging, but into the light for the camera. Seems to be feeding well on the pool edges.

Bits and Pieces

Selection of un-edited pictures from Saturday - light and posture can make an appearance look different in a matter of seconds. All at 100% size cropped from original RAW file / no saturation adjustment etc.

War and peace...

An interesting morning at St Mary's...

& yellow-browed too. Nice.

The wigs on

3 wigeon at West Hartford this afternoon were the first for a while. Otherwise not much avian excitement, with a couple of hundred bhg, 3 lbbg, cg, hg. 2 grey heron dropped in and a buzzard patrolled the river Blyth banks. Hundreds of wood pigeon in the area too.

Horton Burn produced the standard winter-fare ~ grey wagtail near the old fire station and the male kingfisher mid section.

Same old

Stuff as yesterday, pretty much. Reversed the cycle route, with kingfisher and grey wagtail early on. Later at West Hartford, two short-eared owl, five+ snipe, 1 lbbg and not a sniff of the hoped for water rail!

Local

Late afternoon on the bike was uneventful at West Hartford, with only a few gulls on the pool and a meadow pipit on the track. The action so to speak was as dusk descended, with a more productive stake out adjacent the old fire station - a mix of seasons, with three barn swallow south & the arrival of winter with approx 300 pink footed geese south (22 north) a single kingfisher and a grey wagtail on the burn.