Ardvule
+Gulan Island
South Uist

Stornoway Harbour

Ness - Isle of Lewis

Stornoway Harbour - Isle of Lewis

North Bay - South Uist

Loch Barvas - Isle of Lewis

Stornoway - Isle of Lewis

Balemore - North Uist

Balranald - North Uist

• Barnacle Goose (Rood Goose, Barny, Grollog)
• Branta leucopsis
• UK AMBER LIST 1000 feral birds breeding, Winter visitors 67,000, (Oct - Mar) RSPB
• UK: Fairly common passage visitor (usually occurs in small numbers but sometimes seen in good numbers) and winter visitor (usually occurs in small numbers)
• Breeds: Nests: high cliffs North Atlantic Arctic Islands: East Greenland, Spitsbergen, Northern Russia
• Winters: South of breeding area to South Europe
• Habitat: Wetland meadows, marsh, rivers (estuaries on migration)
• Diet: shoots, leaves
• Medium-sized, sociable goose. Creamy-white face. Black head, neck & breast. White belly. Blue-grey barred back. Wings and its back silver-grey with black-and-white bars. Black tail.
• Flight: V-shaped white rump patch & silver-grey underwing visible. Flies in packs & long lines, with barking, yapping chorus
• Max recorded age 26yrs 8mths, typical lifespan 12yrs
• Listen to a barnacle goose (RSPB site)

what a great day today.I got out and about to day and can report a group of 32 barnacle geese at tumpian loch and also a male kestrel hunting over portvoller moor...have been seeing this kestrel on and off for a few weeks on point and saw one here last year around the same time that was a male too. 
Andy
(Lewis)

Andy sent a couple of pictures of the male Kestrel - to be added

We have 9 goldfinches in our garden on Anderson Road in stornoway we feed them on Bill Odie niger seed. They can be seen feeding in the trees at the bottom of the hill
Elizabeth W

• Goldfinch
• Carduelis carduelis
• Gaelic: Deargan-froich
• UK: Summer 313,000 pairs BTO. Winter: 100,000 birds (RSPB)
• WI: Uncommon (low numbers) passage and winter visitor. There is a breeding record.
• Breeding: Often breeds in loose colonies. Cup nest in a bush. Lays 4-6 black-speckled eggs. Europe, Asia (Australia & New Zealand introduced).
• Wintering: Northernmost birds migrate south within the breeding range. Many UK Goldfinches migrate to Spain
• Habitat: Open country with plenty of seeds: woodland, farmland, villages (bird feeders)
• Diet: Small seeds: thistles, daisies, teasels & self-heal. Has a longish very pointed bill for seed extraction. Summer some insects
• Slim, dainty finch 12-13cm length. Bright red face bordered by white. Back of head & nape black. Upper parts brown. Yellow wing patch which shows as a broad yellow wingbar in flight. White rump (above tail). Black, slightly forked tail. Male's red face extends behind the eye, female's red reaches front of eye or extends only 1-2mm behind eye . Juveniles plain head & greyer back but still have the yellow wing patch. Sociable, in winter forms flock of up to 40 birds.
• Typical age 2yrs, oldest recorded 8yrs 8mths
• Listen to a Goldfinch (RSPB site). Tinkling call & twittering song
• Similar birds: Greenfinch
  

On the male Goldfinch the part of the red face of which is just above the bird's eye extends back several mm behind the eye, but on the female it only reaches the front of the eye or extends just one or two mm behind the eye.

Male Goldfinch	Female Goldfinch
Red extends back several mm behind eye	Red just reaches front of eye or extends only 1-2mm behind eye

2009 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is 24-25 January THIS WEEKEND (30th Anniversary )

More than half a million people take part each year -this survey has makes a major contribution to tracking garden bird numbers over the winter.

"You don't need to be an expert, all you need is a pen and paper. It's easy, it's fun and it only takes an hour. Grab a cuppa, sit down, relax and enjoying looking at your garden and the birds in it. Just record the highest number of each species seen at any one time and send us your results. That’s it!'

To take part, simply spend one hour over the weekend of 24/25 January, counting the birds in your garden or local park, and record the highest number of each bird species seen at any one time.
Read more on the RSPB web site

RSPB Garden Birdwatch January 2008 results for the Western Isles

• Ivory Gull
• Pagophila eburnea
• UK: Accidental, 46 records 1958 -2004, average less than 1 a year BTO
• WI: Very rare (Five or less records)
• Breeds: High Arctic, Greenland, Spitsbergen, Arctic North America. (Arctic coasts & cliffs)
• Winters: Northern latitudes of pack ice, North Europe, North Canada (does not migrate far)
• Small & pigeon-shaped all-white gull (no grey back). Thick bluish bill with yellow tip. Black legs. Young birds dusky faces, wings & tail have black flecking. Juveniles take two years to get adult plumage.
• Diet: Invertebrates (mostly), fish, scavenges corpses & faeces (of seals & polar bears)

Press and Journal article today:

Common species are being overlooked in the recording of bird life in the Western Isles, according to the Outer Hebrides Bird Group (OHBG).
The OHBG urges isles us to keep an eye on their gardens and report to them sightings of more common birds, such as buzzards, lapwings and plovers.

The group say that observers tend to concentrate on notifying sightings of species rare to the islands but that noting the numbers and behaviour of common birds creates an important benchmark for future bird monitoring.

Brian Rabbitts the current County Bird Recorder is reported as having said: “Whether we give an accurate picture of all the bird life on the islands is a hit or a miss, but we would invite anyone who can spot the common species to let us know what they are seeing around them, and also to describe the bird behaviour they are observing.”

Read the full article
22nd January, 2009

The Outer Hebrides Bird Report 2005-2006 is at last available. Price
unfortunately is £8.50 which includes p & p. Will get some up to Lewis
sometime in the New Year - £7.50 if not posted. You might find the
status summaries useful - these are up to 2004 and I will update them
to 2006 for the next report which will cover 2007. For the time being
reports are available from me (6 Carinish, Isle of North Uist HS6 5HL)
- cheques payable to Outer Hebrides Bird Report.

Brian Rabbitts

Stornoway Harbour

• Kumlien's Gull
• Larus glaucoides kumlieni

• Waxwing (Bohemian Waxwing, Chatterer)
• Bombycilla garrulus
• Gaelic: Gochan cireaneach
• UK: 100 birds (winter) BTO
• UK: Winter visitor
• WI: Scarce Winter Visitor (Very small numbers each year), very rare (5 or less records) spring vistor
• Breeding: Nest high up in the branches of trees in mature coniferous forest & birch woodland. Mossy, damp, lichen-rich places. Lays 4 - 6 pale bluish eggs. Northern Scandinavia, Russia. Europe, North America
• Winters: Not regular. South Europe, South USA
• Diet: Berries, hawthorn, rowan, cotoneaster. Plant buds. (Breeding season also insects, midges & mosquitoes)
• Exotic looking bird, reminiscent of a Cockatoo. Starling-sized (18 - 21cm length), but plump, stocky & thick-necked with a short tail. Large sandy-chestnut coloured crest. Very dashing black eye patch & black throat. Pinkish-brown above. Pale sandy-brown below.
  Lower back & rump (above tail) bluish. Undertail plumage chestnut-red. Yellow band at tip of short blackish tail. Dark wings with white bars, yellow markings & small waxy, red patch
• Waxwings live for up to 12 years
• Listen to a Waxwing (RSPB site). Call pleasant ringing trill, "srrrr" like a small bell
• Similar birds: Hawfinch

In some years the Waxwing come in large numbers, these are called irruptions, (irruption definition: to increase rapidly and irregulary in number) they happen when the numbers of Waxwings are too great for their usual feeding grounds. This is an irruption year with flocks of 150+ reported in the islands, and much larger numbers than usual all down the East coast of the UK
(Approx UK total 1100+ birds instead of 100)

Ardivachar - South Uist

Balgarva

Loch Barvas - Isle of Lewis

Horisary - North Uist

West Gerenish

West Side - Shawbost to Barvas

Barvas - Isle of Lewis

Ardivachar - South Uist

West Side - Shawbost to Barvas

Ardivachar - South Uist

Horisay - North Uist

• Grey Phalarope
• Phalaropus fulicarius
• Gaelic: Liathag Tllt, Liathag Allt
• UK: Passage Visitor
• UK: 166 annual records BTO
• WI: Scarce (very small numbers recorded in most years, sometimes more in persistent gales) autumn passage visitor
• Breeds: Arctic regions: Iceland, Greenland, North Siberia, North America, North Europe
• Winters in the Southern oceans
• Diet: Invertebrates, (plus seeds etc when reaching breeding grounds)
• Habitat: coastal tundra (migration coasts)
• Small wader (21cm / 8 in length) . Winter mostly grey above & white below, with black eyepatch & straight black bill.
  Breeding female dark brown & black above, red below, white cheek patches & yellow black-tipped bill. Breeding male similar but duller. Young birds light grey & brown above, buff below & dark eye patch
• Similar birds: Red-necked Phalarope, Wilson's Phalarope

Brian

Gramsdale - Benbecula

North Bay - South Uist

Balemore - North Uist

Gramsdale - Benbecula

Ardivachar - South Uist

• Blue lit
• Parus caerruleus
• Gaelic : Cailleach-ghorm
• WI: Uncommon resident breeder (10-99 breeding pairs) mostly in the Stornoway Castle Grounds. Rare visitor to the Uists and Barra

Ardivachar - South Uist

Stornoway Harbour

Clachan Sands - North Uist

• Little Egret
• Egretta gularis
• UK: AMBER LIST. Breeding 146-162 pairs. Wintering 1,600 birds RSPB
• UK: Resident Breeder, Passage Visitor
• WI: Scarce visitor (very small numbers recorded in most years) TBC
• Breeding: Nests in colonies. Nest is a platform of sticks in tree, reedbed, bamboo grove, shrub, or on a cliff. Lays 3-5 matte blue-green eggs. Europe, Asia, Australia, Asia, Africa
• Wintering: Mostly resident. Birds breeding in northernmost parts migrate to Africa & Asia. Some birds wander north after breeding, which extends the breeding range
• Habitat: Lakes, marsh, flooded fields, estuaries
• Diet: Stalks prey in shallow water. Running (wings raised) or motionless stalking. Mostly small fish, amphibians, large insects, crustaceans, but also small animals
• Small white heron. White plumes on crest, back & chest. Black legs & bill. Yellow feet. Hunches neck in flight
• Typical lifespan 5yrs. Max recorded age 21yrs 4mths
• Listen to a Little Egret (RSPB site)
• Similar birds: Grey Heron, Spoonbill (rare) Great White Egret (rare)

Ardivachar - South Uist

Loch Barvas - Isle of Lewis

• Common Crossbill
• Loxia curvirostra
• Gaelic: cam-ghob
• UK: Migrant/Resident Breeder, Passage/Winter Visitor
• UK: Summer breeding 11,000 pairs BTO
• WI: One possible breeding record. Scarce passage visitor (Very small numbers each year) except in irruption years
• Europe, Asia, North + Central America
• Habitat: Coniferous forest
• Diet: Conifer seeds. Feeds fluttering from cone to cone. Bill is an adaptation for extracting the seeds of a cone.
• Noisy, chunky finch. Large head. Bill crossed over at tip. Usually flys at treetop height coming down to drink. Adult males orange or brick-red. Females greenish-brown.
• Average lifespan 2yrs, Max recorded lifespan 8yr 4months
• Listen to a Common Crossbill (RSPB site)
• Similar birds: Scottish Crossbill (Not on Outer Hebrides Birds Checklist), Parrot Crossbill

An irruption is when finches and other seed eaters move in large numbers in search of food. If the cone crop failed on their usual breeding grounds, Crossbills may be numerous in the UK and will arrive from the Continent from late summer, often staying to breed. There are just 1 or 2 possible Western Isles breeding records.

Crossbill's breeding season lasts from summer to the next spring to take advantage of maximum cone supplies.

In a study it was found that the number of successful breeding pairs was found to be positively correlated to the number of cones read more

Stoneybridge - South Uist

Sheshader - Isle of Lewis

Croir - Isle of Lewis (2)

• Great Northern Diver
• Gavia immer
• UK: Scarce breeder, winter visitor. Arrives UK August - leave to breed April - May
• UK: 3000 in winter BTO
• WI: Fairly common passage (occurs in small numbers but of international importance) and winter visitor (occurs in small numbers, but of national importance)
• Breeds: Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, North Scotland, North America, Canada
• Winters: North Europe, UK, North America
• Habitat: Lakes, ponds & rivers
• Usually solitary, large: average 32 inches long, wingspan of 54 inches, weighs 9lbs (81cm : 136cm : 4.1kg) Breeding adults: black head, white below, checked black & white mantle, sexes similar
  Non-breeding brownish, white chin, foreneck, bill is grey- whitish held horizontal
• Diet: Mostly fish, crustaceans amphibians. Fishes underwater to 200 feet (60m) immer means submerge
• Similar birds: Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver, White-billed Diver

One of the names of the bird is "call-up-a-storm" the call was supposed to presage rain!

Loch Barvas -Isle of Lewis

Loch Ardheisker - North Uist

Loch Barvas -Isle of Lewis (2)

The Outer Hebrides Bird Report 2005-2006 is at last available. Price
unfortunately is £8.50 which includes p & p. Will get some up to Lewis
sometime in the New Year - £7.50 if not posted. You might find the
status summaries useful - these are up to 2004 and I will update them
to 2006 for the next report which will cover 2007. For the time being
reports are available from me (6 Carinish, Isle of North Uist HS6 5HL)
- cheques payable to Outer Hebrides Bird Report.

Brian Rabbitts

Kyles Paible - North Uist

Kyles Paible - North Uist (3)

Stoneybridge - South Uist

• Surf Scoter
• Melanitta perspicillata
• UK: Accidental
• UK: Fewer than 20 records BTO
• WI: Scarce Visitor (very small numbers recorded in most years)
• Breeds: Alaska & Canada
• Winters: South USA, Europe & UK
• Habitat: Close to sea, lakes, rivers, tundra
• Diet: Molluscs, crustaceans, (migration fish eggs)
• Large sea duck, bulky shape, large bill.
  Male almost all black, white patches nape & forehead. Bulbous red, yellow & white bill. Females brown birds, pale head patches. Head wedge-shaped & no white in wings helps ID female from female velvet scoter
• Similar birds: Velvet Scoter (rare), Common Scoter , Eider,

Butt of Lewis

Tarbost - Ness - Isle of Lewis

Clachan Sands - North Uist

Tuesday 23 December - Flock of snow buntings (20 or so) seen at shore at Melbost.

From Anderson Road, Stornoway

1 January - 3 or 4 waxwings still about here; seen several times in past few days. Stop for short spells to feed on cotoneaster.

May be of interest that we regularly have blue lits, coal lits. great lits, (usually only 2 of each though!) dunnock, some greenfinches (maybe as much as 10) besides robins, blackbirds, thrush, 2 collared doves and of course sparrows and an invasion of starlings now and again! - in our small back garden. We have very occasionally seen goldfinches since the colder weather set in but they seemed to be around in summer.

WM

• Fieldfare (Stormcock)
• Turdus pilaris
• UK: Scarce Breeder, Passage/Winter Visitor
• UK: AMBER LIST. 1- 4 pairs UK (summer), 750,000 birds (Winter) BTO
• Breeds: Forms colonies. Bombards would-be egg-stealers with faeces, smaller birds nest nearby & share protection. North Europe - UK (not WI)
• Winters: North to South Africa
• Habitat: Forest, woodland, scrub, towns
• Big, bold & beautiful thrush. Plain reddish-brown back. White underwings. Cool grey rump & rear of head. Breast reddish, other underparts white. Breast & flanks heavily spotted. Sexes similar. Gregarious (& forms mixed flocks with Redwings)
• Diet: Insects, worms & fruit & berries (most so in winter). Favours hawthorn berries
• Listen to a Fieldfare (RSPB site)
• Similar birds: Songthrush, Mistlethrush (rarer)

Fieldfare from the Anglo-Saxon feld-fere - traveller through fields (foraging)

The name stormcock is apt as they seem to have blown in with the gale. Folklore says it is about to get a lot colder... The Missel Thrush, Green Woodpecker and Fieldfare all share the folk name Stormcock.

• Richardson's Canada Goose (Baffin Island Goose)
• Branta canadensis hutchinsii
• WI: Vagrant (less than 5 records)
• Breeds: Arctic Canadian Islands & Canadian Coast east to Baffin Island, Western Greenland.
• Winters: USA, Mexico coast
• Slightly larger than mallard. Smaller than Canada Goose. Bill short & stubby. Breast pale to dark brownish. Short-legged.

Loch Ardheisker - North Uist

The Outer Hebrides Bird Report 2005-2006 is at last available. Price
unfortunately is £8.50 which includes p & p. Will get some up to Lewis
sometime in the New Year - £7.50 if not posted. You might find the
status summaries useful - these are up to 2004 and I will update them
to 2006 for the next report which will cover 2007. For the time being
reports are available from me (6 Carinish, Isle of North Uist HS6 5HL)
- cheques payable to Outer Hebrides Bird Report.

Brian Rabbitts