Extreme Egret

We have previously posted on the amazing movements of one of our most recent colonists; the Little Egret. Reports of foreign-ringed Little Egrets have so far come from the Netherlands and the Channel Islands, but Little Egrets ringed in the UK and Ireland have been found in the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, France, Spain and the Netherlands (see below).

The two longest-distance recoveries to date are a bird ringed in Bangor, Wales, seen in the Canary Islands (2,923km) and a bird ringed in Galway, Ireland, seen in the Azores (2,133km). Coincidentally, these were both juveniles found following severe cold weather for the UK and Ireland in 2010, or more likely it could be just the erratic dispersal of Little Egrets.

We are now going to have to change the map, as another pioneering Little Egret from the same colony in Galway has been seen in Iceland! Little Egret H-D (pictured below, when ringed as a chick) was ringed by Chris Benson on 4th June 2013, and subsequently seen with four unringed birds in Iceland on 20th October, over 1,200km from Galway. As you might expect, Little Egrets are very rare in Iceland, so it is interesting to speculate whether this will be the next country to be colonised by this species?

The bird on the left is the extreme traveler (photo David McNicholas)

For more information about both of these amazing movements from Ireland, and the ringing project in general, click here.

Mediterranean Gull goes the way of the Little Egret

While on a birding trip at Terceira Island, Azores, Simon Buckell was lucky enough to see a colour ringed Med Gull on 09/02/2011. This species is very interesting as they can, and do, move from country to country very easily. This bird is no exception.


Med Gull, White 30V2, otherwise known as 616158 was ringed as a chick on 17/06/2010 at Slijkplaat, Hellevoetsluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands 51'51N 4'05E. It was then seen again on the Med Gull hotspot that is, the seafront at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk on 16/10/2010. Amazingly this bird was next seen on the beach at Praia da Vitoria, Terceira Island, Azores 38'42N 27'03W! The longevity record for a British Med Gull is 15 years so hopefully we'll be able to track its movements back and around the rest of Europe for years to come.


View Med Gull in Azores in a larger map

We have had 12 previous reports of UK bird ringed birds in the Azores and we have had 1 Med Gull before, seen 3 times. After the Little Egret previously posted, who knows what species will be next.

Thanks to Simon for letting us know and letting us use his photo (http://shorebirder-waderworld.blogspot.com)

Egret Excitement

As ringing Little Egrets in the UK is a relatively new phenomenon and we are finding out all sorts of new information about their demography. We previously reported a report of a Little Egret going south to Pasaxe de Pedrido, Galicia in Spain at the start of last year but the record has now been smashed!

Colour ringed Little Egret GN20692, below (blue on map), was ringed near Bangor, Gwynedd on 19 June 2010 and has been seen ALIVE in Tenerife on the 3rd and 25 of November! The bird looks a bit worse for wear due to its long flight but seems to be doing well.


Another Little Egret (GR00505) ringed in Galway, Ireland was seen on the Azores (red on map) on the 15th October with 4 other unringed Egrets! This bird was very far from the mainland and would surely have died but hopefully it will make the journey back. Without these birds being colour ringed we would have never known about their amazing flights.


View Little Egret in a larger map

Thanks to Richard de Feu, Tony Cross and Richard Hearn for letting us know.

Scottish Red Kite in the Azores!

We do seem to be reporting on a lot of European birds heading west these days... This time though, it was a British bird deserting us! OK, so it was November LAST year, but we have only just received news of a wing-tagged Red Kite seen on the island of Corvo in the Azores. It was seen briefly on 3 November on the island, and is only the second record on an island group more famed for its vagrant American birds (see the 2009 Corvo birding blog for more).


This bird was originally ringed in the nest in northern Scotland in July 2008 and given wing tags blue 'm', black 'm'. We've added the movement to the Glossy Ibis map below, with the Red Kite in... red!


View 6PW and 'm' in a larger map

Many thanks to Martin Gottschling for reporting this and sending us the photos.