As I promised in my final submit, my spouse and I had been in Dublin, Eire, when that submit went on-line. Yearly we spend a number of weeks working within the excessive south of Spain, and yearly we attempt to spend a number of days someplace new in Europe, on our means there. This permits us to begin adjusting to the 7-8 hour time distinction earlier than we begin our work actions. This 12 months it was Dublin’s flip.
Eire is a kind of locations that I really feel ought to actually be skilled within the countryside, not within the metropolis. However 4 days isn’t a lot time to take action, and jet lag didn’t assist both. So any birding I might handle needed to occur within the common downtown space through which we stayed. A fast look on the metropolis’s eBird hotspots urged that my best choice can be St. Stephen’s Park, as this medium-sized city park was solely a 25 minute stroll from our lodge, and in contrast to different city parks, it sports activities a small lake.
I attempted to go out on the daybreak, which in Dublin in October, is round 7 a.m. Sadly, I had forgotten that with out an Irish SIM card on my cell phone (I waited till Spain to purchase a kind of), I might solely obtain Merlin’s British Isles pack wherever I might plug into somebody’s web. That delayed my departure from the lodge for a couple of minutes. Then I arrived on the park, and realized that I had the identical drawback with my eBird app.
So off I went once more, trying to find one other enterprise that may let me use their web. Would you imagine that Irish Starbucks don’t open till 8 a.m.?
Lengthy story quick, my outing to the park didn’t actually get going till about 8:15. However I had polished off a continental breakfast.
It didn’t take lengthy to find out which species dominate the St. Stephen’s ecosystem. Herring Gulls had been in every single place, particularly flying overhead. A lot of Hooded Crows saved them firm, however curiously, there have been no different corvid species current (like Jackdaws or Rooks, widespread in different European parks). Many European Magpies could possibly be seen on the bottom and within the bushes, which was a pleasure. I’m an enormous fan. Many, many Rock Pigeons wheeled round, in addition to a considerably smaller amount of Frequent Wooden-Pigeons.
These Magpies had been seen flying round ramparts close to the park.
Wooden-Pigeons look very like Rock Pigeons, however have made the good PR transfer of not sporting out their welcome worldwide.
Rock Pigeons, sporting out their welcome.
The lake had fairly a inhabitants of Mallards, amazingly tame Mute Swans, and Tufted Geese. Seeing the latter was a deal with for me.
Very tame
A male Gadwall finally turned up. He apparently shouldn’t be present in Dublin, however has lengthy been in residence within the park, and is kind of the celeb amongst native birders. He clearly has an in depth relationship with a sure feminine Mallard. Who am I to guage?
There have been additionally a number of Frequent Moorhens, together with one grownup accompanying an sudden October juvenile. And one Nice Cormorant flew right down to the lakeside, to strike a dramatic pose. A single Gray Heron did the identical.
Within the bushes, one might hear Eurasian Wrens, European Robins, and Nice Tits. I ultimately managed to see all however the latter.
Later within the day, whereas strolling alongside Dublin’s Liffey River, I appeared overhead and clearly noticed a raptor wheeling among the many many Herring Gulls. Sadly, my information of European birds of prey continues to be questionable, and once I downloaded the Merlin for Eire earlier within the day, it failed to show up with pictures. So I shortly marked it as a Black Kite, largely as a placeholder till I might appropriate my ID after we bought again to our lodge. Inside minutes, I had an e-mail from the native eBird reviewer informing me that Black Kites are extraordinarily uncommon, and that the one raptor more likely to be seen within the Dublin space is the Frequent Buzzard. Which after all, as soon as I might examine my not-terrible picture with my rebooted Merlin, it was.
This was not a foul factor, as I ended up having a really good back-and-forth with the eBird reviewer. He’s the one which knowledgeable me of the Gadwall’s celeb standing. He advised me he was completely satisfied that I had gotten to see it. (Gadwalls are fairly widespread close to Morelia within the winter, however I felt particular, anyway.) He additionally stated that whereas Frequent Buzzards are the largely seemingly chicken of prey in Eire, it was nonetheless uncommon to see one proper over the center of Dublin. I felt much more particular.
My birding day ended with a really shut encounter with a number of European Starlings. In North America, I might need felt irritated to see this wildly invasive chicken. However in Europe, the place they belong, its all the time a pleasure to see what good-looking creatures they’re.
