Wednesday 26th October
However our two couples of visiting birders – Owen & Glynis Roberts and Alan & Karami Ure were out enjoying some of the more regular birding highlights that Islay has to offer – lots of raptors including Hen Harriers, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Golden & White-tailed Eagles and another sighting of our presumably semi-resident Marsh Harrier. Alan & Karami checked out the Loch Skerrols area finding a Slav. Grebe, a few Tufties and a Dipper. Owen & Glynis also clocked 35 Brent Geese on Loch Indaal.
Gary T. saw the Kingfisher up at the top end of Loch Indaal again today.
The only other notifications coming in on the WhatsApp were a couple of photos of another of those confusing Canada Geese seen by Dan Brown complete with “odd” features and apparently looking a bit like a parvipes subspecies of Lesser Canada Goose. With genuine vagrants of “smaller” and “larger” types of Canada Geese (Cackling and/or Greater), coming in with the Barnacles, plus an increasing local population of feral Canada Geese that could be any or a mix of species, subspecies (several in each species), plus potential hybrids between Canadas & Barnacles it seems it will be a conundrum that will never go away. It intrigues some keen birders into a laudable forensic attempt to sort it all out, while leaving other birders “cold”, perplexed and dismissive of ever trying to sort anything out – if indeed there is anything to sort out depending on whether you are a “lumper” or “splitter”.
Malcolm O.’s
comments today sums up the latter viewpoint succinctly: “I long ago decided that Canadas fitted into nine different types based
on size and colour. All were either large, medium or small and all were either
dark, medium or pale. Forget sub-specific names, select just two from the above
choices – Sorted!”
For those with an inquisitive mind of the former viewpoint this paper in British Birds is worthy of scrutiny: The Cackling Goose in Britain. Andy Stoddart. BB. 109. November 2016. 677-684.
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