If you asked me a week ago which of the 633 birds currently on the BOU list would be my 400th bird the near mythical new world Magnolia Warbler would have been very close to the bottom of the list.
Fast forward to this Wednesday when an event started to unfold that would go down as one of the most memorable in British birding history. Strong North Easterly winds blowing right across the Atlantic ocean from the eastern seaboard of North America to the British isles coincided with the peak migration time for American songbirds leaving Canada and the northern states for their southern wintering grounds. In the following couple of days some 20 mega rare birds together with a strong supporting cast of very scarce birds were found dotted along the west coast of Britain and Ireland. Every time I proofread this the number increases! Every silver lining, however, has a cloud so please spare a thought for the many hundreds of birds that did not survive the 40 hour arduous Atlantic crossing and perished at sea.
The exhausted birds that do make it will drop on the first part of land they see hence their concentration along the west coast. As is often the case, the islands off the Pembrokeshire coast scored more that their fair share of this bumper crop of rare birds. These remote islands, often just hosting a bird observatory, are not easy to visit. Permitted numbers of visitors are often severely limited and sea conditions rule out a visit on many days. Luck would have it however that one of the most prized avian gems made it to the mainland Pembrokeshire coast. On Wednesday evening a local birder found a Magnolia Warbler on his Pembrokeshire patch.
With just two brief previous records in 1981 and 2012 this was a mega blocker missing from most UK birders lists. I had to walk the dogs at dawn on Thursday morning but then set off on the 3 hour plus drive to St. Govan’s head in Pembrokeshire where the bird was still being reported. A large crowd of birders had assembled before dawn in the hope of seeing this mega rarity but, thankfully, by the time I arrived the crowd had thinned out a bit. The Warbler was said to be showing intermittently in an area of blackthorn and bramble scrub. After a very nervous ten minutes it popped out into the open. Now I know I’m biased but this was a truly stunning bird - my 400th UK bird had been delivered in the most unexpected and spectacular fashion!
The warblers main breeding population is found in the northern parts of Canada where it breeds in dense forests somewhat akin to our Wood Warbler. It migrates to southern Mexico and Central America for the winter. In breeding plumage the males have white, grey, and black backs with yellow on the sides, yellow and black-striped stomachs, white, grey, and black foreheads and beaks and distinct black tails with white stripes on the underside. Breeding females usually have the same type of coloration as the males, except that their colours are duller. Being fairly common within its habitat it is considered of least concern on the ICUN red list.
On its first foray out into the open lasting maybe 20 seconds, I managed to get some unobstructed pictures of the bird. This turned out to be unusual as it spent most of the following 2 hours I was on site sulking withing the scrub. A few Chough flew overhead and kept us amused while we waited for more views of our American visitor. Come mid-afternoon I departed for home, absolutely buzzing from my latest avian adventure.
As I type this on Saturday morning and truly unbelievably, the same local birder has just found another mega rare Canada warbler at the same site – a first for the UK!
Nice one Jim
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