Shetland Autumn 2024 part three, Pallas’ Warbler and Red-backed Shrike

  

Pallas' Warbler

Reading my blogs may give you the impression that autumn in Shetland is nonstop rare birds. Its not. There are always slower periods in a ten day stay. My blogs tend to concentrate on the big rarities but there are always slow days that, in all honesty, can be quite hard work. As in the rest of the UK, it’s all critically depended on having reasonably strong winds from the west or east. This year it was all about eastern winds and birds with hardly a sniff of anything exotic from north America. If truth be told, there’s not much else to do on Shetland at this time of year so slow days can be very hard going. Most days, however, there is at least something in terms of scarce drift migrants to go and see and photograph.

 

On Wednesday 9th October  a very rare American Nighthawk was reported on Yell. I thought about going but decided to wait for further information, mainly because I saw the Oxford bird so well a couple of years back. It’s a good job I did because it was subsequently reidentified as an Eurasian Nightjar! Instead I paid a visit to Sullom to see a reportedly very confiding Red-backed Shrike. This bird had been there a few days and seemed to have injured one of its wings somehow. When first found it couldn’t fly properly but after a couple of days it seems to be flying around quite well so hopefully it will fully recover in time to make its way to Africa for the winter. Almost all the Red backed Shrikes found in autumn are young birds hatched this spring and this bird was no exception. They are still very attractive birds. The likable appearance hides the fact that these are quite furious predators, quite capable of taking a small bird or mammal. Watching this bird it seemed to be catching copious insects, particularly large bees. Its colloquial name of butcher bird refers to its somewhat unappealing habit of using a larder to store excess prey which it normally  impales on thorns.

Red-backed Shrike

I then moved onto a place called Swinning where a Pallas’ Warbler had been found.  

This attractive small warbler breeds from Siberia  through to  northeast China where it nests in Taiga forests. It is named after the German Zoologist Peter Simon Pallas who has a number of other birds named after him. It is strongly migratory wintering in  North-eastern Indochina. Along with some other Leaf Warblers, most notably the Yellow-browed Warbler, first winter birds are increasingly being found in Europe during winter, probably due to a phenomena called reverse migration,  see here. This begs the question as to what happens to the ones that survive the winter here? Based on most vagrants being first winter birds the vast majority don’t return even though reverse migration is thought to be hardwired into their DNA. Sadly, the conclusion seems to be that they perish somewhere. 

 

Very superficially it is similar to  a Yellow-browed Warbler, the most easily seen differentiating feature being its pale yellow crown stripe on top of its head. The supercilium is also stronger and tends  towards deep yellow or pale orange towards its bill. In flight its other main distinguishing feature could be seen, a prominent yellow rump.

 

This year’s visit to Shetland was very much a match of two half’s, the first 5 days were absolutely manic and then it went quite slow for the remainder of the trip. Of course if you are a glass half full sort of guy you do tend to remember the special days over the slow ones!

I’ve been coming to Shetland for the past 5 autumns and have some truly incredible birding memories but next year I’m going to give it a miss and do something a little exotic. Its my 70^th birthday next November and I’m planning to go on an organised birding trip to Costa Rica! Everything I hear about this place says that it’s one of the worlds top birding spots so fingers crossed.

 

I’m certainly not saying that I would not come to Shetland again but I think it may be time for a break. I’ve considered trying the Silly Isles for an autumn visit but the past two years have been quite slow there so I’m not so sure. Costa Rica first to look forward to anyway!

Twite

  

Purple Sandpiper

Here is a list of “notable birds” I’ve had the pleasure to see on this trip in no particular order. The ones in bold are lifers.

 

·      Pale-legged Warbler (on the way up to Aberdeen at Bempton RSPB)

·      Yellow Browed Warbler

·      Red-breasted Flycatcher

·      Lanceolated Warbler

·      Paddyfield Warbler

·      Barred Warbler

·      Little Bunting

·      Eastern Crowned Warbler

·      Red-backed Shrike

·      Long tailed duck

·      White winged Scoter

·      Pallas’ Grasshopper Warbler

·      Arctic Warbler

·      Bluethroat

·      Rose coloured Starling

·      Purple Sandpiper

·      Olive backed Pipit

·      Snow Bunting

·      (Probable) Eastern Lesser Whitethroat

·      Golden Oriel

·      Pallas’ Warbler

·      Cattle Egret

·      Twite

 

 Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!