Let me know when that tide's coming in won't you

Let me know when that tide's coming in won't you

Saturday 6 September 2014

Cattle Egret and Red-necked Phalarope! What a day.

What an afternoon I've just had. I had to sweet talk my daughter into going to Burton Mere RSPB reserve. There were just too many good birds around to not make the 50 minute drive.
I managed to pick up two lifers in the form of a Cattle Egret and a Red-necked Phalarope. On top of that we had two Little Stints, a Pectoral Sandpiper, Bar tailed Godwits, Ruff, Dunlin plus lots lots more.
Eleanor wasn't too impressed with the one mile walk to the second hide, especially when we got there the Cattle Egret had moved back to where we'd come from. Still, we caught up with it when we got back and I've had to promise all sorts of goodies in return.
A special day with special birds and lots of very nice people met too. It's what birding is all about.

Here's the Cattle Egret in amongst the Greylag Geese, a bit ruffled after a preen.





Pectoral Sandpiper in the middle with the Lapwings.



Red-necked Phalarope. Very distant from the hide, hence the very poor record shots here.


17 comments:

  1. thos phalaropes are so cool they way they wade in the water! i've only seen them in photos, but seems they're always in belly deep. :)

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  2. So wonderful to have such a great birding spot so close to home!!

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  3. Great set of birds - I would have to bribe my kids to come with me - hot chocolate and jelly snakes seem to work at present!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  4. Real beautiful bird pictures !

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  5. From my Aussie perspective, how strange for the Cattle Egret to be the rarity and all those beautiful Lapwings to be 'ordinary'! :)

    Great photos and a lovely spot!

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  6. Interesting series....I love lapwings,especially their call!

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  7. A great series of birds but as Christian said the common birds out in Australia seem to be uncommon over your way! That's part of what makes reading other blogs so interesting!

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  8. How exciting for you and us! Wonderful series of nature's beautiful birds and habitat ~ Great photography for OWT!

    artmusedog and carol (A Creative Harbor)

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  9. Your excitement comes across in bucket loads. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Wonderful shots of the water birds.

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  11. Neat photos! Looks like the geese were very busy feeding.

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  12. That's an impressive day list Adam.I must say that Cattle Egret looks a little incongruous amongst geese and perhaps not where I would expect to find a Mediterrranean species.Good size comparisons of Lapwing and Pectoral Sandpiper too.

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  13. What a great collection of shore birds. How wonderful that you went with your daughter!

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  14. An exciting day, Adam! I know you are glad you went.

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  15. What pretty bird shots! The egret certainly stands out.

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  16. I could feel your excitement... Congrats on the lifers and thank you so much for participating in Nature Notes... Michelle

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  17. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast and the cattle egrets here will be going south in the next week or two.

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