Tuesday September 17th
Grandson Harry is 15 to-day. Happy Birthday.
The only day available for birding this week, we planned a morning at Cley before the forecast rain arrived. I looked at my pager for the first time in three days... I hate my replacement 'old style' pager, sent when my X3 died. I can't set individual file alerts, e.g for Norfolk and new rares, and the available alerts are extremely annoying, so, I turn them off. Vibrate makes the pager jump about like a demented flea and it jumps off the shelf!
A real surprise to find that there was a Wilson's Phalarope on Pat's Pool, we haven't seen one for years. Our first - and last - was at Holme last century. Both the upper and lower car parks at Cley Centre were full so we went round again and found a vacated slot.
Only three birders walking towards us as we walked to the hide - very full was the verdict. We squeezed in and I immediately saw the Wilson's feeding, standing thigh deep, pecking at the surface with its long, black, needle -sharp bill. Not swimming and /or spinning as I've seen them before. Unforgettably, I once saw 100+ on a sewage pool in California, all spinning.
It was a considerable distance away but I took a few shots with my 300 lens...
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| Wilson's Phalarope and ruff - much cropped |
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| Heavily cropped Wilson's |
Pam ordered our food and returned to our window bench in time to see a flock of 50+ Pinkfeet fly through. I'd idly watched them approach highish in the sky before calling 'geese', without registering that they were the first of the winter. After brunch at the cafe, We had a quick look at Coastguards and then parked at Salthouse duckpond, where I decided that I neglected the common birds and took some photos from the car.
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| female mallard |
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| Moorhen |
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| Coot |
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| Ist winter Black-headed Gull |
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| Adult winter Black-headed Gull |
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