Clahane flurry of birds

 Its was  a spring day with a flurry of birds that were passing through.

Plenty Whimbrels coming up the Clahane coast followed by White Wagtail, a few extra Rock Pipits, Wheatear, a couple of Common Sandpipers, they all seemed to arrive and leave together.

Signs of migration out west

 The tide was the high at Clahane . A noisy flock of Herring Gulls bossed the bay, a Greenshank caught my eye in the rocks near the cliff it was with 5 Redshank . A White Wagtail briefly flew into the river entry, flitted around being busy went high and crossed the bay.

A flock 95 Brent Geese were on the middle reef with 60+ Golden Plover that were changing into summer plumage and 5 Whimbrel. The Geese began to move to the reef near the road and among them was a Black Brant

"Which way you heading"..."North"

Alba be passing through

This White Wagtail was on the Rine at Ballyvaughan , a species that just passes along our coasts quietly unnoticed.
Often seen along the coast during April and May,the same times as Whimbrel  .
Blends in well with shoreline stones and pebbles.

Clahane spring birdlife

Turnstone

Purple sandpiper

White Wagtail

Clahane seems to be getting over its drought of birds. Several species of wader including Purple Sandpipers,Whimbrel,Turnstone,Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher go through the washed up seaweed.
White Wagtail ,Pied Wagtail and Rock pipit feed on the abundance of flys.Stonechat and Linnet were in the fields and a summer plumage Great northern diver was in the sea

White Wags

White Wagtail

Quite a few White Wagtails are feeding up along the shores at Clahane. Today i had a count of 13 of these smart looking Wags.Flighty birds to photo,but with help of a sea wall ,good light and ninja stealth it becomes a challenge.

Motacilla Alba Distribution

Nakamura, Kazue (1985). "Historical change of the geographical distribution of two closely related species of the genus Motacilla in the Japanese Archipelago: a preliminary note". Bulletin of the Kanagawa prefecture Museum of Natural Science No.16.

Motacilla Alba..The White Wagtail

male

female

male

female

A flock of 30+ White Wagtail are filling up on flys as they travel north on their way to breeding grounds.
To me there so totaly different to the Pied wagtail.
Here is 2 shots each of male and female Whiteys

Quilty Wagtails

 
The difference between Pied and White Wagtails shown here on the Quilty shoreline