Rare migrant was likely blown off course – and ended up in Dunnet Bay
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Wildlife Sightings by Rob Hughes
All breeding migrants are back in the county now – robin, song thrush, blackbird, house sparrow and starlings already have fledged young and cetaceans are more frequently sighted.
What a great time to be out and about.
On May 14, I found a sanderling with a colour ring combination on its leg with a flock of about 800 waders feeding up in Dunnet Bay. The rings are put on to help identify individual birds for projects with great ease.
After reporting it online I received its history from the project leader almost immediately. This individual was ringed as part of a long-term project studying the East Atlantic flyway of migrating sanderlings.
It was ringed in 2016 near Keflavik in Iceland on its way to breed in Greenland. It regularly gets seen on its wintering ground in Northern France. On its way north it has also been seen in Northumberland and on Orkney during its migration.
If you see flocks of waders on a beach its always worth giving them space and keeping dogs on leads as it allows the birds to fuel up or roost more comfortably as part of their 6000km annual migration.
A curlew sandpiper joined the flock on the 15th on its way to Scandinavia.
The rarest bird of the month was a Bonaparte’s Gull in Dunnet Bay between 1st and at least the 20th. Bonaparte’s Gulls breed in Boreal forests across southern Alaska, through much of the interior west Canada to Central Quebec.
This vagrant was perhaps blown across during strong westerly winds whilst trying to migrate. It is smaller than the black-headed gulls that it hung around with, with an all black bill and bright bubble-gum pink legs.
It spent much of its time picking insects off the red algae at low tide and dip feeding insects from the sea surface just offshore. It would also regularly roost at St John’s Pool.
The first returning swift screaming over Thurso on the 10th were a much-welcomed sound. Other returning or passage migrants include a yellow wagtail at River Bothy on the 7th, ring ouzel at Broubster on the 9th, spotted flycatcher in Castletown on the 10th, hobby at Lieurary on the 10th, pied flycatcher at Forss on the 14th, whinchat at Huna on the 16th and wood sandpiper at St John’s Pool on the 17th.
I was excited to see my first orange-tip butterfly near Durran early in the month, which, like many other butterfly species, are under-recorded in the county.
Many people connected with the pod of five orca that passed Duncansby on the 9th, with a scattering of other sightings, last reported at Staxigoe on the 28th as far as I’m aware. There have also been regular sightings of Risso’s dolphin and reports of minke whales increased as we got towards the tail end of the month.
