When an Outing is billed as "Go where the birds are" it falls on the Leader to decide on the location and timing of the event, although the date is fixed. A judgement call will have to be made based on what noteworthy birds have been reported recently - and the likelihood that they will still be about as well as the weather (and tidal conditions if the site is coastal). Hence, the news that a North American Baird's Sandpiper had been seen at Lossiemouth over the past eight days was encouraging but it had to be factored in that high tide (usually best at estuaries as it can drive birds closer) was early and late in the day and very strong winds were forecast. Still, this location usually offers a good variety of birds in mid-September so the die was cast.
Our party of eight assembled at the west side of the Lossie Estuary mid-morning and, along with a few independent birders, started scanning the far shore through scopes. A large flock of Eurasian Teals snoozed on the mudflats and Eurasian Wigeons grazed on the saltmarsh or swam mid-channel. Eclipse plumage was explained and the difficulty of identifying vagrant American Wigeons or Green-winged Teals was a thought that I kept to myself as I started to work through the waders. Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlews, a few Knots, Ringed Plovers and Redshanks were ticked off but attention turned to the Dunlins as this is the species most resembling our prime quarry. The birds were very mobile however and the gusty wind didn't help matters. News came that the Baird's had been spotted further upstream and we moved to get a better angle with respect to the sun. A silhouetted Ruff with its mismatched body parts was spotted briefly (but never seen again!) and the odd snowy Sanderling preened on a sandbar. A diving saw-billed duck was not the expected Red-breasted Merganser but a female Goosander and the Merg-ing red head of the Merganser was cited as the memorable distinction between the two. The flight of male Goosanders to Norway to moult was explained - it must be worthwhile to fly all that way to reduce competition for food with the stay-at-home females and juveniles. A sudden, short, sharp rain shower was contra the forecast but soon passed and we carried on searching..
Our party of eight assembled at the west side of the Lossie Estuary mid-morning and, along with a few independent birders, started scanning the far shore through scopes. A large flock of Eurasian Teals snoozed on the mudflats and Eurasian Wigeons grazed on the saltmarsh or swam mid-channel. Eclipse plumage was explained and the difficulty of identifying vagrant American Wigeons or Green-winged Teals was a thought that I kept to myself as I started to work through the waders. Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlews, a few Knots, Ringed Plovers and Redshanks were ticked off but attention turned to the Dunlins as this is the species most resembling our prime quarry. The birds were very mobile however and the gusty wind didn't help matters. News came that the Baird's had been spotted further upstream and we moved to get a better angle with respect to the sun. A silhouetted Ruff with its mismatched body parts was spotted briefly (but never seen again!) and the odd snowy Sanderling preened on a sandbar. A diving saw-billed duck was not the expected Red-breasted Merganser but a female Goosander and the Merg-ing red head of the Merganser was cited as the memorable distinction between the two. The flight of male Goosanders to Norway to moult was explained - it must be worthwhile to fly all that way to reduce competition for food with the stay-at-home females and juveniles. A sudden, short, sharp rain shower was contra the forecast but soon passed and we carried on searching..
Searching for that elusive wader at Lossiemouth (Sue Seright)
It is a truism that on these outings not everyone will see everything but success is measured by most of the party seeing most of the good birds. Unfortunately, on this occasion not everyone saw the star bird but eventually most managed, to get a satisfactory comparison of the Baird's Sandpiper with attendant Dunlins, albeit getting neither lengthy nor "crippling" views. The smaller size, shorter bill and distinctive scalloped upperparts were giveaways although the "wingtips exceeding tail" was a difficult feature to discern. Whilst unseen by the Leader, a Black-tailed Godwit and a diminutive Little Gull were spotted by others in the group.
Baird's Sandpiper (with Dunlin), Lossiemouth (Phil Wilson)
Little Gull (and Black-headed Gull), Lossiemouth (Phil Wilson)
We then moved to Burghead for a picnic lunch where eight male Eiders rode the choppy waves. The odd Gannet mastered the headwind and Razorbills were just discernible. Flocks of winter-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits snoozed on the rocks, a few Turnstones picked amongst the seaweed but a lone Pale-bellied Brent Goose was a good find here., It was probably exhausted after a long flight from Svalbard or Greenland but seemed healthy enough, if lonely. A quick check of the harbour failed to produce any Purple Sandpipers but as we were about to leave Hugh found a lone Guillemot diving just by the seawall.
Brent Goose, Burghead (Phil Wilson)
Upright tripods - just! (Sue Seright)
-Next we went to the mouth of the River Findhorn. A one-kilometre walk from the car park was, mercifully, out of the snell wind and our endpoint was atmospheric with skeins of Pink-footed Geese flying noisily overhead. We might have seen a better variety of birds had we ventured further out to the edge of the saltmarsh but decided that the danger of being cut off by the incoming tide flooding the creeks was too high. Besides, it would be blowing a hoolie and we'd already experienced tripods blowing over!
A quick stop at the Mosset Burn gave us good, if rather distant, views of three cinnamon-plumaged Black-tailed Godwits - compensation for the Leader failing to see the species at Burghead. Thousands of Pink-footed Geese were tucked into the SE corner of the Bay and doubtless held the odd goose of other species but we decided to call it a day.
All in all, a satisfactory day - maybe I wouldn't have chosen to venture out given the weather forecast had I been on my own but, once again, you don't see birds when you don't try!
Peter Gordon
A quick stop at the Mosset Burn gave us good, if rather distant, views of three cinnamon-plumaged Black-tailed Godwits - compensation for the Leader failing to see the species at Burghead. Thousands of Pink-footed Geese were tucked into the SE corner of the Bay and doubtless held the odd goose of other species but we decided to call it a day.
All in all, a satisfactory day - maybe I wouldn't have chosen to venture out given the weather forecast had I been on my own but, once again, you don't see birds when you don't try!
Peter Gordon
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