Rarest British Bird & other photos from the past week.

Fair Isle Wren
This subspecies with only 25 - 40 breeding pairs has and one of the worlds most limited range... Just Fair Isle.

The rarest "British" bird but not the rarest bird in Britain.

This newly hatched chick is so cute! and it's nice to see them about the island and in my garden.

Dunlin

Flycatcher

Snipe

Red Admiral

Henry found these Oystercatcher eggs... not the most cozy nest I've ever seen.
 The the parents to be were not happy! and made quite a racket.

our guests

Oyster Plant

Red Throated Loon

Woodchat Shrike - Lifer!
 plus a Turtle Dove! Island & Garden Tick!

I have dipped Turtle Dove 3 times on Fair Isle so I'm quite happy this week!



Timmy! fly like a birdy!



Rare Spring Greenish Warbler! bonus Icterine from my window today.

Greenish Warbler



through my salty window

I was on the phone looking out my window while talking to a birder friend who had just seen the White-Throated Robin. (gripping me off) He was saying it should of been in my garden not Hartlepool? You can't have everything... Still on the phone... I then saw a warbler on the wire and I yelled to my son to get my bins! but it was to late. I said I was trying to make wing bars on that warbler out there? (but it's the wrong time of the year for that...) When I got of the phone I relocated the bird OMG! it did seem to have a slight wing bar... As I was looking at it a big yellow Icterine Warbler popped up and chased it around. Now these "Warblers" make me nervous because ones like this I can never be total sure or get the greatest photo. So I called the Obs twice! before I got Susanna, I told her that I had a Icterine Warbler and a Chiffchaff Willow Warblerish bird with a hint of a wing bar? Asst. Warden Jason shows up and the birds are not in my front garden anymore, so I show him my photos and we consult my open Colins Bird Guide. We soon relocate the bird in the back garden but it is flush back to the front. There Jason scrutinizes and confirms it's a Greenish Warbler even though he has never seen one before. (Lifer for Jason) We watched it search the garden for insects and it even landed on my "Tree" and the stick just outside my window. The Icterine Warbler is relocated when we follow the greenish Warbler to the bushes in front of Skerry Holm. A few van loads of birders later... everyone who wanted to see the birds was given splendid views. Plus Jason and I were happy to have additional confirmation from the other wardens, visitors, etc. This bird changed it's look drastically with a flick of it's tail... very disconcerting to a amateur bird enthusiast like me, sometime grey with the faintest wing bar or to quite yellow/green with a stronger wing bar depending on the light and it's pose. A spring sighting of a Greenish Warbler is not that common I was told it was about the 30th known British spring record? This is my 3rd or 4th Greenish Warbler I've seen on Fair Isle but hast to be my favorite as it ticked all the right boxes.

Garden Tick  -  Tree Tick  -  Self Found Tick



fluffed

in the back garden

Icterine Warbler



The Newest Fair Isle Resident & House for Rent

Daniel
New mother Maree Walace and Fair Isle's newest resident.
8 days old and just had his 2nd airplane ride...
Welcome! We plan to see a lot more of him in the future.

*

Would you like to be Fair Isle's newest resident? here is your chance! 

National Trust for Scotland - contacts

Alan Barrow abarrow@nts.org.uk

Alan Barrow abarrow@nts.org.uk

Brecks - house for rent.

Passing Aircraft Carrier & Resident Razorbills

Passing British Aircraft Carrier as viewed from my front door.

Razorbill on the cliff below the North Lighthouse.

Razorbills are cool... they have a very modern 1940's design feel to them.

All black and white with a yellow interior... Varoom!

Today's activity at the North Haven.
Cruiseship unloading passengers, moored privet yacht and the returning Good Shepherd

PS. sold hats to Author Margaret Atwood & Husband for their grand kids at cruiseship sale today.

June 6th, D-Day I found the Citril Finch

On this date we respect the memories of the invasion of Normandy
I also will forever remember a little Bird.

What's that!
Can you tell what that is? The bird sat there fluffed, hiding all it's wing markings...

 Citril Finch - A First for Britain - Fair Isle   Written June 2008

 by Tommy H. Hyndman & Mike Gee

 Fair Isle was covered in fog Friday, June 6^th 2008. With a light breeze coming in off the North Sea; in the area around the South Harbour and the Auld Haa Guest House the visibility was a little bit better than most on the isle. The Auld Haa or some times referred to as just “The Haa” is where I (Tommy H. Hyndman) live with my wife Liz Musser & 7 year old son Henry. The Haa is the old laird’s house circa 1700 and has a tradition of entertaining guests notably the writer Sir Walter Scott in 1814. This morning Liz and I had guests ornithologist Kevin Shepherd and his wife Roya wanting to fly to Foula but finding themselves stuck on Fair Isle for another day. Luckily for me they asked for a packed lunch so they could spend the whole day walking the island and bird watching. I have to admit that I was a bit envious as they walked away and to quote my wife “you are not on vacation and you don’t get paid to watch birds like other people on the island”. Running a guest house on Fair Isle means you have to provide three meals a day because there are no restaurants here, so I was happy to have the afternoon off to work in the garden. About 12:00 I was filling my 8 bird feeders with niger seeds, peanuts, raisins and mixed seeds when I saw a yellow bird on the blackcurrant bush. I went in to get my binoculars -  without binoculars I feel almost blind since I moved to Fair Isle from Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, USA a year and a half ago. I spied the bird’s yellow rump as it flew to the sheep cru then to the wire fence. That’s a funny looking grey headed Siskin I thought! Maybe it’s the Icterine Warbler I saw yesterday in my garden or one of the many Siskin that have been eating at my feeders for weeks now. In fact recently there have been quite a few yellow birds around: Willow and Icterine Warblers, Yellow, Citrine and Grey Wagtails, a Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipits, Greenfinch etc. I looked  closely at its beak and was disappointed that it wasn’t crossed having never seen a yellow Crossbill before  knowing that two were seen just the day before. I had to go back inside for my bird book. I didn’t grow up with these birds and  since moving here I’ve seen many common bird species for the first time and have had to identify them my self. I opened to the page with the Siskin, it looked very close, especially the female but on my bird the belly was bright yellow and not streaked. The Greenfinch has lots of grey but no bars on its wings. The book says Citril Finch has a dull yellow green rump and a tinged green belly and this bird seems bright yellow. Then turning the page I was totally confused, was it an escape Canary or some type of Serin or Bunting? Getting the right identification for an amateur is total madness.  In retrospect, problem was the bird seem to change every time I looked at it. First it was plain yellow and grey from the front, from behind green and black stripy thing, then fluffed up hiding the relevant wing bars? I needed to see that bird again and I must say it is quite cooperative staying in the same area and allowing me a few good views. It flew a short distance away showing the yellow rump again. The newly exsposed yellow bars on its wings really narrows it down -  it must be a Citril Finch, or a Siskin? I have to get my camera and take a photo to make sure. Back into the Haa for my camera and I grab my bird book as well, then back outside I place my open Collins Bird Guide on the lichen covered wall, I can see with my binoculars it has no dash of yellow below the yellow bar on its wing like that of a Siskin. I look down to refer to the book again thinking I must get a photo of this. Now with camera in hand I look up only to find it has vanished.

 

Now I wandered around the doing odd jobs in the garden with my binoculars on, plus my camera in my pocket cautiously going back over the identification book. I kept a look out for a birder staying at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory but it was lunch time. So by 1:00pm I was so convinced that it was a Citril Finch that I called the Bird Obs. even at the great risk of making a fool of myself. I got the answering machine and left a message. In the message I said I there is a Citril Finch and described the bird and that they should send someone to check it out.  I knew it would be a rare bird. Just how rare I really had no idea. The message was full of gaps, pauses and ums. I hung up and went back outside nervously looking about, while working in the yard with my binoculars still on. It’s about 2:15 when an older, knowledgeable and very keen birder by the name of Mike Gee walks down the road and like usual asks "is any thing about" To which I say "A Citril Finch?" Now Mike has been at the Bird Obs. vacationing for awhile now and I see him once or twice a day walking by and we chat about what ever is around. Knowing that I'm very enthusiastic American and have a lot to learn, he very nicely explains that a Citril Finch would be a 1st for Britain and that it is a non-migratory resident of the southern  Alps & Pyrenees.  Now I'm sure it's a Siskin again but that grey head is stuck in my mind. We chat and look at all the other birds. I say there are 4 black Headed gulls one, more than anybody has seen lately and we note 6 barn Swallows, a House Martin, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, and 2 Collared Doves.  I showed Mike the pictures in the book and we carried on awhile about possibilities. A half an hour goes by and Mike is about to go on his way when I check the back yard again and there it is. Mike says “so this is your bird is it”? Mike, who had actually seen Citril Finches before in their native France, had up to now been very calm in the way of a Zen master to his student. He lifts his binoculars and now starts to get very excited. He says ‘Oh my god it’s a Citril Finch! It’s a first for Britain you’ll be famous”! Then Elizabeth Riddiford walking by an asks what we had and soon she is agreeing with me.  Ten minutes later. We were joined by the sceptical Ranger, Paul King, who had been alerted about the answerphone message, and then by the returning Haa guest Kevin and Roya. The bird was not showing at this point and Kevin began to grill Mike and I about the bird.  We got as far as describing the head pattern when the bird appeared again. They both echo Mike in saying it is a Citril Finch.   Mike tells me I’ll be famous.  Then the crowds start arriving  and the sound of cameras clicking fills the air.

 I really have no idea of what it really means for such a sighting. It's like I won a bird watching lottery I didn't know I was playing. As we watch the bird every one calls friends and family and tells of the amazing little bird. Fair Isle is thick with fog and no planes can get in but boat loads of twitchers start showing up from Shetland. Photos start going up on the Internet, even my wife Liz starts shooting HD video for a possible documentary, and so it goes. I really enjoy wildlife and on Fair Isle bird watching is one of the best hobbies you can have. I have planted over 40 trees in my little bird garden and bird seed costs me a small fortune to keep the feeders full and mostly I see Starlings, House Sparrows and lost racing pigeons. The Citril Finch has been a welcome guest at the Auld Haa and when we know it should be wearing its yellow jersey watching a mountain stage of the Tour de France it comes here and does me the favour of eating the dandelion seeds. I didn’t have to serve him lunch either. I’m most proud that I was able to identify the bird correctly myself.

Mike Gee & Me

 Fair Isle has a well documented history of rare birds and 27 firsts for Britain. On a island of only 65 people I’m not the only one living here with a first, Stewart & Annie Thomson awoke to the strange song of White Crowned Sparrow in 1977. Naturalist Nick Riddiford found a Sand Hill Crane in 1981 when he was warden at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory. Don’t forget 100 year old Fair Islander, Jimmy "Midway" Stout who found a Pechora Pipit, a 1st for Britain in 1925…then it was shot – how times have changed.  The birds are not the only ones that have come far.  

Here is a link to some video footage by Liz Musser (my wife)
http://www.myspace.com/video/liz-musser/citril-finch-fair-isle-shetland-uk/35897570

This is my favorite photo of the Citril Finch in my garden on a tree that I had just planted.

Photo by Mark Breaks - Asst Warden at the time.

More photos at Breaks Bird Photography 

http://www.breaksbirdphotography.co.uk/birds/albums.html

It's 3 years later...

The Citril Finch is now on the A List of British Birds

I'm still amazed I ever identified it correctly...

Plus I found it not once but twice first on this Island full of birdwatchers.

It has been pointed out to me, not only did I find a first for Britain but I'm the frist non Brit to do so. Cheers!

Happy Citril Finch Day!

Citril Finch, Fair Isle, Shetland, UK. from Liz Musser on Myspace.

Citril Finch Video by Liz Musser on myspace.

         

The Golf is Open & Birdies are a Hatchin'

The boys played around... of golf.

The Fair Isle Lighthouse Keeper's Golf Course teed off today after delays due to weather etc.
We had a good time and also enjoyed the wildlife along the way.

more golf info... http://fair-isle.blogspot.com/p/golf.html

Those are not golf balls... those are Oystercatcher eggs.

Shag & young Shag - photo by Henry

That's some nice Fair Isle Knitwear!
Another Happy Fair Isle Crafts Customer

Henry caught 10 small fish in one small tidepool - Butterfish, Rockling plus one Starfish.
This is big for a Butterfish though.

The Hobby... Chicks & Birds

Lapwing and chick.

 The mother or parent Lapwing has two chicks one running one hiding.

Camouflage is working

The eggs in the Meadow Pipit's nest that Henry found have hatched.

passing oil rig

The Hobby on the Houll.

Nick pointed out this bird that flew over his head this morning just before Fair Isle Nature Club outing at the North Haven. This photo was at a great distance and heavily cropped but you can make out the white face pattern of a Hobby even at a distance. though i did have great views though my binoculars as it flew away.

Canada Goose - South Harbour
The lonely Canada Goose has been hanging out with 2 Greylags...
 but has seemed to have lost them at the moment.



While Barbecuing some bird again tonight we were joined by this Redpoll. 2 were seen at Breakfast an only this one at Dinner? I have no clue where they were at lunch time? 



I don't mind a little Bar-B-Q action



Oil... How about some Lanolin?