If in doubt....

....and you can't get out, post a pic or two!

Common Yellwowthroat Zac Hinchcliffe 

Starting with the Common Yellowthroat still showing a few miles west of Newport, Gwent, in Wales to the delight of Zac and fellow 'twitchers' whose motivation for such enthusiasm I clearly understand but have never been bitten by the bug as my passion for birds leads me down many other roads. Please take a look at Zacs blog where you can see his enthusiasm for the scarce/rare/mega birds along with the more common ones with which he is equally enthusiastic about the ringing aspects of birding.

 Siberian Rubythroat. Copy Permitted.

Well you wont have many chances in a lifetime to see one of these little gems, so....if an opportunity ever arises I'd jump sky high at it if I was you. A couple of points of interest are that the first record for Siberian Rubythroat in Britain wasn't until barely over 40 years ago in October 1971, Fair Isle, Shetland, the bird winters India to Southeast Asia and Philippines. 

 Hornemanns Arctic Redpoll. Copy Permitted.

And here's another you maybe won't get many chances to see either.The first British record of Arctic Redpoll C.h. hornemanni is of a bird shot at Whitburn, Tyne and Wear in 1855. Its pretty sad that thousands of so called 'humans' who still shoot birds in the 21st century, don't give the impression that they'll ever become at least a little more civilised and take up some other less violent and destructive pastime. But there you go....I digress.

   Marmora's Warbler. Copy Permitted.

Bringing up the rear of four little gems is the Marmora's Warbler, and yes, yet another of those you probably won't ever see in your lifetime. The first record of this species was collected a little nearer to home only 30 years ago in 1982 at Langsett on the Pennines in Yorkshire where it stayed for seven weeks. It was found in the month of May when it was in full song, rising into the air in display not unlike a Whitethroat, the bird was also actually observed carrying nesting material. This record was claimed to have been over 2,000km north of its previously known range.

Birds fascinate me in a thousand ways.

Not at all common!

Anyone who needs to know will have already heard about the Common Yellowthroat reported in Newport, Gwent today though apparently been present for at least three days. Definitely not common here but abundant in the North American swamps and marshes.

It is interesting that three North American species made up a trio in 1989 when a Common Yellowthroat in Kent was joined not many miles away by a Golden-winged Warbler which in turn was in Britain at the same time as a Baltimore Oriole in Pembrokeshire which made up the threesome of over-wintering North American passerines.

The first Common Yellowthroat in Britain was found on Lundy, Devon in 1954, but the identity of the bird remained uncertain until specimen feather samples were sent to the British Museum following which confirmation was made though it was not possible to ascribe this individual to any particular race of this species of which there are twelve. Four years later in 1958 the first acceptable record of Baltimore Oriole for Britain was found, this bird was also on Lundy, Devon. A much earlier record of this species was of a bird found at Balta Sound, Shetland in 1889 but this record was eventually rejected, not surprising as the taxidermist George Bristow was involved, a man at the centre of the Hastings Rarities Affair.

The Golden-winged Warbler has the most interesting 'finders' story attached to it in that, in Kent in February 1989 a bird photographer on his way to post a letter glimpsed a small bird seen to come out of a Cotoneaster bush, he soon realised he was being treated to stunning views of an adult male Golden-winged Warbler. A crowd of 'twitchers' present during the first Saturday after its discovery was estimated at up to 3,000. This is a scarce species in the USA with a restricted breeding range and is considered an unlikely vagrant to Britain, as far as I am aware it remains the only Western Palearctic record.  

American Bittern Mike Watson 

No permissible photographs of any of the North American birds, but an excellent one of the American Bittern at Merritt Island NWR....much appreciated Mike.