"We were not prepared for the 20th and its events, after what was a very quiet first half of the month. Arriving at Clachan Farm I stopped by the gate and saw to my disbelief a small Catharus thrush at the end of the caravan. It hopped off and I told Cath who did not believe me. It took us 2 hours to relocate the bird in what is a very small plantation. I got two tantalising glimpses during this period and had narrowed it down to either veery or (less likely) wood thrush! Just as we were about to give up we walked towards the caravan on our way out and the bird flew up and perched in the lower branches of a pine. I locked on and finally identified it as a veery (4th for WP, 3rd for UK and 1st for Scotland).
Veery, my best UK find. Nicked this image off the internet (it's an adult).An active little bird, which then started feeding around where we had collapsed (often down to 4 metres). Superb. Warm brown uppers, grey lores, lack of buff eye-ring, gold-tipped coverts, greyish flanks all led to identification of the bird as a veery. The bird was difficult to see after the first day – I never saw it again! Tim (Dix) and Paul (Boyer) both managed to see it over the next two days and Paul saw it once more on the 28th. Only four birders saw it in the end, no one making the effort to get over from the mainland."
Another member of the veery club !
ReplyDeleteI found mine in Unst 2005, the 7th for the UK and 1st for Shetland. Only 4 people saw it in the field, seriously skulky....
Awesome birds !
I didn't know you had found a Veery - fantastic effort! Let's hope your next find in Båstad will be a mega-Sibe.. Will send one over - Siberian Accentor, Sir?
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