We started off this morning at Sandwick, where there was a possible Siberian oystercatcher from H.O. Longipes. The bird showed well on the beach, and I managed to get some photographs of it.
Longipes is said to have:
1) Browner and paler upperparts.
2) Longer bill and legs—though much overlap in both.
3) Nasal groove more than half bill length—less than half in nominate ostralegus.
4) Broader white throat strap in winter plumage.
5) Has more white in the wing, especially on the outer primaries.
Not knowing anything at all about this subspecies, I will leave it to experts. The bird did look longer-legged than the other oystercatchers it was with and appeared much browner than any other oystercatcher I have ever seen. This is the bird that was seen on the Azores in 2013: CLICK ON LINK
Moving on from here, we got early news on a Paddyfield warbler at Helli Ness. On arrival, we met the finders, who pointed us in the right direction of the bird, which was a right yomp. Kicking around in some nettles near an old cottage, we flushed a bird up onto the wall. Views were brief, but the bird showed a strong, broad super and appeared to have a streaked mantle. A further half an hour of flight views followed before we finally got good views. The streaked mantle wasn't a hallucination; the bird was a Sedge warbler.
When we got back to the car, we headed down to Aith, where Dan flushed a long-eared owl, and we had another 2 yellow-breasted warblers.
Long-eared owl
With time getting on, we headed back to Lerwick, where we caught the ferry across to Bressay. In the first garden we visited, a barred warbler had become trapped in someone's flower cage.
The Flower Cage
We released the bird; the owners weren't in, and the bird soon went to ground.
Barred Warbler
We carried on birding around Bressay for the rest of the day and saw some good migrant birds:
3 Spotted Flycatcher
7 Garden Warbler
A Pied Flycatcher put in a brief apperance
2 Reed Warbler
Other birds of note were:
Whinchat
12 Yellow-browed warbler
Chiffchaff
Redwing
Willow warbler
5 Blackcap
A good day of birding, which was hard going again with the wind, but we will try again tomorrow for the biggie.
Rock Pipit at Bressay ferry terminal
