Tick number two for the year, and only nine days in to the year. Drove myself through a storm (gusts of over 100mph) to Aberdeen overnight. A long and rather treacherous drive. Arrived at site, and after a couple of hours sleep in the car until dawn, woke to find I was the only person at the site (the bird had been there a few days, and I’m guessing most people stayed away). Took me an anxious twenty minutes to find the Harlequin Duck, as it had move down-stream. But find it I did and spent an hour on my own watching and filming it before the first person turned up. A pair of Dippers were also seen, several Gooseanders and Goldeneye, as well as an Otter.
I’d taken an overnight bag with me as I’d considered spending some time doing the Scottish specialities and coming back the following day. However, heavy snow was forecast overnight, and so I decided just to try for Ptarmigan, a species I’d only seen once, in flight, and not since 1996. So I went to Glenshee where they were supposed to be easy. They weren’t, and I failed. Apparently there was not enough snow and so they had retreated to higher ground. I got up as high as I could but the weather began to turn and I decided not to push my luck. I don’t have much luck with Ptarmagins. I missed them with Tom in 2010 in Speyside (although he saw one), and missed White-tailed Ptarmagin at the cable-car at Jasper, Canada also in 2010, even though they’re supposed to be easy there too. Oh well, I did see lots of Red Grouse, a flock of Snow Buntings, and a few Ravens and Red Kites.
I then began my journey home just in time for the predicted second wave of the storm.
Aberdeen
09 January 2015 08:05 - 10:22
Overcast 6C 40W
Tufted Duck, Harlequin Duck, Goldeneye, Goosander, Buzzard, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Long-tailed Tit, Dipper, Otter
Glenshee
09 January 2015 12:00 - 15:25
Light snow 0C 20W
Red Grouse, Red Kite, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Raven, Snow Bunting, Red Deer, Roe Deer
Edit (14/02/2015):
I received this email from the Grampian Ringing Group…
Toby,
Sorry for late response, I have been offline for a while. Thank you for your record of a colour-ringed bunting at Glenshee on 9th January 2015.
The bird in your photos appears to be yellow above white on the left leg, and metal above orange on the right. If so, it was ringed at Glenshee on the 2nd of January 2013, as a bird in its first winter. At the time we thought it was probably a male, but in our notes, we queried the sex because of its relatively short wing. Your photo clearly depicts a female, albeit a pale one - probably of the race 'nivalis'.
The colour ringed winter snow bunting project started in December 2009. The principle aim was to look at the turnover of birds at the ski centre in relation to winter weather, comparing males with females. Within winters, males are more site faithful than females. Similarly, male return rates from winter to winter are about 45%, substantially higher than for females (28%), and with little difference between first year and older birds. We have as yet had insufficient birds marked to detect differences in return rates following mild as opposed to severe winters, or between races (nivalis vs insulae) but hope that sort of information might accrue. One issue with the work is that the birds are using artificial habitats and scavenging scraps from the ski industry so I am not sure how applicable our results might be for wintering birds elsewhere. That said, we can only work areas that give access throughout the winter .......and in the mountains that means ski areas.
Thank you again for your record, much appreciated.
All best,
Mick Marquiss & Robert Rae (Grampian Ringing Group)
