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Waxwings

Smartypantsdig · 2010-12-09 17:09:10

I'm not entirely sure, but I may have spotted some waxwings out near Donabate today. I was trying too hard not to scream at the way my driver was taking the ice :p Any other reports from here?

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09-12-2010 6:09pm

#1
Smartypantsdig

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I'm not entirely sure, but I may have spotted some waxwings out near Donabate today. I was trying too hard not to scream at the way my driver was taking the ice

Any other reports from here?

Tagged:

waxwing

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#2 09-12-2010 7:38pm
Feargal as Luimneach

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You will nearly always see them on/near trees with berries on them ie rowan, whitethorn trees etc. They will often be in flocks. In flight they resemble starlings flying.

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#3 10-12-2010 12:01am
Judgement Day

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Masses of sightings of Waxwings on http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web and with the cold weather in Europe maybe last year's explosion will be eclipsed. News of Waxwings arrival in Scotland here: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/nsbc/news/491/

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#4 13-12-2010 11:30am
VERYinterested

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I live in Ballinteer/Rathfarnham in Dublin near Marlay Park and I had made it my mission to see a Waxwing this winter. 47 years old never saw one, until yesterday! Everywhere I went I was keeping my eyes peeled to no avail. Yesterday morning I was getting ready to put the dog in the car to take her for a walk.

I could hear some Starlings chattering in the tree outside my house on the road. I could hear other noises and looked up and spotted the mohican/punk rock haircut on a bird in the tree! On closer inspection there were two of them and I floated on air for the next couple of hours!

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#5 13-12-2010 4:21pm
Smartypantsdig

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I'm working near Lucan Demense at the moment. I have seen them here before so will keep the eyes skinned.

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#6 13-12-2010 4:31pm
VERYinterested

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Shopping centre car parks are meant to be good locations given the amount of berry producing shrubs that get planted. They seem to be sociable birds too, you'll get a good look at them before flying off. Most of the trees on my road are Rowan trees so the roof of my neighbour's car was littered with berries, so that's where my two had been stuffing their faces.

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#7 15-12-2010 11:52am
pops

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Just saw my first ever Waxwing yesterday on a Cotoneaster bush. As we are right on the Atlantic on the west coast the weather never gets very cold here, but I guess maybe this is a sure sign of very cold weather to come.

Beautiful bird though - really made my day.

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#8 21-12-2010 9:51pm
leche solara

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Saw these in Rathfarnham last Saturday (18th December). There were about 50-60 of them gathered on telegraph wires. Are they waxwings?

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#9 21-12-2010 10:01pm
Feargal as Luimneach

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leche solara wrote: »

Saw these in Rathfarnham last Saturday (18th December). There were about 50-60 of them gathered on telegraph wires. Are they waxwings?

Yip, nice photos:)

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#10 22-12-2010 1:42am
doctor evil

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I'm dying to see one!

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#11 11-01-2011 2:57pm
Judgement Day

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They are back in Dublin's O'Connell Street again! 15 spotted yesterday according to http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web

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#12 19-01-2011 4:29pm
Ditch

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VERYinterested wrote: »

I floated on air for the next couple of hours!

I'm sitting here seething with envy now! Ye've cracked it! Lucky sod! I've been into birds all my life. I have a few years on yeself. I was a committed Twitcher for a few years too ~ I've seen birds so rare they'd make ye toe nails curl ~ yet I've simply never seen a Waxwing!

Ironically enough, this is the very bird that drove me to giving up Twitching. I was living in Hull, UK at the time. I spent about four days, screaming around in taxi's, following pager reports of Waxwings being sighted here, there and everywhere. Nuff'n! Turns out we had a Stringer.

RBA kept releasing the idiots reports though. I was turning up within minutes of many of them. Lost all faith in the system and jacked it in. Still haven't seen a Waxy

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#13 19-01-2011 5:46pm
Judgement Day

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Ditch - why not hop on a train and spend a day on Dublin's O'Connell Street? I'm not sure if they are still there but I hope to get up soon to see for myself.

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#14 19-01-2011 5:58pm
littlebug

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There have been some in galway this winter too apparently. City and county... reports of some just 4 miles from me. Not a hope of me catching sight of them though!

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#15 19-01-2011 5:59pm
littlebug

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Ditch wrote: »

I've seen birds so rare they'd make ye toe nails curl

Care to share ?:D I'm sure there's a relevant thread around here somewhere.....

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#16 19-01-2011 6:08pm
Ditch

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JD; Time was, I'd go just about Anywhere for a 'Tick'. Spent fantastic amounts of money and travelled the length and breadth of mainland UK. (God, those were the days! Such memories! )

Now? Too damn old. Too knackered. Too skint. I could just go on and on .....

Truth to tell; I don't really go beyond a mile or so of my cottage now. Except for a taxi run into the nearest town.

Maybe, one of these days, I'll look out the window here and see one? Could happen.

Saw a Quail, few hundred yards from here! :eek: Best bird I've ever found myself in my life!

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#17 19-01-2011 6:12pm
Ditch

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littlebug wrote: »

Care to share ?:D I'm sure there's a relevant thread around here somewhere.....

If there is a 'Twitchers' thread, I'd happily get amongst it. I still have my records and so could pin point exactly which birds I saw, where and when. All UK records ~ that's where I was when I was active. But, brit's will come here for a Mega. I'm sure some Irish enthusiasts have shot over the water to catch some good n's too

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#18 19-01-2011 6:44pm
littlebug

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We don't have a twitchers thread as such. We have this thread on the [url=http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055885973
]rarest bird you've seen in Ireland[/url] but you won't be banned for talking about birds you've seen in the UK

We also have the hide for general discussion.

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#19 20-01-2011 12:31pm
VERYinterested

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Ditch wrote: »

Maybe, one of these days, I'll look out the window here and see one? Could happen.

You never know, that's what happened to me. Next on my list to see is a Jay. I'm going to go to the Phoenix Park with the mutt when the weather gets a bit warmer.

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#20 20-01-2011 12:46pm
Ditch

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Jay? We get them round here. I'm surprised we do, actually. Because this is hardly the sort of ground for them. As ye say; Parkland? Yeah.

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#21 21-01-2011 12:51am
smacksy

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Cat brought this fella in today, unharmed, fed him up and went off on his merry way!

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#22 21-01-2011 8:52am
Durnish

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Brilliant!

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#23 21-01-2011 9:06am
Durnish

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Hope you don't mind, I hosted the waxwing pic for you, I'll take it down if you want,

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#24 21-01-2011 3:33pm
smacksy

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No bother, thanks!

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#25 23-11-2011 11:16pm
Judgement Day

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They're back! 5 seen at Coleraine on the 11th November according to http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web Hope to finally renew my acquaintance with them this year after a gap forty years or so - even if it means a special trek to O'Connell Street.

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