Wednesday, 5 January 2022

A Belting Bird?

The above picture is the Common kingfisher. Nice enough but thousands of 'twitchers' (bird enthusiasts) have flocked to Preston (Lancashire) to see a North American Belted kingfisher (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/05/rare-kingfisher-sighting-in-preston-draws-thousands). The Belted kingfisher generally migrates to Mexico or the Caribbean in the winter. This particular bird, however, appears to have been blasted across the Atlantic by winter storms. The Belted kingfisher has taken up residence in Brockholes Nature Reserve. This is only the second time, since 1908, the species has arrived in any UK location outside Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly. Such a displaced bird is, however, likely to be doomed.

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Birder's Bonus 241

Noted a Curlew ( Numenius arquata ) on the Loughor estuary at Bynea.