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| Middendorf’s Grasshopper Warbler Locustella ochotensis |
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| Middendorf’s Grasshopper Warbler Locustella ochotensis |
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| Chinese (Swinhoe’s) Egret Egretta eulophotes |
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| Chinese (Swinhoe’s) Egret Egretta eulophotes |
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| Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus |
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| Tiger Shrike Lanius tigrinus |
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| Very bad kitty |
During a brief lull in the incessant rumbling and crashing in the quarry, I heard two Middendorf’s Grasshopper Warblers singing in a pitifully small slice of trees. I waited around in the vain hopes of a glimpse of one of these super skulkers, when a blur of orange swept through my peripheral vision. To my horror, a cat charged at the bushes and flushed one of the Middendorf’s. I watched in slow motion as the cat leapt through the air and came millimetres from swatting the bird from the air. I shooed the cat away quickly, and the Middendorf’s fluttered down onto a fence. It perched in the open for about ten seconds, stunned, before melting away again into the undergrowth. Not the way I wanted to get good looks at this scarce migrant (Sound recording here).
Gageo Island is very catty these days. Loads of cats, all over, crouched in ambush positions wherever tired migrating birds come in. It didn’t used to be like that. I can’t remember seeing any cats at all back in 2013.
-A Chinese Egret at the small beach by the quarry.
-Several Richard’s Pipits around the quarry, identifiable by their husky House Sparrow chirp.
-The pair of Red Turtle Doves is back at the dump.
-Radde's and Dusky Warblers both skulking around town - fun to try to sort them out...
-A Chestnut-eared Bunting at the dump, my first for Gageo.
-The island feels cleared out. Fingers crossed for tomorrow, as the winds are shifting…
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