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Breeding Buzzard Pair
2007 Highlights

June 2008 Gallery 
Note:  
All sightings listed below are as received and are unconfirmed. Birds highlighted in red & bold are of particular interest for County Sligo. For consistency, and to follow long-established convention, where place-names have more than one spelling (e.g. Tobercurry/Tubbercurry, Ballisodare/Ballysadare, Enniscrone/Inishcrone), the form used in the Ordnance Survey maps, underlined in these examples, is the one used here.

Please report any interesting Sligo bird sightings (including early or late migrants, rare or scarce birds, unusual numbers or behaviour etc.) by e-mailing us or by clicking the button below.

Digital photos taken of birds in Co. Sligo are particularly welcome for inclusion in our sightings pages and gallery, please e-mail them to the same address, sightings@sligobirding.com in any size or format.
Next
Local
Event
25th August 2008

Birdwatch Sligo River Walk, Sligo Town

BirdWatch Sligo will run a guided river walk along the Garvoge River in Sligo town.  

Meet at the bronze sculpture in Quay St Car Park at 7 pm.

This is a Heritage Week outing.  Heritage Week runs from 24th to 31st August 2008

Your Photos Wanted!!!!
Leitrim Sightings Donegal Sightings
June 2008 Gallery
Whooper and Mute Swans with cygnets
Images ©  Noah Lipham 2008
27th June 2006: Will they Whoop or be Mute?..... This rather arresting sight on Bunduff Lakes today raises the possibility that the resident Whooper Swan may have successfully mated with a Mute Swan - it will be interesting to watch these cygnets as they grow...........


Iceland Gull
Black-tailed Godwit
Female Mallard
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Images ©  Mícheál Casey 2008
26th June 2006: From top to bottom:
Iceland Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, female Mallard, Lesser Black-backed Gull - all photographed at Sligo Harbour this afternoon


Bullfinch
JUvenile Dunnock
Images ©  Declan Skehan 2008
27th June 2006: Coney Island Road - juvenile Dunnock (lower image) and Bullfinch (top row).

Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatchers
Images ©  Declan Skehan 2008 
27th June 2006: Spotted Flycatchers on the Coney Island Road.

Tree Sparrow
Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow
Images ©  Mícheál Casey 2008 
24th June 2008:  Tree Sparrow (in front of feeder in lower photo) and House Sparrow (behind feeder) in Robin Burnham's garden in Easkey.  The very obvious yellow gape flange (where the upper and lower bill mandibles meet) proves that this is a recently fledged 2008 bird.
Click on image above to see larger images.
Long-tailed Tit Long-tailed Tit
Coal Tit
Coal Tit Coal Tit
Images ©  Declan Skehan 2008 
24th June 2008:  Long-tailed (top row) and Coal Tits (lower two rows) in Union Wood, Sligo
Click on image above to see larger images.
Grey Heron
Image ©  Declan Skehan 2008 
24th June 2008:  Grey heron, Garvoge River, Sligo Town
Click on image above to see larger images.
Juvenile Wheatear
Image ©  Declan Skehan 2008 
24th June 2008:  Juvenile Wheatear, Ballyconnell Strand, Co. Sligo
Click on image above to see larger images.
Juvenile Common Sandpiper
Adult Common Sandpiper
Images ©  Mícheál Casey 2008 
24th June 2008:  Juvenile (top) and adult (lower) Common Sandpipers at Lough Easkey, Co. Sligo today
Click on image above to see larger image.
Sand martin
Image ©  Mícheál Casey 2008 
23rd June 2008:  Sand Martin, Ballyconnell Strand
Click on image above to see larger image.
Three newly fledged juvenile Swallows
Image ©  Mícheál Casey 2008 
18th June 2008:  Waiting for supper.........

Three newly fledged juvenile Swallows wait for their parents to feed them on a roadside fence near Ballinacarrow.
Click on image above to see larger image.
Whooper Swan, Bunduff
Whooper Swan, Bunduff
Images ©  Marius Breen 2008 
21st June 2008:  These photos of the long-staying Whooper Swan at Bunduff show what appears to be severe damage to the right wing.  The photographer noted that the bird was seen trailing this wing some 4-5 years ago, when it first stayed at Bunduff Lakes for the entire summer.
Click on image above to see larger images.
Whooper Swan
Images ©  Kevin Murray 2008 
16th June 2008:  Mute Swan (left) and Whooper Swan (right) on the lakes at Bunduff today.  The Whooper is believed to be the long-staying, non-flying resident bird that has remained at the site for several years
Click on image above to see larger images.
Cuckoos, Meadow Pipits
Grasshopper Warbler
Images ©  Declan Skehan 2008 
15th June 2008:  Two Cuckoos attract the attentions of a couple of very anxious Meadow Pipits (upper image), and an elusive Grasshopper Warbler briefly emerges from deep cover (lower image).  Both photos taken near Sooey, in south Co. Sligo
Click on image above to see larger version.
Chough
Chough
Images ©  Noah Lipham 2008 
15th June 2008:  Two Choughs photographed on Ben Bulben today (one from each of the two pairs seen).
Click on image above to see larger version.
Images ©  Kevin Murray 2008 
15th June 2008:  "Thar she blows!"

Kevin Murray's photograph captures the moment when a whale "spouted" off the west end of Coney Island , at the mouth of Sligo Harbour today.  Three whales were present, two adults and a calf.  

This photograph was taken from the Alpine Gardens at Lissadell, a distance of more than FOUR miles away.  This is an interesting sighting as a similar group - three whales, two adult and one young - were seen off St John's Point, Co Donegal three weeks ago.  They were tentatively identified as Fin Whales.  Further details of these and all reported Irish cetacean sightings and strandings are on the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group website.

An unidentified whale/Basking Shark was  seen off Inishmurray a few days ago
Click on image above to see a closer view of the spout
Swift
Images ©  Mícheál Casey 2008 
13th June 2008:  A small group of Swifts was seen feeding over the centre of Tobercurry, Co Sligo today.  Swifts catch a wide range of flying insects and bugs which they pack into a 'food ball' in their throat and deliver to the young in the nest.  The food ball is visible in the throat of the bird on the right (click for larger image).

These unique birds are in decline primarily because of decreased availability of nesting sites in old buildings - very few modern buildings have the openings at the eaves/soffits which they need to access a nesting cavity.  Swifts spend most of their lives in flight, even mating and roosting on the wing.  Their short and weak legs are poorly adapted for use on the ground, so Swifts usually nest in tall buildings, from which they can gain airspeed easily by dropping from the nest site.
Click on image above to see larger images.
Further photos of these birds are here
Images ©  Mícheál Casey 2008 
11th June 2008:  A second-calendar-year Iceland Gull photographed at Cartron Marsh today
Click on image above to see larger images.
Tree Sparrow, Aughris Tree Sparrow, Aughris
Images ©  Noah Lipham 2008 
8th June 2008:  One of County Sligo's last breeding pairs of Tree Sparrows?  
These two Tree Sparrows were photographed in a farmyard in the old village at Aughris by visiting American birder Noah Lipham, who joined the BirdWatch Sligo outing to Aughris Head.
Click on image above to see larger images.

 
Hoopoe at Strandhill
Images ©  Diane Middleton/Jason Cox 2008 
7th June 2008:  Proof, if proof were needed, that Jason Cox really did have a Hoopoe in his garden in Strandhill on 25th May 2008..........these photos were taken through a window - the bird flew shortly afterwards and has not been seen since.

Images ©  Ciaran Davis 2008 
6th June 2008:  Male Wheatear on Coney Island photographed using a digital camera aimed through binoculars.