April 06, 2005
Pure belter - Belted Kingfisher
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
And to think I was dead chuffed about a wagtail… Have had a repeat this week of the welter of emotions generated last year by the Masked Shrike; you know how it is – a bird turns up, something eye-wateringly rare, and you’d dearly love to go and see it. Of course, it’s easy to decide not to when you’re on Shetland and the bird is elsewhere in the UK, and the further south it is, the easier it becomes to reconcile yourself to not seeing it. And in classic sour-grapes style, it helps to tell yourself that practically anything could turn up on Shetland anyway, so wait a few years and a Masked Shrike will surely arrive here too. But there’s still a slight pang of loss, of an opportunity missed that just might never come round again.
The situation’s made worse by far when the bird enjoys one of those mythical reputations shared by a select band of species; the ones that share the unique blend of immense rarity and stunning looks. Let’s be honest – a Thick-billed Warbler, no matter how rare it is, is ultimately a bit of a boring brown blob. Whereas a Pallas’s Sandgrouse, a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, a Belted Kingfisher… they’re different. Ah yes… a Belted Kingfisher…
I only found out about the Staffordshire bird on Monday, by which time it was all strictly academic. Beautiful bird, been and gone. By yesterday I’d got over my chagrin and was man enough to email a friend who’d seen it to congratulate him. I could live with the situation – even if it was still in Staffordshire, it might as well be on the moon for how likely I was to consider going to see it. Sean kindly sent me a couple of his photos for me to masochistically enjoy and share with you here:
Both images (c) and courtesy of Sean R Cole.
And that should be an end to it. But of course the fates are playing silly buggers, and I discover today that the wretched bird has motored up the east coast and got as far as Aberdeen. Which makes the entire question of whether or not to even consider seeing this bird far more pointed. On the one hand, it could (immensely remote chance, but all the same…) keep going and turn up on Shetland. It could just sod off altogether. And far more to the point than either of the preceeding, I’ve got an absolute buggerload of stuff to be doing at home, which really can’t slip down the list of priorities. Even for a Belted Kingfisher.
So near and yet so very, very far. I could go overnight on the boat straight to Aberdeen, and for practically no cost at all. Certainly less than filling the car up with petrol to go to Unst and back… But I simply can’t leave things undone at home. So. Here’s hoping the turbo-charged belter keeps on coming, and makes it to Shetland sometime soon. Fingers crossed etc. For now I’ll content myself with having finally caught up with the Grey Wagtail JL found last Friday – another new bird for my croft list. It’s just somehow not the same!
Follow the Weather Starling…
Come back soon!
Posted by Stercorarius at April 6, 2005 01:06 PM