Megas in Ireland

[Bobolink44]

Been enjoying the photos of the megas on Cape Clear (http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/display.cgi?gallery=gallery9) (Solitary Sand and Northern Waterthrush on the same puddle!). Must be very exciting to be there now but just wondering how coincidental it is or if there's any pattern of occurrence. Is that a random weather event that dropped a bunch of nearctic migrants specifically on to Cape Clear or was it a wider dispersal and Irish birders are the only ones out in the field finding them and local birders in Cornwall, Scilly and Hebrides are asleep?

I keep hearing from the weather experts that the la nina cycle is helping to make this a wet summer and that there are echos to 1985 and 1989 (http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp?partner=netweather). 1985 became a big hurricane year with direct hits to the US mainland. 2008 is also shaping up to be above average (think the stats are 85% above average). Now, many of us old farts will remember how autumn 1985 turned out for nearctic vagrants and Scilly was awash with goodies.

The Cape Clear waterthrush beat the previous early record by 2 days (Scilly in 1989). Coincidentally, 1989 also scored an August Solitary Sandpiper but the rest of the autumn was a wash-out for nearctic migrants, so don't count on the rest of the autumn being as good.

[Joe stockwell]

looks like cape clear is the place to be!

[Colin Key]

looks like cape clear is the place to be!

Don't forget your anorak, brolly and wellies!! :ohdear:

Colin :beer:

[Joe stockwell]

well i cirtainly wouldnt swap a few 'megas' for good weather here! although im going back soon:cry: and a very cold and probably wet october week in portland booked!

[MichaelF]

Don't forget your anorak, brolly and wellies!!
Can't see a brolly lasting long on Cape Clear!! :eek:

[Hirundo]

This is a cool animated weather map for past 14 days over Atlantic - takes a little while to load so be patient. There's been low pressure off the east coast usa for week prior but it's possibly the low off Newfoundland that deepens with intensity on the 24th August and moves swiftly across the north Atlantic and is centered over Iceland on 25th August and 26th August that deposited these birds in southern Ireland. That cold front blue line associated with that low goes right through Cape Clear.



http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/UA_Atlantic_Ocean_14_Day.shtml

[Bobolink44]

Thanks for that map link. Here's a link to the images in case anyone can't view it:

Aug 24th thru 25th

http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/image17.gif
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/image16.gif
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/image15.gif
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/image14.gif
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/image13.gif
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/UA_OPC_ATL/image12.gif

As pointed out on the Irish Birding List by John Coveney, it's a great triple currently on Cape Clear but short of the triple that several birders scored on 13 Oct 1985 with Scarlet Tanager (at Firkeel), American Redstart & Philadelphia Vireo (Dirk Bay).

A quick check of the historical charts shows what appears to be a similar low centered over Iceland in early Oct (10/10/85) and of course '85 was a great year for nearctic vagrants in southwest Britain and Ireland, however, I'm less certain how to read this chart:
http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1985/Rrea00119851010.gif

[Hirundo]

Hi all, some interesting discussion on IBN regarding origin of the Cape Clear trio and why they showed up at the same time in a small geographical location (see "yellow warbler transport") and wasn't more birds or species widely scattered across southern Ireland.

http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Irish_Bird_Network

One theory that Cork's best birds show up on Mon and Tues because Sun is the day the container ship passes by seems to have been disproven as there's an even # of records during the week except Fri for some reason.

I've been on boat crossings where sometimes you'll come across pockets of several land migrants together as if they had found each other and loosely group together during an ocean crossing (perhaps for safety?). So it's not impossible, the same weather system picked up these 4 birds (inc Mizen Head Yellow Warbler), and they travelled across the atlantic not far from each other. Anyone who has birded the gulf coast of America will be familiar with falls of warblers of different species traveling in loose knit groups across the gulf. Or see this article for eastern atlantic:
http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/Features/MSI2007/MSI2007.html

And you have to positively check out the photos here:
http://www.pbase.com/lightrae/migrant_birds
Mouth-watering - check out the Spotted Sand and Ovenbird together so a Solitary and waterthrush is not that far fetched as migrating companions.

[Josh Jones]

By all accounts it sounds like the Solitary and Waterthrush arrived at different times (the Solitary was initially seen flying around the island and then they happened on a waterthrush whilst looking for it).

Surely its just that southwest Ireland took a direct hit from the low that came through and deposited a few quality birds. It is probably just coincidential that they turned up at locations that are comparitively very well-watched in Ireland. Many headlands in SW Ireland aren't watched at all so other birds could easily have slipped through the net, so to speak.

Great photos, by the way!