• When here in the Outer Hebrides and looking at a bird, have you ever wondered how rare it is? The status of all species can vary enormously from island to island. How rare is Shoveler on Barra, has Stock Dove been seen on Harris, does Dotterel occur on Benbecula in the autumn, and how common is Blue Tit on North Uist? Well, fret no longer! The Status and Distribution of birds here on the Outer Hebrides has been completely updated and summarised for every species and each of the main islands and outliers. Available as an online resource at https://status.outerhebrides-birdreports.org/ or via our shop

    New - now available as an ebook

Local Rarity 20th July 2017

MisterT

Always Birding
Good to see the waders returning with over 150 Sanderling on Askernish beach this morning. A Greenshank found the lower water levels on nearby Loch Hallan very much to it's liking, a "patch year tick" for me.

DSCN0774Greenshank.jpg DSCN0786Greenshank.jpg DSCN0800Sanderling.jpg
 

BrianR

Senior Member
A bumper year for flowering New Zealand flax and quite a few birds have been feeding on the nectar. The Rose-colored Starling on Barra in late June had noticeable pollen staining on its forehead and I took the attached photo of a Starling at Callernish this morning. I've also heard of House Sparrows having yellowish foreheads.
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With the sunny and warm weather recently it is perhaps not surprising that there has been a great deal of bird sunning behaviour. Blackbirds in particular engage in this regularly and the attached was taken in the garden this afternoon.
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Chris Johnson

Senior Member
Not much wader activity here yet but 3 Whimbrels in the afternoon. It will be interesting to see what the WEBs count produces on bigger tides.
 
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