Lesser Spotted Woodpecker! Finally!
After dipping in 6 (SIX!) different counties, in my seventh I was able to rectify my most obvious omission from my British list! #UKBirding
💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥
💥NUMBER 133💥
💥ICELAND GULL💥
I was not expecting much today, it being a blustery February morning!
But Soil Hill always produces!
Absolutely incredible scenes when this stunning white-winger flew past!
#soilhillbirding #UKbirding
Great Black-backed Gull!!!
For just the second time in my 19 years watching Soil Hill!
It's been a steady February on Soil Hill for my first visits of 2026, but I certainly enjoyed this brute heading north this morning!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
What an absolute weapon!
Despite several visits to South America, before visiting Paraguay, I had never managed to see a Tapir!
However, that was laid to rest in spectacular style, with nine encounters during a month of traveling the country, including six in one night!
TAPACULO NUMBER 47!!!
Arguably my most wanted bird from Paraguay was the Crested Gallito!
Having heard but not seen this rather unconventional tapaculo in Argentina, I was keen to right this wrong in my quest to see all the Tapaculos!
Mission accomplished in the Paraguayan Chaco!
Not been in Calderdale that much in recent times, so it’s was nice that the local rarity waited two weeks for me to return!
An understandably very rare bird in the Pennines, I can now say that I have had a Halifax Shag!
#UKBirding
In addition to Paraguay's excellent birds and mammals, we also had memorable reptile encounters!
One snake is normally a good trip return, but Paraguay produced six, including three that could kill me; Painted Coralsnake, Painted Lancehead & Mato Grosso Lancehead!
A wet spring had turned the Paraguayan Chaco into a wader paradise!
A flock of 150 Stilt Sandpipers was the highlight, but double figures also of Wilson’s Phalarope and hundreds of commoner species! An awesome sight!
When planning this 28 day trip to Paraguay I set myself a target of 400 species!
This morning Spix’s Spinetail became the 400th species of the trip, with four days left to spare!
🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺
With no access to either site, it looked like the birding gods had decided we would not be seeing the Endangered White-winged Nightjar!
But driving up to the gate and begging for entry got us a fantastic evening in Paraguayan Cerrado!
Known from only 5 sites, it is a rare bird!
My photos are certainly not on par with those possible from the Pantanal, but there are only two pairs of Hyacinth Macaws left in Paraguay, making these birds very special!
Well worth the trip to seek out these spectacular parrots whilst birding here!
A very enjoyable start to a month birding in Paraguay!
Really enjoyed reacquainting myself with Sporophila Seedeaters, one of my favourite Neotropic Genus! Tawny-bellied Seedeater was the most abundant today, a species I have only seen once before!
@neobirdconserve.bsky.social
Well that’s a bummer!
But what a record for Halifax! If only I was there to see it!
Damn! All that proofreading and I miss something stupid like that 🤦🏻♂️
Smoky Jungle Frog
Humboldt's Squirrel Monkey
Paradise Jacamar
Sand-coloured Nighthawk
In the summer, I spent two weeks in the Amazon rainforest around the Peruvian town of Iquitos! A few targets missed, but overall very successful!
For those interested, I have compiled my experiences in a trip report, now free to gander on Cloudbirders!
www.cloudbirders.com/be4/download...
I was expecting the worst, so this was a pleasant surprise, if Ring-necked Parakeet can ever be called pleasant…
Pitiful counts of other species however!
💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥
💥NUMBER 132💥
💥RING-NECKED PARAKEET💥
I was not expecting much for my final Soil Hill visit of the autumn, but then two RN Parakeet flew south! An unexpected patch tick!
Also my second Great Egret went north!
Absolute scenes!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
I was 13 back in 2008, the last time I saw Pochard in Halifax!
All it said in my notes was the word ‘Pochard’ plus the location!
So it would have been rude not to clear up this record by twitching these three dapper drakes on Ringstone Edge Reservoir this morning!
#UKBirding
For now… give it a few years haha
Despite glorious conditions, it was a rather slow morning on Soil Hill!
But Soil Hill always offers something to enjoy! And today it was a flock of four Lesser Redpolls feeding on thistles with Goldfinches!
A nice change from the flyover views I usually get here!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
Spent the day getting my cetacean fix with the fabulous Risso's Dolphins at Point Lynas, Anglesey!
Around 20 individuals drifting around the headland, pulling off some great acrobatics!
Well worth a day away from Soil Hill...
A magnificent showing of Pink-footed Goose migration today, with 1016 counted in 19 skeins making their way over Soil Hill this morning!
If they had looked down, they would have seen a solitary observer, standing perishing in the cold, yet loving every minute!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
Thick, low cloud and strong winds prevented any VizMig from getting going on Soil Hill this morning!
Fortunately, the morning was salvaged when I flushed a Grasshopper Warbler, before it showed nicely!
My latest on Soil Hill by two weeks!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
The very same, Mr. Rankin! It is an effort to remain humble at times!
Finally a clear day to get up to Soil Hill for some succulent VizMig!
And a great morning it turned out to be, more than doubling my previous Swallow record count with my new total standing at 249!
Also a very enjoyable 1022 Meadow Pipits south!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
A delightful end to #Migfest2025 with a double Phalarope day!
First the very showy Red-necked Phalarope off Sammies Point, before stopping off at Swillington Ings for a nice Grey Phalarope on the way home!
#UKBirding
Raced up to Whiteholme Reservoir to twitch the first Halifax Curlew Sandpiper in 10 years, an overdue Calderdale tick!
But upon arrival, I found not one, but two individuals gorging themselves on the ample shoreline!
Fab support cast of Little Stint, Dulin & 18 Ringed Plover!
Very jealous of your Swallow total this morning. Slowly getting the impression that Soil Hill just isn’t that good for Hirundine passage for some reason. Been too many years now with only one three-figure count
💥💥SOIL HILL PATCH TICK💥💥
💥💥NUMBER 131💥💥
💥💥MEDITERRANEAN GULL💥💥
First morning of the autumn back on the Hill and already a patch tick! Sadly it was rather distant, but stood out a mile from the stream of Black-headed Gulls!
#SoilHillBirding #UKBirding
