After the excitement of Friday's red-spotted bluethroat, another rare visitor was found at Minsmere last night. Unlike the bluethroat, this time the bird stayed into a second day, allowing many visitors to see it - especially as it was first located after most of the staff had gone home yesterday. Also unlike the, at times, very showy bluethroat, this visitor refused to come close - though it was at least easy enough to spot.
Today's rare visitor was a red-necked phalarope - a tiny wading bird that breeds in the Arctic. Barely larger than a sparrow, these are some of the longest distance migrants of all birds, and one of very species to have been tracked halfway around the world. They spend much of their life on water, spinning to stir up tiny invertebrates on their breeding pools and migratory stopovers, then spending the winter far out at sea. But therein lies a mystery.
Red-necked phalaropes nest across Arctic Europe, from Iceland through northern Scandinavia into Siberia. A handful of pairs nest on boggy pools in Shetland, the Western Isles and NW Ireland. It has long been assumed that European birds all migrate SE in the autumn, spending the winter in the Arabian Sea. However, recent studies of the Shetland population have cast new light on these remarkable birds.
A few Shetland birds were fitted with tiny satellite tags, and incredibly one of these was tracked all the way to the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of South America. These was probably the first confirmed record of a British breeding landbird in the south Pacific, and suggested that our tiny population may actually be at the eastern limit of the North American population's breeding range, rather than part of the European population.
But that's not the only unusual fact about these beautiful birds. The three species of phalarope (red-necked, grey (or red as they known in North America) and Wilson's) are among a handful of species where the females are more colourful than the males. Having attracted a mate and laid their eggs, the females leave the males in charge of rearing the brood, and begin their southbound migration as early as the end of June.
A red-necked phalarope by Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Our red-necked phalarope has spent the day on the Scrape, where it has been quite mobile at times, but has been seen by most visitors. It's not the only interesting wader on the Scrape though, as a wood sandpiper was present early morning, the little ringed plovers remain on West Scrape, and several broods of avocet chicks remain.
Another interesting visitor today was a red kite seen over the Discovery Centre mid afternoon, while hobbies and marsh harriers also put on a good show.
It looks like we have 12 booming males bitterns at Minsmere this year - the best total since 1976 - and females have already started feeding flights, so they are being seen more frequently now. Bearded tits continue to show well, with a few fledged families along North Wall. There's still lots of warblers around too.