Just to clear up some misconceptions in this excellent (not) piece of
stereotypical journalism...
1. 'British' birders (as a whole) wouldn't 'flock' (how predictable) to see
a Red-rumped Swallow as it's an annual visitor to the UK, often with up to
15 records a year. During my time in the UK, I've found 4 in total, whilst
out birding. Some of the Scottish listers might make the effort to see the
bird though.
2. There's no such species, sub-species, or form, as Scottish Sparrowhawk.
3. Birders (as we all know) don't use 'high-powered' binoculars. Just the
opposite really, with the majority of people favouring nothing above 12x
4. No 'large crowd' had gathered to watch the bird, as it was taken by the
Eurasian Sparrowhawk 20 minutes after it was first found.
5. "And, even if it is now deceased, the twitchers can still tick it off
their lists" - I don't think so!!!!!
Cheers,
Graham
On 11/22/06, Tim Dolby <> wrote:
Hi All,
It seems that once again British birders have flocked to see a rare
bird, this time a Red-rumped Swallow, which was last seen in 1987. With
some misfortune however most people dipped on the bird because the bird
was eaten by a Scottish Sparrowhawk. Perhaps inappropriately (and
tastelessly) this is the sort of thing we love to see happen on a
Twitchathon.
Tim
See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2453215,00.html
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2453215,00.html>
One swallow, and it was gone...
By Alan Hamilton
NATURE, red in tooth, claw and sometimes rump, is a cruel beast.
Birdwatchers who flocked with their high-powered binoculars, telescopes
and long lenses to see a rare Mediterranean visitor to Lunan Bay, near
Montrose, got more than they bargained for. They watched in horror as
the red-rumped swallow was attacked and eaten by a Scottish sparrowhawk.
Local enthusiasts spotted the swallow, which had taken a wrong turning
on its migration route from southern Europe to its wintering grounds in
Africa. Word that it had arrived on the East Coast of Scotland spread
quickly, and a large crowd had gathered to watch it flying over the
beach.
The swallow's fatal mistake was to take a rest high on the roof of a
nearby farm building. The twitchers watched in disbelief as the large
hawk appeared, swooped on the swallow, crushed it with its powerful
talons and flew off with its tasty Mediterranean dinner.
Mike Sawyer, of the Dundee branch of the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds, said yesterday: "We were horrified. We had just
phoned local birdwatchers to tell them of this rare occurrence. Then we
had to ring them back and tell them it had been eaten."
According to the RSPB the red-rumped swallow, Hirundo daurica, is a rare
visitor to the UK but occasionally turns up during the migrating season,
probably having lost its way. A specimen was last sighted in the Tayside
area in 1987, and there have been only about a dozen sightings in
mainland Scotland.
The sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, is a large and common predatory native
that preys on at least 120 species of small bird as well as on small
mammals. The swallow, by contrast, lives on a diet of insects that it
catches on the wing.
One red-rumped swallow may not make a summer, but it makes a red-letter
day for twitchers. Its demise is the second death of a rare bird in
Scotland in as many weeks.
Eileen Alexander, of Dundee, was delighted recently to find a rare
Australian black-throated finch feeding in her back garden. But the
creature, one of its home continent's most vulnerable species, collapsed
and died before her eyes.
"I was out in the garden feeding the birds when I noticed two sparrows
watching this tiny bird that was hobbling around. Then the poor wee
thing took a nosedive into the mud," Ms Alexander said.
"I went to take a look at it but it was dead, so I called a friend to
see if he could identify it. He said he'd never seen anything like it,
so he took it away for investigation."
As the finch does not migrate to Europe, Ms Alexander assumed that it
had escaped from a local house or pet shop.
The body is now in the hands of Mike Nicoll, a Dundee taxidermist, who
hopes to preserve it. "It is not good in either welfare or ecological
terms to release alien captive birds, and we hope this was not done
intentionally," he said.
The death of the red-rumped swallow at the claws of a skilled flyer, on
the other hand, was very intentional indeed. And, even if it is now
deceased, the twitchers can still tick it off their lists.
www.birding-aus.org
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