Vulture Redemption, 28th February 2022

Last June's Egyptian Vulture dip on Scilly was painful, missing it by minutes. Dipping stings of course, you wouldn't chase rare birds if you weren't driven by the desire to see then, but you move on and accept it as part of the game (or just stop chasing rare birds). However some dips inevitably hurt more than others, and this one had. That familiar pain was resurrected by the bird's brief reappearance in County Donegal in July - whilst I was self-isolating and unable to travel. Unlucky, and at least pin part why this one continued to gnaw at me. It lingered just long enough for the UK-based Euro-lister vanguard to connect the next day, but was quickly gone again. It was clearly going to summer on the Emerald Isle, but there seemed little chance of it being re-found in the vast unwatched Irish countryside, let alone remain settled in once place long-enough to give itself up. Summer ticked along with just one brief August sighting along the remote west coast of County Mayo, so my fears of a vanishing act proved likely to come to pass. 

Autumn came and with it, no doubt, the vulture had slipped southward and out of Ireland and somehow back towards continental Europe and beyond. Most British birders had hoped it would relocate east of the Irish Sea (citing the 1999 Booted Eagle), but nothing. Not even a vague unconfirmed report. It had got away from all but those fast enough to act in July. It was destined to be a blocker of Herculean proportions. This one definitely stung. Maybe because of the near miss on Tresco, or perhaps just because it's such a spectacular bird to see in the UK and Ireland. Both with the added salt that some of my peers had been successful.

Will Wagstaff's photo from Tresco in June 2021. Painful to see, until now.

As is always the way, summer waned, autumn was followed by winter and I enjoyed good birds and birding. Like every other dip, the vulture was slowly consigned to history and I accepted my misfortune. One of the many wonderful things about birding is that there is always something to see, there will always be another rare birds, the seasons will always bring their own unique pleasures and, just maybe, even the one you missed might come again. 

But the vulture story wasn't over. 

To everyone's astonishment, on New Year's Eve 2021 it was seen and photographed by local birder Owen Murphy, soaring over a main road in central Ireland, close to Athlone in County Roscommon. It hadn't left! 

Timing was again bad for me as I tested positive for Covid on that very day. Once again I was stuck. Hopefully it was settled in the area this time - midwinter birds tend not to wander too much. It was searched for over the next few days, but with no joy. Had it moved on again? It had to be there somewhere. Reports were that the area is very hard to search, with undulating ground and extensive tree and hedgerows obscuring views. And given the lack of birders in that area, there was no-one really searching. The lack of sightings didn't mean too much.  

It's choice to overwinter and not attempt to re-orientate became a topic of birder debate. Did this mean it was more likely to be an escapee? Were it's chances of acceptance diminished? The '99 Booted Eagle never made the grade after first being seen in Ireland, after all. It began to feel a little tainted, but I still wanted to see it. Always see it first, then worry about status later. Those who dawdle, dip - and I'd dawdles enough.

Finally, on Saturday 26th February, it reappeared in almost precisely the same spot as in December; seen and photographed by the same (perhaps only) local birder. It had been there all along, hidden in the landscape. It was seen to go to roost in a tree, which was very good news. I couldn't go (again) that evening, but the next morning it was watched feeding on a sheep carcass. It had a known source of food, meaning it was likely to linger in the area. A handful of birders made it on the Sunday and it returned to the same roost tree that evening. Even better news. I had to be there on Monday morning, this was the time. The overnight twitch was on despite getting very little sleep the night before. Why do we do this again? 

Myself, Neill Hunt, Mike Hinchcliffe and Rob Pocklington teamed up at the Avian office at 22.30 on Sunday 27th. We were soon at Holyhead and boarding the ferry at 0.1.15 for the 02.15 sailing. I'd booked a cabin given my fatigued status; the sailing was 'lumpy', but it rocked us to sleep, sort of. I dozed through it, until it was time to disembark at 05.30. we were soon out of Dublin and on the M4 speeding westward. 

By 07.00 we were on site, just as it started to get light. In typical Irish twitch fashion, we were joined by one other car (Mike Edgecombe and Richard Webb from Norfolk) and a single Irish birder. The seven of us quickly located the vulture sat in it's preferred roosting tree - it's not a hard bird to spot. 

A gloomy dawn in County Rosscommon. All seven of us. Had this been in the UK there would have been hundreds present. One of the many reasons to twitch Ireland.

After all that, it was just so simple. EGYPTIAN VULTURE finally OML.

Initial views in the gloom weren't great, but good enough to take the pressure away. It quickly woke, shuffled and stretched before flying off at 07.30, headed towards it's current food source. We also relocated and there it was, sat on the ground near the sheep carcass doing not very much. It stayed for around half an hour and must have decided it wasn't hungry after all, flying off low west and away. We'd lost it, but it didn't matter. An incredible bird to see, even more so after the 2020 Lammergeier; two species of vultures in two years, how time's change.

Egyptian Vulture. Sat in an Irish field. In February. Bizzare! Neill Hunt's photo.

Flight shots taken by Paul Chapman the day before us B-listers could get there.

And three amazing shots taken by Hug Sweeney (@HueySweeney) a few days later...

There was a whole host of available goodies in the area, if time permitted. But as usual I was short on time and needed to return to work, and the others were keen to return too. We committed to get on the 14.45 ferry. Plenty of time for some more birds, but not all of that was on offer. The candidate list selection was impressive - Double-crested Cormorant, Ross's Gull, Northern Harrier, Forster's Tern and American Coot. Which to choose? Mike and Rob had recently - just 2 days previously in fact -  been over and enjoyed all of them (no doubt driving past the vulture), meaning they were relaxed about this. Mike was keen for better views of the harrier, which I'd also like to have seen, but not as much as the Ross's Gull (as I hadn't seen one since 1995). 

It was a short 1hr 15 minutes to central Galway, or at least would have been without the city traffic. Nevertheless we were soon walking out along the causeway to Mutton Island. What an excellent place, full of waders and waterbirds. There were multiple Great Northern Divers just offshore, but search as we did no sign of the mini-Arctic wanderer. At least five Iceland Gulls were present, and with the target bird seen and plenty to look at we were more than happy. I did a work 'Teams' video call whilst the others searched and, just as the call had finished, Rob picked up the 1st winter ROSS'S GULL flying in. Excellent stuff. I'd forgotten how distinctive they are in flight and what a joyous bundle of a bird it was. It remained mostly a little more distant than we'd have liked, but showed well enough in the scope and eventually flew past us quite close. A friendly local warned us of traffic issues in Dublin due to an overturned lorry, so we took his hint and hit the road. There was no time for any other birds, but then what a day, and what a combination. 

1st winter Ross's Gull. Photos by Rich Bonser.

Adult Iceland Gull

1st winter Iceland Gull

By 14.00 we were on board the ferry. I was home by 20.30 with a grip-back beam as broad as my face. Happy days. 

As a footnote, over the next few days the discussion raged on about the vulture's decision to winter. The Booted Eagle's fate in Category D (D for dread) was again raised, but interestingly the conversation became more positive for both birds. The eagle was rejected for a series of reasons, but the vulture's presence in the winter seemed to debunk most of those. What odds that two European species of large raptor had both escaped and wintered in Ireland? Didn't the vulture validate the eagle? A major reason for the eagle's rejection was that it was first seen in March, meaning it had over-wintered or arrived way too early in the migration season. We know the vulture had appeared in the late spring (on Scilly), before heading to Ireland, yet it remained entirely unseen between August and New year's eve. Isn't it more likely the eagle had done the same? Of course it is, and there is already talk of a review of the eagle record. With the vulture there is now the opportunity to look at the state of wing damage, knowing that whatever damage there is happened in the wild, not as a consequence of captivity - another reason for eagle rejection. In short, the vulture's decision to over-winter may well lead to two ticks as the eagle is reviewed. Even happier days.

Egyptian Vulture brings me to 562 on Bubo, but then it seems there will be some reverse movement in the next few months too (crossbills, redpolls and possibly a dodgy wheatear). Regardless of that, today was most definitely a good day. 

And relax.