Pelagic off the Blaskets

Great Skua, 5km NW of Inishtearaght, 27th August 2013 (Eric Dempsey).

Blue Fulmar, 5km NW of Inishtearaght, 27th August 2013 (Eric Dempsey).

Great Shearwater, 5km NW of Inishtearaght, 27th August 2013 (Eric Dempsey).

Sabine's Gull, 5km NW of Inishtearaght, 27th August 2013 (Eric Dempsey).

Common Dolphins, 1km S of Great Blasket, 27th August 2013 (Eric Dempsey).

Green Sandpipers, Trabeg

Green Sandpipers, Trabeg, 26th August 2013 (Eric Dempsey).

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon, with a Teal it had just caught, Ballylongford, 25th August 2013 (Kerry Birding).

Follow the Co. Kerry Hen Harriers

Two Hen Harrier chicks, hatched in Co. Kerry, were satellite-tagged. They fledged from their nest site on Mount Eagle in East Kerry this summer and you can follow their fortunes on www.henharrierireland.blogspot.ie

Screengrab of the Hen Harrier Ireland website.

One has already flown to Co. Wicklow (after flying over Dublin City Centre), the other is now in Co. Limerick. The blog can be seen here.

Little Stint, Beale

Little Stint, Beale strand, 23rd August 2013 (Davey Farrar).

Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail, Black Rock, 22nd August 2013 (David O'Connor).

Little Gull

First summer Little Gull, Kilelton polder, 10th July 2013 (Kerry Birding).

More photos from recent pelagic

First summer Sabine's Gull, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Seamus Enright).

Great Skua, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Seamus Enright).

Sooty Shearwater, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Seamus Enright).

Pelagic, 7th August

Great Shearwater, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Seamus Enright).

Great Shearwater, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Seamus Enright).

Great Skua, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Ed Carty).

Sabine's Gull, 5km west of Inishtearaght, 7th August 2013 (Ed Carty).

American Black Duck

Female Black Duck, Ballylongford 7th July 2013 (Kerry Birding).

Video of Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper, Kilelton Polder, 3rd August 2013 (Davey Farrar).

Black Duck, Ballylongford

 Black Duck, presumed female, Ballylongford, 3rd July 2013.

 Wood Sandpiper, Kilelton polder, 3rd July 2013.

Curlew Sandpiper, Kilelton polder, 3rd July 2013.

Whitethroat map for 2013

Following an earlier post HERE, an updated map of sightings of Whitethroats this summer is shown below. The 23 records for Kerry in 2013 is more than double the total from the last 20 years combined. Undoubtedly birds have gone unnoticed in previous years, but there seems to have been a genuine surge in records this year. For example, at one site near Castlemaine, where regular summer visits were made to monitor other species, four Whitethroat territories were noted in a small area where none had been recorded previously. Let's hope they are in Kerry to stay.

Records of Whitethroats, Co Kerry, summer 2013.