Now we are getting to the really juicy part of the second half of the year. September has increasingly become the ‘new October’, with thrilling rare birds appearing every year. Here are some less rare, but always exciting, birds to see this month.
Wryneck
There is something very special and attractive about birds with ‘cryptic plumage’, disguising them as bark or similar outline breaking backgrounds. Think of the Woodcock or the Nightjar, or the Wryneck, the bizarre, scarce, migrant woodpecker, which looks like an over-sized warbler. The once common ‘Cuckoo’s mate’ is now all but extinct as a breeding bird in the UK, and far more likely to be seen on passage. Like Green Woodpeckers, they are largely ant-eaters, and so are likely to be found shuffling on the ground in search of their prey, if you can see them at all…
Arctic Skua
The Arctic Skua or Parasitic Jaeger (if you prefer the American name) is the commonest of the three smaller skua species, and the only one which breeds in this country (on northern and western Scottish islands and the extreme north of the Scottish mainland; totalling fewer than 800 pairs). Identifying smaller skuas is never easy, and most of us see them infrequently enough that subtle clues of size, shape and flight style pass us by… But Arctic Skuas are the medium-sized of the three, with medium length pointed central tail streamers (on adults), and neat contact between clean pale flanks and dark underwings (on pale-morph birds). Juveniles tend to be warmer toned than the Long-tailed and Pomarine equivalents.
Spotted Flycatcher
The much declined Spotted Flycatcher is a handsome and graceful woodland bird, with a subtle beauty and long-winged elegance. It is usually one of the latest summer visitors to arrive in spring, and generally departs correspondingly early. If they don’t breed near you any more, September is as good a month as any to catch up with them as they pass through after post-breeding dispersal prior to migration. Though they mainly catch flying insects in mid-air sallies, in the early autumn, they will also feed on soft fruit as they fatten up for the journey south. Juveniles are spottier than adults, which are just lightly streaked: everything is subtle about the appearance of these birds!
White-rumped Sandpiper
The White-rumped Sandpiper is one of the small Calidris sandpipers our North American friends like to call ‘peeps’. They are rare visitors (though not exceptionally so), and look about smaller, shorter billed Dunlins, with a prominent pale supericilium and proportionately long wings giving them an ‘attenuated’ rear end, or a tiny, short-legged long-looking Sanderling. Indeed separation from these two species is an important first step, before you move on to separating them from Baird’s Sandpipers or Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Whinchat
If you missed the spring passage of the gorgeous Whinchat or have not had a chance to visit their upland breeding grounds in the north and west (Wales has a third of the UK breeding population), then August and September gives you another bite at this particular cherry. Like Stonechats these little, golden chats like to perch on top of little bushes, fence lines, or tall ‘weeds’ to look out for invertebrate prey below. Unlike Stonechats, they are buff, orange and brown, with a very prominent and long buffy-white supercilium and white outer ‘triangles’ at the base of the tail. Catch them while you can, they will be gone soon, till next April.