Finders-in-the-field: American Redstart on Barra
Thursday 7th September 2017 dawned wet with a strong west south westerly breeze. As usual Kathy and I were up and out early in the rain, searching the beaches and machair on Vatersay and the west side of Barra for American waders, and as usual failing to find any! Demoralised by our continued lack of success we returned home to dry out and do some chores at lunchtime, then spent a couple of hours getting another good soaking as we cleared the paths in the community woodland at Creachan. By late afternoon the rain had become more showery so I set off to check the north end of the island while Kathy stayed home for an afternoon nap.
I spent some time checking through the waders on the airport beach, then carefully scanned the machair to the north, but still no yanks. Parking by the cemetery at Eoligarry, I gazed at the garden that last September held the Eastern Kingbird, but today held a Blackbird and half a dozen Starlings. It’s fair to say that the birding seemed very quiet, as of course Barra birding usually is. During these long spells between good birds, it can be hard to maintain one’s concentration in the field and stay sharp, and if I’m honest here, I often find myself drifting off into a daydream. At this time of year the daydream usually centres round my finding a brightly coloured American passerine flitting around a sycamore. Something like an American Redstart. I guess this is a fantasy shared by all birders though, right? I could have given up and gone home at this point, but finding rarities is all about dogged persistence, the need to keep looking and going the extra mile, so I pressed on to check the churchyard, just in case.
... I had a quick look at the photo and it confirmed my suspicions: I’d just found an American Redstart.
I walked along the road to the church. Behind it are about 5 stunted sycamores and a patch of brambles. Despite hundreds of visits over the years, the best I’d seen here were a couple of Barred Warblers and a Red-backed Shrike, but this area always feels rare, as if anything could suddenly pop up, so I try to check it every day during migration. I approached the trees from behind the wall on the south side of the churchyard. As I reached the first tree, a small bird took off from the ground just in front of me with striking bright yellow on the base of the tail. My mind was racing as I went through the options of what it could be. For a split second its tail pattern made me think Greenfinch, but it was too small. Siskin then? No way. What else could it be with a tail like that? No, it can’t be an
American Redstart… can it? It landed on a bare branch perhaps 15m ahead of me. As I focused my bins on it, it sat side-on with tail cocked in a Red-breasted Flycatcher-like pose. The head was grey and unmarked, the belly pale, unstreaked and clean-looking with warm orangey patches on the sides of the breast. The tail was the most striking feature though, with an almost luminous yellow panel on either side of its base. It sat motionless in the tree for about 30 seconds as I fumbled for my camera and got a quick record shot before it disappeared from view. I had a quick look at the photo and it confirmed my suspicions: I’d just found an American Redstart.
I tried to phone my wife, to tell her to get to Eoligarry by any means as quickly as possible, but as is all too often the case on Barra the phone signal was down. This particular clump of trees is rather isolated, so I felt certain the bird would stay put, and so set off to get Kathy. I ran back up the road in full waterproofs and wellies, bins and camera swinging all over the place. As I reached the car I saw a guy with bins so I ran over to him. He looked alarmed and the fact that I was too breathless to speak didn’t help matters. After a few moments I managed to splutter the words, ‘American Redstart… trees.’ He looked confused. Composing myself a bit more and catching my breath, I asked if he was a birder. ‘No,’ was his reply. At this point I jumped into my car and drove off at high speed. With hindsight I suspect the tourist I met in the car park that afternoon will go home and tell his friends that he met a madman on Barra who was raving about a bird in a tree!
I swept Kathy up and we raced back to the churchyard. After a few minutes we relocated the American Redstart feeding under the sycamores and for the next 40 minutes we were treated to brilliant views as it flicked in and out of the trees catching insects. During a brighter spell in the weather it even sat out on the tops of the brambles sunning itself. I kept trying to phone the news out but the signal just wasn’t strong enough, so we left the bird just after 6pm and returned home to make the call to RBA and put photos out on Twitter.
It was a wet night and the bird was still there at dawn. The Uists’ birders arrived on the first ferry from Eriskay. By lunchtime others from the mainland started to come in via the Uists and yet more on the Oban ferry that evening. During the first three days about 120 birders made the long journey out to Barra, making this the island’s biggest twitch to date. Barra airport had one of its busiest days when on Saturday five charter flights carrying birders came in as well as the usual two scheduled flights. The bird has generally shown well and all who visited went away very happy. The island’s tourist season has enjoyed a late boost and the islanders themselves have been amazed: not only by the distance the American Redstart has come, but also the distances travelled by those coming to see it! But then this is Britain’s 6th American Redstart and the first in 32 years. A long wait for all of us, but most certainly worth it.
So there we have it. Back in June I found a Needletail here and now this: clearly lightning can strike twice. The afternoon of 7th September will live long in my memory as the day a daydream became reality. I caught myself daydreaming about American passerines again this afternoon, only this time it was something small, bright and very streaky flicking around the sycamores… I’d better get back out there and check those bushes again!
Bruse Taylor
12 September 2017
American Redtart gallery
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