The Juvenile Birder

Scarcities in Scotland We arrived at Slamannan at around 10:00am in hopes of seeing the wintering flock of Taiga Bean Geese. As soon as we arrived, while driving, we noticed a flock of around 40 Taiga Bean Geese  in a field north of Shortrig Farm. They were quite distant, so I patiently waited for them to come out into view! After a bit of time I managed to get some digiscoped images of them and with loads of light left, set off to Broadwood Loch. We arrived at Broadwood Loch at around 11:00am in hopes of seeing my first drake Smew. Immediately, we noticed a lot of common waterfowl, like Canada Geese , Mute Swan and Coot , but there were also lots of Tufted Duck , Goldeneye  & Goosander  as well as some distant Wigeon . After a bit of scanning, we spotted the drake Smew  far out. We got some images of it and then left, on a high, to Newshot Island in hopes of seeing another scarce bird. We arrived at Newshot NR at around 12:00pm in hopes of seeing an American Wig...

Birding: A Waiting Game! We started our trip by going to Brierdine (2hrs 45 mins away, we set off at 4.30am). We arrived there at 7:30am and immediately started scanning every tree and bush.  I was very worried about distinguishing between the Yellow-browed Warbler and the Hume's Warbler; Phil told me if you get a good view of a warbler, look at the wingbar. He said Yellow Browed Warber has two obvious wingbars while Hume's Warbler only has one obvious wingbar and a fainter one above. After searching in that area and listening out for the call, we were unsuccessful. We then met a birder who said he had seen this bird in the same place seven years ago. We followed him and other birders began arriving, they went to a patch of greenery that hosted a tit flock that kept doing circuits. Long-tailed Tits  were the most abundant, but a few Goldcrests  and one Chiffchaff  were present, as well as a few Willow Tits  which are a special species that breed here. We continu...