UKBIRDSIGHTINGS
The best rare birds seen all around Britain in December
Rather than fizzle out, a few nice rarities ensured 2023 went out with a bang
An astonishing year for rare birds finished with yet another potential new addition to The British List.
It was a bird which almost ducked under birders’ radar, being firstly just about ‘untwitchable’ and secondly a bird which many of us are unaware of (or even know how to pronounce correctly). The reason it would prove to be ‘untwitchable’ is it was effectively a f ly-by seabird, seen from the land at Pendeen, Cornwall on 9th. The bird was filmed by the observers and thought to be a
Trindade Petrel (a type of gadf ly petrel which breeds off the coast of Brazil in the South Atlantic).
However, further analysis of the video (taken at distance and in very strong light) led to doubts appearing about the identification of the bird. Many considered that this bird looked more like a Sooty Shearwater (albeit one apparently with a pale belly, though this may have been a trick of the light) in structure and f light style etc.
The claim was withdrawn, so, the Pendeen bird will follow British claims of Trindade Petrel in 1988, 2005 and 2018, and not make the cut.
Cornwall did produce an arguably exceptionally rare bird in December, though; a White-crowned Sparrow at Rosudgeon from 2nd (staying to 14th). Yes, it was the fourth
White-crowned Sparrow recorded in the UK in 2023, but it was a first for Cornwall and even the South West region. This is a species with a dozen or so UK records, mostly in Scotland. Exceptions include the famous Cley, Norfolk, bird of early 2008, which was the most southerly until the Seaford Head, East Sussex, White-crowned Sparrow of the subspecies gambelii, in late April 2023.
The Rosudgeon ‘sparrow’ was evidence, if it were needed, that autumn’s mad rush of North American landbirds could still deliver some hidden gems. Come the New Year, this was brought home in more emphatic style by the Northern Waterthrush popping up in Essex, but that is a story for the April issue of BW’s Rarity Roundup. Meanwhile, another sneaky American ‘wood warbler’, the first-winter female Cape May Warbler found on Bryher, Scilly, on 10 November, hung about until 4 December.
Similarly (in the sense that it is a North American bird found after the autumn rush, and lingering), the Canvasback found at Abberton Reservoir, Essex on 11 November, was still hiding among
