Yankees !!!

The shallow floods at Oare Marshes have played host to several American vagrants of late, situated on the southern edge of the Swale, a very attractive site which draws in vagrants, passage migrants, and our own resident waders species alike.

High Tide on the Swale is always a good time to view the waders which rest and feed on these floods.

East Flood -  High Tide wader roost

So far this year there have been visits by a Bonaparte's Gull, revisiting the site in July for its fifth year running apparently, a small delicate gull of North America and Canada.

A juvenile Red Necked Pharalope, a bird of the arctic regions of North America, arrived for a short visit  at the end of August.

And now in October the opportunity to see another two birds from the Americas, a Long Billed Dowitcher which arrived in the middle of August, and a Wilsons Pharalope which has only recently arrived on the 3rd October. definitely time for a visit to see these rare vagrant species. and maybe the opportunity to see a Black-necked Grebe that was also reported in Faversham Creek which runs alongside the flood.

The Wilsons Pharalope was showing well from the road which bisects the two floods, not hard to find with the line of admiring bird watchers stretched out along the road, this individual reported as a first winter. This is where a field guide comes in very useful showing the salient  id points to look for, a nice looking bird in breeding plumage which we in this country are very unlikely to see here.
You can see quite clearly that its a Juvenile moulting into its first winter plumage.

First winter Wilson's Pharalope

Fortunately for me, the sun was shining in the right direction for a change and the Pharalope was feeding relatively close to the road. the bird was spinning in the typical Pharalope fashion picking food particles from the surface. a little distant for my camera lens, but the Pharalope was moving around this area of the flood, sometimes close, sometimes out of sight behind the reeds, but plenty of opportunities to watch its feeding techniques, and grab a picture or two

 The delicate size of the Pharalope can be appreciated when you look at the photographs below, and this, the larger of the three species of Pharalope.

Occasionally pausing to preen with some of the other resident birds,

It wasn't long before the Long Billed Dowitcher put in an appearance, another bird from the wet tundra of North America, these normally migrate down to the southern American states, some even as far as South America, there always appears to be some that get blown off course and find their way to our shores.
The Long Billed Dowitcher on migration and in winter prefers shallow muddy water pools with some emergent vegetation. it appears Oare Marshes fits the bill nicely.

Long Billed Dowitcher

Looking at photographs of this bird when it first arrived back in August ( 8/8/17) it was showing some red colouring to its underside, this appears to have moulted away now.

The Dowitcher when feeding spends alot of time probing through the mud, the above photograph was  the typical view, I found it quite difficult to get a photograph showing the full length of its bill.

Occasionally the two American waders would pass close to each other causing a hushed murmur of excitement, and a flurry of camera shutters firing off to record the moment. This was my best effort.

Long Billed Dowitcher & Wilson's Pharalope

It  wasn't long until the peace and tranquility of the marshes was shattered, all the waders around the flood taking to the air. A  juvenile Peregrine had arrived causing panic and mayhem, the Pharalope and Dowitcher were lost to sight as the waders scattered in all directions.

Fortunately both the Dowitcher and Pharalope survived the Peregrines attentions, both were reported the following day.

 No luck with the Black Necked Grebe, but I was more than happy with the days viewing.