The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Reported by IAN MISSELBROOK at Gibraltar Point at 08.55 this morning:

Short-toed Eagle came in from the Wash viewpoint and circled over the field station being mobbed by 2 Buzzards and a male Marsh Harrier. It was in view overhead for c.5 minutes before drifting off westwards and inland. Obs staff alerted, but no further sightings as yet.


Phil

It is now 1445 and I was really hoping to find a string of other observers having seen the eagle....

To put a bit of flesh on the report I was by The wash viewpoint beyond the visitor centre at 0855 watching a pair of circling Common Buzzards being mobbed by a male Marsh Harrier. After a minute or so the Buzzards had gained height and the marsh harrier had given up and had flown down to ground level over the marsh. Then I saw it rise up again and I spotted a raptor descending rapidly from the direction of The Wash. I was immediately struck by the wing shape, not as rounded as the buzzard nor as slender as the harrier. my mind raced over possibilities, but fortunately the bird was descending rapidly and heading towards me. it was soon level with the Marsh Harrier and I could immediately tell that it was at least 10% bigger and that the underside was completely pale with no dark markings except for a hint of brown under the chin and some light barring on the tail. The two buzzards were very soon in the same binocular vision and I could see that although not dwarfed by the eagle they were 15% smaller. It was perhaps no more than 50m above my head at one point. Of course having travelled widely in Europe, the Middle East, India and West Africa I was certain that what I was looking at was a Short-toed Eagle. I realise now that the lack of brown on the chest and head except for light brown under the chin points to this bird being a juvenile. After a few minutes it drifted inland in a westerly direction gaining height as it went.

I had an enjoyable morning at Gibralter Point with lots of nice birds and butterflies but everything seemed like an anti-climax after the eagle!

I just hope that other see it!

Ian

PS Thanks to Phil for putting it on the forum and alerting other observers.

Ian,
Oh to be in the right place at the right time! Just to go off on a bit of a tangent - despite many birders carrying cameras in the field in the recent past and many more camera-toting "Bird-photographers" nowadays, it is remarkable how many very rare birds have slipped through Lincolnshire without a single frame being taken of them to the best of my knowledge. Some species which immediately come to mind are Sandhill Crane, Pallid Harrier, Calandra Lark, Lesser Grey Shrike, Greater Sand Plover, Hudsonian Godwit, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Golden Eagle, River Warbler, Balearic Shearwater, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Ross's Gull, Pallid Swift and Yellow-nosed Albatross (and then only by a fisherman!).
Our previous Short-toed Eagle had its photo taken in Spain (!) so has this latest big rarity in Lincolnshire given us all the slip? You could make a case for a Short-toed Treecreeper but a Short-toed EAGLE !!!
Mike Tarrant

Golden Eagle!!!....where was that seen then Michael?


Steve.

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Hmmm I think the right time and place for a STE is probably September at Tarifa Mike
but as to the others : several you note pre-date the digital era and up until the early 2000's it was rare to be able to capture a decent image of many rare birds with the gear that most people carried -- I have a good selection of slides of phalaropes, Pec Sands, some tame gulls etc and even the odd Pallas's Warbler from as far back as 1976 but pre 1970 there were probably only half a dozen people in the country with a 500 or 600mm lens so inevitable difficult critters escaped the dyes of Kodachrome and if they were on Agfa like my 1974 Bardney Sabine's Gull they will indeed now be demonstrating the variability in plumage tones exhibited by small gulls and water alike!!! -

Sandhill Crane - never submitted by the claimant so assumedly no photos

Pallid Harrier -- no photos as far as I am aware

Calandra Lark ditto

Lesser Grey Shrike -- I have seen a photo in fact I had a print at one stage of the bird on the Witham Bank but cannot remember where it is or who took it -- others predated sensible cameras

Greater Sand PLover -- photos of the same bird at Spurn exist and I think have been published - I certainly have a copy of one

Hudsonian Godwit --a photo of what was presumed to be the same individual later in the year in Devon exists but as far as I am aware nothing was taken on the Humber -- I seem to recall owning a Nikon F300 and 400mm 5.6 manual focus lens at the time but on a slide distant birds were less than dots

Yellow-billed Cuckoo -- have seen a photo of the dead Welton bird but none of the Rauceby bird as far as I know -- my most painful dip having driven overnight from Penzance to fail to see it

Blue-cheeked Beeeater --I seem to recall there was an unidentifiable image of this bird but I could be wrong

Golden Eagle -- I have seen a picture of the last bird at Beelsby in 1928 being held by someone after it was shot and I think it was in an ancient BB but cannot seem to find it at the moment though negotiating the BB online reference system seems to be an art form in itself -- assume you were not referring to any of the recent reports

River Warbler -- singing but only glimpsed in buckthorn as far as I know

Balearic -- hmm tricky subject but should be possible with present day technology

Sharp-tailed Sand as far as I know no-one got anything on this bird but I have what I like to call a nice painting of it that I produced from field sketches produced while watching the bird in what we used to call a field notebook --

Ross's Gull -- withdrawn I think

Pallid Swift -- no pics

Most british eagle reports either have no photos or have a buteoid likeness so this years STE down south was indeed an exception -- the run of crazy Booted Eagle claims from every orifice of Norfolk probably demonstrates the difficulty of committees in dealing with such claims in a county where there are a myriad of people with binoculars and a lot of good birders but the good birders never seem to see the eagles

So did you see the Golden Eagle then Graham? and field notebook...yep still got one of those too,great clarification of the records.



Steve.

_________________
http://www.brachytron.blogspot.co.uk

http://www.LincolnshireOdes.blogspot.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/routy

I photographed the Kirton Marsh Lesser Grey Shrike. Probably others did too. One pic formed part of the submission to BBRC.

I think the blue cheeked bee-eater was actually identified from a photo by folk at Gib.

I got some vid footage of the Gib Pallid Harrier which was submitted to BBRC - if I'd spent less time on the phone and more time with the camera the results could have been quite good !

As for the Calandra, in desperation to get some record footage at 70 yards, I missed my best chance to get good views of the bird on the deck for a few seconds. A blurred dot in the frame was not sufficient to submit with the BBRC form !

Kev

Interestingly, news has just emerged of a ST Eagle in Thetford forest from 19th July to 16th August, apparently videos and photographed. Description received by Norfolk recorder and BBRC. No other details of circumstances as yet
Phil