Yanks Come to Town ..... Plus A Fantastic Flycatcher !!!!

Sign outside of Porthgwarra cafe.

The magical news of a Yellow Billed Cuckoo being found at Porthgwarra on Thursday 23rd October got plenty of us birders in a right old panic , i headed down to Cornwall  in the early hours of Friday morning the 24th and i made great time getting to Porthgwarra in Cornwall and duly arrived in darkness at approx 7am.

Yellow Billed Cuckoo , note tail pattern.

At around 7.30 am i joined fellow birders and headed to the area the YBC was last seen going to roost and waited with baited breath hoping beyond hope that this awesome bird had survived through the night , sadly these American vagrants often die shortly after making landfall through exhaustion and most are only 1 day birds , well after almost one and half hours waiting and hoping in awful weather the YBC made a brief appearance more or less right in front of us , the chestnut wing patches , white throat and underparts contrasting with overall brown upper-parts were easily seen .

Yellow Billed Cuckoo , just about make out the yellow bill.

It soon went back into cover but the relief and joy on everyone present was immense , the weather brightened up and the YBC become more active and showed very well at times , i must admit i spent more times watching it and only managed a couple of record shots , there are tons of great photos out there though.

I watched this bird for over an hour and then went for a warm up and get something to eat very happy indeed , on my return journey i called into Davidstow airfield and had some great views of the juv. American Golden Plover which had a single Dunlin for company , here are a small selection of photos of the AGP :

Long legged compared to Golden Plover.

Broad supercillium .

Primaries extend beyond the tail.

American Golden Plover.

The journey home took longer than expected due to a serious accident on the A30 but nothing could really dampen my spirits after such a successful day .

Saturday  25th October

Red Breasted Flycatcher.

  On Saturday the 25th i tried to  see the adult Red Breasted Flycatcher which had taken up residence near Beachy head , well i didn't have to wait long to see this fantastic flycatcher , i have only seen one in this plumage and that was back in the stone-age , here are some of the photo's i took .

Love the tail pattern.

This bird showed very well at times and was a delight to watch , i would recommend anyone to go and enjoy this bird whilst it is still around , and that concludes a couple of great days birding