Just Deserts

As I occasionally allude to on here, I am really fond of wheatears. They're great birds; subtle in plumage and character but always striking and pleasing harbingers of seasons. Since I've been away for much of the last two weeks, it was a tad frustrating when I returned to hear that TWO desert wheatears had been found in different locations, both a suitably responsible twitching distance away from home. Luckily, the Desert Wheatear found in the car park of the Essex Wildlife Trust's new visitor centre at Abberton Reservoir has proved a stayer and today, being a convenient day off, I headed over for a look.

Now something of a celebrity bird after the BBC picked the story up for an article this week, hordes of paparazzi were instead represented by a small gaggle of twitchers when I arrived late morning. The female bird, which should be in the vicinity of North Africa by now, some 3000 miles away, had been showing well at close quarters early on but for much of the afternoon relocated to the far end of a roped off causeway undergoing building work adjacent to the reserve. Despite the distance and the workmen stomping up and down nearby, she showed well, darting up and down the recently laid tarmac, preening occasionally, bobbing her tail much like a Redstart and making short flights which showed up the creamy, buff rump and the full, dark rectrices (minus the 'T-shape' characteristic of most other Oenanthe species). On a really cold day, I think a few people shared the thought that the black tarmac she favoured may be having a minimal warming effect as well as providing a bit of food/shelter from the wind. Trust me, a real nice looking bird, even from this far away(!):

View for much of the afternoon

After a coffee and brief walk round the rest of the reserve, which turned up some nice bits including a single Whooper Swan associating with some mutes and half a dozen or so Goldeneye and Wigeon, I went back to see if she had come any closer. Turns out she was slowly on her way back down the causeway towards us, inching along, sometimes flying up onto the builder's sand. Eventually, after an hour or so she came within approx. 30m and showed up really well. I hadn't realised how cold I was at this point so I decided to call it a day and head back to the car park. While sitting in the car on the phone to a work colleague (hey, I'm a pro) I couldn't believe it when a few minutes later a bird flicked across  in front of my windshield, maybe 15ft away and perched on a lamp. I didn't even need bins to see it was our girl! I promptly hung up on work (uh, what was I saying?!) and joined the remainder of the group in the fantastic views.

One confused bird, several happy twitchers

View showing distinct rump patch and (quite short) black tail, also note dark shade of primaries/secondaries

Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) Abberton Reservoir, Essex, 1/11/12 

So a few slightly better shots to finish off the day at least. To be honest, they might have been better had I not been shaking with cold...just imagine how she must feel! With the odds against her, we'll never know where she'll end up but I am at least thankful for the chance to see such a beautiful bird.