The Belcarra Yellow-crowned Night HeronBelcarra is a small village in Co. Mayo with a rich history. In Irish birdwatching circles, it is now forever known as the village where Ireland's first Yellow-Crowned NIght Heron was found in the autumn of 2024.
The bird was noted in the area for some weeks before a local asked a friend of theirs what the bird could be. That person happened to be a prominent birdwatcher based on Dublin. Pandemonium ensued. Luckily, another well-known Wicklow-based birdwatcher was nearby and checked out the veracity of the record...and the rest, as they say, is history. Such an amazing discovery and a very beautiful bird. I finally gave in after the bird was there a few weeks and drove the 3 hours from Dublin across the country to arrive at dawn in the Co. Mayo village. Within 10 minutes of searching for the bird, I heard a call from the roof of the local community centre and there was the heron peering over at me. I spent the next 5-6 hours watching and photographing the bird. It was a worth the twitch.
This was also the first time twitching a big distance to see a decent rare bird since I switched from Canon to Sony. I used a Sony A9II with a Sony 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS lens.
Keywords:
American,
Belcarra,
Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide,
Birdwatch Ireland,
Carmody,
Gill,
Ireland,
Jim Wilson,
Mark Carmody,
Mayo,
Photography,
Sony,
visitor,
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
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