American White-winged Scoter, Murcar, Aberdeenshire
Sometimes we do a long distance twitch that is really fun, just because of the madness of the trip. That was what this twitch was like.
I had an inset day on Tuesday 5th July 2016. That’s when school is closed for teacher training.
So rather than have a lazy day at home, we left home after school and Dad drove us to the Lake District. My Gran has a caravan here and it’s the perfect place to stay over and get a few hours sleep.
Early morning of the 5th of July, we set out for North Eastern Scotland. It was 9 am when we arrived at Murcar, Aberdeenshire. We were looking for an American White-winged Scoter, which had been around a while. However, we soon found out that it had not been seen that morning. Had it gone? The next few hours were spent looking through the telescope, out into the sea, which was hard to do as it was difficult picking up the birds and identifying them.
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| Young Birder Mya-Rose Craig at American White-winger Scoter Twitch |
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| Young Birder Mya-Rose Craig at American White-winger Scoter Twitch |
After 1-2 hours, Dad eventually found the Scoter and we got reasonable views but not good enough to digiscope photos. It was a really amazing bird to see, all the way across the Atlantic. It was another new bird for my British and World List.
After watching it for an hour, we had to leave and head home, via a quick stop at the caravan, where Dad got a have a power nap.
About The Author
Hi, I’m Dr. Mya-Rose Craig. I am a 19-year-old prominent British-Bangladeshi ornithologist, environmentalist, diversity activist as well as an author, speaker and broadcaster. At age 11 I started the popular blog Birdgirl, and at age 17 I became the youngest person to see half of the birds in the world.
Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ - Margaret Atwood
This is my story; a journey defined by my love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.
Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ - Margaret Atwood
This is my story; a journey defined by my love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.