Sometimes you just need to create your own hikes and ignore the tour guides, or as these jaunts are called in Ireland … Walks! My process is to study Google Maps looking for interesting geological features and then switching over to satellite view for closer inspection. This is how Molly and I came to walk the area near and along the shores of Isknagahiny Lough (Lake). The satellite view had intrigued me becauses of rivers, lakes, forests (not as common in the old world), and farmland … all encompassed within only a three mile walk. This is the relevant satellite view from Google Maps of Isknagahiny Lough. as it turned out, our walk was part of the much, much longer Kerry Way.

Isknagahiny Lough Walk – The Remote Road

Isknagahiny Lough Walk – The River

Isknagahiny Lough Walk – The Lake & Boat Launch

Isknagahiny Lough Walk – Farm House and Waterfall

Isknagahiny Lough Walk – One of a HUGE number of Sheep Herds

(video link for blog email subscribers)

Isknagahiny Lough Walk – Flowers were everywhere!

And of course … birds! European Robins were everywhere along our walk. Our weather ranged from totally cloudy and damp to burst of sunshine. The robins and us preferred the sun!

Finally for my subscribers, I added some content to my previous post about our AirBnB Farmhouse. I am inserting that identical content at the end of this post such that you will receive the same benefit as folks who only read my website, but do not subscribe. Here goes … from the very end of the post: Irish Farmhouse Bathroom Birding.

I would wholeheartedly recommend renting our AirBnB (Cottage in County Kerry). Our host has been very responsive, and the listing is 100% accurate. Molly and love the location on the Skellig Ring which does NOT get the same tourist traffic as the nearby Ring of Kerry. Browse my Ireland posts from this blog to learn a bit of the nearby countryside. As we still have two days yet in Ireland, and I am a bit behind on posting content, the number of actual posts will yet increase.

I’ll admit that the title of this post sounds a bit weird, but it shows how one must adjust your birding approach when presented with obstacles! My issue was Molly and I have rented a delightful old farmhouse with fantastic views of the Atlantic Coast in the SW of Ireland … the Skellig Ring near its more famous cousin, the Ring of Kerry.

My problem was some of the local birds hanging out near our farmhouse loved the brambles immediately uphill. However, given the hill’s steepness, those brambles could not be seen (nor the birds perched upon same) from outside while standing in the yard. Enter “Irish Farmhouse Bathroom Birding”. Make certain to watch the video. All the bird images featured in this post were taken from this unique vantage point!

The Birder

The Bird Blind

The Movie (video link for blog email subscribers)

The Birds!

European Blackbird (juvenile)

European Stonechat (the target bird)

Song Thrush (lifer … did not know it was about)

And the view from the farmhouses’ yard!

St. Finans’ Bay (Google says “Finian’s“, but it is wrong)

The Bay

The Valley (called The Glenn)

And of course … the farmhouse! My “birding blind (the bathroom) is on the other side of the farmhouse on the second floor.

I hope you enjoyed this “instructional post” with its “teaching video”!!! I would wholeheartedly recommend renting this AirBnB (Cottage in County Kerry). Our host has been very responsive, and the listing is 100% accurate. Molly and love the location on the Skellig Ring which does NOT get the same tourist traffic as the nearby Ring of Kerry. Browse my Ireland posts from this blog to learn a bit of the nearby countryside. As we still have two days yet in Ireland, and I am a bit behind on posting content, the number of actual posts will yet increase.

Yesterday morning I returned to the Castle and Abbey Ruins which define the two ends of Ballinskelligs Beach (prior post with more about the Castle, Abbey and immediate area). However this time I had researched the tidal schedule (not a concern on Lake Superior when birding) and made certain to arrive about two hours after high tide as the waters were starting to recede off the beach in force, but not yet to close to low tide. I wanted birds to be bunched up in the tidal flats zone before an increasing beach size allowed our feather friends a larger smorgasboard area.

Anyhow, two hours after high tide worked for me, and migrating Arctic Shorebirds were easy to find and photograph. The find of the morning were a couple of Bar-Tailed Godwits which migrate between the high Arctic and waaaay south in both hemispheres.

Bar-Tailed Godwit (and with friends)

Eurasian Oystercatchers (and with friends)

Dunlins

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderlings

Ringed Plovers

It was a good morning’s birding … even considering the 30 mph winds!