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  1. AStevenson

    Golden Eagle? Scottish Highlands

    Yes its a golden eagle probably an adult as the lightened version even allowing for artefacts isn't showing any obvious whitish areas in the tail base and underside of the wings. It's slightly foreshortened so the proportions look a bit neater and squarer than they would otherwise.
  2. AStevenson

    Yet again - tufted or scaup - Western Isles, Scotland

    It looks like a juv tufted to me. Not sure where you photographed this but tufted duck is a very common breeding species in the Uists & Barra and fairly common on the more lowland lochs in Lewis & Harris. Scaup bred in very small numbers historically up to the early 1900s but not confirmed...
  3. AStevenson

    Corncrakes in Harris and North Uist

    You may be a bit early in early May, whilst the first ones can be back 2nd half of Apr many don't arrive till 2nd week of May. It's a bit weather dependent. The limited cover early in the season makes them easier to see. They do have a tendency to call from nettle/iris beds and do like the...
  4. AStevenson

    Falco peregrinus pelegrinoides? (Canarian Island, Teneriffe)

    More recent paper than the one Tom linked https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/189839/1/JRR-17-96.pdf suggests things have got worse in terms of being identifiable with many escaped non- Barbary types taking over. cheers, Andrew
  5. AStevenson

    Iceland Gull West Yorkshire

    worth reading this link - Gull Research Organisation to get a better idea of variation.
  6. AStevenson

    Not only new to birding but even newer to sea birding

    This is a sooty shearwater. It's the bright light conditions affecting feather appearance and the bird in 'relaxed' flight mode with Manxies in calm weather that maybe is making it look structurally wrong to some people. Like Steve I considered a very dark Balearic as the only other possible but...
  7. AStevenson

    I could use some help with gull ID. These gulls were seen on a beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 08/30. Thank you!

    Any more photos of pic 1? Assuming it was larger than the laughing gulls, I think it could be either a juvenile Lesser-black-backed gull or a pale juvenile American herring gull (or possibly even a European one).
  8. AStevenson

    What's this bird? Close to Kandersteg in the Berner Oberland in Switzerland number 3 - end of July 2021

    PIc 1 is a chaffinch too. The white patch is the white covert/shoulder patch on the wing, the darker brown immediately above the mantle/scapulars and the the greyer plumage below the chest/belly. The black diagonally below the white is typical of chaffinch wing. The head is largely obscured but...
  9. AStevenson

    Strange feather from a medium-large sized bird, Greenville, North Carolina, USA-the house I live in has trees on 2 sides

    Is it not a Cooper's hawk tail feather? spacing and number of bars looks better, https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/resultSearch.php
  10. AStevenson

    Uist visit advice 20-25 sept

    Hi Pete, Autumn is a bit different from spring in terms of number of visitors and birders around - much quieter. Check Outer Hebrides Birds and Western Isles Wildlife websites out, they have daily sightings which will give you a flavour of autumn birding. The islands are relatively large this...
  11. AStevenson

    Whimbrel?

    Nutcracker, Despite that link and the tagging work some big flocks of whimbrel do get recorded in the Outer Hebs in autumn and I suspect the same in Ireland - some of them do run into bad weather and have to pitch up but its much more infrequent than in spring, so yes it's possible they are all...
  12. AStevenson

    Peru Pelagics

    I think the booby is indeed a blue-foot despite the pale looking head, the plain wing coverts and lack of pale edging on the scapulars is given as a consistent feature blue-footed cf Peruvian. Peruvian also have dark red eyes and blue-foots pale eyes - the bird in the pic appears to have quite...
  13. AStevenson

    UK Goshawk size & origin

    It's in this linked paper: https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V75/V75_N06/V75_N06_P243_260_A063.pdf cheers, Andrew
  14. AStevenson

    Red Kite UK influx

    Ian Carter covers it a bit in his Red Kite book. Dispersal of wing-tagged birds from reintroduced populations is high in Apr-May and the peak of spring 'passage' in the UK now is Apr/May whereas it was March prior to re-introductions and recovery of the Welsh population. Early spring (March) is...
  15. AStevenson

    Madeira in august

    I did this a few years back, in April, heard several birds and saw a couple in poor moonlight/minimal torchlight - was bloody cold and drizzly rain later! (it is best part of 6,000ft up I suppose) This was with Hugo and the torchlight was just to help see the path etc. rather than the birds...
  16. AStevenson

    Bird of prey ID around Burgas, Bulgaria

    Still not 100% sure what it is given the pixellation but I do ask myself why this isn't a white-tailed eagle. Fairly similar posture one attached. cheers, Andrew
  17. AStevenson

    Sandpiper - Trinidad

    Why not a semipalmated sandpiper with a stained muddy bill? - background birds look like semips and bird on it's right is a least sandpiper which may make it look larger than it is? cheers, Andrew
  18. AStevenson

    Grebe west scotland

    Both slavs which i the default grebe on the sea on Skye. cheers, Andrew
  19. AStevenson

    Humpbacks off Lewis

    Tim, If that's what you call rough.... Humpbacks seem to have become much more regular in The Minch and generally up the west Highland coast of Scotland in the last few years, very pleasing to see. cheers, Andrew
  20. AStevenson

    Corn crakes on Coll in early July

    They will be around and still calling but vegetation will have grown by then and much more difficult to see unfortunately. cheers, Andrew
  21. AStevenson

    Bird of Prey? Caracara? Santarem, Brazil.

    Why not a juv yellow-headed caracara? cheers, Andrew
  22. AStevenson

    Thayers or Kumlien's gull offshore NJ.

    Interesting bird. Dark on the wingtip looks quite blackish but it looks like the bar on p5 is broken. As I understand it Thayer's(usually?) has a solid bar on p5 and dark markings can extend to p6. Markings tend to be blacker than Kumlien's but some of the latter can get pretty dark. Also it...
  23. AStevenson

    Shearwater Comments

    Oiled Manx still looks favourite to my eyes.
  24. AStevenson

    North/South Uist

    In theory (weather dependent) I'm off to the mainland this week and heading back on the Fri ferry from Uig - I assume you're on that boat. Bit blustery today hitting 90mph a few times. Should be a few more white-winged gulls around after this storm goes through. had 3 glaucs and an ad Iceland...
  25. AStevenson

    North/South Uist

    Gyr still around today but it is ranging over a large area ranging between West Loch Ollay/Ormiclate, Bornish and Kildonan mostly hunting the machair and freshwater lochs) and likely to require some time to catch up with it.....oh and reasonable weather....which is in short supply currently. At...
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