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Mega Seabirds - The Unofficial Records! (1 Viewer)

Richard Klim said:
Possible White-chinned Petrel off ME...
Click to expand...

Just a (probably stupid) thought.

If White-chinned Petrel can reach the N Atlantic, could it be an outside candidate for last week's report of Short-tailed Shearwater from Bridges of Ross? Normally extremely unlikely to be confused, but if the observer was understandably in the mindset of shearwater sp, and the bird was distant and alone (no direct size comparison)...

Richard
 
Richard Klim said:
In contrast, SW Britain and Ireland are major obstacles with numerous covenient (for birders, not birds!) rugged headlands and deeper inshore waters.
Click to expand...

I feel that seabirds seen from the shore are mostly weaker ones - majority of seabirds keep to the open sea even on windy days.

I meant also is that a pelagic boat can cover a tiny proportion of the ocean on its journey. There must be really a lot of birds, perhaps hundreds times more spread over the sea. And perhaps some very rare species.
 
Richard,

I understand that the observer of the Short-tailed Shearwater was an experienced seawatcher so would be very surprised if the bird was a White Chinned Petrel, I see this species often, alone and in the company of Sooty Shearwaters, they stand out like sore thumbs. If the observer had the mindset of shearwater sp and saw a White Chinned Petrel I doubt he would even consider Short-tailed Shearwater.

Picture below of White Chinned in the company of Sootys

Cheers

Alan
www.surfbirds.com/blog/falklandbirder



Richard Klim said:
Just a (probably stupid) thought.

If White-chinned Petrel can reach the N Atlantic, could it be an outside candidate for last week's report of Short-tailed Shearwater from Bridges of Ross? Normally extremely unlikely to be confused, but if the observer was understandably in the mindset of shearwater sp, and the bird was distant and alone (no direct size comparison)...

Richard
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Alan henry said:
I understand that the observer of the Short-tailed Shearwater was an experienced seawatcher so would be very surprised if the bird was a White Chinned Petrel, I see this species often, alone and in the company of Sooty Shearwaters, they stand out like sore thumbs. If the observer had the mindset of shearwater sp and saw a White Chinned Petrel I doubt he would even consider Short-tailed Shearwater.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm sure you're right, Alan - I was perhaps allowing enthusiasm to get in the way of reason! I've seen plenty of White-chinneds (and a few Westlands) off Chile - as you suggest, Procellaria petrels are rather distinctive.

Looking forward to a couple of days in your part of the world next Feb (weather permitting).

Richard
 
lewis20126 said:
Not sure about the deep inshore waters bit - compare the shelf drop off at Hatteras with that of Cornwall / Cork etc - I don't think our trips get close..off the cuff aftre 6 pints so need to check the maps...

a
Click to expand...

Don't the Hatteras pelgics go out right over the gulf stream too? Would that make any difference? A few friends have been on them and they said you can actually feel the air change when you are over the stream and the number of birds rockets.
 
One for the holding hands up list, the Tufted Puffin from Portland Bill may be mine (though I only ever said "possible").

It was 1997 I think, damn windy with a lot of auks passing the Bill west to east, me viewing straight into the afternoon sun. All the Guillemots and Razorbills could be seen to be dark above, white below, pointy heads, then this thing came past, my notebook said something like "a black loaf of bread with wings", but it was outside the tide race and the views were anything but conclusive. If it had been inside we'd have nailed it for sure....

John
 
Andrew Whitehouse said:
Magellanic Penguin turns up quite regularly in Brazil (even I've seen one there!). I think there are records of other penguins too. Would be nice to get one in this part of the world, although a bit of a shock I suppose.
Click to expand...


Four species of penguins figure on the Brazilian list, of which three are vagrants (those marked VA below):

Aptenodytes patagonicus Miller, 1778 pingüim-rei VA (S)
Spheniscus magellanicus (Forster, 1781) pingüim-de-magalhães VS
Eudyptes chrysolophus (Brandt, 1837) pingüim-de-testa-amarela VA (S)
Eudyptes chrysocome (Forster, 1781) pingüim-de-penacho-amarelo VA (S)

Magellanic Penguin is regular north to Rio de Janeiro but much commoner in the far south. There are few records of King Penguin, which has also been recorded north as far as Rio de Janeiro.
 
Richard Klim said:
Yes, I'm sure you're right, Alan - I was perhaps allowing enthusiasm to get in the way of reason! I've seen plenty of White-chinneds (and a few Westlands) off Chile - as you suggest, Procellaria petrels are rather distinctive.

Looking forward to a couple of days in your part of the world next Feb (weather permitting).

Richard
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, i was chatting to one of the finders last Monday and apparently one of the first things that was said at the time was a comment like, look at this, almost looks like a White Chinned Petrel!, half-jokingly before they realised that it really was something different. The ID as STS sounded pretty convincing to me. Very interesting to hear of the other possible sightings subsequently, would love to hear an account from the observers of those birds...
 
your sighting

hi
interested to see your sighting here as on 20/09/07 i had a sighting from portobello of what looked like a bridled /sooty tern moving west along the shore- but i was in the middle of sorting out some business with a heating engineer at portobello promenade and couldnt exactly charge off along the prom after it although i did get my binoculars on it for a few seconds - do you remember the date you saw your bird?

Birdspotter said:
M8 & I had what we think was a Sooty Tern south past Dunbar, Lothian around this time of year in 2007.
That is, it was thought to be this species but Bridled Tern could not be ruled out due to range.
We immediatly phoned a couple of mates south of us at Barns Ness who were doing a seawatch, they latched on to it but again it was too distant for positive ID.
3 yrs on and we are still hurting:-C:-C:-C
Click to expand...
 
Just had a look through some old BBRC reports and found these under the ‘not proven’ section ,ive only included the more interesting ones (ie not Little Shearwater)

Giant petrel Islay Strathclyde 6th june 1976

Sooty albatross Sandwich Bay Kent 2nd October 1976

Black browed albatross Burton on the Wolds Leicestershire 9th September 1977

Albatross sp Cley and Salthouse Norfolk 20th august 1978

Madeiran petrel Hilbre Merseyside 11th September 1978

Bulwer’s petrel Worthing Sussex 12th and 23rd may 1980

Albatross sp Cley Norfolk 21st September 1980

Madeiran petrel St Ives Cornwall 14th November 1982

Albatross sp Spurn East Yorkshire 13th October 1985

Magnificent frigatebird Exe Estuary devon 15th November 1985

Albatross sp St Marys Scilly 25th October 1986

Albatross sp Burniston North Yorkshire 2nd January 1987

Albatross sp Lundy Devon 14th September 1987

Bulwer’s petrel Seaforth Merseyside 19th September 1987

Albatross sp Loch Gruinart Strathclyde 11th april 1988

White faced petrel 2 Turnberry Point Strathclyde 4th September 1988

Sooty albatross Skomer Dyfed 24th march 1989

Albatross sp Budleigh Salterton Devon 12th july1989

Magnificent frigatebird Porthcurno Cornwall 26th august 1989

Bulwer’s petrel Spurn East Yorkshire 9th September 1989

Madeiran petrel Pendeen Cornwall 22nd September 1989
 
neighbourhoodwatcher said:
hi
interested to see your sighting here as on 20/09/07 i had a sighting from portobello of what looked like a bridled /sooty tern moving west along the shore- but i was in the middle of sorting out some business with a heating engineer at portobello promenade and couldnt exactly charge off along the prom after it although i did get my binoculars on it for a few seconds - do you remember the date you saw your bird?
Click to expand...

18 August 2007 see p5 of the 2007 Lothian Bird Report-oh and thanks for the reminder;)
 
I don't think anything has been published on-line but whilst tidying up one of my email addresses that I don't use too much I found an email from a friend on one of the Scottish Islands forwarding details of a claim of Sooty Albatross on 5th October 2010. Details taken from the original email from finder as follows (exact location and names removed):


> we were on Mull on an extremely windy but sunny day and after
> a few days of very stormy southerly winds. When at around mid day we were
> watching Gannets from the vehicle and a darker bird came into view a
little
> closer to shore than the Gannets. My initial thought was that this had to
be
> a young Gannet but that was immediately discounted as it came closer I knew that this was something completely new to me. I was
> immediately transfixed and knew I had to get some identification very
> quickly as it wheeled around and went off along the coastline.
>
> The bird seemed initially slightly smaller than the Gannets, slimmer all
> round and seemed very sinewy with slim long wings repeatedly flexing at
the
> elbow in a very pronounced way. It had a long body and pointed tail. The
> most striking feature was that it was completely chocolate brown all over
> and the only part of the bird that did not have brown on it was the tail
> which appeared to have very small streaks of white that were hardly
> discernable. It also unusually wheeled along the immediate shoreline more
> closely than the Gannets,
>
> The head was totally different from the Gannet or the other
> large shearwaters which I have seen. It was small but with a high forehead
> and down pointed bill at the tip which protruded from the lower part of
the
> face and not the center of the face as in the Gannet.
>
> I watched the bird for around two minutes and as my guests were slower out of the
> vehicle than I, they saw it for a shorter time but they have confirmed
that
> they think it is a Sooty Albatross
 
Rare Visitor said:
I don't think anything has been published on-line but whilst tidying up one of my email addresses that I don't use too much I found an email from a friend on one of the Scottish Islands forwarding details of a claim of Sooty Albatross on 5th October 2010. Details taken from the original email from finder as follows (exact location and names removed):


> we were on Mull on an extremely windy but sunny day and after
> a few days of very stormy southerly winds. When at around mid day we were
> watching Gannets from the vehicle and a darker bird came into view a
little
> closer to shore than the Gannets. My initial thought was that this had to
be
> a young Gannet but that was immediately discounted as it came closer I knew that this was something completely new to me. I was
> immediately transfixed and knew I had to get some identification very
> quickly as it wheeled around and went off along the coastline.
>
> The bird seemed initially slightly smaller than the Gannets, slimmer all
> round and seemed very sinewy with slim long wings repeatedly flexing at
the
> elbow in a very pronounced way. It had a long body and pointed tail. The
> most striking feature was that it was completely chocolate brown all over
> and the only part of the bird that did not have brown on it was the tail
> which appeared to have very small streaks of white that were hardly
> discernable. It also unusually wheeled along the immediate shoreline more
> closely than the Gannets,
>
> The head was totally different from the Gannet or the other
> large shearwaters which I have seen. It was small but with a high forehead
> and down pointed bill at the tip which protruded from the lower part of
the
> face and not the center of the face as in the Gannet.
>
> I watched the bird for around two minutes and as my guests were slower out of the
> vehicle than I, they saw it for a shorter time but they have confirmed
that
> they think it is a Sooty Albatross
Click to expand...


Smaller than a gannet?
 
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