Razorbill or Manx Shearwater (North Sea, March 3th, 2023) (1 Viewer)

[Frank-birding]

When bird watching from the Newcastle - IJmuiden (Netherlands) ferry, late in the day (18:20 hrs) on March 3 this year, I saw and photographed a Razorbill or Manx Shearwater. It was very far off and already very dark. Location was not far out from Newcastle (perhaps sailing for an hour). Seas were relatively calm with little wind.

Through my binos I thought Manx Shearwater, later after seeing the images I took I thought Razorbill. Now I'm processing the images and I'm not sure.

is it possible to ID this seabird from my tiny, vague and dark images? (I duplicated and enlarged 5 of the images for better viewing. I added these as the last 5, might hurt the eyes less to only watch those last 5...)

Frank

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Frank,

your pictures are a good example, that a large series of pictures can somewhat equalize poor picture quality. Tfs!

Taking all pictures together, I think I can make out

• a bulbous head , that is nearly unproportional to the rear end
• trailing feet at the sides of the rear body???
• the right whitish flank part for a Razorbill/(Guillemot)???
• from your series I get the impression of an direct flying bird that doesnt change its position (with slightly upright head), therefore better for a Razorbill/(Guillemot)
• I get a a Razorbill/(Guillemot) impression from the thumbnails and not a Diver/Loon or Shearwater vibe, please compare: Razorbill Alca torda – Birds in Flight – ID guide (Thanks Roland again!)

Huge caveat: when you got a Shearwater impression in the field, this is much better than bad pictures (even a series of it).

I hope for more pictures (yes, no offence you know) and more comments. Thanks!

 

[pbjosh]

Definitely some sort of auk and not a Shearwater. Not sure what your options are there so I’ll punt on being more specific

 

[Frank-birding]

Thank you Alexander and pbjosh, it's clear then that it's an Alcid (probably Razorbill). As there were many Razorbills during the journey, that's also the most likely.

Regarding the caveat. I'm ready to discount my first impression. I'm not an experience seabird observer at all and there was little wind. Meaning that the bird flew in a direct line low over the water, not displaying the gliding flight associated with Shearwaters.

I'm very glad to know for sure (and the Manx Shearwater has to wait for another trip ).

Regards, Frank

 

[Butty]

Much more like a big auk than a shearwater. Difficult to say why exactly, but presumably because of the relatively big body and especially the long rear body. As you suggest, the flight should have been very different from a shearwater's. There's no reason why, from these photos, it should be a razorbill rather than the (usually far more common) guillemot.

 

[Frank-birding]

Hi Butty, thank you, yes I 'wrote it down' als Auk (Guillemot or Razorbill). The images are just not clear enough.

As an aside: For some reason, when visiting Scotland and twice crossing the North Sea (from and back to the Netherlands) during the last couple of days in February and the first few of March, there were many Razorbills to be seen (most in groups flying at sea) and few Guillemots. (I looked it up, in fact I didn't see any Guillemots at all, apart from 3 Black Guillemots, 1 in the east and 2 near the Scottish west coast). I'm used to the opposite along the Dutch coast (Guillemot much more common). And I now understand that the same was to be expected along the British east coast as well.

 

[THE_FERN]

It's a Razorbill for me: shape, colour (black not brown)

 

[Hotspur]

Razorbill