Skuas sp in Yorkshire (1 Viewer)

[Alexjh1]

I'd gone up to Bridlington this weekend to do the RSPB skua cruise, which sadly got cancelled due to the weather, however, I did see a ton of skuas nonetheless. However, as the whole reason for the trip was I've only ever seen a grand total of 5 arctic, and none of the others, and most skuas are a challenging bunch, thought checking my work was prudent, as it involves up to 3 species I've never seen before. I saw -a lot- but tried to keep this fairly condensed to ones with lifer potential, or just looked kinda interesting.

Any help would be much appreciated!

1: Port Mulgrave: The sole light phase adult I saw at all. Maybe Pomarine due to the belly?


2. Port Mulgrave - pretty sure that has to be Great?


3. Bridlington Harbour - long-tailed?

.4. Bridlington harbour - interesting looking black and white bird

5. Bridlington Harbour - big thuggy looking bird?

6. Bridlington Harbour - arctic?

7. Bridlington Harbour - long-tailed?

8. Bridlington Harbour - is that a double wing flash?

9. Hornsea - an odd dark phase bird with a white head? Arctic?


Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,

interesting birds! Tfs!

No offence: when I read your comment right, than you are aware that 9 different birds in one thread makes commenting difficult. I havent enough experience to give confident comments

nr. 4 seems like an Arctic Skua to me. Please note the right impression of a triangular head and the bill exactly in the center. Skuas with that head impression where all Arctic Skuas in the past (or I had to leave them unidentified)

nr. 3 and 6 (and nr. 7 too?) seems like a Long tailed Skua to me (they are dark, slender bulit birds with a contrasting barring. But this is mainly knowledge from literature (ID guides and KMOs book)

But yes: like you I hope for more omments, that will surely turn this thread into an interesting and and referece one.

 

[Alexjh1]

Hello,

interesting birds! Tfs!

No offence: when I read your comment right, than you are aware that 9 different birds in one thread makes commenting difficult. I havent enough experience to give confident comments

nr. 4 seems like an Arctic Skua to me. Please note the right impression of a triangular head and the bill exactly in the center. Skuas with that head impression where all Arctic Skuas in the past (or I had to leave them unidentified)

nr. 3 and 6 (and nr. 7 too?) seems like a Long tailed Skua to me (they are dark, slender bulit birds with a contrasting barring. But this is mainly knowledge from literature (ID guides and KMOs book)

But yes: like you I hope for more omments, that will surely turn this thread into an interesting and and referece one.

I do apologise for the big list - it's very easy to get a bit over enthusiastic when you've just been bombarded with sightings of a family that have been methodically avoiding you for whole birding career 😅

 

[Hotspur]

With the caveat that I think Skuas are an underrated challenge I think you have the following:
1. Skua sp. but probably Pom on wing base width and build but can't rule out Arctic
2. Skua sp. Probably adult dark morph pom. Tail is too long for Bonxie but the photo is poor.
3. Juvenile Long-tailed skua. Long back end and light structure. Gingery tones due to lighting
4. Juvenile Arctic skua dark morph.
5. Juvenile Arctic skua
6. Intermediate juvenile Long-tailed skua I think due to light build but head shape is a bit intermediate.
7. Long-tailed Skua juv dark morph. White restricted to outer two primaries, short, stout bill and rounded head shape.
8. Skua sp. Not sure on this. Looks like a lump but photo not clear enough.
9. Long-tailed Skua light morph juv. Classic pale headed job.

Some nice birds there and just off my patch at Barmston!

 

[Alexjh1]

With the caveat that I think Skuas are an underrated challenge I think you have the following:
1. Skua sp. but probably Pom on wing base width and build but can't rule out Arctic
2. Skua sp. Probably adult dark morph pom. Tail is too long for Bonxie but the photo is poor.

Ohh thank you that's great!

If it helps a little, do have some additional pics of birds 1 and 2, but they were -very- distant at the time

 

[Hotspur]

Size relative to Kits suggests Pom and jizz is pro-pom. Were these at Port Mulgrave yesterday late morning onwards?

 

[Alexjh1]

Size relative to Kits suggests Pom and jizz is pro-pom. Were these at Port Mulgrave yesterday late morning onwards?

On Friday evening?

 

[Hotspur]

On Friday evening?

Two poms were tracked up the coast yesterday, that's all

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello again Alex,

rethinking my earlier comment again, I realized that my remark on the multi picture post was wrong in your case. Sorry!

Yes, a post with many different birds makes commenting hard ( with BF sometimes changes the sequence - anyone knows the reason for this?)

But then my own observations of Skuas came into my mind again. With no one helps me by confirming or correcting my ID or gives helpful advice, yes rarely with others that helped me.

So times have changed and you made everything right with documenting these difficult to identify group, so you can get a confident ID later. And I and surely others can benefit too. Thanks James!

 

[Brett Richards]

Pic 5 is a juv Great Skua
Brett

 

[Hotspur]

Yup, it is. Oops.

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Unless the pictures have jumbled round a bit, which I think is a bit of a thing on BF, picture 5 looks like an Arctic skua to me. There are pale primary tips, and hints of barring on the undertail coverts and flanks, which are both better for Arctic. The head looks streaky (although admittedly it’s hard to be sure) and the bill doesn’t really look hefty enough for a great skua to me.

 

[Mark Lew1s]

For the rest of them;

Well, first up, skuas are hard, so I think you’re right to be very cautious. It’s probably worth maintaining that approach with skuas as they don’t get much easier! Over the last day or two there have been Arctics mid-identified as long-tails, and long-tails misidentified as Arctic on twitter by some very experienced birders.

So - bird 1. Either pom or Arctic. We can speculate but I don’t think it’s a good idea to ID this one.

Bird 2. Looks Pom-like but assessing jizz from a photo of an active bird can be misleading.

Bird 3. Lovely juv LTS. Short bill, round head, cold tones, white in primaries limited to shafts of outer two feathers, no pale tips to primaries.

Bird 4. Dunno! Not a great skua, but that’s all that d be prepared to say!

Bird 5. See post above.

Bird 6. LTS. Long dear end with rounded looking tips to central tail feathers, small, rounded head, big eye, short bill, classic LTS pattern on the underside of the primaries - I.e the wee notch in the white bit.

Bird 7. Small bill, round head and white limited to shafts in outer primaries all suggest LTS.

Bird 8. Small skua spp - most likely arctic

Bird 9. Not sure. Some features suggest LTS, and it could well be one, but I’ve been caught out by light headed Arctic before.

 

[Alexjh1]

For the rest of them;

Well, first up, skuas are hard, so I think you’re right to be very cautious. It’s probably worth maintaining that approach with skuas as they don’t get much easier! Over the last day or two there have been Arctics mid-identified as long-tails, and long-tails misidentified as Arctic on twitter by some very experienced birders.

So - bird 1. Either pom or Arctic. We can speculate but I don’t think it’s a good idea to ID this one.

Bird 2. Looks Pom-like but assessing jizz from a photo of an active bird can be misleading.

Bird 3. Lovely juv LTS. Short bill, round head, cold tones, white in primaries limited to shafts of outer two feathers, no pale tips to primaries.

Bird 4. Dunno! Not a great skua, but that’s all that d be prepared to say!

Bird 5. See post above.

Bird 6. LTS. Long dear end with rounded looking tips to central tail feathers, small, rounded head, big eye, short bill, classic LTS pattern on the underside of the primaries - I.e the wee notch in the white bit.

Bird 7. Small bill, round head and white limited to shafts in outer primaries all suggest LTS.

Bird 8. Small skua spp - most likely arctic

Bird 9. Not sure. Some features suggest LTS, and it could well be one, but I’ve been caught out by light headed Arctic before.

Thanks - that's a huge help and I think I'm getting slightly the hang of at least separating out LTS at this point.

Re 1. and 2. - was that call including looking at the extra pics I added further down?

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Yeah - forget them! There’s not enough in the pics to ID them really

 

[Alexjh1]

Going back through all the birds I saw, and I think I've got the hang of pinning them to Arctic or Long-tailed at this point for the most part, but just to throw a few more in the ring:

Bird 10


Bird 11


Bird 12 + 13 - Long-taileds?

Birds 14-15 - Arctic?


16

 

[Brett Richards]

Unless the pictures have jumbled round a bit, which I think is a bit of a thing on BF, picture 5 looks like an Arctic skua to me. There are pale primary tips, and hints of barring on the undertail coverts and flanks, which are both better for Arctic. The head looks streaky (although admittedly it’s hard to be sure) and the bill doesn’t really look hefty enough for a great skua to me.

See what you mean about the barring, but the pale primary tips are pretty inconspicuous, and the bill looks heavier than an Arctic's to me. How about a Pomarine?
Brett

 

[Mark Lew1s]

See what you mean about the barring, but the pale primary tips are pretty inconspicuous, and the bill looks heavier than an Arctic's to me. How about a Pomarine?
Brett

Yes, could be. It’s a hefty bird and the bill does feel heavy in the pic and has a lot of pale at the base. But the pale primary tips are there, the gingery hind neck is very pro Arctic, and it lacks any dark at the base of the bill, and has a suggestion of a pale spot at the bill base, as in Arctic.