Is something I've done both today and yesterday. I like them. They're incredibly confiding, which helps, but they're also so fascinatingly bright. No dull grey uniformity for these little ones, oh no.
Apologies for the lateness, by the way, but I became distracted by some people in blue and white...
:)
Right then...
It's funny how things work out; I ended up spending yesterday at Dawlish Warren, mostly in the very pleasant company of two extremely able birders who shall of course remain nameless. As well as plenty of fascinating chit chat, there was counting Common Terns and then looking for them, plus the Case of the Invisible Turnstone to deal with. How do you see an invisible Turnstone? Look somewhere completely different... ;) It was fun. :)
The birds around were nice but not spectacular - none of the Roseates I was hoping for, let alone a KP [they're a myth, a myth, I tell you!]. There was an amazingly pale juv. Ringo to look at, and the Bight waders kept me busy as they moved in, out, and indeed sometimes did shake it all about.. [Sorry]
Ok, I've just re-read that and I feel I ought to
Thing is, I was due to work today, but it was cancelled so instead I went and spent six hours staring at the sea off Hope's Nose. If you've already seen Devon Bird News you can probably take a guess at what's coming.... :D
The weather was interesting, to say the least. A brisk to strong SSW, wandering SW and easing a bit, with blazing sunshine interrupted by some very sharp showers. In other words, not unlike a toned down version of the weather on the Day of the Big Shears at Porthgwarra.
I wasn't expecting much, to be honest, with it getting very sunny as I dragged up at Going To Work time. But there'd been a Great Shear past Exmouth the day before, so I thought to myself, 'Well, you won't see anything in bed [though I do have audiomig ticks from there! ;) ] and what else is there to do?' Self then replied 'SLEEEP!' but was voted down. A sharp shower on the way gave me a bit more hope, and my first scan confirmed that it had been a Good Idea - two Balearics!
Though passage waxed and waned, it kept going, with birds coming in pulses as they maneuvered to avoid the showers. It was also very notably one way traffic, the only recorded birds going north were 4 Scoters, 3 Fulmar, and 2 Manxies! Having seen how the other sites did, my results make for interesting reading;
0750-1400. All birds south.
Cory's Shearwater 1 [at 0814, in the main Manx line]
Great Shearwater 1 [at 0923, in the 'why is it so far out!' line]
Sooty Shearwater 1
Balearic Shearwater 9
Manx Shearwater 1043 [with hourly totals of 56, 157, 389, 96, 249, 96]
Great Skua 1
Pomarine Skua 4 [including 2 4cy - dark and light - together, also a superbly spooned dark morph]
Arctic Skua 4
Arctic Tern 1 [nice and close at 1351]
Common Tern 4
Commic Tern 3 [probably Common]
Roseate Tern 2 [together at 0946, one a still-streamered adult which also dived beautifully!]
Gannet 250
Kittiwake 172 [about 40 juveniles!]
Fulmar 36
Common Scoter 7
Razorbill 3
Turnstone 1
Spotted Redshank 1 [called as it flew over!]
+ Ringed Plover 1 [downed by very heavy shower and wandered about on the rocks in front of me - a distance of 30-40 feet - for about 10 minutes {drying out!} before moving on]
Yellow-legged Gull 2 [both juveniles, one passed south, another came and sat on the rocks the Ringo had vacated for more than an hour.]
Chuffed would be an understatement! Roseys on my patch!! Wooohooo!!!!!!!!!!!! And what a bird that adult was [I think the other was a juv., but I admit my attention was elsewhere and then they were in the sun]. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched it come, with those massive streamers, then it just angles down 45° and flies into the sea! Oh, what a beauty....
The Spotshank is also a Patch Tick - that call had me scanning frantically before I realised it had gone over the top! And the Yellow-leg just plonked down with a few Herrings and Geebs, had a preen and crashed out. It only went because a couple of fishermen flushed it, and then only when they got to about 10 feet from it! If I'd had a camera with me even I could have nailed it. Ah well.
The hourly Manx totals are interesting, aren't they? They give an idea of how variable things were, with it very dependent on how the showers went by. I took hourly figures for Gannets and Kitts also; the Gannets built up before dropping off, the Kitts started the most numerous, dropped a touch, then stayed consistent, then dropped drastically. Also interestingly, aside from 2 of the Balearics, all the 'good' stuff went by outside the two big Manx hours.
Oh yeah, big shears... Also the other fancy shears and indeed the skuas and terns. The latter two's differences I reckon are due to the Torbay Effect - likewise the Kitt numbers and proportions. But how did Berry and I miss each other's birds [unless they were doing loops, which is of course possible]? Aside from me not being there at 0630 [the shame..], the answer's simple - the showers. They were very compact and sharp, so the birds went around them; onshore side and you see them, offshore and you don't. Also, the light was atrocious when the sun was out; the sea was at just the wrong height to reflect the sunshine in a way that made the Manxies look dusky underneath and the wind was weak enough to make them fly in a quite Balearic-like manner. Also we had the 'four ranges at once' routine going and none of them were hanging about, I can tell you. So I doubtless misidentified a few - I was being very cautious. As I was told when I started seawatching; "If in doubt, it's a Manxie."
I think this one deserves a title: 'The Day of the Roseys'!
You read the blog of a very happy birder.
:)
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