Going over to Nights, I would not normally be up well before dawn on a Sunday. I try to lie in [it's torture, really], shift my sleep pattern slowly.
But ex-Hurricane Oscar was coming, and there was the whiff of auks in the air. Teeny little ones. The combination of a tropical system and all the rough weather up North [which disrupts the movements of Arctic species heading to winter the North Atlantic and can send them round 'our' side of the BI] meant there were genuine prospects.
Also, I am trying to chase a Patch Year List, after all [and sometimes succeeding].
So, having not been down on Saturday due to reckoning it probably wouldn't be up to much [har de har] and so getting on with Things, I was there oh yes; early and even bright on Sunday.
It was blowing a nice stiff SSW and rather warm [14° in November?] wind when I arrived, though eventually the wind kicked to more SSE and the rain picked up, really it was a case of constant precipitation of some sort. Sideways drizzle with a few thicker bands, just the kind of conditions to play havoc with my finicky-verging-on-possessed autofocus. As we shall once again see, or rather not see.
BUGGER.
Ahem.
Yes, I'm still quite annoyed.
But it was a day and indeed a watch of - like the title says - surprise, joy, and frustration.
Where to begin? The inevitable shot of the Stones, I suppose.
Early on; some wind, some gunk..
Looks good, doesn't it?
Things started rapidly, with lots of Kittiwakes. I do mean a
lot, think 208 in the first ten minutes!
The Gannets were moving too, with auks - overwhelmingly Razorbills - also. Dotted here and there were other bits and pieces, so you had to pay attention. Yup, fun times :) This carried on, with diminishing passage, until the afternoon when the rain intensity went up and the birds almost completely stopped.
Numbers or pictures first?
:)
Itsa Gannet
[fuzzy due to drizzle]
Hitting Kittiwake flocks is hard
A Guillemot!
Outnumbered by about 30:1
Yup, my usual exemplary standards. Oh, wait, you need something reallllllly awful;
Dark but not black,
wing flashes,
big belly:
Itsa Bonxie!
I tracked that thing right past, it came in so close that I thought it might even come inside the Lead Stone to vex the inshore gulls! So, yes, the camera was out and... This is the only shot my camera would even vaguely focus for. Which is one better than any of the six divers which trolled by; all passed inside the Ore Stone, not one picture. Aaargh. :(
Instead, I shall show you the one good bird I got any kind of usable photo of. I picked it up through bins while it was chasing a poor innocent Kittiwake. As it was quite close I suffered another attack of optimism and tried a photo or six. My camera gave me this. I was not expecting what I saw, which serves me right for going for camera before scope. [Though if I had looked at it properly first, the chances of any picture at all would shrink to nigh zero, so... ::shrugs::]
Wait a minute...
You see a chesty dark morph skua with a long hand going after a Kittiwake at this time of year and you reasonably expect it's probably a Pom*. Oops.
Right. Numbers.
As I said, it started quite busy, and my clickers for Kitts, Gannets, and auks were busy.
Hourly totals!
K: 466/253/161/119/34/25 = 1038
G: 433/188/64/33/13/3 = 734
A: 149/34/14/44/10/4 = 255
You can really see the tailing-off there. Interestingly, while main passage died away, the 'good' birds were regularly studded throughout, with the last diver coming by after I'd packed away the scope to leave [juv. RTD, into the Bay, if you're interested]
But the headline; Yep, more than a thousand Kittiwakes. Not seen that many in a while. I only saw 8 Guillemots in all those Razorbills, but smaller auks were to be found through persistence; Puffin [1231], Little Auk [1132, + prob. at 0828], and another surprise - w/pl Tystie! This came in with a Razorbill and dropped on to the sea North of the Ore Stone at 1136 [and so will have spent maybe 45 mins sitting about before sneaking off southwards].
That Bonxie up there was followed by an actual Pom 50-odd minutes later [a dark morph, so perhaps my screw up with the photo-skua was slightly more understandable; Poms on the mind].
Divers; 3 RTD [ad., 2 juv., all into Bay], 1 BTD [S], 1 GND [straight towards the end of Berry Head], 1 large diver sp. {camera failure = no record} [into Bay at 0935]
Assorted 'Others'; 5 C Scoter, a Tufty [Patch yeartick!], 2 db Brent Geese [ditto], and 3 Knot [ditto again!].
Gulls; 26 Common, 23 BHG, 3 Med, 7 LBB.
Gulls, I say?
Heh heh
BHG
Common Gull
Geeb
Uuuurgh
Yuck
"Anything some poncy egret can do..."
Swell picked up a bit.
There was the odd bout of vehement swearing at my camera, quite a bit of peering through the gunk with bins, when visibility was too low to scan with the scope, a whole lot of clicking Kittiwakes [and wondering how many got past me when I could use the scope], and almost the whole time beasting out the weather, as the rain/wind mix meant the Big Bad Brolly was more hassle than use.
Proper seawatching.
:)
Be Seeing You...
[[*To expand and slightly translate; Pom, aka Pomarine Skua, has a longer, more pointed-seeming outer wing (the hand) than Arctic Skua - the default small skua in these parts - and is less agile. An Arctic Skua would be right behind a Kittiwake, seemingly attached to its tail thanks to fabulous skill and reflexes, wearing its victim down, while a Pom would use more brute force; charging in and going for the bird in a 'cough up or I'll eat you as well' manner.
Pomarine is markedly larger-looking than a Kittiwake, and Arctic, seen against a pale background, though the same size as a Kittiwake, would still appear slightly larger, due to the optical illusion of light bird vs dark bird.
So, the skua here, seen chasing a Kittiwake and clearly looking markedly smaller than it, is not Pomarine. "So it's Arctic", right? But.. While you could say that it's a small Arctic - and size variation does occur - there are a couple of other things you can see.
The fact its hand shows white (feather) shaft streaks on the outermost two primaries only and its overall colour seems a quite cold-looking dark grey, with a contrast between upperwing coverts and flight feathers, are indications it is the 'other' small skua, a Long-tailed.
"Come on, LTS is a scarce bird, especially in November" is a very valid point, but look how dinky it is, and remember my first impression was Pom - the two are quite similar in structure as juveniles.
So... At the end of this very long addition, all you can do is look at what you can see and
apply prejudice make your own mind up call it 'Small skua sp.'! ;) ]]
[[Final note for larophiles; You should of course know this ;) , but just in case..
'Uuurgh' and 'Yuck' are of course Herring Gulls, but doing impressions of others: 2w American and 2w Caspian, respectively. Of especially topical note, compare 'Yuck' with the 2w Caspo that's been photo'd on the Exe this week by the mighty MK {google exmouth birding}]]
