The Deskbound Birder: Arctic Skua

Showing posts with label Arctic Skua. Show all posts

Monday, 9 October 2017

Portland - 7th October

I spent the day at Portland in a strong west wind with frequent blustery showers and thick overcast. I didn't expect to see much but I had the day 'scheduled' and so wanted to continue with my plans. I parked in the main carpark and wandered northwards through the Chalet Fields, along the East Cliff, up to Culverwell, over the Top Fields and down the West Cliffs to the observatory. It was pretty tough going and I saw few birds. The only bird of any note was a Hawfinch which flew overhead in the Top Fields and landed in a Sycamore before flying high towards Culverwell.

I then headed to the Church Opi car park and wandered through the Sycamores at Pennsylvania Castle and although sheltered here there was little to be seen. So I decided to retreat, I stopped at Ferrybridge for an hour or so where there were 780 Dark-bellied Brent and a single Pale-bellied Brent plus 75 Ringed Plover, four Mediterranean Gull and two Bar-tailed Godwit. As I wandered back to the car with Dave Foot a fantastic adult pale phase Arctic Skua flew west through the harbour and over the Chesil Bank.

Arctic Skua - Ferrybridge

Part of the flock of 780 Dark-bellied Brent Goose - Ferrybridge

Days Totals for Portland Bill Area
Swallow - 22 west
Goldcrest - 4 (plus 5 Pennsylvania)
Chiffchaff - 3(plus 2 Pennsylvania)
Blackcap - 6
Stonechat - 2
Wheatear - 3
Hawfinch - 1

Sunday, 30 April 2017

Hurst Seawatch - 30th April

A Force 5 to 6 south-east wind on 30th April over the bank holiday weekend and I was up at 05:00 and heading with great anticipation to the seawatch point at Cut Bridge at the base of Hurst Spit. On arrival Simon Boswell was already entrenched and as I walked along the shingle Whimbrel passed by offshore and three Little Gull were overhead. Over the next 5.5 hours the seawatching was pretty exceptional by Hampshire standards with good numbers of birds and some fantastic views. At Hurst east moving birds fly into Christchurch Bay and pass parallel with Hurst Spit to the mouth of the Solent - in a strong east to south-easterly such as today these birds are pushed closer to shore meaning that views can be very good, some birds even passing overhead. The highlights of the morning were the strong Little Tern passage, Black Tern, a good diversity of wader and excellent numbers of Arctic Skua. Birds of the morning were undoubtedly the Pomarine Skua, the first bird settled on the sea briefly before crossing the spit and heading high up the Solent passing over the village of Keyhaven. The second sighting was of a flock of seven birds on the water which drifted east to the mouth of the Solent before lifting up and heading back west to land once more only to be drifted back to the mouth of the Solent with the tide - when I left these birds were still present. I left at 12:15 and thanks to Simon Boswell for providing the following totals from 06:30 to 14:30 most of which passed during the time I was present:

Brent Goose - 11
Eider - 10 offshore
Velvet Scoter - 4 possibly more with below
Common Scoter - Many offshore but with no visible migration, c.400-500
Shelduck - 1
Shoveler - 2
Teal - 3
Red-throated Diver - 3
Grey Plover - 20
Ringed Plover - 12
Whimbrel - 86
Bar-tailed Godwit - 32
Sanderling - 38
Little Gull - 12
Common Gull - 3
Little Tern - 87
Black Tern - 6
Commic Tern - 386
Sandwich Tern - 103
Arctic Skua - 26 (13LP+13DP) (LP- 05:42, LP - 06:02, DP - 06:45, DP+LP 07:20, DP 07:31, DP 07:45, DP+LP 07:52, 1LP+4DP 07:55, 4LP+2DP 08:00, LP+DP 08:22, 2LP 09:29, LP 12:30, DP 12:46)
Pomarine Skua - 8 (LP 07:20, 2DP+5LP 11:55)
Great Skua - 1 (11:08)

Whimbrel

Whimbrel (2) and Bar-tailed Godwit (6)

Arctic Skua - Intermediate

Arctic Skua - Intermediate (same bird as above)

Arctic Skua - Light and dark phase

Arctic Skua - Dark phase

Arctic Skua - Dark phase (same as above)

Arctic Skua - 2 dark phase and 4 light phase. The third bird from the left is particularly pale with a very white collar.

Arctic Skua - 2 dark phase and 3 light phase. The third bird from the left is particularly pale with a very white collar (same birds as above)

Arctic Skua - 1 dark phase and 3 light phase. The upper bird is particularly pale with a very white collar (same birds as above)

Pomarine Skua (light phase) with the Needles in the background

Pomarine Skua (light phase) - Same bird as above

Pomarine Skua (5 light phase and 2 dark phase)

Common Tern and Black tern

Black Tern

Black Tern over the base of Hurst Spit

Little Gull - 1st summer

Little Gull - 1st summer (same bird as above)

Little Gull (adult summer)

Little Gull (adult summer) - same bird as above

Brent Goose

Weather conditions on 30th May at 06:00 showing south to south-east airflow from Biscay with an east moving front which arrived at Hurst at around 11:00 and which birds moved ahead of

The totals for other seawatching sites along the south coast make for some interesting reading (although consideration needs to be given that these sites were watched for different periods of time through the day). The totals below, for selected species, were all taken from available sources on the internet and show some interesting patterns. The totals are shown with sites positioned from the most westerly to the left and the most easterly to the right of the table.

Firstly, St. Catherine's Point was disappointing with low numbers of most species with the exception of Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit, it would appear likely that the wind was of such strength/direction (Force 5-6, south-east) that birds were forced closer to shore and hence passed along the Solent rather than around the Isle of Wight. As is typical, numbers of birds built as one progresses eastwards with Dungeness scoring most heavily on most species with the exception of Whimbrel, Little Tern and Sandwich Tern. Commic Tern patterns are interesting, why are the totals higher for Portland than for Hurst, where did the missing 500 odd birds go to, they certainly have not gone around the Isle of Wight (unless they were too far out to see from land), numbers then are high for Selsey after seemingly having bypassed Hurst - are they moving high up the Solent and thus unrecorded at Hurst? Numbers of Little Tern passing Hurst and Selsey are consistent but then there is a drop-off in numbers at Dungeness, are these birds passing further out to sea by the time they reach Dungeness or is the drop-off due to birds have stopped over en-route? Pomarine Skua numbers are dramatically higher at Dungeness than any other point along the coast, this is presumably due to the build up in numbers as birds cross the Channel in a broad front in a north-east direction before coasting eastwards. The 30th April was the fourth best ever day total for Pomarine Skua at Dungeness but this was certainly not the case for the rest of the south coast but I was very pleased with the eight I had seen at Hurst - one of my favourite species.

Friday, 10 June 2016

Alaska - 10th June (Day 14)

Today was our last morning at Nome and so in desperation to see Emperor Goose we did a seawatch from 06:00 until 09:00 in the hope that one would fly by but it was not to be. We settled at Point Nome, now a gravel quarry with rock revetment seawalls and a rather unappealing location especially considering the beauty of the Nome area in general. Still, it was a fairly entertaining seawatch with Tufted Puffin (3), Black Guillemot (2), White-winged Scoter (15), White-billed Diver (1), Vega Gull (2) and Common Porpoise (2), amongst others. But I wished we had spent our time scanning Safety Sound and enjoying the many birds present here instead. On our return to Nome we called into Hastings Creek and Nome River Mouth adding Caspian Tern to our trip list and a vagrant Eastern Phoebe to our list, the latter gets the vote for dullest bird of the trip!!

Pacific Diver - Point Nome, Nome

Vega Gull (1st summer) - Point Nome, Nome

Vega Gull (1st winter) - Point Nome, Nome

Glaucous Gull (adult) - Point Nome, Nome

Glaucous Gull (2nd winter moulting to adult) - Point Nome, Nome

Arctic Ground Squirrel - Point Nome, Nome

Long-tailed Skua - Hastings Creek, Council Road, Nome

Eastern Phoebe - Hastings Creek, Council Road, Nome

Caspian Tern - Nome River Mouth, Council Road, Nome

Nome was and is a gold mining town

Nome sign

Our only sighting of our nemesis the Emperor Goose at Anchorage Airport

Back at the hotel we packed our bags and flew back to Anchorage (12:05-13:30), had a 3.45 hour stop over in the airport and then flew onto Barrow (17:15-19:05). After collecting our bags we headed to the car hire and picked up our 10 seater 4x4 van from UIC car hire. After a Korean meal at the Northern Lights Restaurant we spent the afternoon birding the Gas Pipe Road from 17:00 until 02:00 enjoying the 24 hour daylight hours. The tundra was flat and scattered with pools and ponds, some shallow which could be transversed in willies, other a little deeper. Snow still lay in deeper pockets despite the beautiful blue skies and warm conditions and the sea was still frozen with thick pack-ice that had rifted into a myriad jagged peaks. The birding was fantastic with breeding waders abundant on the tundra. Red Phalarope were very tame and we marvelled at their striking plumage, a far cry from their British name of Grey Phalarope in their red-garb with white face masks and golden streaked mantles. These birds occurred on most of the small pools and puddles that dotted the tundra and were very approachable. Red-necked Phalarope were equally as abundant frequently occupying the same pools as their larger cousins. Pectoral Sandpiper performed their amazing displays with extended chests inflated into dangling sacs exaggerating their pectoral streaks and producing a resonant booming during the low level display flights. Skuas over the tundra included Long-tailed Skua, Arctic Skua and a pair of Pomarine Skua. Other species here included American Golden Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pacific Diver, Red-throated Diver, Tundra Swan, Long-tailed Duck and Greater White-fronted Goose. However, it was the eider that stole the show, King Eider males were stunning but the Spectacled Eider were mind-blowing when we first set eyes upon them decked out in their black and white plumage with green caps, large white eyepatches circled by black spectacles and burning orange bills. The nostril of the bill shrouded in a bulbous feathered mound of green and white. These are almost mystical birds in any birders books, we felt very privileged to be able to see them and drank in every detail. Back at the Airport Inn at 02:30 we went to bed with the sun still shining and having pretty much forgotten our Emperor Goose dip of the early part of the day – well almost!