Seawatching Fun

Good Seawatching so far this weekend. Took Friday off and was rewarded by

ADULT SABINES GULL

early on - picked up simultaneously by the two observatory residents!

Friday evening was a big disappointment with only a few Arctic Skuas migrating south in the Northerly wind and Manx Shearwaters coming past at 1 per hour!

Today was a little better - no increase in skuas or shearwaters but a small increase in Teal (91 N) and Common Scoters (68 N).

That is, until about 9.00am when for no apparent reason a Sooty Shearwater came North pretty much right in front of the obs!





Sooty Shearwater

Black Stork in County Durham

And today, a British tick in my home county!



thanks to who ever found it!

A week in British Columbia

A few good birds during a relaxing week in BC

Pine Siskin


Ruffed Grouse

... a tick!

Bald Eagle


and a mystery hummer

A visit to Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto - 28th July 2008

After attending a conference in Toronto, I had an afternoon trip to Tommy Thompson Park, a man-made spit sticking into Lake Ontario from the middle of Toronto.

View Larger Map


It is a brilliant place, with lagoons, lots of cover for passerine migrants and a huge colony of Double-crested Cormorants. The cormorants were magic, flying past almost constantly in large, dynamic flocks



lots of breeding Eastern Kingbirds giving good views



flocks of young hirundines:



and a few migrants, including this empidonax flycatcher that I'm still trying to identify:



What a fantastic place - I would love to bird here during the migration period.

Isn't Seawatching Brilliant!

What a brilliant seawatch today!

1 1st Summer Sabine's Gull - found by the Mr. Miyagi of Whitburn Obs!
2 adult Pomarine Skuas
1 Balearic Shearwater - flew through our field of view while watching the Sabine's !

and this:


... it's in the top left hand corner of the picture if you can't see it!





Wow - I actually managed to photograph a Minke Whale!

It was found by someone on their first visit to the obs this year!

The third image shows both its fin and tail as it is diving.

Here's a blow-up of the best picture:

Whitburn Obs - 0530 to 0830

A seawatch with the Whitburn Obs regulars this morning.


Whitburn Obs on a sunny day!

Despite the very strong sunlight in our faces, today's seawatch was excellent, the highlight being an adult Roseate Tern.




Also of interest was a small passage of Curlews: