Innholdsfortegnelse for Seabirds i Bird ID Photo Guides

Hone your birding identification skills with the Birdwatch and BirdGuides ID Photo Guide series. Written by expert birders, these comprehensive guides are illustrated with high-quality images to demonstrate the variation in plumages shown in birds at all ages and at all seasons, as well as helping you to separate similar species that can be tricky to tell apart while out birding. From common and familiar birds to rarities and even the most extreme of vagrants, this series of seasonal compilations will help you get the best from your birding throughout the year. www.pktmags.com/bid_cyc…

Basic Principles Two species of storm petrel breed around Britain and Ireland: European and Leach’s Storm Petrels. Some 70,000-250,000 pairs of European breed up the west coast from Scilly, along western Ireland to the Scottish islands. Leach’s breeds in small numbers on the Stags of Broadhaven off the west coast of Ireland, and on several of the Scottish islands. There are large colonies of European (150,000-400,000 pairs) with smaller numbers of Leach’s (10,000 pairs) in the Faroe Islands, and colonies of European (50,000-100,000 pairs) and Leach’s (80,000-150,000 pairs) in Iceland. Small colonies are found elsewhere in coastal Europe. Breeding activity mainly occurs in May-September, after which both species migrate south for the winter. At this time breeders from the Faroes and Iceland might pass through British and Irish waters. Leach’s…

Basic Principles Encounters with the three Stercorarius skuas are among the most eagerly anticipated features of a British autumn. However, many birds (particularly later in the autumn) will be juveniles and almost all views will be of birds at sea, often seen briefly or distantly. These are best identified by their ‘feel’ or ‘jizz’ – a combination of structure, flight action and feeding behaviour. This, however, requires considerable experience. Perhaps surprisingly, close birds can present problems, too. Structural and behavioural features can be harder to evaluate, and although plumage characters can now be seen, these are complex and highly variable, ranging from very pale and strongly contrasting to almost uniformly dark. Pomarine Skua Pomarine Skuas have an almost circumpolar distribution, but are absent from Greenland, Iceland and Scandinavia. Our nearest…

Basic Principles Grebes are an enchanting feature of our wetland environments, both freshwater and marine. Here we will focus on two sometimes confusing species pairs, the large Great Crested and Red-necked Grebes, and two ‘small grebes’: Black-necked and Slavonian. Great Crested Grebe This is Britain’s most familiar and much-loved grebe. It breeds throughout the Palearctic region, with outlier populations as far away as southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Great Crested Grebe is a common breeding bird on lakes, reservoirs, meres and gravel pits across much of Britain, but is most regular in the South and East. Here it delights with its famously attractive head plumes and exotic co-ordinated, almost penguin-like, dance display. The species winters both inland and on the coast, and there is also some exchange of birds…

Basic Principles Not long ago this trio was lumped together as one species. That is hard to understand when watching an ‘all-dark’ Balearic flying alongside a ‘bicoloured’ Manx or Yelkouan (dark upper side, white underside). However, replace that dark Balearic with a pale individual, the underside being whitish, and immediately ID becomes a lot harder. And replace the fresh, greyish-black upper side feathers of Manx with old, sun-bleached, browner ones, the colour being more like Balearic and Yelkouan, then it becomes harder again. Add distance, as with shore-based seawatching, and the challenge is one of the toughest of all for seabirders. That said, most birds can be identified with confidence given reasonable views and command of the knowledge set out below. Manx Shearwater The ubiquitous shearwater of our region, with…

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Basic Principles Great Northern Divers are impressive birds and any encounter with this species, either distantly on the sea or a more intimate view on an inland waterbody, is always a memorable experience. Its close relative White-billed Diver is, however, far rarer in Britain – finding one would make for a truly great day. Great Northern Diver Though a regular wintering bird in British waters, Great Northern Diver is mainly a Nearctic species, where it is known as Common Loon. It breeds in Svalbard and Iceland, but its main range stretches from Greenland to Alaska. Here it is mainly a Low Arctic bird, breeding on lakes in the taiga zone. Nevertheless it is a relatively common winterer in north-west Europe, mostly at sea, but it also turns up inland on…

Basic Principles A Cory’s or Great Shearwater would be a highlight of any seawatch in Britain, as both species are scarce and unpredictable in their occurrences in our waters. While close birds are easy enough to identify and enjoy, it is those distant views most likely on a British seawatch which cause problems and lead to many sightings being logged simply as ‘large shearwater sp’. Cory’s Shearwater This species breeds on the Azores, Madeira and Canaries, with a few on the Portuguese Berlengas Islands. The largest colony is on Selvagem Grande in the Madeira archipelago. It disperses from these breeding sites from late summer onwards and it is at this time that most British sightings occur, involving birds displaced north from the Bay of Biscay. Cory’s records here peak in…

Basic Principles The two common large auk species – Common Guillemot and Razorbill – are a familiar sight around our coasts, either as dense colony-nesters on rocky cliffs in the north and west or as whirring black-and-white shapes on a seawatch. Birds seen distantly out at sea are often relegated to ‘auk sp’. In reality, though, many large auks can be identified confidently as either Common Guillemot or Razorbill. Separation is not a simple two-way choice, however, and buried amid its commoner cousins, their very rare Arctic counterpart, Brünnich’s Guillemot, might be lurking. Common Guillemot This is the most regular auk around Britain. Arrival at the colonies takes place early in the year, and by this time birds are already in summer plumage, having moulted during the winter, sometimes as…