ML283433061

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

First seen stepping off the ferry around 10:50 - spotted an auklet swimming in the harbour on the other side of the pier only about 100 meters out - it dived and disappeared. I immediately left the crowd of people coming off the ferry and went to look for it to reappear. Coming up very briefly, I clearly saw it was a murrelet with a tiny bill, before it dived again. Then a boat appeared and blocked my view. It reappeared for a very short time and it looked distinctly like Ancient. I had a feeling it was diving behind the just arrived ferry and couldn't obtain any views for the boats and hoardes of people on the pier. I reported it as a murrelet in the harbor, in case other birders had just stepped off the ferry. My son had walked ahead with my camera in his bag and I frantically tried to bring him back. When he got back 5 minutes later, right at the same time it appeared again, this time extremely close to the pier, diving and fishing right in front of us and we could safely identify it as ancient. Later, it was scared away somewhat by more appearing boats, but was seen on and off from the pier, the paths, the beach - albeit at a distance - right up to 1345 when we boarded the return boat. As more birders arrived on the ferry from Stanley at 1355 it was gone, but reappeared apparently around 1530, just in time before last ferry back for all these visiting birders.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens

EF300mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III

ISO

800

Focal length

420 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

2048 pixels x 1365 pixels

Original file size

1.05 MB