ML365821911

Age

Not specified

Sex

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Observation details

Extremely rare inland. Pelagic bird with black cap, white collar/nape, thin hooked bill, narrow white U-shaped band on tail, and belly smudge. First Alachua County record for this species and apparently only the 2nd Great Shearwater seen alive in inland Florida following a sighting in 2019 south of Lake Okeechobee. Thanks to Adam Kent for quickly identifying this bird as a Great Shearwater after I posted photos and video of it in the Alachua County Rare bird alert group with an initial message of "Some kind of Shearwater or Petrel is at Hague Dairy!!!!" I had never seen a pelagic bird (besides Sooty Terns) before today so I didn't even know what to look for or what to key in on. I first saw this bird at about 2:40PM when Debbie Segal and I were scanning/scoping flocks of peeps in The Lagoon at Hague Dairy and several peeps took flight. I assumed a Cooper's Hawk or some other predator was flying nearby, causing the peeps to get spooked, so I looked around and then behind us, in the opposite direction of where we were observing the peeps in the lagoon. I then saw this bird flying (stiff wingbeats followed by short glides) at quite low altitude. It flew over Debbie and I saw the black cap and thin hooked bill rather closely and I said something to the effect of "I think that was a petrel or something?!" It came in from the SSE (which is the same direction to which it ultimately disappeared over the horizon 5 minutes later). If then flew slightly to the north of us, along the East edge of the lagoon, and then circled back shortly thereafter. When it started flying toward us again, I began digiscope video-recording it with my binoculars (8x42s) and iPhone. It once again flew low before conducting several broad circles around Hague Dairy at higher altitude. I attempted to get footage through the spotting scope but I failed to do so because it was moving too fast. It disappeared over the horizon at 2:45 PM and we did not see it again. At that point, I posted alerts in the local (Alachua County) Rare Bird Alert groups and called Rex to relay the sighting. Debbie and I were able to observe it through scope and binoculars for a period of about 5 minutes overall. [Photos attached]

Technical information

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