ML612409918

Age

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Sex

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Observation details

This identification is now considered to be a Sooty Shearwater, based on post video rendering and cropping of what was a very small image. Whilst the stills clearly pointed to a pale morph Trindade type, and the original identification was quite rightly based on the stills below, the video shows the flight style to be more like a typical Sooty Shearwater. Originally thought to be a Trindade Petrel, Intermediate/pale morph seen at 10:05 on Saturday morning, moving west. The stills pics show an exceptionally pale Sooty shearwater with pale brown underparts contrasting strongly with a dark hood. The hood was visible all of the time. I have personally never seen a Sooty with such a strong hood as this. The underwing shows strong white wing flashes in the primaries, unlike a normal Sooty. The upper wing also shows dark primaries contrasting with pale brown coverts and an obvious paler covert patch. To my eye in field conditions, I thought the tail looked longer, body slim and wings long and rakish, with an obvious bend at the carpal. We are now sure this was a very pale Sooty, further highlighted by good visibility in strong light. Thanks to all birders who helped with the original id and subsequent video analysis. Found by myself and Peter Clement. Sadly no other birders were present, despite the perfect weather conditions. Pictures below taken from a short video at the time. Note: Trindade Petrel is still not on the British List. The First record was seen off Porthgwarra in July 2018 and has been accepted by BB but still awaits final approval from the BOURC. The weather maps below show the weather build up to the Saturday. The storm originates from West Africa. “”Further appraisal from myself: I originally found this bird and I honestly could not name it at the time. I then alerted PC. Anyone seeing this in the field would have been stumped. Of the hundreds of Sooty’s (and other shears) seen at Pendeen, I’ve not seen one as pale. The hood was dark and contrasted strongly with the very pale brown body. The dark primaries contrasted with pale brown coverts. The underwing showed a large amount of white in the primaries. An even paler secondary patch was constantly on view. IMO the tail looked longish, body slim and wings quite rakish. We did consider a moulting bird. The following day I considered this bird to be a Trindade. There was definitely some confusion and uncertainty at the time of the sighting which were followed by encouraging comments from those who knew Trindade petrels, based only on small low grade stills. No one can be blamed for arriving at the initial id. or subsequent comments. It was only after the video was improved that it became clearer that Sooty couldn’t be eliminated. I re-evaluated the sighting before submitting. “

Technical information

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