ML613690097
Laguntzailea
Data
Kokapena
- Adina
- Zehaztu gabea
- Sexua
- Zehaztu gabea
- Portaerak
- Hegan
Iruzkina
Poor quality video of birds flying west past the headland.
Behaketaren xehetasunak
My primary goal for this visit was to watch some Yelkouans in strong winds, getting a feel for how they look and fly in conditions similar to prime seawatching days back home in Ireland where they would be a mega vagrant. My experience of Yelkouans to date has involved watching tens of thousands (e.g. 37,500 in 4 hours!) fly through the Bosphorous in Istanbul (Feb 2016) as they commuted to/from foraging sites in the Black Sea. While an impressive sight, the context of these observations would be quite different to a potential vagrant passing an Irish headland during a late summer/autumn storm with a passage of Manx Shearwaters. So with that in mind, the notes below sum up my thoughts and impressions taking separation from Manx Shearwater (and Balearic Shearwater) into account. ************************************************************************************************************************ A light movement of birds (singles and small groups of 2-4) heading west into the wind. When the winds were from the southwest this afternoon, birds were often first detected up to 1.5km to the southeast, then watched flying in towards the lighthouse/point and passing by at ranges down to 500m. Views quite good when close, even if illuminated by strong sun. Once the wind turned westerly, the number of birds seen dropped off and those recorded then stayed distant and passed by on more or a straight westerly line (not coming in closer to the lighthouse/point). The flight style was one of the most noticeable things about these birds which gave them a different feel to Manx Shearwaters. When flying low to the water, their flight was direct, with quick bursts of shallow wing beats (not quite fluttering but getting there). This is more in line with Balearic Shearwater than Manx but these Yelks also showed the typical swept back look to the wing for that species, with the outer part of the wing (‘hand’) almost curving back to a point at times, more dramatically than Manx and Balearic. I always think that Yelks look like their head is travelling faster than their wings/body and the wings get pushed back as a result! The Yelks also had a tendency to pivot/rock back from side to side while flying low to the water, almost like they lean over and reach a point at which they spring back to zero. This flight style low to the water was most often observed when the birds were passing by the headland and at their closest point. The birds were likely flying into more of a direct headwind then. When approaching the headland at an angle from a distance (and having the wind coming at them from the side perhaps), they did a lot more by way of shearing and rising up into the air for more extended periods (‘kiting’). One distant bird in particular was watched using the wind to full effect, hardly flapping at all for long periods and only doing so when it came down low to the water for a brief bit of direct flight before veering up again to start using the wind to travel. Somewhat of a Pterodroma vibe here but not as emphatic. Impressions of body shape and jizz varied depending on what the birds were doing. When in the ‘kiting’/shearing flight, separation from Manx wouldn’t be so easy, although the wings perhaps still more swept back. In low, direct flight, the previously discussed swept back wings, long-ish looking neck/head and impression of feet sticking out beyond the tail (hard to see at that range but got a hint of it a few times) were all noted. The build of the body varied from quite slim/streamlined to looking chesty with the main weight of the bird out the front. At no stage did they ever look as 'pot-bellied' or rear end dragging as Balearics do! Compared to Manx they looked more nifty/athletic and more drawn/pulled out at the head and tail ends. The proportions of the front end and tail end being more even on Yelk while Manx can look quite compact at times and with a longer looking front end and a shorter tail end. On a couple of occasions, birds that were seen giving a more chesty look were also noted as raising their head. One bird did this quite a bit when stalling to land on the water/investigate something a few times. On birds passing by close in, the bill did indeed appear long and slender (or at least it was easy enough to see it). Plumage tones varied with angle to the sun (as with Manx), appearing more brown when illuminated and darker when in shadows. The tone of the brown when illuminated was greyer/grainier than Manx and often more uniform, with less in the way of the strong contrasts between dark brown and paler areas caught by the sun as you see with Manx on bright sunny days (although it still happened on these Yelks, but perhaps less noticeably/strongly). At no stage did I see any pale on the sides of the neck or pale ‘saddle bags’ between the tail and wings. These areas remained dark throughout my observations. The dark on the head came down quite low and gave the birds a hooded look, accentuating the long headed appearance. Any noticeable dark colouration on the underparts was limited to the axillary bar and under the tail (with a small amount along the rear flanks between the base of the wings and the tail). Some birds showed quite prominent and thick dark axillary bars, but these were neat and not messy. Others showed less obvious dark here (or when illuminated by the sun it may have been burnt out from view). The dark under the tail was quite neat also and didn't bleed up onto the lower belly in a messy way. The forward area of the flanks always appeared pale. The white of the underparts and underwing also look subdued compared to Manx and not as brilliant white, but that being said, at not stage did any of these birds look as 'dirty/mucky' as a Balearic does. The dark under the tail was eye catching throughout all observations, even on the most distant birds which despite being illuminated by strong sun, still displayed the dark under the tail (which stood out) when banking.
Informazio teknikoa
- Kamera
- iPhone 11 handheld to Swarovski ATS HD 65mm with 25-50x zoom eyepiece
- Mikrofonoa
- Osagarriak
- Video stabilised using the Emulsio app.
- Fitxategiaren tamaina originala
- 16.66 MB