Arcing sooty shearwaters past Brevig

A dull drizzly day of strong south easterly wind so we headed again for Brevig and another look at the sooty shearwater passage down the east of the island. It wasn't as easy today, with distant mist making viewing difficult or impossible. However occasionally the shearwaters came a little closer or the mist cleared for a while and we did manage to see at least 15 birds.

A useful characteristic of sooty shearwater is that in strong winds they tend to glide in long graceful arcs, shearing low over the water and then rising high into the air before dropping again. This distinguishes them from Manx shearwater even at long distances. I've seen quite a few sooties in the past but never knowingly seen this flight action before so the past couple of days have been very educational. 

They also have a different wing shape to Manx, having longer and narrower wings. Of course they also have dark bellies and silvery underwings but seeing that on a dull day in strong winds at a range of two miles is quite a challenge! Still, I'm pretty sure that all of the birds we have seen did have dark bellies.

This afternoon we headed for Eoligarry where despite the drizzle and wind we managed four species of raptor, white-tailed eagle, ringtail hen harrier, buzzard and merlin, plus juvenile wheatear at the jetty, 80 golden plover and red-throated diver. So not a bad day!