Wild Bird Wednesday 593 - South Polar Skua

This bird is a South Polar Skua (Stercorarius maccormicki) and I only know this because much better birders than me (tenuously) identified the bird in the field and made a confirmed ID based on the pictures take on the boat! 

This is a rare sighting, and as this species 'shows little interest in vessels' I suppose we were very lucky to get such good views.

I am no expert, but as far as I can tell, one of the key ID features that separate this species from the more frequent Brown Skua is the contrast in colour between the underwings and the body.  The South Polar Skua also has a 'finer bill and smaller head'.

Its at times like this I am thankful for experts!

I have to say it was an impressive bird - having the bulk and attitude you would expect from a bird that lives over the Souther Ocean.

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A Blog Update!

Hi there - you may have noticed that I have been rather less active than normal on my blog - and other social media places - for the last couple of weeks.

Well I have been in Cuba with David and I am now in Canada with him!

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip so far.  Normal (if you can call it that) service will resume when I return home!

Cat sleeping by a 'tank' - Havana, Cuba

Black morph Grey Squirrel, Waterloo, Canada

Eastern Screech Owl, Waterloo, Canada

Waterloo, Canada

Chipmunk,Waterloo, Canada

Blue Jay, Waterloo, Canada

Cuban Gnatcatcher, Cuba (!)

I'm not the only one who can't spell!

Many more posts to follow.  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 592 - Crested Tern

The Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) is more or less the default tern in my part of the world.  When I see a tern on my 'local' patch this is always the case that I start with this species with - and only when I am sure its not a Crested Tern do I move on to other species.  In many cases this is straight forward - but not always!

When you are out at sea is one of the times when you may need to look a little closer - but in this case it was a Crested Tern.  This bird flew around our boat for a few minutes when I was out on a pelagic trip recently.

I love the simplicity of these pictures.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  SM

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Wild Bird Wednesday 591- Australian Spotted Crake

The Australian Spotted Crake (Porzana fluminea) is a small - but not as small as Baillon's Crake - bird, that is endemic to Australia. The closely related Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana) is found in the northern hemisphere, and the similarity of the common names of these species sometimes causes confusion - and raised blood pressure amongst taxonomists. 

This bird was out and about at Werribee, and is generally the most common crake I see.  I love the shade of green on its beak.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 590 - Pacific Heron

The Pacific Heron (Ardea pacifica) is a medium sized and conspicuous heron that seems to be showing up in greater numbers in my local patch that in past years.  In the past, this bird was known as the White-Necked Heron - which makes a lot of sense.

This bird was hunting in remarkably calm waters in one of the lagoon at Werribee.  Unfortunately it flew off a short time after the unsuccessful fishing stab shown in these images.  

I really like the spots on the throat of this species.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 589 - Baillon's Crake

The (Porzana pusilla) gains its common name from Lousi Baillon, a French naturalist who collect some of the earliest (but not the earliest!) examples of this species.  It's scientific name means 'insignificant little crake', which is a reasonable assessment of its size!

The Baillons's Crake is actually only just bigger than a house sparrow, and tends to be found in dense freshwater vegetation.  However, on the morning I took these pictures it seems it was a 'crakes day out' as there were five, and maybe six, of these birds visible at one time!  They seemed to be largely unconcerned by the presence of three birders, all of which were wielding long lenses.

It will come as no surprise for people to learn that these birds were seen at Werribee Sewage works.

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