Wild Bird Wednesday 657 - Soft Plumage Petrel

The Soft Plumage Petrel (Pterodroma mollis) is a bird of the Southern Ocean between the east coast of South America and New Zealand.

Like almost all of the pelagic birds I have seen, this one was encountered on a trip out to sea from Southern Tasmania.

The Soft Plumage Petrel is a medium-sized petrel. Its plumage is dark grey and white, and its wings are narrow and with a pointed tail distinct in flight. It has a dark grey head with prominent white feathers on the cheeks and throat.

I have to say that I was a little confused by this individual bird due to the extensive darker plumage around the hood.  However, you can see the pale plumage in some of the pictures, and people that know far more about sea birds than I do have confirmed that this is indeed a Soft Plumage Petrel!

 

I may have made a mistake, as I seem to have volunteered to be back at this work this week!  Wish me luck.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 656 - Feeder Birds

During my trip to the UK at the start of 2024 I was reminded of just how popular bird feeders are in that country.  In Australia they are much less common - and in some ways the debate about 'are feeders actually a good idea' is still active here.   What ever the truth if the matter in this debate, one thing can be said for sure - that even if I did put out UK style feeders and food, I would not get that many native birds using them.

I visited a number of RSPB reserves on my trip and bird feeders were a regular and popular features.  These pictures are of some of the birds that I saw around the feeders at Titchwell.   I have chosen these as they are species that I used to see on a near daily basis around the house I grew up in.

Female Blackbird

Female Blackbird

Dunnock - or Hedge Sparrow

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Great Tit

Wood Pigeon

Sitting, watching these birds was very nostalgic.  My next trip to the UK should yield some of the visiting spring migrants.  I'll have to brush on my (very rusty) warbler identification skills!

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Wild Bird Wednesday 655 - Shy Albatross

The Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta) is the most frequently see albatross on the Pelagic Trips I have done from Tasmania.  Despite that, as a species it is still listed as Near Threatened, which means we need to keep a keen eye on this species. 

Shy Albatross can sometime be seen from the land in my part of the world, and one actually showed up at Werribee Sewage works this week - although I was not there to see it.

These pictures are a sequence of a single bird approaching the back of the boat on a trip from last year.  I have to say that they are one of my favourite birds.

As ever to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Cheers  SM  (PS: please send cooler weather!)

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Wild Bird Wednesday 654 - American Oystercatcher

The American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) is sometimes called the American Pied Oystercatcher.  Pied Oystercatchers - ie black and white oystercatchers - are found in many places around the world and the taxonomy of these birds is rather contested.  In many cases I think that geography is about the only way to tell the closely related species apart.

In other words if you see a Pied Oystercatcher in America, it's an American Pied Oystercatcher! And when you see a remarkably similar Pied Oystercatcher in Europe, then it's a different species - the Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus).

About the only difference between these two species is that the American Oystercatcher has 'blackish brown dorsal plumage' while the European Pied Oystercatcher is more uniform in the black colour.  Such distinctions would probably drive people to distraction in the field.

These birds are feeding on the beach at Cayo Coco in Cuba.  This is an interesting, but not remarkable record for this bird and I have been told (thank you David!) that there is a single breeding record for this species in Cuba.

This shot seems to show the blackish brown dorsal plumage

This shot seems to show the blackish brown dorsal plumage

This shot seems to show the blackish brown dorsal plumage

The bird in these pictures with the darker beak is a juvenile.

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Cheers and I hope all is well.  SM

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