Gull update

On the Burn tonight, the YLG again present and showing very well. Appeared just after 18:00hrs, went first for a drink then to beach; thereafter very busy, preening, running back to wash, and moving around amongst the roost, but later on more docile and still present at dusk 19:30hrs. Quite a distinctive individual and easy to refind. Apart from characteristic mantle shade, also rather diminutive, particularly for a YLG, but must just be a small female.

Also on the shore, the Med shown above and a juv Med again, both unringed.

Finally, a pale-mantled dark-beaked large gull appeared which I dismissed as an aberrant Herring, but now wish I'd not been so hasty...

Tried again Tuesday, with an unprecedented 5 birders present, but in flat calm and bright conditions the roost was very slow to build. A left green-ringed Med matching photos of 3LV5 appeared and displayed a bad limp (hopefully not from the rings) but the YLG did not show to 19:40hrs.

Hat-trick of Med darvics, and a (probable) YLG

Exciting to find a new colour-ringed adult Med Gull on the shore btwn Seton Burn and Wrecked Craigs this evening, code PJU6, also a red right leg ring (like Cherry Blossom) but a rather different looking individual with a darker ear spot and blunt rear end with primaries growing. This bird is also Polish ringed - caught as an adult on 12 May this year at Mietkow resr, Wroclaw, SW Poland (map), this being the first resighting. Stood on a small rock just offshore very close to a 1st-win (unringed) individual, in idyllic conditions with a full sunset behind - but my camera packed up!

Saturday evening pleased to find over a thousand gulls on the shore at the burn, and soon spotted an adult Med, legs hidden - whilst moving to check it a lady in a BMW decided to set her dogs loose - a couple of scenthounds or lurchers which proceeded to chase every bird in sight right off the shore, pursuing them a distance into the shallows, over a distance of half a mile (including the assembled wildfowl, e.g. Wigeon and Goosanders). The dogs then ran wild over the grass and scared my daughter on her bike. So we moved down to the Prom playground where the local youngsters had been smashing glass. In front of my daughter (5 yrs) they (c. 10 yrs) conversed almost entirely in swear words, while I removed some of the glass. All typical for the neighbourhood, though at least they didn't throw things at us today. As the sun set the (48+) Sandwich Terns appeared very restless, often rising to circle, and a pipistrelle bat came out to hunt the shore.

Sunday update - just after 16:00hrs located a yellow-legged type gull on the Seton Burn, not large overall, but showing a blocky all-white head and bulky undercarriage, tapering rear, yellowish legs, mantle just darker than typical Common Gull, but crucially a narrow black band on what was apparently P5; in flight, outer primaries seen to be in moult with probably P6-P8 re-growing, together with an indentation at secondary junction. Photos (on new mobile) proved poor (see above - right central seated bird, and below - most distant bird showing contrast with Herring and LBB) but it turned out a fellow birder had got some better shots of the same bird at lunchtime, clearly showing the P5 band on at least the outer web. Possibly not enough for acceptance though, with no good photos of the spread wing, and the bird then flew off strongly inland over the caravan park at 18:00hrs (in a very similar manner to the previous individual here on 16 August). While watching this bird noticed a juv Med on the shore, then Cherry Blossom arrived, managed to read first digit on her ring to confirm not red-PJU6. Since (remarkably!) yet another new darvic (green-3LV5 - Belgian 2002 chick, seen previously in Cork in August 06) and an unringed adult had also been seen there earlier that made 4 Meds for the day, and at least 5 for the wknd, with a record hat-trick of darvics which will be hard to beat!

Checking the (gular) patch

After heavy rains overnight floods closed the coast road at the Seton Burn. Finally making it to Wrecked Craigs was reading Shag darvics (2 new) when this distinctive smaller cormorant caught my eye. Continental Cormorant (sinensis) is rare in Scotland, though probably overlooked and it is accepted that gular patch angle is the only reliable ID feature, though there is some overlap, i.e. only obvious individuals can be safely identified, see ID discussion. On this individual, the angle was very close to 90 degrees, though it has not come out well on the pictures. Worth looking out for again. Interestingly, a confirmed sinensis bird was seen at Musselburgh on 1 August (photo, 8th row).

More Meds

4 Mediterranean Gulls by the Seton Burn this evening, 3 adults including Cherry Blossom (red-7P8) and an adjacent bird with more mask (1st pic), plus a pretty adult with moulted primaries hence stubby rear (2nd pic), both latter unringed; late on also an unringed juvenile on shore east. Earlier, a colour-ringed Herring Gull, orange-1787 [ringed as an adult on 30/11/07 at Seamer Carr landfill, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire (TA038820), and also there on 15/1/08 - per Sara Bone, CSL - see full details in Comment below], following a yellow darvic BHG last night. Whimbrel still present (probably same since 14/8) and by dusk Sandwich Terns still numbered 46 in very windy conditions.

Earlier, Common Swift over Blindwells.

Sunday update: a very distinctive aberrantly-plumaged House Sparrow present in the flock (85+) at Port Seton playground (by Wrecked Craigs), fawn or biscuit coloured. This may be a "brown" or simply leucistic variant, discussed in this paper "Not every white bird is an albino: sense and nonsense about colour aberrations in birds". Many thanks to the author, Hein van Grouw, for his comment below confirming this as a "Brown" plumage mutation. An apparent albino has also been seen recently been in Dirleton, photo.

Meanwhile, 5 more Shag darvics on Long Craigs rocks (one new, details) and towards dusk 2 Mediterranean Gulls on shore W of burn, Cherry Blossom and her friend (again standing nearly adjacent on beach, and clearly aware of each other). Did not make a thorough search as a chap with a kayake went down the burn flushing everything. Still 46 Sandwich Terns, 17 Mute Swans, 10 Dunlin, 6 Goosander, 2 Wigeon, and the single resident Whimbrel, plus a juv Black-tailed Godwit flew in from the NE calling.

Farne's Shag

5 more Shag darvics at Wrecked Craigs on 26 August included the first from outside the area, a Farne Island chick from 2009 red-SZB (left in top pic); at this point it was stood next to blue-CCT (ad at front), a distinctive ring with a white band where the blue has been eroded that was the very first I recorded at this site back on 20 November 2006, but which could not be confirmed till now due to an uncertain read - quite satisfying to solve a 3 year-old mystery! This latter bird was ringed as a chick on the Isle of May on 14 July 1998 and is a regular breeder on the island, nesting in the the Tarbert area in 2009. Link to records so far here.

A Whimbrel was also present.

Ageing immature wood owls

Received the specimen depicted c/o a friend from Garleton Hills on Sunday (retrieved from a spot where I'd seen one seated on the road in Feb, perhaps same?). The variable lengths on the inner flight feathers immediately confirm this is not a bird of the year (a juvenile would have a set of equal length feathers) but since moult of adult wood owls is generally quite complete (cf. Barn Owl) it might initially be expected that nothing more could be deduced on its age. However, more careful analysis suggests it could be a 2nd-summer - all the primaries are apparently new (P8, i.e. 3rd feather in from outer P10, is either missing or hidden on left wing) - though they can all be replaced in 1st post-breeding moult the innermost and outermost feather are usually retained, suggesting the bird is more than a year old; but there is clearly a retained juvenile secondary on each side in images immediately above, the browner feather with more irregular subterminal bar which is probably S2, with S1 and S4 still growing, rather behind on the left wing compared to the right; S3 on both wings fully grown. Secondaries aren't completely replaced in the 1st summer and the centre at S2 may not become active (per BWP), so this is expected on a 1st-summer and presumably may also occur on 2nd-summer but not beyond, hence the tentative conclusion on age. However, there are remaining uncertainties - if S3 is replaced this ought to have followed S2 so either a feather is missing (uncounted) or the sequence can be more irregular than suggested!

Certainly, things can be rather complex and it's interesting to compare with this 2nd-winter bird which still has juvenile primaries retained at P2-P4. Hopefully the post mortem analysis will generate extra information in due course - will update this page with any further details of age/sex.

Also, note the similarity with the Long-eared Owl shown below, which was found to be a 2nd-winter female via post mortem analysis - also showing (3) retained juvenile secondaries. Based on plumage details I had thought this bird was a male, for example the underwing covert patch was modest, as per lower pics (measured the tips at c. 2cm - and BWP states (for female) "greater number of greater primary under wing-coverts with black tips, these tips usually broader than in male (up to 3–3.5 cm rather than up to 1–2)" - but this was wrong, the post mortem finding: "immature ovary normal, uterus pregravida". Lots to learn!




Henk Jan Koning had commented on age of Tawny mentioned above so I emailed him regarding the bird depicted here. He kindly provided a very detailed reply (and gave permission to post here, though emphasising this was a tentative analysis and he would have preferred to examine the bird in the hand). Full details as per Comments box and annotated images below, the moult patterns can be seen in this linked spreadsheet. An example of the alternating moult pattern in successive years is shown in the next picture. A final comment on this bird is it seems to have moulted rather few primaries last year, and even fewer secondaries, suggesting it was in poor condition - a situation consistent with last year's relatively poor breeding performance by local owls (probably reflecting a low in vole numbers).



Post-script - in spring 2010 Henk kindly forwarded this comparison shot of juvenile and 1st-summer Tawny Owls - the differences are striking; NB - these owls are part of Henk's study and are alive, see eye top left!

Seton again

Only new bird on Saturday (22/8) was an ad-f Scaup on Blindwells, diving actively for pond weed (sometimes appearing with strands in mouth). Also, Little Grebe and Coots successful again with large juvs, presumed family of 4 Kestrels and singing Chiffchaff.

Down at the shore in the evening, a single Med Gull in roost by the Seton Burn. Also a Sanderling on the shore with the Ringed Plovers following three a couple of wks back, but a big clear-out of terns, down from nearly 100 to just a handful of Sandwich Terns.

On Sunday evening (23/8), 2 adult Med Gulls in fields S of railway at east end of Blindwells, one was an unringed bird (obvious mask) and the other apparently Cherry Blossom (red darvic seen, very little mask). Feeding on insects in grass fields which had recently had muck spread with 1000+ small gulls, very few on coast just past high tide. No sign of Scaup on pool.

Shortly afterwards, a juv Med Gull on shore west of Ferny Ness; now 20 Mute Swans on Seton Burn, but clearly some turnover as white-BDJ present there last week was at East Fenton Farm resr today, remaining birds mainly unringed.

During the wk, further Shag darvics on Wrecked Craigs, taking the total for the last fortnight to 16 different individuals, details. A blue-ringed bird shown below.