Seabirds in the rough seas

[dbozkurt]

Managed to get out today in between showers and saw that yellow thing in the sky briefly. so off I went to the rocky headland 5 minutes away with my camera, still gusting to about 30mph, near impossible to hold camera still...no tripod.

I did get some nice pictures of the spray, and a few seabirds, a couple of shots below, I still have problems is that a Cormorant or Shag? The bird had come off worse with the wind and some of the feathers looked damaged it struggled away from me into the surf. I hope its ok, do birds have real difficulties in severe gales, I know today the starlings on the beach were getting battered about.

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Also picture of a great black backed gull, not great but considering I was standing in the wind 10ft up on the make shift sea wall could have been worse.



Weather to continue bad for the next few days.

Debbie

[mrs fish]

Juv cormorant is your bird ( I think)
I went to the coast to-day to see the rough seas, not as rough as yours though, certainly blows the cobwebs away

[smartie]

Yip, definitely a cormorant or a shag I'd vote for juvenile cormorant if I had to as well.

[aeshna5]

Shag should show peaked crown at front of head + your picture doesn't show this, yet your bird appears to have a very slender bill which does suggest Shag!?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it is Shag as bird generally looks slim + small; could be the angle of shot doesn't give true impression of head, but bill doesn't look right for Cormorant.

[dbozkurt]

Don't know if this will help, first picture is of the same bird taken out of the water, it didn't have a white front, I got quite a good look before I managed to turn camera on etc.
[IMG][/IMG]

The second is of I beleive a juvenile cormorant (because of the white chest) sunny him/herself in a similar spot (lots of cormorants here not necessary the same). The first bird seemed quite small infact when it limped out of the rocks at first glance thought it was female eider.

[IMG][/IMG]
Thanks Debs

PS You get so engrossed, set the fire alarm off burning my bacon

[aeshna5]

Yes, the first photo above does seem to show peaked fore-crown of Shag + belly is brown (typical for our race) rather than white of juv. Cormorant (as shown in 2nd pic); so along with bill feature mentioned earlier I'm convinced it's a juv. Shag.

Living around London I see Cormorants daily, but Shags are rare here, so see them when I head west to coast.

[mrs fish]

That is a lovely pic of the cormorant drying out his/her wings, we have some locals and they had a youngster this year who looks like yours, they sit on a pylon over sainsburys carpark. I often watch them fishing in the mornings