WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY

I am continuing my series of photographs that Danny, Colin and myself took when I took 16 of my Birders on a boat trip to Mew Island,  Copelands, near Donaghadee.  This is Mew Lighthouse and some Manx Shearwater and a Tern.

I am linking to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY

 I hope you enjoyed this post today.

I appreciate your visit and comments.

You wil be pleased to know I have full rotation in my shoulder joint now but need a bit more strength in the arm however I am now allowed to drive again!

THROUGH MY LENS

I am starting a new series today of photographs that Danny, Colin and myself took when I organised 16 of my Birders on a boat trip to Mew Island, Copelands, near Donaghadee. We were very pleased when we saw a large raft of Manx Shearwater birds and lots of Grey seals basking on the rocks as we passed by.

 I am linking to THROUGH MY LENS

I hope you enjoyed this post today.

I appreciate your visit and comments.

Copeland Island Visited in June (1)

The last time I visited Copeland Island was in May and these photograph  were taken 1 month exactly from that visit this June.   If you are a regular viewer of my blog you will be able to see the great changes in the wildlife and for those who didn’t manage to see the 6 posts published in June, CLICK HERE for the start of them.  These photographs are mainly of the journey out to the island and what we saw when we first landed.

As you can see from this shot, there were 4 of us.  Wesley who was the Duty Officier and the 2 younger people, Richard and Nina from Glasgow University who were doing research on Herring Gulls. (Lots more about that in future posts)

As we neared the island, I was very excited to see a raft of at least 250 Manx Shearwater.  I had never seen a raft of them before and they were gathering so that when it was dark they could land on the island and go to their burrows.  I have a short video at the end. 

Please remember a lot of photographs where taken on a moving boat!

This is a Common Seal however we also have Grey Seals breeding around the island.

The Arctic Terns had arrived now and we were going to have to be extremely careful not to walk on any of their eggs in the nests when we landed. The noise was ‘something else’ and we were prepared to be attacked.   Once again, in later posts I will be showing you more shots of the Terns but the second clip on the video below is of them and Gulls lifting when the boat approached the jetty.

There were both adult (solid black on head) and 
1^st year Arctic Terns (white above the bill). Sorry it is a out of focus but I wanted you to see the difference!

  

It would have been a very tranquil scene except 

for the screaming birds everywhere.

Oystercatcher and Common Gulls on the rocks.  Both breed on the island and last time I was here, these birds were incubating their eggs and this time I will be showing you their chicks in later posts.

These next few shots were taken as I was walking up to the house with a very heavy rucksack and another bag plus camera round my neck! Mr and Mrs Mallard were out for their evening walk. 

Rabbits are very important on the island because they keep a lot of the grass paths short but also as they dig burrows, these are essential for the Shearwaters to breed in.

There are quite a number of Wrens breed on the island however they are very difficult to photograph but you hear them singing all the time.

After we left our bags in the house, Wesley and I took Richard and Nina to show them round the island.  Richard was amazed at the beauty of the masses of Pink Campion.

Herring Gull behind in front and Lesser Black backed Gull in front.

This is the first of many chicks of a Lesser Black backed Gull

While we were standing on the cliff top we saw these Shags.  Notice the one with its wings out.  I thought it was about to fly but it kept its wings like that for quite a while obviously drying them but I had only even seen them drying their wings on a rock before.

I hope you found this post interesting.  There are LOTS more I have to show you and I am very excited at what discovered the next morning on my way down to the 'loo with the view'.  You will not be disappointed!

On the video of the Manx Shearwaters, Arctic Terns and Gulls I have cut the noise of the boat out and inserted (I hope) suitable music which can be access at

http://youtu.be/rJyL1NKJc78

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.

Thank you for visiting and also to those who leave comments on any of my posts.

Manx Shearwater Birds on Copeland Island

We had to wait until it was very dark, about 10.30pm. before going out and we were well wrapped up with warm clothes on to look for Manx Shearwater birds.

Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) is a medium-sized Shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx Shearwaters were called Manks Puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English pophyn) for the cured carcasses of nestling Shearwaters. The Atlantic Puffin acquired the name much later, possibly because of its similar nesting habits.

This bird is 30–38 cm long, with a 76–89 cm wingspan. It has the typically "shearing" flight of the genus, dipping from side to side on stiff wings with few wing beats, the wingtips almost touching the water. This bird looks like a flying cross, with its wing held at right angles to the body, and it changes from black to white as the black upper parts and white undersides are alternately exposed as it travels low over the sea.

The prefix Manx, meaning from the Isle of Man, originated owing to the once large colony of Manx Shearwaters found on the Calf of Man (a small island just south of the Isle of Man). The species became extinct as a breeding bird there owing to the accidental introduction of rats from a shipwreck in the late 18th century; however a recent control program has resulted in Manx Shearwaters returning to breed in small numbers.

Manx Shearwaters are long-lived birds. A Manx Shearwater breeding on Copeland Island, Northern Ireland, was as of 2003/2004 the oldest known living wild bird in the world: ringed as an adult (at least 5 years old) in July 1953, it was retrapped in July 2003, at least 55 years old.

 Manx Shearwaters migrate over 10,000 km to South America in winter, using waters off southern Brazil and Argentina, so the 55-year-old bird mentioned above probably covered over 1,000,000 km on migration alone (not counting day-to-day fishing trips). 

Their migration also appears to be quite complex, containing many stopovers and foraging zones throughout the Atlantic Ocean.  Ornithologist Chris Mead estimated that a bird ringed in 1957 (aged about 5 years) and still breeding on Bardsey Island off Wales in April 2002 had flown over 8 million km (5 million miles) during its 50-year life.

Eve found the oldest bird that weekend.  It was at least 30 years old.  Most birds usually return to the same sub colony, are faithful to their area, nest site and partner.

They nest in burrows, laying one white egg which they visit only at night to avoid predation by large gulls. The islands are usually free of mammalian predators (but on the island of Rùm, about 4 percent of the chicks are preyed on by Red Deer that need extra calcium.) They form lifelong monogamous pair-bonds.

The Manx Shearwater feeds on small fish (particularly herring, sprat and sardines), crustaceans, cephalopods and surface offal. The bird forages individually or in small flocks, and it makes use of feeding marine mammals and schools of predatory fish, which push prey species up to the surface. It does not follow boats.

 This species breeds in the North Atlantic, with major colonies on islands and coastal cliffs around Great Britain and Ireland. Manx Shearwaters have nested along the Atlantic coast of north eastern North America since the 1970s and have expanded their breeding range southward into the Gulf of Maine, with a pair confirmed as nesting at Matinicus Rock. 

This is a gregarious species, which can be seen in large numbers from boats or headlands, especially on passage in autumn. It is silent at sea, but at night the breeding colonies are alive with raucous cackling calls.

This Sheatwater has been ringed and moving very awkwardly on land to find its burrow again.  They  didn't seem worried about being handled.

Folklore

In the nineteenth century Manx novel 'The Manxman' by Sir Hall Caine, a reference is made to the satanic folklore surrounding the Manx shearwater, apparently due to its unusual call and dark appearance.

 Although it was pitch black I thought I would try and take a shot at the Narcissi and I think now they remind me of stars.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the Manx Shearwaters being caught and ringed.

Iam linking this post with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY

Thank you for visiting and tomorrow I will show you what I photographed on Copeland Island while I was there on Saturday.

Many thanks for commenting on any of my post.  I appreciate every single one.