My first birding of 2018 was yesterday.....................
New Years Day had nasty weather and I was hungover so my birding year began on the 2nd.
We headed east out of town. The Black-legged Kittiwakes were still around. Lots of them.
Why so many? God knows. They are of course mainly a pelagic species out of the breeding season (although they do come inshore to moult in autumn).
One of the ports was full of them coming and going..................it almost felt like a seabird colony.
Some of these images look massively overcooked. After years of using Lightroom I've switched Raw converters to a mix of DXO Photolab/ACDsee Pro. I'm overdoing something...............too much sharpening perhaps?
I was hoping to find a Red-legged Kittiwake amongst the hordes of Blacklegs. I didn't have binoculars handy let alone a scope so I was reduced to scanning the flocks using the 500 f4 handheld as a huge monocular.............my arms are still sore.
I did find one with yellow legs though!
There- a new species!!!!! Yellow-legged Kittiwake.
White-tailed Eagle and the usual ducks and gulls were also about but yesterday was all about the kittiwakes................
A great experience, one I would have enjoyed sharing.
ReplyDeleteYes it was pretty interesting to see them all on the coast.........
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