Skua ID from description, Spurn, East Yorks (2 Viewers)

[KayD]

I'm not all that experienced with seawatching tbh, but feel I'm getting my eye in for it a bit better now and had been reading up on Skuas and Shearwaters before I went away to Yorks on holiday....would appreciate the opinion of experienced sea watchers on this one please.....

We were watching from Spurn on Weds 17th September and we'd had a Great Skua, Gannets, RT Divers, Scoter, Razorbill, that type of thing when I got on to something which looked interesting.

It was very dark in colour and at first I thought it might be a Sooty Shear, but the jizz and flight style was all wrong and I realised it was a Skua sp....it was smaller than a Bonxie but did look very chesty. It was Tern like, graceful and bouncy in flight, it was bouncing up and down above the waves and landed for a second or two on the water before continuing to fly south in the same style. The wings were angled and pointy and I noticed a slight pale patch on the underwing and the tail looked pointy. The light wasn't too great and the bird was fairly distant so I took what I could from this observation before trying to ID.

My gut feeling is dark phase juv Long Tailed Skua. I didn't think it was Arctic, I have seen Arctic a few times before, although I must admit I'm not overly familiar with them.

 

[Michael Grunwell]

On the balance of probability it will be an arctic skua, it would be incredible to see LT skua on a seawatch and not see a single arctic skua. After you have seen a thousand passing arctic skuas you will be due an LT. I am afraid the description is not helpful, usually familiarity with arctic will lead to suspicion of LT. A pointy tail is irrevalent as we are probably dealing with a first year bird. So in summary 99pct it was an arctic.

 

[andy r]

Agreeing with Michael, the description could describe all three species of skua not including Bonxie, there have been very few skuas about in the last week due to winds not being condusive and the few that are around and being reported are Arctics. Skua id is not easy even when you've seen thousands and are very experienced. i've seen seabird experts arguing about particular birds! better to put it down as a skua sp unless you've had very good, prolonged views
Andy

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

was smaller than a Bonxie but did look very chesty.

For me this line alone rules out LTS.

 

[John Cantelo]

I'd agree with the first two comments above. I fear that this description doesn't have sufficient detail to exclude any of the 'smaller' skuas. Successful skua ID can often be a matter of nuance and detail - hence the arguments that can still occur amongst even experienced observers about particular birds. Personally I'm always suspicious of any person who, on seeing good numbers of skuas on a seawatch, doesn't have a couple listed as 'skua sp'. At long range, in the gusty weather most likely to produce a good movement, there will always be the odd bird (or birds) that aren't seen well enough to decide whether they are Pom or Arctic.

As for LT Skua, this was long one of my big bogey birds; it took me years of seawatching, and a good few 'possibles', before I convinced myself I'd seen one. Naturally enough, once I saw one and had my eye in, I saw many more!

Although field experience - and lots of it - is vital I think that there are some very useful books that might help. Primarily, I'd suggest getting hold of a copy of 'The MacMillan Field Guide to Bird Identification' (via your local library as its out-of-print) which has the best and most accessible text on this thorny problem. 'The Flight Identification of European Seabirds' by Blondahl et al is the next best thing,
John

 

[KayD]

Thanks all for the replies so far. I realise LT Skua is far less probable than Arctic and that Skua passage has been poor thus far this year in the area and I have limited experience of Skuas.

However I am trying to evaluate this on what I observed - what I saw didn't look right for Arctic and I am seriously considering LTS as a candidate. I think I saw enough to rule out Pomarine.

It's mainly the flight style which I feel looked promising for LTS.

To elaborate further on my earlier description, the flash under the wing was a singular pale flash, not a striking flash but definately present.

For me this line alone rules out LTS.

Just to clarify - I should have said the chest was heavy in relation to the body, not a barrel chested bird like a Bonxie. The bird was actually quite small and slim (more so than the Arctics I've seen) but the chest was noticable as it contrasted with the slim rear parts of the bird.

 

[andy r]

at the end of the day Kay, your list is your own and you make your own decisions, however from the description you have wrote it does not rule out Arctic or Pomarine Skua, and therefore the record would only go down as a skua sp in the Spurn log and bird report.

Andy r

Thanks all for the replies so far. I realise LT Skua is far less probable than Arctic and that Skua passage has been poor thus far this year in the area and I have limited experience of Skuas.

However I am trying to evaluate this on what I observed - what I saw didn't look right for Arctic and I am seriously considering LTS as a candidate. I think I saw enough to rule out Pomarine.

It's mainly the flight style which I feel looked promising for LTS.

To elaborate further on my earlier description, the flash under the wing was a singular pale flash, not a striking flash but definately present.



Just to clarify - I should have said the chest was heavy in relation to the body, not a barrel chested bird like a Bonxie. The bird was actually quite small and slim (more so than the Arctics I've seen) but the chest was noticable as it contrasted with the slim rear parts of the bird.

 

[Connor Rand]

However I am trying to evaluate this on what I observed - what I saw didn't look right for Arctic and I am seriously considering LTS as a candidate. I think I saw enough to rule out Pomarine.

Always hard from a descrption but if you only 'think' you saw enough to rule out a Pomarine then it sounds much more like an Arctic. Long-tailed should appear completly different from Pomarine in terms of structure, with the latter species having a structure more similar to Great than Arctic usually. Thus the chances are you saw an Arctic, as this can appear relatively similar in terms of structure to both Long-tailed and Pomarine.

 

[John Cantelo]

One comment that hints at LT Skua was the description of its flight as being 'bouncy' - if by this you mean the bird's body rose and fell with its wingbeats then I'd say that this was a good 'pointer' to LT Skua. However, I'm afraid more detail is needed to clinch it. It's quite possible that, when you do catch up with an 100% LTS, you'll think "That bird was one!"

John

 

[KayD]

Thanks to all those who have helped me in my enquiries.

I can defintely exclude Pom; this leaves me with Arctic and LTS. My gut feeling is still for LTS, however improbable this may seem. My description is jizz based and subjective I admit, but overall I feel it fits best with LTS. Can't prove subjective observations though, so I'll have to leave it as a question mark for now.

Even if they can't all be ID'd, its all a learning curve, hence why I asked for a bit of help, certainly not to secure my tick or to get in the Spurn report

 

[John Cantelo]

I must admit that I had a good half dozen "I'm-sure-it-is-one-but-I'm-not-100%" Long-tailed Skuas before I ticked the species. Good luck with future encounters!

John

 

[timwootton]

Another fascinating skua thread - neither helped nor hindered by lack of photos. Hi John - I'm not sure that 'bouncy flight' rules out arctic. I often describe arctic as bouncing - depending on the weather and direction of flight in relation to wind (and relative to bonxie, which never is). Why does it need to be a juv, though. And dark phase arctic skuas nearly always look finer in build than their paler sibs - trick of the light and fits the bill.

 

[Songkhran]

at Sheringham with a big crowd of experienced birders saw a dark phase juv LTS today in the company of 2 ad Arctic Skuas and 1 juv Arctic, bird was also seen past Cley

if we breakdown Kay D's description


It was very dark in colour and at first I thought it might be a Sooty Shear, but the jizz and flight style was all wrong and I realised it was a Skua sp....

the bird today was very dark and noone was able to see any contrasting barring on the upper tail coverts. however cold tones noted, the bird almost appearing to have a bluish hue

it was smaller than a Bonxie but did look very chesty.

bird today was very chesty not gently round bellied like the Arctics, the chestiness enhanced by the small rounded head, our bird today was noticeably smaller than the Arctics

It was Tern like, graceful and bouncy in flight, it was bouncing up and down above the waves

very, the down beat of the wings was much deeper than the Arctics especially noticeable as it was flying away.

and landed for a second or two on the water before continuing to fly south in the same style. -

our one bombed straight through although ive seen stalling and black tern deep feeding by birds earlier this autumn

The wings were angled and pointy

yes angled slightly backwards and also very slim, also two primary shafts on the upperwing

the tail looked pointy.

yep, was able to see both 'thumb points' on the tail streamers

KayD i think your absolutely right to not have this as a definite as you yourself admit you don't have extensive experience on them, i find with Skuas its quite good to put them on the 'backburner', i reckon the next LTS you see you'll instantly know whether this was one too.

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