Seabirds in Flight. Rathlin June 2023

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One of the great skills of birdwatching that I am in awe of is the ability to identify sea birds passing a windswept headland on stormy late summer or early autumn day.

The lower viewing platform at Rathlin Seabird Centre is a good place to get used to the flight characteristics of the more common species, and at his time of year, mostly in adult breeding plumage.

During quieter moments when there are no visitors on the platform I have been trying to watch the birds at varying distances to try and pick out the key features for each species. My hope is to improve the range of species I can identify in flight and the distance at which I can identify them.

I have also been building a collection of snaps of the various species, creating a kind of wee reference library for myself.

At the Seabird Centre my main difficulty is getting half decent photos. I can identify the species here, but the birds that fly close enough for a good photo pass by so quickly that it is hard to spot them in the viewfinder, focus and get the shot.

I have lots of lovely shots of the varying colour and texture of the sea surface, the railings around the platform or the concrete surface if I tracked a bird too far before pressing the button.

By sheer luck I have a small number of useable images. So I've added some of the cast of thousands that contribute to the spectacle that is a summer seabird city to this post.

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Comments

[Oliverclark]

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