The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A couple of hours seawatching from Huttoft Car Terrace this morning was, initially, not very rewarding, producing no more than several groups of adult Northern Gannets moving south not very far offshore - about 45 birds in total. No non adult birds were observed. However, as I moved my scope across to look at a group of 7 birds my luck changed, for flying along with the group of adult Northern Gannets was an adult Cape Gannet, standing out like a sore thumb, with jet black secondaries and a black tail. The group was not very far out and very good views were possible - the heavy rain had not yet started. The Cape Gannet was in full adult plumage with a rich golden crown/nape as striking as those of the Northern Gannets, identical totally white body plumage but differing by having all visible flight feathers black - wings and tail The isolated white allula was well visible in all the birds. The birds white tertials extending beyond the secondaries gave the appearance of the black secondaries stopping short of the body. I had several minutes in which to study the bird and, as the whole group was moving erratically and changing flying positions, I was able to see the wings and tail very well at different angles. The bird was seen at about 10:45 am.
As it was heading south I phoned the guys at Gib Pt and I also submitted the record to Bird Guides - Bird News Extra - although, so far they have chosen to ignore the sighting.
I submit that these adult Northern Gannets groups are probably returning from West Africa and beyond at the moment and that this Cape Gannet has tagged along with them.

Ed

Thanks for phoning the news through - unfortunately no-one was in a position to look off Gib as far as I know.

11 ring ouzel around again early on at the north end.

Kev

Hi Ed,

This would be an amazing record! Did you see the underwing coverts?

Cheers,

John

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

Havn't you had one of these before,back in the late 80's off Rimac?



Steve.

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http://www.brachytron.blogspot.co.uk

http://www.LincolnshireOdes.blogspot.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/routy

John, I'm not aware of anything significant relating to the underwing coverts of adult Cape Gannet/Northern Gannet - can you enlighten me? Obviously the underwing flight feathers were dark.
I have been trying to check on head moult in post breeding Cape Gannet but have had no success so far - the point is that this Huttoft bird appeared to have the same head colour as the accompanying Northern Gannets but as a probable post breeding bird it should perhaps have already had a post breeding body moult although April may be early. Does anybody have a link for head moult?
Steve - I was well into Cape Gannet / Northern Gannet/ Masked Booby plumages/records in the early 1980's having had 2 Cape Gannets and 1 Masked Booby accepted for Spain and a Cape Gannet accepted for Morocco. However, after alot of research in the 80's including interaction with the likes of Bryan Nelson,Peter Grant and Peter Harrison it was concluded that anything short of full adult Cape Gannet plumage could be suspect as only slightly subadult (4cy) Northern Gannets could have black secondaries. An all black tail is more positive. The Rimac bird falls into this category. Actually I expect to see Northern Gannet/Cape Gannet plumage types at least once or twice a year whilst seawatching in Lincs, however, this Huttoft bird is the first one that I have seen in full adult Cape Gannet plumage flying with adult Northern Gannets on their way back from Africa and this is why I am claiming it as a Cape Gannet. To me it seems perfect.

Congratulations Ed!And good luck with your sighting!!
Regards,
Rog.

I believe the underwing coverts in adult Cape Gannet are white, whereas in sub-adult Northern Gannet they are white with dark flecking. According to Garner, and as you've suggested, sub-adult Northern Gannet can have dark secondaries and tail, but would have this flecking on the underwing coverts. Garner also said the longer gular stripe and possibly a different flight action due to smaller size should be evident given adequate views. He goes on to say that as moult in Cape Gannet is Jan - Jun compared with Jul - Sep for Northern Gannet there might be observable differences in moult timing for primaries and head colouration.

Cheers,

John

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

Thanks John - I would easily have noticed any dark on the underwing coverts - I am very much aware of the plumages of the 2 species and it is exactly because of the total absence of any dark feathering anywhere other than primaries, secondaries and tail that I am convinced that this is a genuine adult Cape Gannet - flying with fully adult Northern Gannets. I emailed Martin for a copy of his paper but you have supplied the information that I needed. I would like more info on head moult timing and colour change though - I'll follow up more tomorrow.
I did not notice any difference in flight action but the group were messing about alot, hovering and chopping and changing position.

There are now no accepted records of Cape Gannet in the Western Palearctic.

cf: Crochet, P-A. and Haas, M. (2008) Western Palearctic list update: deletion of Cape Gannet. Dutch Birding 30(1):17-18.

and

De Juana, E, et al (2001) SEO Report 2000 Ardeola 49: 141-171

http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsc000.htm

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Dr Alexander C. Lees
Lecturer in tropical ecology
Manchester Metropolitan University

Lab Associate
Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
Cornell University

http://www.freewebs.com/alexlees/index.htm
@Alexander_Lees

Alex - I'm not surprised - the records of mine that were accepted were before the full range of Northern Gannet plumages was fully understood. In fact, now that you have brought this to my attention, I seem to remember that I wrote to the Spanish Rarities Committee Myself and withdrew the records - it's probably 25 years ago!
The Australasian Gannet can have a virtually identical plumage to Cape Gannet, albeit rarely, so where does that leave us? At the best a verdict of probable Cape Gannet but no more.

Hi Edmund, that makes sense, I think the SEO retains one record of Cape/Australian Gannet as accepted on the official list. You'll have to get one of those 'video-scopes', for the next one as BBRC have a more-or-less official policy of not accepting 'undocumented' national firsts on seawatches - witness the Dungeness Herald Petrel.

cheers

Alex

_________________
Dr Alexander C. Lees
Lecturer in tropical ecology
Manchester Metropolitan University

Lab Associate
Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
Cornell University

http://www.freewebs.com/alexlees/index.htm
@Alexander_Lees

Ho Alex,
was reading your excellent chaptor in Russell slacks book yesterday,had the bk ages thou,,I dont think no body believes anybody anymore,unless its down on digital format of some kind...
Regards,
Rog.

Cheers Rog, hopefully the next won't be too far down the line. I wrote about the 'problem of sea-watching in a Birdwatch column a few years ago:

Shelf life: not unfathomable

Cape Clear, Porthgwarra, St Ives, Flamborough, Sheringham, Strumble, Portland, names synonymous with hours of staring at the sea, usually without seeing much more than water and the odd gull or Gannet. Sit for hundreds of hours (and/or get the conditions right) and you might eventually strike lucky with big shear, storm-petrel and skua movements, maybe even a sniff of a ‘presumed Fea’s’. Wait for long enough (years) and something truly extraordinary will fly by – that longed-for albatross or crazy tubenose from the southern hemisphere. But will anyone believe you? Birding folklore is filled with stories of the ones that got away; Black-capped Petrel at Portland, Short-tailed Shearwater and Great-winged Petrel at Flamborough, Herald Petrel at Dunge etc, etc. There’s no doubt these crazy seabirds do occur, but getting enough ‘proof’ of a flypast on a seawatch is nigh-on impossible. Let’s face it, you can’t really blame the BBRC for rejecting ‘outrageous’ and ‘off-the-radar’ claims of photographically undocumented, difficult to identify rare seabirds, seen for a few seconds through spray-soaked optics. Moreover, how long can you safely stare at the sea before you start seeing Procellaria petrels and mermaids?

Popular it may be, but is seawatching really worth the eye strain, boredom and eventual heartache? Blasphemy! Some of you may cry, but in our opinions a portion of the man-hours put in by British and Irish birders on headlands could be better spent elsewhere. Forget peninsulas, think boats, crisp DSLR images and deep water - really deep water: the shelf edge. At the moment, we collectively manage a measly handful of pelagic trips a year out beyond Scillies, e.g. the annual Scillonian adventure (and more recently a few trips off Ireland) but most boats don’t reach really deep waters. Obviously those pioneering folk plying Scillonian seas in small craft have done very well for themselves with Red-billed Tropicbird, Swinhoe’s and Madeiran Storm-petrels and multiple Fea’s, but surely this is just a taste of what lies 260 miles further out in 1100 fathoms. Off Western Ireland, you can hit the continental shelf edge just 40 miles from port.

The Americans are way ahead of us on this one. Over there, deep water trips in the Atlantic have produced seven (!) species of storm-petrel, including three Black-bellieds in recent years (shades of Sheringham...), four species of Pterodroma petrel on a regular basis, along with Black-browed and Yellow-nosed Albatrosses etc. They go out every week in the peak season and use boats with enough outboards to chase down Pterodromas, so there can be no ‘one that got away’. Over in the Pacific, deep water trips have produced six species of albatross and seven species of gadfly petrels in ABA waters, not to mention the likes of Parkinson’s Petrel and Ringed Storm-petrel. So why are we so slow to catch up? Presumably it’s because of lack of demand for such ventures. Over in the states, folk don’t go in for seawatching like we do on the Celtic Fringe. If they want to see seabirds they go to sea. To be a top ABA big lister you have to do lots of trips; from Mottled Petrels in the Gulf of Alaska to Red-trailed Tropicbirds 100 miles off California and White-faced Storm-petrels in the Gulf Stream. It doesn’t even take that many trips off North Carolina to see the Pterodroma set, but the more trips you get out on, the better your chance of a real mega. Brian Patteson’s company alone ran 52 trips in 2008! One could imagine that we could get a similar snowball effect over here should Black-capped Petrels and South Polar Skuas be found to occur on the Porcupine Bank off SW Ireland.

And why not? The potential doesn’t stop with those species. Bermuda and Trinidade Petrels, both recorded from the Azores must be periodically arching unseen across our offshore deep waters, not to mention two species of tropicbird, two boobies, ‘brown’ terns and other Gulf Stream specials. Madeiran Storm-petrels ought to be annual out there and White-faced remains a distinct possibility. Zino’s may be an enigma, but it’s not actually numerically much rarer than Desertas Petrel - it’s surely only a matter of time before one succumbs to a Canon 50D. This is not to mention the endless possibilities for albatrosses and other Antipodean fayre. You wouldn’t expect every trip to deliver, no more so than you would expect Fair Isle to if it were checked on one day a month. Currently there is no push factor on ‘top twitchers’; our current world of pelagic possibilities is still available from the Bridges of Ross on a good day. Sure, staring at the sea there can be great, but it could be so different. Imagine the brinkmanship as the top guns vie for places on a deep water boat leaving Kerry tickets selling faster than Take That at the O2. Who would want to be the one, the one that just missed out on the trip that got Shy Albatross?

_________________
Dr Alexander C. Lees
Lecturer in tropical ecology
Manchester Metropolitan University

Lab Associate
Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
Cornell University

http://www.freewebs.com/alexlees/index.htm
@Alexander_Lees

Take That any day.

Sorry Hi,ho? didnt see that,another excellent forum submission,
Regards,
Rog.