Tuesday 13 July 2010

Little Lundy Shearwater

Just incase you don’t know what I am talking about I will explain. A few months ago a Little Shearwater turned up on the island of Lundy which is near Bristol. The bird is a mega (exceptionally rare) and there are not many records of the species occurring in the UK. What makes the Little Shearwater at Lundy interesting was that it wasn’t seen on a sea watch or for a day or so; it took up residence on the island for a while. I am not sure if it has been heard recently but my guess is no as it would have no doubt been put on Rare Bird Alert of BirdGuides.

I don’t believe it has been seen at all, however birders can go to the island and listen to it calling. It sounds very distinctive, I had no idea what a Little Shearwater sounded like but when you learn the call it’s very different from Manx Shearwater. It is also quite catchy, well I think it is!

I am going to make you a good deal here. What if I was to tell you I could save you money by not needing to go to Bristol and then Lundy and you could still here the Little Shearwater? Good deal egh?

Go on take me hand off:

Listen to this first if you are unsure of what Little Shearwater sounds like:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/europe/recording.php?XC=54722
OR click the Play button:


Then if you are up for it you can listen to the 4:00 minute recording and try and pick the Little Shearwater out from the Manx Shearwater. It’s actually quite easy:
http://soundcloud.com/darrylspittle/little-shearwater-lundy

Hope this has been interesting folks. Let me know if you enjoyed this kind of post. If I have time in the future I will post more if you like them.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Andrew i think this is a great post , the little shearwater has a very distinctive call , and i also dont know anyone who has reliably seen the one on Lundy ??? but there is no mistaking that call , well done on a really educational post :)

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  2. Great post mate saved me allot of time ;)

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  3. agreed! and I'd say it's rather catchy too! and I think it was seen by someone, if you check the BF thread on it there is a link to the lucky guy's blog!

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