Storm Bert, Day Three

The wind eased off a bit today and by mid-morning the sun was out and Bert was fading away. Not a bad morning seawatch with highlights including an incredible 22 Great Northern Divers (presumably re-orienting with a flock of 6 and birds flying overhead high too) , a Long-tailed Duck and 2 Velvet Scoter. Ebird list HERE. 

After the two and half hour seawatch I did a bit of post-storm exploring (looking for moribund birds) so walked along the seafront past Hillfield Car Park to coastguards and then back the other way to East Beach and checked the freshwater pond there too. Nothing extra but did find a feeding area for gulls at Coastguards and next time there's a storm will keep an eye on that area. 

Interestingly when the sun came out I had 2-3 Painted Ladies flying around and a dragonfly went darting past too- presumably migrants pushed in on Bert's warm airflow. For fear of the moth trap blowing away I didn't put it out the last two nights but I put it on for two hours this morning before it got light and had a Diamond-back and a December moth. Will try tonight as there could well be some migrant moths blown in. 

Great Northern Divers on the move- 22 was an all time record count for Selsey Bill 

Long-tailed Duck - another patch tick, now on 177 HERE. Seems to have a white crown and extensive black patch on the lower breast/upper belly suggesting a male bird although no sign of the tail and also maybe the face should be darker on a male (see postscript below) ? . Slightly better views of LTD from earlier this year HERE and a range of plumage shots HERE

Velvet Scoters 

I wish I checked this area out over the last couple of days because this is where all the gulls were being pushed. Only a Med Gull today and this presumed juvenile/first-winter Northern Herring Gull (below)

Postscript: On the matter of sexing Long-tailed Ducks in flight here's a few selected images from a trip to Estonia earlier this year:

A pair of Long-tailed Ducks (above) with an obvious and stunning adult male so presumably both adults. The long tail on the male is obvious and would be at distance too. The white scapulars cojoined with the white rump/uppertail coverts is very distinctive too and are also obvious in what appears to be a first-winter male and female (below) . 

Female-type birds  (above and below) showing some of the variation in head and breast patterns.