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Fea’s Petrel, Sea Palling, Aug 27, 2018

 

I started the day’s seawatch at about 06:10 at one of my usual spots in Sea Palling. The light was fairly flat and dull but with some occasional sunlight from the south-east. Very little was going on with the only birds of note being an Arctic Skua, a few Gannets moving south and a very small number of Sandwich Terns, Teal and Common Scoter north. At 06:44 I picked up a bird coming from the south at perhaps just over a kilometre out. Its mode of flight immediately put me in mind of a shearwater and it appeared at first sight to be quite large and with more bulk than a Manx. I got a brief view of a white belly and given the bird’s apparent larger size than a Manx Shearwater, I thought I might be in with a chance of a Great Shearwater, one of which was seen by Kevin Shepherd two days earlier off Sheringham.

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As the bird sheared and showed its underparts, I was struck by how white they were. I quickly looked for any dark markings on the belly and was surprised – and a little disappointed – not to see any. As the bird banked I intended to check the underwings for a dark trailing edge and dark marks as on a Great Shearwater, but was amazed to see instead an exceedingly dark and – to all intents and purposes – wholly black underwing. I got that funny feeling as I realised this wasn’t something I was familiar with and with the dark underwing thoughts quickly turned to a Fea’s Petrel. It resembled a larger shearwater having a longer wing – and especially hand – than a Manx, with the wingtips held slightly back and looking quite narrow. However, it had a quite different flight pattern.

 

As it sheared smoothly up again and came down, I lost it behind a wave. I scanned a little way ahead as I would with a Manx or Sooty etc, expecting the bird to appear but it didn’t. I dropped back slightly and quickly picked it up again. However, the bird was shearing in a different way to the Manx Shearwaters I often see here and was in fact a bit awkward to follow as it wasn’t reappearing where I was expecting it to but rather a short way behind and I wasn’t seeing the upperside either. After a short series of 2-3 shears it stayed low and out of sight for a short time before appearing and performing a similar flight pattern. I followed the bird as it moved north-west, coming in slowly all the time. As it got to about 10 o’clock and at a distance of one kilometre maximum, it was possible to view the upperparts as it performed a low glide and a few flaps. I zoomed up the scope and got a good view. I was amazed to see a broad grey mantle and a thickish dark bar across the coverts to the leading edge of the wing, superficially as in a Kittiwake. However, the pattern was much less crisp and there was no bright white area behind the covert bar etc. The outerwing looked quite dark. I did a quick double take and checked again. Fantastic! The front of the bird looked greyish as a continuation of the mantle, and there was no dark cap or collar etc present. I couldn’t see what was going on with the uppertail as it effectively disappeared against the almost identically coloured dull grey sea.

 

I was now shaking and swearing profusely. I had excluded Manx, Sooty, Balearic and Great shearwaters (and Cory’s Shearwater), and following my view of the upperpart pattern this was clearly a Fea’s-type Petrel. As the bird moved north and viewing became worse I fumbled for my phone and quickly called Andy Kane, who I hoped was watching just 2/3 of a mile to the north but unfortunately he was driving home and had no chance of getting back in time. I then called Mick Fiszer at 06:48. I knew Mick was due back from the Bridges of Ross in the early hours of today and hoped he had decided to go straight out. Unfortunately there was no answer. I then called Ryan Irvine to the south of me at Hemsby and described what I had seen. He immediately stated that it sounded like a Fea’s Petrel. I managed to get hold of Mick at 06:58 just as he was going through the door. He said he would head up to Mundesley and may make it in time.

There were a few other species at the back of my mind, and given the rarity of the species and potential for something even more “out there” like a Trindade Petrel, I wanted to get home and go through what I had seen to make sure I was correct and was not missing something silly. The bird did appear a bit larger than I expected, but having discussed the sighting with observers with experience of Fea’s, this is apparently quite a common reaction upon first setting eyes on one, due to the relatively long wings.

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After the bird had passed I was on the phone for a fair while and could only watch half-heartedly as I was rather excited to say the least. I went home for a coffee and Ryan called to say that the bird had gone south past Hemsby about 80-90 minutes after my sighting. He too was similarly surprised to see the unusual and erratic flight pattern, clean white underparts and dark underwings and immediately recognised it as a Fea’s-type petrel. As his viewpoint is slightly higher than mine he was able to observe the bird in the periods between its shears. He noticed that it was performing a few jerky, powerful wingbeats low over the water before resuming its shearing flight pattern; presumably this is exactly what it was doing when it moved north past me and I was losing it between its shears. Although Ryan was unable to make out the upperwing pattern due to the light conditions, he was able to note a long white/pale “clenched” tail and a grey head and necksides, which he likened to the pattern on a Ringed Plover’s necksides.

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Having never seen a Fea’s Petrel before, in hindsight the identification seems pretty straightforward and almost obvious. Although I have obviously had the species in the back of my mind, I never expected to see one just pop up in my scope like this. However, it has taken 12 years of keen watching, so it wasn’t exactly an overnight success. A quite amazing experience which makes all those birdless hours seem worth it.

 

Size:

• Bigger and bulkier than a Manx.

• Gave an impression of being bigger than it was due to its relatively long wings.

 

Structure:

• Clearly a shearwater-type bird.

• Longish looking wings, with narrow tips a little swept back.

• Hand looking long as in a larger shearwater.

• Looked quite broad in the beam and front heavy / chunky.

• A tapering tail (TA) / “clenched” tail (RI).

 

Plumage:

• Underparts clean white from chin to tail. The white was a bright “Persil” white.

• The underwings looked essentially very dark or black.

• The mantle was a clear grey and quite broad. There was a thickish dark covert bar going to the leading edge of the wing.

• The outerwing was a darker/browner toned area.

• There was no collar or cap and the grey just spread forward off the mantle and onto the head.

• RI also observed grey neck sides (similar to a Ringed Plover’s neck patches) off Hemsby, but the upperpart pattern was largely unclear for him due to the light conditions as the bird flew south.

• The uppertail disappeared into the sea, which was a remarkably similar pale grey.

 

Flight:

• Shearing quite smoothly but not in a predictable way as in other shearwaters I see here.

• Often not appearing from behind a wave quite where I was expecting it to.

• After 2-3 shears it would disappear behind a wave for a few seconds before reappearing and continuing its flight pattern.

Field sketch made very shortly after the bird had passed.