Cory Shearwaters
Out of the 33 Cory Shearwaters we saw last night this bird stood out because of its relatively slender body, slimmer bill, and whitish tongues to the outer primaries. The make up of the whitish tongues could not be determined from the moving boat. (In our experience, the make up of tongues in the outer three primaries can be determined at sea given favourable conditions: steady boat, good light, close views, repeat looks at underwings.) Joe took a few photos and, although the lighting wasn't great on the underwings, these reveal whitish tongues on the inner webs of P9 and P8, as well as a single dark spot on the outermost greater primary covert. The build of this bird and the single dark spot are more typical of Scopoli's. Crucially, though, P10 does not have a whitish tongue and seems to score 4 according to current research:
Great Shearwaters 21.07.16
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