Whirly-bird

stonechat

inbound super-puma

Fairly quiet on the bird front with just a few stonechats and a lone black redstart on the ship today. The stonechats have been particularly nervous and flighty and very hard to photograph. A couple of other interesting looking passerines just kept going and frustratingly kept themselves between me and the sun. I didn't have a clue what they were. Helo-ops offered a bit of excitement with an inspection team out to re-validate the heli-deck certification. I guess it was ok in that at least it didn't collapse when the super-puma landed on it! Just as well there were not too many migrants about as a bird strike would not have impressed the team! Seabirds have been scarce with just a few gulls and a dozen or so Cory's shearwaters. For some reason all the seabirds are now turning up on the wrong side of 500 metres or so, which makes photography attempts a waste of space.