Saturday, August 21, 2010

Shaggy revisited


Digiscoped in the rain with my decent scope...

3 comments:

Glen Webber said...

Which species of Shag is this? Great shot.

Mike Weedon said...

Thanks, Glen. This is the species we unimaginatively call 'Shag'(Phalacrocorax aristotelis). There are two cormorant species in the UK, (Great) Cormorant and Shag (which apparently used to be called Green Cormorant). The former is much more familiar to most birdwatchers, as it is very common on inland waterways as well as the coast. Shag is actually a much more numerous breeding bird, but they are common on rocky, cliffy places in the north and the northern isles and are mostly coastal and are only scarce inland, so most birders see them only infrequently.
This bird is a juvenile (that's why it is rather brown with some pale fringing and a white throat throat). They are nearly annual in the Peterborough area, and we always seem to get juvenile/first-winter birds.
Ferry Meadows Country Park, where this bird is, is sited by the River Nene, and most of our Shags presumably come from the coast (North Sea) along this river channel.
Mike

Dale Forbes said...

twas great to see you again, Mike!