Last few Stormies of the year

With the weather looking nice and calm and overcast, with a new moon to boot, we decided on one last Storm Petrel session on Wednesday night. We were hoping for something to liven up the day after a paltry 14 birds in the morning at Marazion Marsh, where there was still no Aquatic Warbler. AND we've now been beaten to it by Devon, with one seen at South Milton Ley yesterday morning.

So off to Hot Point we went, with just two nets set. It was pretty quiet (perhaps not surprisingly for September), but we did ring another six birds before giving up early at 1:30am. Interestingly, all bar one of these birds were already well into moult, as on the bird below, suggesting that these are non-breeding birds. Breeding adults are thought to moult slightly later in the year; starting in October.

The primaries are too worn to really guess if these are 'juvenile-type' or 'adult-type' (based on how pointed/rounded they are), but also note the very nice white-tipped greater coverts, shown in both newly-fledged juveniles but apparently also older birds.