Natural Selection

Well that one is. The ones that follow aren’t.

After the spin class at 8am and breakfast in the restaurant, both overlooking the sea, there was no sign of yesterday’s Peregrines. Or indeed come to that any birds at all.

I was beginning to regret joking to Jane that we were guaranteed a bird on every day of the trip now we slowly neared land. Gradually the expected seabirds species gave themselves up – Cory’s Shearwaters, Leach’s Petrel and a band-rumped Storm Petrel of some kind.

I snapped out of my torpor when a small landbird flew alongside the ship below our vantage point on Deck 8. It was a brief observation of a classic little brown job, but my best guess was a Buff-bellied Pipit. All keen UK twitchers will have seen one of these, but I haven’t. I told Jane I’d have a look for it among the lifeboats nearer the bridge. We both went and saw nothing.

To cut to the chase it flew past again in the same direction a couple of times and called on both occasions, this with better views showing that it was indeed a pipit confirmed the ID. Thanks to Mike Pennington for the pictures below of one he also had at sea on a cruise ship this autumn, to give an indication to readers what they look like with an authentic ‘how did I end up on this boat’ vibe…

Ship assistance in migrant birds is topical at the moment, with a grackle in Wales thought to have hitched a lift across the pond. Hopefully our surprise visitor landing on a boat heading west may help him get back on course.