With a stiff northerly wind blowing at Stag Rocks, Bamburgh a few days ago the adult was close in on the rocks as the tide came in.
Records have come from Ireland, (County Down and Cork) and three locations on the east coast (Norfolk, Northumberland and Angus & Dundee) this autumn.
The American breeding grounds lie across Canada and wintering is much further south in southern USA and the Caribbean.
This bird was associating with Black-headed Gulls and gradually moving up the rocks with the advancing tide ...
... and the clearly defined small black primary tips form a clear-cut black trailing edge to the wing ...
... and as it comes in to land the bright pink legs show nicely...
... and the grey hind-neck along with the neat slim bill complete the suite of features ...
... also p5,6 7 & 8 have tiny white tips ... perhaps like Black-headed Gull these are an age related feature that increase with age...
... then standing right next to a Black-headed Gull, the slightly darker mantle shade is apparent along with its smaller size ...
A superb bird !
