Thought some of the pelagic enthusiasts among us would relate to this
amusing snippet of UK news.
Good to see that we are not the only ones that have trouble at sea.
Good birding
Tony
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extract from the DAILY STAR in the UK 20-Sep-99
By Stuart Winter:
Strictly for the birds
Not since captain Bligh was cast adrift two hundred years ago in the South
Pacific has a ships company been so divided. This time it was the
country's (UK) most famous birding boat the Scillonain that found itself
with a mutiny on the high seas. Ironically, it just had to be an albatross
- the cursed creature of Coleridge's Rime of The Ancient Mariner - that had
shipmates cussing like salty sea-dogs. Over the years, the Scillonian's
annual trip into the Western Approaches has become the stuff of legends.
This year's ws already reaching classic proportions - Great Shearwaters in
constant view throughout the day, a score of Cory's two or three Wilson's
Petrels, plenty of Stormies and a scattering of Sabine's Gull.
SHOUT!
Then a shout changed the atmosphere and set off one of the most vitriolic
splits in birding history. "Albatross..." for 30 or so birders towards the
starboard stern, the unimaginable had happened. There, three hundred
metres away bobbing on the sea, was the unmistakable shape of a
Black-browed Albatross.
As the news ricocheted around the ship, every hand tried to catch a sight
of this most elusive of visitors. Well, not everyone. And that was the
problem. There were those that were happy - perhaps smug - that they had
seen a Black-browed Albatross, and those who arrived moments later, only to
catch sight of an immature Gannet doing its best to imitate an albatross.
There were those that arrived at the same time and were happy they were
still watching the albatross and those poor soles on the bow who only
discovered what was going on when a message came up on their pagers.
Long after the ship docked at Penzance, the incident is still causing waves
of dissent with claims and counter claims about the sighting. There are
some well respected names in either camp. But if you had to trust the word
of one person aboard the Scillonian it ha to be PHIL HANSBRO. He's
confident the bird was a Black-browed, and he should know -he's a veteran
of more 150 Southern Hemisphere pelagics and has distinction of have
personally ringed more than 300 albatrosses.
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