that is some distance away!! It is definately too pale for Short-tailed and Sooty (Have Sooty been recorded in HK??). So, looking through other species of shearwaters, only Buller's (Don't think they are recorded in HK either), Wedge-tailed and Streaked have paler underparts.
Looking at photos, these are the information they gave me:
Buller's - Got an "M" shaped pattern on it's back, it also got a very pale underwing, which as I can see both features are not presented on this bird.
Wedge-tailed - Pale Morph have darker grey-brown plumage on back, head and upperwing, underpart is pale. Medium coverts and primaries underwings are darker. This matches certain features shown by this bird in the photo; dark upperbody and slightly darker underwing.
Streaked - Largest of these three, have slightly similar colourations and undering pattern with Wedge-tailed, with slightly paler underwing, though at this distance it certainly can be mixed up. Have pale forehead, which I can't really tell clearly if there is or not in these photos...But head looks dark in a few photos.
So, I am leaning towards Wedge-tailed. But they are really too far to judge for me...pretty impressive photos for such great distance though!! :shock:
Will love to hear some more from real experts...
ops:
Cheers.
