A Tubenose Project Update

The local birding's been a bit hit-and-miss recently hence another long gap between posts. I'd hoped to have something to show from a weekend in West Cornwall - Kumlien's, Glaucous and Ring-billed Gulls - all quality birds but not even half-decent photos and certainly no sketches to show for it. I also hoped something, anything, might pop up at Topsham Rec but my highlights of the year so far have been three Med Gulls and a Red Kite.

I have been fairly busy though, with a couple more plates for the 'Tubenose Handbook' finished - before the inevitable corrections of course. Here's a couple of details/crops:

Streaked and Pink-footed Shearwaters (plus confusion spp.)

Wedge-tailed and Buller's Shearwaters (plus confusion spp.)

When published these two plates should face each other, something like this:

Plates 39 & 40 (with provisional labels)

There's still some way to go yet, though, I can already see a few things that need correcting/altering, not least the quality of the scan.