Hitching a ride - did exhausted American vagrants take a breather on giant Atlantic-crossing oil tankers?

Bay-breasted warbler - Ramsey Island sighting 

                       

DID most - if not all - of the flurry of recent vagrant American warblers hitch a ride on a ship?

This is inevitably one of the theories that surrounds the extraordinary influx that characterised the last fortnight of September, 2023

They were among a tally of more than than 70 individual passerines of no fewer than 18 different species that were reported.

They would most likely have been migrating to Central and South America when Hurricane Lee struck the East Coast of North America.

The strong westerlies that ensued would have blown them, probably exhausted, further out over the Atlantic than normal.

Inevitably, any passing ship would have been seen as providing  a precious, if temporary, refuge until land came into view.

At all times of year there is a procession of fuel-carrying cargo vessels wending their way to and from the port at Milford Haven which is located in Pembrokeshire on the south-west coast of Wales.

Many of them are oil tankers - some as long as 50 metres.

Noticeable is how many of the rarities were first detected  near to Britain's third largest port, some in Pembrokeshire itself.

These included: 

* Canada Warbler

* Bay-breasted Warbler 

* Magnolia Warbler 

* Black-and-white Warbler 

* Bobolink 

The birds may have stayed on board all the way to dockside, but it is just as feasible that they resumed flight when land came into view - perhaps thinking Bermuda had been reached.

Does it matter to birders whether the American vagrants were ship-assisted? Probably not.

It makes for just as romantic a story as if they had flown all the way from Boston, Massachusetts, or wherever.

What next for the birds? After resting and feeding, some of the warblers seemed, judging by the photographs and video clips, to be in remarkably fine fettle.

It is unlikely they will have the strength of stamina to return whence they came, but those that survive - and temperatures here have remained benign - will probably continue their journeys south.

The north coast of counties such as Cornwall or Devon  beckon, but only time will tell.                                                    

                

Milford Haven - Britain's third largest port and a notable tanker ship destination

The Marianne is only 17 metres  - some other tankers  are three times that length