[Tweeters] What is this bird?

[Dennis Paulson]

I have seen only Pelagic nesting at the Anacortes dock, although there can be Double-crested roosting on the pilings. The ones in Jim's photo are Double-crested. The crests are grown early in the breeding season and then lost by the time the young are growing up in their nests.

And the black plumage of Pigeon Guillemots can fade to brownish by this time of year Those feathers are probably about 10 months old. The UV rays from that sun up there have a pretty strong effect on the plumage of all of our birds, not to mention just plain wear. That’s why they replace them all every year by molting.

Dennis Paulson
Seattle


> On Aug 2, 2023, at 8:42 AM, Tom Benedict <benedict.t at comcast.net> wrote:

> 

> Both species are present at the Anacortes dock. When I was there they were mostly Pelagic. Honestly I don’t recall for sure whether the nesting birds were DC or Pelagic. I don’t have a camera so no photos to review.

> 

> On the PIGU, the brownish color is interesting. Too bad there weren’t other ‘blacker’ birds in the view to compare. Any chance the brownish cast is due to time of day/angle of sun? 

> 

> Tom Benedict

> Seahurst, WA

> 

>> On Aug 2, 2023, at 08:22, jimbetz at jimbetz.com wrote:

>> 

>> Hello all,

>> 

>> Everyone says "Pigeon Guillemot" ... I'm not disputing that ... but no

>> one has explained the color ... the bird I saw was definitely in that

>> light reddish-brown.  I agree with all of the shape identifiers making it

>> a pigeon guillemot.  But ...

>> I have gone back and played with the image using Elements and no matter

>> what I do with the saturation and/or the brightness settings the best I

>> can get it to is a light gray.

>> Yet every ID info image I can find shows the pigeon guillemot to be

>> dark gray or even black.  ???

>> 

>> One person said to notice the Pelagic Cormorants in the pilings of the

>> Anacortes Ferry terminal.  I did see cormorants ... but my ID has them as

>> Double-crested.  They were on the pilings right by the ferry and also on

>> the pilings of the old cannery at Ship Harbor.  Note the color of the

>> bill area in this picture ...

>> 

>> https://eamon.smugmug.com/Family-pics-from-jim/Birds-and-Stuff-from-Jim/n-4Cw3NF/Birds-Web/i-Zsx37pc/A

>> 

>> ... however, I'm 'conflicted' about the ID because I did not detect the

>>     crest in any of them (at either location).  I did consider the

>>     Pelagic ... but the bill area color got me to say "Double".

>> 

>>       Your thoughts on either of these questions are appreciated.

>> 

>>                                                              - Jim

>> 

>> Quoting jimbetz at jimbetz.com:

>> 

>>> Hi,

>>> I was this bird at the ferry slip at Friday Harbor on Sunday, the 30th.

>>> I've spent almost 2 hours searching for an ID and can't come up with it.

>>> Any assistance appreciated!

>>> Yes, the colors in this pic are correct/very close.

>>> 

>>>  https://eamon.smugmug.com/Family-pics-from-jim/Birds-and-Stuff-from-Jim/n-4Cw3NF/Birds-Web/i-57cqKhd/A

>>> 

>>>                                               - Jim

>> 

>> 

> 

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters