ML66569631

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

While scanning the gulf, all of a sudden, this bird floats right by us about 50 meters just offshore. Never even lifted its wings. Continued floating in towards a shallow part of the gulf. Maybe not in good condition? There have been recent storms in the Pacific and another Sooty Shearwater in supposed poor condition was recently seen at another site (although offshore) in Costa Rica. Bill seemed too slender for Short-tailed and Christmas Shearwaters, also seemed too large for the latter species. EDIT, July 2020- I have meant to go back and change this for some time. In retrospect, I believe this was a Christmas Shearwater. This was also suggested by Dale Dyer as a possibility. Both myself and another observer had remarked that it was a uniform dark chocolate brown with a very black beak. I had expected a Christmas to be smaller but since size is typically deceptive and I have no experience with that species, my impressions of size of the bird shouldn't be taken into account. It seems that dark Wedge-tailed would have a longer tail and longer neck and beak (?), and both Sooty and Short-tailed wouldn't have that uniform dark brown coloration. Would love to hear opinions from experts on all species mentioned.

Technical information

Model

FinePix HS50EXR

ISO

100

Focal length

185 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/600 sec

Dimensions

923 pixels x 903 pixels

Original file size

168.06 KB