ML108086571

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - X

Tags

Multiple species

Observation details

This was a large bird even when compared with nearby Great Egrets, which likely had a body mass less than half that of the stork. Not only did it stand taller overall, but its shorter neck resulted in the body standing higher than those of the egrets. Even more different than this bird’s larger size was its more massive bill and its unfeathered head and neck. I estimated the bill to be about three times aa long as the head was wide. Moreover, the bill tapered from a base that was both wide and deep to a blunt point at the tip along a culmen that was straight for about the basal three-quarters before curving downward. It was also at about this point where the smooth taper from the base constricted leaving the distal quarter of the bill conspicuously slimmer. Clearly apparent was what looked like a large plate on the forehead that extended from the base of the upper mandible to the peak of the crown, behind which the nape and sides of the head were smooth and seemingly unfeathered. The neck from the nape down to the upper back, and from the throat down to the junction with the breast was coarsely wrinkled and having an appearance approaching that of cottage cheese. This bird’s head was small, the crown appeared rounded, and the neck was shorter and stouter than that of an egret. The body was rather plump, and the posture was more upright than diagonal. I noted only a slight extension of the primaries beyond the longest tertial and wingtips that appeared to reach, if not exceed, the tip of the tail, which they obscured in its entirety. The legs were similar in length to those of the Great Egrets, yet somewhat stouter. When seen in flight, this bird had relatively broad wings with fingered wingtips, and it flew with relatively deep wingbeats interspersed with glides on wings that were held straight outward from the body. The bill was pointed forward, and maybe slightly downward, when the bird was in flight, and the neck was outstretched. The short tail was clearly visible when the wings were spread, and seemingly square-tipped and relatively broad. The legs were held directly backward when the bird was in flight and they extended well beyond the tip of the tail. This bird’s plumage patterns were entirely white and black. The body plumage was white from the base of the neck down the back and rump, and across the scapulars, wing coverts, and tertials. The underparts were also entirely white from the base of the neck down through the breast, belly, sides, flanks, and undertail coverts. Contrasting sharply with the white body and wing coverts, the remiges were black from the inner secondaries out through the outer primaries, but as evident in the closed wings, the tertials were white, so only a very small portion of the longest primaries was visible. The black on the wing also extended up to the shoulder, suggesting that the primary coverts were black, but I failed to notice this expressly when the bird was in flight. I saw a narrow band of white along the leading edge of the underwing that may have represented a pale web on one of alula feathers. Equally as obvious as the contrast on the wings was that between the black tail and the white rump and uppertail-coverts. The bill was dusky in color, approaching blackish basally, but blending to dark brown or purplish distally. The creamy-yellow plate on the forehead contrasted with a black eyering that was narrower above the eye than below, and which connected with the broad band that extended across at least part of the auriculars and up over the nape. The lower end of the black appeared to extend back from the gape under the eye. Just behind the black on the nape, the uppermost part of the back of the neck was again yellowish in color, but the rest of the neck was a medium to dark gray. I thought the eyes were dark brown. The legs were a slate-gray to blackish, but the feet were sharply demarcated and clearly pink, much like the color on a Western Gull.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

2156 pixels x 1429 pixels

Original file size

3.6 MB