ML125933541

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***mega; great looks at 'white-faced' bird with some primary molt (outer 2 primaries old, others fresh); first spotted by James P. Smith distantly ahead of boat, we were able to call it out over the loudspeaker in time for most (but not all) people to have a great look at it passing down the starboard side about 50-100m away. Its face was largely with with a small black skill cap and a bit of a dark line beind the dark eye, which stood out starkly on the white face. The white neck collar was prominent and matched the large white rump patch to provide glaring beacons that helped to identify this bird even when quite distant. Its bill with thick, short, and black; its underparts entirely white (photos show a small dark spur extending along the breast sides); its back was dark grayish-brown (photos show some molt limits, including fresher paler gray secondary coverts; its underwing was extensively white with a thick black carpal bar reating a bold and unique black-and-white wing pattern; its wings were long and pointed, but held crooked as it passed us without flapping. In flight it arced up quite high as it passed us, but not vastly higher than the shearwaters under the same winds. State bird for many on board and just the fifth state record (see http://www.maavianrecords.com/home/annual-reports/report-14-1 for details on other records). Interestingly, this record and another from nearby on nearly the same date 18 Jul 2009 were of the white-faced form, thought to nest in the Leeward Islands (rather than Hispaniola, where most Black-cappeds currently nest). Superb photos by Jeremiah Trimble:

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

ISO

640

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

2100 pixels x 1354 pixels

Original file size

641.8 KB