ML126728191
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Here's my WBRC write-up: Guadalupe Murrelet Synthliboramphus hypoleucus Grays Canyon, WA 1 August 2015 I was sitting on the bow of the Monte Carlo when a small alcid flushed in front of the boat, only about 10 meters in front the bow. It was immediately apparent that it was not only a Synthliboramphus murrelet, but even more interestingly that it was a Guadalupe Murrelet due to the face pattern. My initial view when spotting the bird without binoculars was of a small alcid that was black above that sharply contrasted with the gleaming white under sides. The face was mainly white, with an obvious indent of black jutting into the white around where the eye should be. This was clearly visible due to the bird being so close to be boat. I would estimate it was no more than ten meters in front of the bow and I was looking at it initially through the bow's railing. I then got the bird in binoculars and only had a view of the upperside as it was flying away. Again the black upperparts sharply contrasted with the white flank area. The back seemed to have a slight gray cast to it that the wings didn't seem to have. Unfortunately I was too slow with the camera to get a photo, but made a basic sketch illustrating what I saw on the bird. I believe the three of us on the bow were the only people to see this bird. Bill Shelmerdine got on it about the same time I did and noticed how white the face was, but didn't see the specific pattern around the eye. Nate Peters also saw the bird, but I think not until it was flying away. The most similar species would be Scripps's and Craveri's Murrelets, but both of them have a black upper half to the face. After getting back home that night I looked at photos of all three species and it was striking how much blacker their faces looked compared to the bird we saw, while those of Guadalupe were a great match in face pattern. The other small alcid we saw out there was Cassin's Auklet. There were several in the few minutes after seeing the Guadalupe which seemed to me to be larger, much rounder, and much duskier underneath. I believe the time was about 10:50 though I didn't check it until a little while later. We were right around the shelf break, just before the counters tallied numbers and an announcement was made that we were in about 1500 feet of water. It was sunny at the time, but the sun was to our backs so the lighting was really good. The seas were somewhat rough, with some swells in the 6-7 foot range and wind probably something like 10-15 knots which likely contributed to the murrelet not flushing until we nearly ran it over.
Technical information
- Model
- iPhone 6
- Lens
- iPhone 6 back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
- ISO
- 200
- Focal length
- 4.2 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/2.2
- Shutter speed
- 1/30 sec
- Dimensions
- 800 pixels x 533 pixels
- Original file size
- 298.53 KB