ML134887731

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

**RARE from shore and in NYC, but not hugely unexpected given the enormous alcid flight that has been happening in the northeast over the last week or two, with tens of thousands of RAZO and other mixed alcids being seen from Avalon and eastern Long Island on a daily basis. Spotted flying east past jetty around 10am. Immediately striking as a small alcid with rapid whirring wingbeats and direct flight (unlike the haphazard flight of a LTDU). Compact body, short in length - from the distance we were viewing almost appeared to have no head or tail. Black above with white belly, dark underwings, and dark in the face. It was obviously much smaller than the RAZOs we had been seeing at a similar distance away. Seen well, studied, and ID'd for the first few seconds of the observation before photos were attempted. Daisy stayed on the bird and observed it for the whole duration, while I attempted to photograph. One poor photograph shows dark wings, short tail, small head - general shape. While not diagnostic, we added it as a support to the sighting.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D3100

ISO

1600

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

981 pixels x 815 pixels

Original file size

103.6 KB