ML185759391

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

*very rare. Spotted by tcl. Westbound bird relatively close offshore. Viewed for about 20 seconds in good light. Overall the structure of this bird was similar to the RTLOs we’d been seeing all morning—a slender and attenuated loon with relatively small head, straight and thin bill, and small feet that didn’t obviously dangle past the tail. The head pattern was a dark brown “helmet” which ran all the way down to the throat, leaving just a small sliver if visible white when the bird was parallel the water. The dark chocolate helmet contrasted sharply with the throat and there was no sign of a collar. The trajectory the bird followed was followed by a couple common loons shortly thereafter, and the difference in flight style was apparent. This bird had notably shallower wingbeats than the commons, and was much less lumbering. The bird was never in direct comparison with a common loon but did fly by a white-winged scoter and, while obviously larger, it did not dwarf the Scoter in the same way commons do (we were able to see colo and wwsc together for reference not lonf after). Poor photos TCL notes - After spotting the bird and getting everyone on it I left the scope to take these photos, so I did not get to study it as long. This loon was not moving its neck up and down vigorously like many RTLOs, and the gray face or "helmet" is what grabbed me about the bird. Overall impression was that of a miniature COLO. To see the photos best, click the "species with photos" at the top (don't use the lightbox!).

Additional species

• White-winged Scoter Melanitta deglandi

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III

ISO

800

Focal length

560 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/9.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

313 pixels x 206 pixels

Original file size

41.37 KB