ML244798151

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Swimming close offshore from Obsidian Butte. Difficult to discern coloration in light and tended to swim away for full views. Brownish mottled back, front of neck white, brownish-gray back of neck and head extending below eye. In the field I struggled with the identification, and it was rapidly moving away. Reviewing the photos, I leaned initially with Pacific, but deferred to Common in my mind as I was concerned about the rarity of Pacific relative to the Common in the area this time of year. So I left it as loon sp. After spending a couple of hours reviewing my poor quality photos and a wide range of published photos, I lean toward Pacific over Common on the basis of: 1) The clean neck line along the dark back border (Pacific). Lacking any intrusion of white into the neck line as I often see on the Common. 2) Less white around the cheek compared to Common's I normally see. 3) Bill of the Pacific appears more slender than the Common, which I think my photos reveal. 4) On one photo I felt that a thin chin strap could be evident (Pacific), but it could be just a poor photo shadow, yet firmer given the other three features.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

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

ISO

5000

Focal length

349 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/29.0

Shutter speed

27961/44737601 sec

Dimensions

870 pixels x 580 pixels

Original file size

127.25 KB