ML35404281

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Rare. Bird was resting on the water, sometimes vigilant, sometimes sleeping, and floated past with the outgoing tide. In view for almost 15 minutes. Never saw it diving or flying. Very small alcid. Only about 1/2 the body length of Surf Scoter and 1/2 the length of California Gull when seen floating right next to those species in direct comparison. The head was rounded, and the bill was so short that it wasn't even noticeable except when it caught the direct sunlight, and when it did it looked rather bright gray, appearing much lighter than the usual flat black bill color of Marbled Murrelet. The bird never gave the upturned-bill, flat-forehead impression of Marbled Murrelet. The plumage was rather uniformly slate-gray, lacking the bold neck pattern of Ancient Murrelet or any other noticeable texture or pattern. The exception to this was that the rear flanks and undertail coverts were whiteish. Despite the sometimes direct sunlight coming from behind us, we could never make out any brownish tones to the plumage as would be expected on breeding plumage Marbled Murrelet. My digiscoped photos and videograbs turned out better than I expected.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS

ISO

400

Focal length

20 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.9

Shutter speed

1/200 sec

Dimensions

800 pixels x 600 pixels

Original file size

243.01 KB