ML41901921

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

First discovered yesterday (11/13) by Bob Meyers and posted by Jim Lind. Different from the two in Duluth, which we saw a few hours before this one. We searched for about 1/2 hour before we located it, hugging the shore (almost touching the rocks part of the time) to the SSW of the observation platform about 150m or so and hard to see through the tree branches and into the afternoon sun. Lighting was not very good, but we did get some mediocre but diagnostic photos. Very large bulky brown sea duck, certainly bigger than Mallard (but no other birds near for comparison). Dove with wings partly open; stayed under a long time, and popped back to the surface very buoyantly, like a big float. The most prominent feature was the huge pale-toned bill with nostril near the tip. The distance from base of bill at forehead to bill tip was about 1.5X the head width. The bill was deep at the base, tapering toward the tip and overall rather tubular (not flat) distally. The dorsal and ventral bill margins were straight, and the overall bill profile was triangular. Head was blocky, angular, with prominent forehead "bump." Sides were barred. Pale eye ring extending behind eye as line, and dark eye; two thin parallel pale lines bordering dark speculum front and rear, Mallard-like (but thinner, not as prominent), but not seen in flight. Could not see distinctly the margin of the loral feathering or the bill lobes, but it appeared that almost the entire basal 2/3 of the bill was feathered, out to the nostril, and feathering was tan colored.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D7000

ISO

400

Focal length

360 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/250 sec

Dimensions

1692 pixels x 1263 pixels

Original file size

780.57 KB