ML461265931

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Southbound by itself at 7:39, not too far out on the sound. It ended up landing directly off the point, but far enough out that I couldn’t see it on the water. It picked up again at 7:43 and continued flying west, farther out into the sound. Small, compact, dark alcid that I assumed was a MAMU, but it was immediately obvious that the wingbeats were much too slow. When it got closer I had fairly good looks at a very small, chunky alcid with a rounded body; short, stubby head and rear projection; and short, wide wings — significantly different from a murrelet’s shape. It looked more similar to a RHAU but was clearly much smaller and more compact, with shorter wings. The wingbeats were very noticeably slow for a small alcid, similar to the cadence of RHAU and easy to count each wingbeat. It was doing some fairly substantial rocking in flight, obvious when it was flying almost straight away the second time I saw it. However, the rocking was much slower and steadier than murrelets. The plumage consistently appeared entirely dark including the belly and underwing. That makes sense given the distance and overcast light conditions which were also making RHAUs mostly look all dark. When it landed on the water it plopped down belly first with a substantial splash, different from the relatively more smooth landing of murrelets.

Technical information

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