ML462979891
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Not specified
Observation details
Pair of black and white murrelets, first of several pairs seen in the day (though the rest were in Los Angeles county waters). Thin- and long- billed compared to Scripps's Murrelets. The tails were held cocked up, with long central tail feathers causing a "V" shape. Unfortunately they did not flush, so we did not get to see the underwings. No breast spur seen. We've found other plumage features like black on the face and whiteness or darkness of the chin not diagnostic for Scripps's vs Craveri's even at point blank range (though it did rule out Guadalupe murrelet). Bill structure much better for Craveri's Murrelets and they're probably the default murrelet by the end of June already, but it might have been ambiguous with just visual marks. However, the birds called repeatedly, a high insect-like trill rather than the piping whistles of Scripps's Murrelets. Some audio recordings.
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 641.46 KB