ML470774111

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

AHY (aka late 1st cycle/1st alternate subadult) bird found today by Ben Lagasse about 2:11 pm at mouth of Campbell Creek - and subsequently seen by many others. Note that Josiah Verbrugge and Bill Carpenter, who also both submitted separate checklists today with photos, and I stood almost side-by-side, so our images are very similar. It is my 'opinion' that until such time as the identification to specific species is reviewed and approved by the Alaska Checklist Committee, all reports should be archived in eBird as the super-species Little/Least; which is what I have done here (unlike all others). That said, I admit that based on subsequent study of the photos and references I am 'leaning' towards LETE (i.e. 3-4 darker outer primaries, white forehead extending to just past front of eye {apparently beyond middle of eye in subadult and adult LITE}, dark outer primary shafts) - but this ID is still in question and may even remain indeterminant. Of interest; several of the flight images appear to show at least two ages of primaries (inner primaries, S1-S3? appear paler and fresher vs S4-S5, possibly from a staged/interrupted pre-alternate molt sequence) and some of the secondary coverts are molting.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

ISO

400

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Dimensions

2460 pixels x 1734 pixels

Original file size

1.32 MB