ML54350321

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

**Very rare -- traveling west w/ flock of Am. Whimbrel at about 0710. Distant looks. Totally whiffed on it during my first scope scan through the group. A second scan revealed a slightly paler/colder colored Whimbrel that appeared to have a white wedge running up the back from the tail, plus a generally paler tail w/ white bleeding into the lateral tail coverts. I got Arjan and Gerard on the bird, and then lost it as the flock re-shuffled, though Arjan was able to keep it in view for longer and secured very convincing views, plus a few photos. Did not see the pale underwings, as they were in shadow for much of the time--but Arjan's photos may show this once they make it to a larger format. This would apparently represent the 1st record for Cape Island-- previous Cape May Co. reports accepted by NJBRC include 14-30 Aug 2000 (Stone Harbor), 3 Jul 2005 (Wildwood), and 21 Apr 2008 (Stone Harbor). Sibley & Elia (1997) also list records from 24 Sep 1973 (Stone Harbor) and 14 Apr 1994 (Avalon). Will update this account once photos become available.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

1024 pixels x 683 pixels

Original file size

217.54 KB