ML610934667

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

As surreal a bird as I’ve seen, an incongruous black and white apparition. Came in low over the troughs at 30 m, mind blowing views, continued SW towards Kettle Point. Tiny, Starling-sized seabird, roughly football shaped with narrow, paddle-like wings. Neckless look with fullsome rounded body and tapered rear. Short, thick black bill. Jet black crown and face with white crescent curving up behind the eye and black bar extending down at the shoulder. Jet black upperparts extending to the uppertail. Underparts gleaming white to the undertail. Upperwing jet black with thin trailing edge of white on secondaries. Underwing uniformly dark gray / black. In flight, furiously beating those tiny wings, with a bit of side to side tipping as it went, as if a bit unsteady in the wind, nearly onshore and just skimming the waves. I expected this bird to buzz by quickly but its passage was somewhat erratic and weak. Who would have thought my world lifer Dovekie would be in Lambton😂 Josh and Brandon had the Dovekie at 7.34 and I had it at 8.04….I’ll do the math later lol. Edit - almost exactly 20 km as the Dovekie flies, 35 minutes = 34 kph. I estimated 30 - 40 in the field. 1st Lambton record and I’d assume the 1st for Lake Huron. I’d have to think this bird came via Hudson Bay / James Bay given what’s been coming down lately.

Technical information

Model

iPhone SE (3rd generation)

Lens

iPhone SE (3rd generation) back camera 3.99mm f/1.8

ISO

40

Focal length

4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.8

Shutter speed

1/120 sec

Dimensions

4032 pixels x 3024 pixels

Original file size

2.9 MB