ML645907046

Observation details

Wonderful find by Dallas Levey! Large, white*, long-necked birds, seen from the westernmost point of the Bulb, swimming in the middle of the Bay, roughly in line with Alcatraz. Easily spotted with just bins and even with the naked eye as glinting flecks in the water. Watched with Dallas, Nat Smale, and Susan Greef. I wonder if these guys got swept up in the massive movement of greater white-fronted geese that have been passing through the region. Bills had no knob and yellow colors, ruling out mute swan. Trumpeter is a possible confusion species but at this location, tundra is substantially more likely; trumpeter has no eBird records in the Bay. My (albeit distant) photos also suggest the rounded heads & slightly curved bills of tundras rather than the sharper peak & straighter bill of trumpeters. But I believe that Dallas has closer-up shots and recordings. Lifer! * Looked like one gray juvenile among the 8 white adults.