ML132876231
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This bird was only slightly smaller than the Western Grebes and Red-breasted Mergansers with which it was associated or, conversely, it was quite a bit larger than the Eared Grebes. Despite its smaller size relative to the Western Grebes, this bird was stockier with a proportionately larger head and a heavier bill. I thought the bill would have extended backward on the face to the rear edge of the auriculars, but I also noted both that it was stouter at the base than were those of the Western Grebes and that it tapered along a slightly decurved culmen to a sharply pointed tip. The head was blockier than those of the Western Grebes. The forehead sloped upward to an angled junction with the crown, behind which, the crown had both a flattened appearance and a weak "crest" at its junction with the nape. I also thought the neck was shorter and stouter than were those of the Aechmophorus, but the body was plump and noticeably fluffy, and the wings essentially disappeared inside the fluffy scapular and flank feathers. When this bird flapped its wings, they appeared both moderately long and slim. I never saw a tail and what little I saw of the legs was restricted to their uppermost portion visible as the bird swam. This bird was already in largely alternate plumage, so it was relatively striking in both its coloration and patterns. The dull black cap was well-defined as it extended from the forehead back across the crown to the nape. The lower edge of the cap extended backward from the gape before angling upward below the eye to meet the upper edge of the auriculars, from which it continued back to their rear terminus. The whitish throat and cheeks on this bird formed a uniformly colored and well-defined patch (though these regions were washed with gray). The lower edge of this patch extended back from the junction of the throat and foreneck before curving smoothly upward along the lower and rear edges of the auriculars to meet the cap above their rear terminus. The front and sides of the neck were a deep, reddish-orange color from their junction with the throat down to the lower part of the neck, where the reddish color faded to a whitish breast, the sides of which were instead the same dark brown as the back of the neck. The demarcation between the blackish crown and the dusky-brown nape was an indistinct one, below which, the back of the neck was dusky-brown down to its junction with the back. The upperparts were sooty blackish with a somewhat uneven or possibly a scaly pattern, but with little in the way of obvious contrast. I never could distinguish the closed wings when this bird was on the water. I thought the flanks were subtly paler than the upperparts, but when this bird rolled over onto its side to preen, it revealed a silvery-white belly (though I saw this too briefly to determine if the breast, flanks, and undertail coverts were similarly colored). When this bird flapped its wings while facing me, I could see that the underwing coverts were extensively white and, as such, they contrasted conspicuously with the mostly dark remiges. I was able to notice only a rough indication of the pale panels in the secondaries based on my views of the undersides of the spread wings. This bird's bill was more extensively dark than is typical of this species. Whereas the mostly blackish upper-mandible had some deep yellow coloration at the base, the lower mandible was primarily deep yellow but with dark gray clouding on the sides across roughly the distal two-thirds. I looked carefully for brown tones in the eyes, yet they appeared blackish. What little I saw of the uppermost part of the legs was quite dark.
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