ML646335631

觀察細節

Now confident with this ID, thanks to the help of Noah Arthur and Justin Bosler. I waffled back and forth on this bird and another for a while; I think distance made size hard to judge. For this bird in particular, it came considerably closer than the other bird in question, giving me fantastic looks at the open wing in brief moments in flight. The first and really only thing that had me on the fence was the size, but now, having learned that GWGU/THGU can overlap in size, and this is well within range for GWGU. The heavyset blunt-tipped bill and high-set beady eye point away from THGU and KUGU. In flight, the wings appeared fairly blunt and thick, the neck appeared to be a little more thick as well. Noah helped me contextualize that there is so much variability that guidebooks can’t depict, and this variability is much easier to visualize in large flocks on the pacific coast where he’s based. Very cool to get to learn this stuff here, makes the challenge all that much more exciting.