Black or Common Guillemot, Juvenile and/or Winter plumage, Smoela, Norway 07 Aug 2018 (1 Viewer)

Delia saw this one land in the bay outside our hotel windows yesterday morning. I got a few distant shots before it flew off again. (Dashing out for those shots with our biggish cameras was what caught the attention of a journalist from the local NRK Radio offices, which got us the chance to put in a plug for Birdforum.) Unfortunately, we never got very close to the bird, though. So now we're not entirely sure whether this is a juvenile or adult winter bird, and though we're leaning towards Black Guillemot (Teist), we can see how it might possibly be a Common Guillemot. Though the shots I got are poor quality and heavily cropped, I did get a number of "poses" (profile, flight, upper wing, underwing) so we figure you good folks at ID Forum can nail it down for us. Thanks in advance |=)|

A young Black Guillemot.

Mmmmm..... thanks Andrew. That really was a nice surprise breakfast treat LOL.

Ditto to Tystie - not sure whether juvenile, or adult moulting to winter plumage. Common Guillemot doesn't have the white patch on the upperwing, and is a longer, heavier bird.

Its a 1cy bird - due to the black on the coverts (i.e. within the white wing patch).

Thanks! We were almost sure of Teist (Tystie, Black Guillemot) when we got the flight shots showing the white patch on the wings, but thought it best to check and learn. There's always room to learn more |=)|