SueO
Well-known member
Hi All,
I was at Bolsa Chica (Southern California) today playing with my new birthday present when I took these pictures. I was going to post some photos in the camera section and say how happy I am with my new Sony HX100. I have some great shots of this bird to post, but embarrassingly, I can’t decide what it is. When I first saw it, I thought pelagic, but after studying a bit thought it must be Brandt’s. I see points from both. I have only seen both of these adult birds once at a distance and am not familiar with them.
My problems:
Tail looks longish to me—Pelagic; but long is relative.
Bill looks too heavy for Pelagic—except at certain angles.
I see a throat patch forming—Brandt’s
I can almost see white showing through on the upper flanks—Pelagic (although the eye color says juvie and he shouldn’t have flank patches. But maybe the light feathers are there lurking for next season?
In photo #4 the neck looks quite thick—Brandt’s
In Photo #5 the bird looks quite slender—pelagic
The bird was really funny. He was going back and forth under a foot bridge and kept looking up at me while I looked at him. He certainly didn’t behave like the Double-crested or other Cormorants I’ve seen. He was curious and friendly. One thing I read while researching was that Pelagics do strange movements with their necks and this guy was twisting it to look up at me.
I have posted some blurry shots only so you could see how much the strong, late afternoon sun affected the appearance of the bird in different angles. I don’t know why this is so hard for me, it probably shouldn’t be. Thank-you in advance for helping a feeble old lady.
Sue
I was at Bolsa Chica (Southern California) today playing with my new birthday present when I took these pictures. I was going to post some photos in the camera section and say how happy I am with my new Sony HX100. I have some great shots of this bird to post, but embarrassingly, I can’t decide what it is. When I first saw it, I thought pelagic, but after studying a bit thought it must be Brandt’s. I see points from both. I have only seen both of these adult birds once at a distance and am not familiar with them.
My problems:
Tail looks longish to me—Pelagic; but long is relative.
Bill looks too heavy for Pelagic—except at certain angles.
I see a throat patch forming—Brandt’s
I can almost see white showing through on the upper flanks—Pelagic (although the eye color says juvie and he shouldn’t have flank patches. But maybe the light feathers are there lurking for next season?
In photo #4 the neck looks quite thick—Brandt’s
In Photo #5 the bird looks quite slender—pelagic
The bird was really funny. He was going back and forth under a foot bridge and kept looking up at me while I looked at him. He certainly didn’t behave like the Double-crested or other Cormorants I’ve seen. He was curious and friendly. One thing I read while researching was that Pelagics do strange movements with their necks and this guy was twisting it to look up at me.
I have posted some blurry shots only so you could see how much the strong, late afternoon sun affected the appearance of the bird in different angles. I don’t know why this is so hard for me, it probably shouldn’t be. Thank-you in advance for helping a feeble old lady.
Sue
