Here, the bird was just off the point as viewed through my Nikon EDII
Fieldscope from near the kiosk on Meyer's Point, Cayuga Lake. This was taken w/ a digital camera and I didn't
have time to fiddle with it to udnerexpose a little bit so the bird is overexposed - argh! You can see how
the sunlight was coming in from the left on the bouy so the white really lit up on this picture, however do
note that you can barely make out the large white patch on the side...
Here is a 3x zoom of the above image of the bird (done with a 3x
scaling of the image using the image editing software GIMP on a Linux machine). Changing brightness and
contrast doesn't enhance much other than some of the more grey coloration on the upper nape (barely visible
here) so I did not alter this image other than the scaling. While it is still overexposed on the head and
neck the pattern of the white wing patch is visible as are the dark tips of the tail and wings. The area of
white in this picture furthest right on the bird could either be some of the flanks (which appeared whitish
in flight) or undertail coverets (which I didn't get a good look at). From the better views I had of the bird tthis area appeared more black due to the black flight feathers and tail and some black in the feathers that formed the posterior boarder of the white wing patch.
Here the bird is again not very visible and in goofy light, but you can
see some of the markings on the back and side just behind the wave. The bill is all black and the light
coloration seen here at the base of the bill and/or front of the face is from the light hitting the bird...
Also note that this picture would make for a reasonable fake for the Loch Ness Monster ;-).
From: Paul Hurtado (pauljh@cam.cornell.edu)
To: Cayuga Birds List (CAYUGABIRDS-L@cornell.edu), NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu, oneidabirds@maelstrom.stjohns.edu
Cc: Erin Stephens, Marcus Collins
Subject: Black Guillemot Details
Hello,
Sorry for such a short blurb earlier - I was late for work and wanted to see if anyone else could get down there and see the bird :-).
So, here's the story... We (myself and two beginning birders/friends of mine Macus Collins and Erin Stephens) got to Meyer's about 12:00ish, and there were a large number of gulls out past the kiosk, so I began to scan through them w/ my scope. I quickly found myself looking at a white and black bird out on the water between the point and the nearest bouy. My first thought was "hmmm - very funny gull, maybe a tern - no, maybe a..." - then that was the second thought - "an Alcid!!!" Anyway, the longer bill and neck on the bird made me think Guillemot or Murre - both of which I saw in AK a couple years ago, and after checking Sibley when the bird dove I was 99.9...% certain it was a Guillemot. I had really good looks at it given the distance and the very nice views through a scope, and was able to see the white neck, black bill and dark eye, a little grey going down the birds nape and the back of its neck to a sort of greyish blackish back (not uniform, but not heavily textured either). There was a very prominant white patch on the wing without any noticable bars (nothing like the barring one would see in a juvinile guillemot, and I didn't notice any dark coloration across the patch like a Pigeon G. would have, although at this point I wasn't looking for that mark in particular) and the rear of the bird was black from the primaries and the tail, I didn't get a super great look at the rump but I got one nice view from the side and it looked to be grey like the back. Again, the shape was right on for guillemot, so combined w/ the plumage I was certain it was a guillemot.
As for Black vs. Pigeon this took a while longer and I based this on three things - 1 is pretty solid the other two a little less so. The main observation occured I was trying to get a picture of the bird through my scope w/ a digital camera (the two I got are pretty bad, and a little over exposed... you can *almost* tell its a winter guillemot :-<) but it would dive and stay under for quite a while (longer than the zillions of loons I've ever watched dive) and at one point it came up as a boat was approaching. At this point it was to the north near the bouys out left and when it flew it came back towards the point then landed just south westish of the point out about as far as the bouys. In flight, the bird was very whitish and both myself and Marcus were surprised at how light it appeard in flight. I was expecting darker wings given the darker tips one could see on the bird in the water, and saw no contrast between the wing linings and the underside of the bird. This of course meant good news when I again looked at the field guide and saw the Pigeon Guillemot had darker wing linings than the Black Guillemot (at this point I also noticed the range maps which showed records of black, but not pigeon, in the north east). So the clencher for calling it a Black was the whitish underwings, but the history of Blacks having been recorded in this general area and not Pigeon Guillemots and the fact that I didn't notice any dark bar in the white wing patch (not to say it wasn't there - I just didn't notice. I wish I had more time to look at it before we lost sight as this would have really been nice to verify) at least weren't against the conclusion. In addition, Marcus was able to rule out all of the non-guillemot birds on the introductory page (p241) for the Alcids in Sibley, and that with limited birding experience - we really got lucky with a few great views early on!
Anyway, If that was a mess to read, my appologies - I'm a bit tired but I figured someone probably would like to read this information before tomorrow morning :-). I'll also do a more formal writeup if its asked for this species (which I'm guessing it is - I'm a recent transplant from Colorado so I'm still figuring out what occurances are unusual and usual... I would imagine this was the former) so do let me know if you see this bird - its quite a gem!!!
I'll try to get out tomorrow morning to Meyers then probably work my way back to Ithaca - hopefully this bird sticks around!!! I'd of course like a good photo, but it really is a treat to see such a pretty bird on the lake - I think I would have had about the same reaction if it were a polar bear I was so excited! Anyhoo - I'll be in a red minivan w/ colorado plates if I manage to make it out there. Ok, take care everyon :-)
-Paul Hurtado
This Page Last Updated: January 24, 2000
All Photos (C) 1999 Paul Hurtado
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