Subject: Re: TWEETERS digest 265
Date: Apr 11 14:36:48 1995
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>Just a quick ID question. While at Cape Flattery (extreme NW tip of
>Olympic Peninsula) last weekend, we watched what appeared to be closest
>to a pelagic cormorant: characteristic head/beak though somewhat smaller
>and more slender than other cormorants, with symmetric white patches on
>the upper body in back (sorry for murdering the appropriate
>ornithological anatomic landmarks--I am a rather low-rent birder). It
>generally looked like the pic in the NGS guide, and distribution apears
>correct, but I have a few queries: rather than being a dullish green
>color throughout, this bird had a greenish/black sheen with definite
>greenish-blue areas on the crown and neck (that stood out against its
>darker background). Is this a seasonal plumage variant? Also, while I
>have seen the usual assortment of coastal birds on the Peninsula and in
>the San Juans, I have never seen this bird: is it uncommon, or is it more
>a function of what its name implies (that I would be more likely to see
>it the farther seaward I was).
>
>Jeanne Marrazzo
><jmm2 at u.washington.edu>

Jeanne, your bird sounds exactly like a Pelagic Cormorant to me. They have
quite bluish iridescence on the neck. They are not in any way pelagic, a
misnomer from the start. This is a very common species on the Washington
coast. The white patches are only present from late February to July, so
if you have done a lot of cormorant watching over the rest of the year, you
might not have realized you were seeing Pelagics. They are the smallest,
most slender, and most iridescent of the 3 Washington species.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416