Subject: Re: Red-billed Tropicbird at La Conner? (fwd)
Date: Jun 22 13:54:42 1998
From: Christopher Hill - cehill at u.washington.edu


Hi John,

You don't give much detail to go on, but even without a detailed
description, I have a question.

There's a largish seabird with long narrow wings, a gray back and white
undersides and a conspicuous red bill that is seen regularly where you saw
your mystery bird: Caspian Tern. Did you consider that possibility? The
red bill is prominent on Caspian Terns, quite visible in flight, and the
overall shape and coloration would be similar to a tropicbird - the
easiest way to distinguish them might be the length of the tail. Caspian
Terns have a medium length tail with a shallow fork. A tropicbird would
have tremendously long tail streamers, longer than the rest of the bird
put together. Did you see tail streamers of that length? What was it,
exactly, that led you to conclude it was a tropicbird? Anything is
possible, and a tropicbird would be a mindboggling record for sure.

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu



On Mon, 22 Jun 1998, D. Victor wrote:

> Please copy From: "John Cooney" <johncooney at email.msn.com> with any
> responses as he's currently not subscribed.
> Dan Victor, Seattle, WA <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "John Cooney" <johncooney at email.msn.com>
> Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 22:37:39 -0700
>
> While dining on the waterfront in La Conner on the return leg of a
> week's vacation on the Western shore of Vancouver Island my wife, daughter,
> and I casually looked up to see what seemed to be a Red-billed Tropicbird
> flying directly overhead. I was totally unprepared for this and thought
> that it was a Long-tailed Jaeger. After consulting many sources and
> quizzing and requizzing my two co-observers, we agreed (even though it seems
> unlikely) that we saw a Red-billed Tropicbird. Someone please help me with
> this. None of us believe in UFO's (although this would qualify); but after
> looking over many photos and drawings this is our conclusion.
>
> John Cooney
> johncooney at msn.com
> Eugene, Oregon
>
>
>
>
>