Thanks, Tom, I too wondered about that (i.e., how often has this bird been
reported in WA). Therefore, given what I could see of the bird, I'm not
going to accept it myself as a detailed enough observation to validate it as
a Red-faced Cormorant. It was windy and overcast and the light was not
great, so I'm skeptical now that I may have misread the color at the base of
the bill as red. But the bill was definitely too long and thick for a
Pelagic Cormorant. So, despite being quite close to the bird, I'm going to
drop it as an observation to try and detail further. Anyone observing
cormorants out there, however, would be well to look more closely to see if
there could in fact be a "Red-faced" Cormorant around now. But at this
point, with nothing more to go on, I suspect it may have simply been a
Brandt's Cormorant that I misidentified.

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Aversa" <Tom.Aversa at Zoo.org>
To: "Bruce Moorhead" <bruceb at olypen.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 6:56 AM
Subject: RE: Red-faced Cormorant obs. at Ediz Hook


> Hi Bruce,
> Thanks for the cc. This bird has only been seen once before in WA. It is
extremely rare.
>
> If it's not too much trouble, it would be good to write up more detailed
notes, and send them off to the WA Bird Records Committee (accessible from
the WOS website).
>
> Thanks,
> tom
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Moorhead [mailto:bruceb at olypen.com]
> Sent: Mon 6/14/2004 7:19 PM
> To: Tweeters; Tom Aversa
> Cc: Bob Norton; Bob Boekelheide
> Subject: Red-faced Cormorant obs. at Ediz Hook
>
>
> At 4 p.m. today while walking (near the radio tower) on the outer Ediz
Hook road along Port Angeles harbor on a windy day, I noticed a largish,
thicker-billed dark black cormorant about 100 ft from me in the water near
the shoreline, with a smaller and obviously finer-billed Pelagic Cormorant
nearby about 30 ft from it. White was also obvious on the flanks and back of
the larger bird, which didn't seem like a Brandt's (which are common here),
so I put my binocs on it and to my surprise could see red coloring obvious
around the base of the bill. The white markings were in rather dorsally
prominent, ragged streaks along the back and flanks; guide book
illustrations (in Sibley and Harrison) indicate only more delimited patches
of white on the flanks, similar to those on Pelagic Cormorants.
>
> Didn't one of you Bob's see a Red-faced Cormorant here too recently?
What's the past history of them being around here; this is the first one
I've seen one in all my years here.
>
> Bruce Moorhead
> Port Angeles, WA
>
>